Join Holiday Bridge Fun at STAC December 3-9
Get in on the master point giveaway by the Western Conference,
at STAC
(Sectional Tournament at Clubs). The dates for this silver mine
are the week
of Monday, December 3 through Sunday, December 9. The place -
your favorite
local club.
This is the world's largest silver point tournament so make
sure you play to
hoard your share. The awards for these games are generous for
those who
finish in the overalls. Not only are there lots of points, but
they are
silver. These silver points are especially attractive to Non-Life
Masters,
who require them to attain the Life Master ranking.
All the local clubs, as listed in the directory on the back
page, have
scheduled STAC games. In addition, for those who miss the earlier
opportunities, the Unit has a "last chance" STAC game
on Sunday , December
9.
--
Hold Election December 9
The Palo Alto Unit has scheduled its annual election of the
Board of
Directors for five two-year terms. The deadline for voting is
Sunday,
December 9 at the STAC game. The candidates are Claire Coleman
Ginger
Herrick, Gloria Leitstein, Kevin O'Leary and Barbara Sonsini.
The winners
will form the 2001 Board with the current members: Cres Cole,
Richard
Johnson, Pat McFerren, Merle Orelove, Albert Pagin and Ethel Worcester.
To help you to get acquainted with the nominees, the Kibitzer
has printed
photos, candidate information and statements on page 3. The ballot
and
voting instructions are at the bottom of this same page. Unit
members may
vote at the YWCA or, the JCC where ballots, envelopes and ballot
boxes will
be at hand. Members may also vote by mail or by email by following
the
directions on the ballot.
--
9 Pairs Qualify in Unit NAOP Final
In a two-session NAOP Unit final at the JCC on Sunday, October
28, nine
pairs who finished average or above or in the top half of the
field
qualified for the district final. The qualifying pairs included
7 pairs in
Flight A, 5 in B and 2 in C (some pairs qualified for multiple
flights).
First in A, B and C went to Adam Meyerson and Qixiang Sun. The
list of
overalls is below.
A1B1C1 Adam Meyerson-Oixiang Sun
A2 Gary Macgregor-Tahir Gokcen
A3 Bonnie Beardsley-Kathy Harper
A4B2 William Watson-Sathya Bettadapura
A5 James O'Neil-Sherie Greenberg
C2 Carolyn Kwiatek-Gabriele Pani
--
Player Advancements
The ACBL October 1 printout, shows that the following players
have moved up.
Congratulations!
Junior Master Henry Hsieh, Patricia Jarman
5 MP
Club Master Linda Caren, Robert Caren,
20 MP Howard Jermy
Sect'l Master Lloyd Lettis, Linda Mattis,
50 MP Todd Neo Choo
Reg'l Master Theodore Hwa, Shirley
100 MP Leibhaber, Adam Meyerson,
Alice Rice
NABC Master Kevin O'Leary
200 MP
Life Master Chandler Flickinger
300 MP
Bronze LM Cres Cole, Barbara Sonsini
500 MP
Gold LM Jean Flocks
3000 MP
Diamond LM Richard Spitalnick
5000 MP
--
Swiss Teams Succeed Again
The Unit Swiss Teams held the afternoon of October 21 at the
YWCA once more
proved the popularity of this format. The event attracted 19 teams
with the
Margery Yates team with Betsy Steele and Pat and Robin Chambers
with a 4-0
record edging out the another 4-0 team headed by Doreen Hornback
with Ann
Mollard, Alice Garber and Anne Merolla. Here is the full list:
1. Margery Yates, Betsy Steele, Patricia and Robin Chambers
Doreen Hornback, Ann Mollard, Alice
Garber, Anne Merolla
3-4 Sherie Greenberg, Donald Rothschild,
Edgar Simons, Diane Shannon
3-4 Jody And Richard Williams, Sigmund and Jan Malek
Barbara Sonsini, Walter Miller,
Helen Corbin, Hansa Narasimhan
6-7 Alan Cummings, Sam Morley,
Louise Doying, Bernadine Donoghue
6-7 Marjorie and Levona Sterngold,
Don and Elaine Ehrman
--
Get Well Soon
Daytime player, Elaine Rosen is currently at the Mountain View
Health Care
Center. She would like to receive phone calls or even better visitors.
The
address is 2530 Solace Place, Mountain View, CA 94040. The phone
is
650/961-6161 and she is in room 28B. Have a speedy recovery, Elaine.
--
Meet the Candidates
Gloria Leitstein
College grad, married raised 3 children in New York City. School,
charity,
political volunteer. Retired to Bay Area 12 years ago. Environmental
and
Food closet volunteer. As social player, promoted bridge among
friends and
organized social duplicate games. Bridge now a passion, playing
several
times a week. Wants clubs to find a permanent location as a comfortable
home away for home for members, guests, visitors.
Claire Coleman
(Incumbent) Director 12 years. Owner of Sunday Aft. and Friday
Morn. and a
co-owner Bridge Mix clubs Would like to see people behave in a
nicer manner
at the table and not to think of the game as a matter of life
or death.
With husband Duane very active in search for a suitable site for
Unit Bridge
Center.
Kevin O'Leary
(Incumbent) Married for 36 years to Nadine; 4 grown kids, 5 g'kids.
Main
focus outside of family is parish related activities: Union commercial
painter for 34 yrs; now retired and loves being part of bridge
community.
Co-owner of 3 Unit games, sole owner of Tues. eve game. Unit Tournament
Chairman. Main goal to find a place for a Bridge Center to call
our own!
Likes directing because of wonderful people in our Unit.
Ginger Herrick
(Incumbent) Married, mother of two, grandmother of a darling two-year
old.
Former high school, junior college teacher. Nomadic existence
coast to coast
and back again, growing up and as an adult, in fact, we've been
here the
second longest of anywhere. It's beginning to feel like home and
the friends
I have made at the bridge table have helped make it so... Bronze
Life
Master. Unit Election Chairman.
Barbara Sonsini
Pomona College, Stanford graduate. Taught French, German at Cupertino
High
School 16 years. Avid tennis player, world traveler, total Francophile.
Husband, Larry, Silicon Valley attorney. Two married stepsons,
daughter, 23.
After years of volunteer work took up by bridge 7 years ago. Bronze
Life
Master. Can't understand why social players don't at least try
duplicate. My
goal is to convert as many as possible.
--
Test Your Knowledge of the Laws by Morris Jones and Gary Porter
Part One of Two. Answer each of these 25 questions True or
False. Answers
appear after the quiz. Part Two will appear later.
1. After making an insufficient bid, the first option is for
the offending
player to correct the bid to a sufficient bid in the same denomination
(suit
or no trump) with no penalty.
2. If your opponent passes after a hesitation you may take any
inference
you like, at your risk.
3. If RHO is the dealer and you pass before he makes his first
call, your
partner will be barred from the auction.
4. It is illegal to "psyche" a strong artificial 2C
opening bid.
5. Opening 1 bids of fewer than 8 HCP by partnership agreement,
are illegal.
6. "Psyche" bids are perfectly legal and should not
be called to the
attention of the director.
7. By law, the opening lead must be made face down.
8. When shuffling and dealing, it doesn't matter how you deal,
so long as
each players gets 13 cards.
9. When the dummy is faced, it is too late for any player to ask
for a
review of the bidding.
10. During the play, declarer or either defender may ask for an
explanation
of an opponent's bid.
11. During the play, dummy may not look at an opponent's convention
card.
12. During the play, it is improper for declarer to ask what the
contract
is.
Answers:
1. FALSE - The first option is for the next player to accept
the
insufficient bid and continue the auction. Don't allow the insufficient
bidder to automatically correct without considering this. (Law
27A)
2. TRUE - (Note the key word "opponent.") There is one
exception: If the
opponent making the hesitation has no problem and could have known
that his
hesitation would confuse you to his benefit, then the hesitation
is illegal.
(Law 73D1)
3. FALSE - The rule depends on whose turn it was to bid. The first
option
is for the next player to (following the offender) to accept your
pass out
of turn and continue. If it is not accepted then you will be required
to
pass at your first turn to bid, but partner will not be barred.
The ruling
will be different depending on whether the call out of turn was
a bid or a
pass, and whose turn it was at the time. Call the director! (Law
30A)
4. TRUE - Strong artificial opening bids may not be psyched. (ACBL
convention chart)
5. TRUE - (ACBL convention chart.)
6. FALSE - Well, really half right. Psyche bids are perfectly
legal within
limits and the limits are not strictly defined, as follows: Frequent
psyche
bids may constitute an implicit partnership agreement, or frivolous
play,
and are not allowed. It is also illegal to have an agreed way
to "catch" a
psyche or any controls on psyching, such that you must psyche
any time you
hold fewer than x HCP and partner has not bid. The only way for
the director
to enforce this law is to have psyche bids called to his attention.
(Law 75B
and Duplicate Decisions)
7. TRUE - (Law 41A).
8. FALSE - The cards must be dealt in rotation (Law 6B)- specifically,
one
card at a time to each hand in turn - no back and forth, no two
or more at a
time, no changing direction.
9. FALSE - Declarer's right hand opponent may ask for a review
of the
bidding before playing to the first trick. Declarer can also get
a review
before calling for the first card from dummy. (Law 20C2)
10. TRUE - In addition, explanation of defender's signals can
also be
obtained at any time during the play. (Law 20F2)
11. TRUE - It is possible that dummy might call attention to something
of
interest on the opponent's card and affect declarer's line of
play. Dummy
may not, in general, take any action, which might affect declarer's
play of
the hand. (Law 43A1c)
12. FALSE - You may always ask what the contract is, but you may
not ask for
a review of the auction. You can also find out if the contract
is doubled or
redoubled, but not which player did the doubling. (Law 41C)
Upcoming Events:
Sectional, Friday, November 30 at Orangevale Community Center
Holiday STAC, Monday, Dec. 3 to Sunday, Dec 9 - all clubs
Unit Election party and Holiday STAC, Sunday, Dec 9, 7 p.m. YWCA
Clubs Closed Tuesday, Dec. 25, Alpine BC, Tues. Noon BC, Under
200 Club
Late Breaking News: Pat McFerren wins Sportsmanship Trophy.
More next
month.
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*Includes lesson and hand records with analysis. |
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