Kibitzer

February 2001

Albert Pagin to Head Unit

At the January 9 board meeting, the directors chose Albert Pagin as the 2001
president. The other officers selected were Tom Snouse as Vice President,
Barbara Vetterlein as Secretary and Alan Templeton as Treasurer.

The Unit will hold the Firecracker Sectional in July. Any member or members
who would be willing to chair this tournament should contact Albert at (650)
948-0562. Merle Orelove, the 2000 Firecracker chairman, will be available
to assist the new chairman.

In February, the Unit board will hold a meeting with the former Bridge
Center club owners to determine the future of the tables and chairs
currently in storage. If any member is willing to donate storage space for
some or all of the furniture, please contact Frank Frates at (650) 326-5365.
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Hurrah! Unit Gets New Web Page

The Unit invites members and players to go on line and visit the New Palo
Alto Unit web page. The address is: http://www.accesscom.com/~unit503. You
'll find many informative and interesting items including news, club
directory, special events, board of directors, membership e-mail and
descriptions of special games. The Unit also hopes to publish the Kibitzer
on line when all of the technical problems are worked out. Members are
urged to tell their friends from all over the country about our new web
address, so that they too can keep up on the latest news!

The Unit owes a vote of thanks to Alan Templeton, who spent his time
researching other web sites, combing their best features and designing the
page. Great job, Alan.
---
Unit Pro Am-Sunday, February 25 at YWCA

The first Unit game of 2001 is set for Sunday, February, 25 at the YWCA at
4161 Alma. St, Palo Alto. Make your approach at 5:30 p.m. to hear one of the
top Unit players, Don Rothschild, present tips on defensive bidding. At 6
p.m., share your enjoyment of good food at the pot luck dinner. Let the
bridge begin at 7 p.m. with the popular Pro-Am game. Players with under 300
master points will draw for a pro partner. Good manners and a friendly
attitude are a plus for this event. Name tags will help keep everyone on a
first name basis.

Both Pros and Am's need to make a reservation with Kevin O'Leary at
650/965-1827, e-mail to oleary20@pacbell.net or sign up with your favorite
director starting February 1. Please reserve by Wednesday, February 21 to
help Kevin with the organization.
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Unit President Appoints Committees

President Albert Pagin announced the following committees at the Board
meeting:

Bridge Center Search Alan Templeton, Richard Johnson
Conduct/Ethics Pat McFerren
District 21 Rep. Frank Frates, Tom Snouse
District 21 Rep. (Alternate) Tom Ross
Education Liaison Lori Spaeth
Election Barbara Vetterlein
Forum Coordinator Pat McFerren
Historian Mary Van Tamelen
Kibitzer Editors Elinor Tanck, Lori Spaeth
Kibitzer Mailing Lorna Corbetta, Ethel Worcester
Membership (MR&R Sunshine) Ethel Worcester
Membership List Jim Turner
Photographer Adrienne Oliff
Publicity Richard Johnson
Stanford Coordinator Pat McFerren
Supplies Ethel Worcester, Lorna Corbetta
Trophy Pat McFerren
Unit Electronic Contact Claire Coleman
Unit Games Kevin O'Leary, Don Rothschild
Web Site Alan Templeton, Lori Spaeth, Cres Cole
ACBL Novice Kevin O'Leary
District 21 Contact Claire Coleman
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Are You Really a Palo Alto Unit Member?

The ACBL often erroneously assigns members to the wrong Unit. If you are
in doubt about your Unit 503 membership, please contact the Membership
Chair, Ethel Worcester at 650/493-8409.

When club owners enroll new ACBL members, the Unit requests that they write
on the application, "Enroll in Unit 503." This will alert the ACBL to make
the correct Unit assignment.
--
Playing Contract Bridge is Good for your Health

(Editors note: Several Unit Members passed along different articles about
this topic, for which we thank them. This particular article appeared in
the San Jose Mercury.)

Playing contract bridge may help boost the immune system, according to
researchers at the University of California-Berkeley.

University biologist Marian Cleves Diamond contends there is strong evidence
indicating that the front lobe of the brain, part of the cortex-which is
used while playing bridge-stimulates the immune system to produce white
blood cells or T cells.

The study focused on a contract bridge club of 12 women from Orinda with the
idea that bridge likely stimulates the dorso-lateral cortex that Diamond
suspected influences the immune system. She took blood samples before and
after a 1 1/2-hour bridge set and compared the number of immune cells.
"These data, though preliminary, show that brain activity affect the immune
system and support the possibility of us learning to voluntarily control the
level of white blood cells to help combat disease," Diamond said.
--
Kansas City Bound

Several Palo Alto Unit members were very pleased with their performances in
the District 21 NAOP. They will represent the District at the Spring NABC
in Kansas City. Congratulations to Mark Robicheck and Franz Lanzinger, who
qualified first in Flight B, to Peter Friedland with Ed Barlow, who were
second in Flight A, and Floyd McWilliams with Jo Ginsburg, third in A.
--
The Striped-Tail Ape Double by Gersh Wheeler

You hold:
Spades: 32
Hearts: 532
Diamonds: KQJ10975
Clubs: 6

No one is vulnerable. You are sitting East, and the bidding is as follows:

North (Dealer) East (You) South West

1 Heart 3 Diamonds 4 NT 5 Diamonds
5 Hearts ?

North's 5-heart bid shows two aces or one ace and the king of hearts. What
do you do now?

I showed this problem to about two dozen players. Most elected to pass,
which is basically correct, since you've already described your hand. One
person chose seven diamonds as the call after 5 hearts; two chose six
diamonds; one elected 5 no trump, and one said "Double."

The 5NT bid presumably was to keep the opponents from asking for kings but
it wouldn't work. North could double 5NT to ask for kings. The 6-diamond
bid may be more effective to keep the opponents out of a grand slam. The
7-diamond call is a wild stab. Your partner should not have more than one
heart so you would lose two spades and one trick in each of the other suits:
down five or -1100. This is not a good save against 6-hearts which is 980
or 1010 (making seven), but it might keep the opponents from bidding
7-hearts. On the other hand, it might provoke them to bid seven, which
might o down.

The best call may be "Double". It might scare the opponents to stay there
and play in 5 hearts, doubled.

If they make six, they will score 750, if seven, 850. These scores are less
than the 980 they would score for bidding the slam. Of course, if they
redouble (which would result in a score more than 980), you would run to
6-diamonds.

This double of a lower level bid to keep the opponents from bidding a
makeable slam was suggested about 40 hears ago by John Lowenthal. He called
it the Striped-Tail Ape Double, because if the opponents redouble, you will
flee like a striped-tail ape into six of your own suit.

Incidentally, West's bid of 5-diamonds was bad. If West has a black ace and
diamond support, he should bid five of that suit. You would like to hear a
5-club bid from your partner. If West has diamond support and a void in
hearts, the best call is an immediate 7-diamond bid. With a singleton
heart, probably West should bid 6-diamonds. It is improbable that West has
more than one heart, but even with two, a 6-diamond bid is better than the
ineffective 5-diamond bid. The opponents are obviously going to be in at
least 6-hearts, but you might keep them from bidding seven.

--

2000 Financial Report

Unit 503
Income:
Firecracker $4,163
Membership 2,216
Unit Games 460
Interest 621
Total Income $7,460
Expenses:
Education $1,090
Insurance 540
Printing 2,434
Postage 1,080
Supplies 564
Other 1,180
Total Expenses $6,888

Income/Loss $572

Palo Alto Bridge Center
Income:
Rent $36,990
Vending 216
Interest 68
Total Income $37,274
Expenses:
Rent $39,000
Water Cooler 105
Telephone 378
Bidding Boxes 452
Taxes 122
Moving 172
Storage 1,740
Other 469
Total Expenses $42,438

Income/Loss ($5,164)

--

UNIT STATISTICS TELL THE SAME OLD STORY by Elinor
Tanck

The Unit membership total as of December 2000 was 663, which is a 3% loss
from the 1999 total, an increase from the 2% loss last year. When one
examines the membership distribution by master pints held in the table
below, the largest loss is in the mid master point categories from 20-50
through 300-500 masterpoints. This data has two obvious interpretations -
either the members are not renewing or they have accumulated enough
masterpoints to move into the higher rankings.

How has the Unit performed in the enrollment and retention of new members?
In 2000, the 26 new players joined the Unit, in comparison with 16 in 1999.
Of these 16, 20 (62%) are still ACBL members.

The left table below compares the 2000 data with that for 1999. There have
been few changes. Sheila Bleiman, with the most masterpoints, has moved
ahead of Sherie Greenberg. The players who rank third through fifth are the
same as in '99: Rich Spitalnick, Don Rothschild and Peter Friedland,
respectively. The player closest to the average masterpoint total is
William Spicer with 536.34 points and the members at the median point are
Carol Blumberg with 199.58 and Ada Elliot with 201.5 points.

The right table below and the graph compare the masterpoint distribution
for the members for 1999 and 2000. The source of the information is from
analysis of the membership information supplied by the ACBL.
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| | 1999 | 2000 | |MP Total| 1999 | 2000 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Members | 682 | 663 | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Juniors | 114 | 123 | | 0-1 | 37| 35|
| (<20 MP) | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Life | 258 | 259 | | 1-5 | 28| 39|
| Masters | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Highest | 5419 | 5753 | | 5-10 | 25| 21|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Median | 192 |199.58, 201.5| | 10-20 | 24| 28|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Average | 511 | 536.61 | | 20-50 | 65| 55|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Total | 348,521 | 355,775 | | 50-100 | 79| 75|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| | | | | 100-300| 133| 118|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Unit | 378 (55%) | 371 (56%) | | 300-500| 92| 85|
| Residence | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Santa Clara| 135 (20%) | 128 (19%) | | 500-100| 95| 102|
| | | | | 0 | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| San Mateo | 152 (22%) | 146 (22%) | | 1-2K | 68| 68|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Other D-21 | 10 (2%) | 10 (2%) | | 2-3K | 18| 18|
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Outside | 7(1%) | 8 (1%) | | 3K+ | 18| 19|
| D-21 | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|

|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| | 1999 | 2000 | | MP | 1999 | 2000 |
| | | | | Total | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Members | 682 | 663 | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Juniors | 114 | 123 | | 0-1 | 37 | 35 |
| (<20 MP) | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Life | 258 | 259 | | 1-5 | 28 | 39 |
| Masters | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Highest | 5419 | 5753 | | 5-10 | 25 | 21 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Median | 192 | 199.58, | | 10-20 | 24 | 28 |
| | | 201.5 | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Average | 511 | 536.61 | | 20-50 | 65 | 55 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Total | 348,521 | 355,775 | | 50-100 | 79 | 75 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| | | | | 100-300| 133 | 118 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Unit | 378 (55%) | 371 (56%) | | 300-500| 92 | 85 |
| Residence | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Santa Clara| 135 (20%) | 128 (19%) | | 500-100| 95 | 102 |
| | | | | 0 | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| San Mateo | 152 (22%) | 146 (22%) | | 1-2K | 68 | 68 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Other D-21 | 10 (2%) | 10 (2%) | | 2-3K | 18 | 18 |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|
| Outside | 7(1%) | 8 (1%) | | 3K+ | 18 | 19 |
| D-21 | | | | | | |
|------------+-----------+-------------+--+--------+------+------|

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Upcoming Events:

February 10-11 - Fremont Sectional - Fremont Senior Center

February 13 (Tuesday) 12:15 PM - Club Championship - Alpine BC

February 13-19 - San Francisco Presidents Day Regional - Clarion Hotel

Wednesday, February 13, Bridge 'n Brunch and all games from Thursday, February 14, through Monday, February 19, except Sherie & Kathy's Thursday Game at 1:00 PM, are closed.

February 24-25 - Livermore Valley Sectional - Hart Middle School, Pleasanton

February 25 (Sunday) - Pro-Am Unit Game - YWCA, 4161 Alma Street, Palo Alto

5:30 PM - Bridge Instruction by Don Rothschild

6:00 PM - Pot Luck Dinner

7:00 PM - Bridge

Please make reservation with Kevin O'Leary (650) 965-1827 oleary20@pacbell.net.

February 26 (Monday) 10:00 AM - Senior Game - Palo Alto BC

February 26 (Monday) 11:00 AM - Senior Game - Bridge Mix

December Winners' Circle