Bridge Center Saga-Continued
We finally received word from the City of Palo Alto that our
old space at
Elwell is unacceptable to move into due to safety reasons. Apparently
the
law changed since we originally had the permit and the new law
provides that
an assembly of people of our size (similar to the restaurant business)
requires the building to be retrofitted for earthquake damage
and to have
sprinklers installed. The board is pursuing a new site. Since
we don't
want to disappoint anyone again with false hope, we are first
clearing it
with the City before we report any information to the membership.
We will
keep you posted.
--
Membership Meeting Set for Tuesday, March 5
As required by the by-laws, the Unit will hold its annual Membership
Meeting
on Tuesday, March 5 at 4:00 p.m. at the YWCA. This meeting permits
Unit
members direct participation in the Unit's decision and policy
making. Any
member who wishes to place an item on the agenda must notify the
Unit
secretary, Claire Coleman in advance by telephone at 650/368-5917
or email
ccllcc@aol.com.
--
Sympathy
The Unit officers and members extend their sincere condolences
to Cliff
Chernick and his family on the recent death of his son. Also,
we wish our
heartfelt sympathy to Barbara Varner and her family whose husband
passed
away.
--
Table Talk
Unit players have been doing some globe trotting.
It's good to see Ed Alcoff back at the bridge table after his
sailing
adventures. Three years ago, he bought a boat and embarked on
a
round-the-world trip. He did it and now he's back looking for
bridge
success.
Marianne Cochran is doing her round the world trip , the easy
way, by cruise
ship.
Elinor Tanck only went halfway around the world. She's back
from a two-week
cruise of New Zealand and Australia. While in Melbourne, she "grand
slammed" - at her second favorite game, the Australian Open
Tennis.
Congratulations to Qixiang Sun and Adam Meyerson, who finished
second in
District 21 NAOP flight B and to Will Watson, who came in third.
--
President Names Committee Members
President Pat McFerren announced the following committees at
the February
Board meeting.
Bridge Center Search Kevin O'Leary
Conduct/Ethics Barbara Sonsini
District 21 representative Frank Frates, Tom Snouse -Alternate
Tom Ross
Computer support Richard Johnson
Education Lori Spaeth
Election Ginger Herrick
Forum Coordinator Barbara Sonsini
Historian Mary Van Tamelen
Kibitzer Editors Elinor Tanck, Lori Spaeth
Kibitzer Mailing Ethel Worcester, Lorna Corbetta
Membership (MR&R, Sunshine) Ethel Worcester
Membership List Jim Turner, Cres Cole
Photographer Adrienne Oliff
Publicity Richard Johnson
Sectional Lorna Corbetta, Ethel Worcester, Gloria Leitstein
Stanford Coordinator Pat McFerren
Supplies Ethel Worcester, Lorna Corbetta
Telephone List Lori Spaeth
Trophy Merle Orelove
Unit Electronic Contact Claire Coleman
Unit Games Kevin O'Leary, Merle Orelove, Cres Cole
Web Site Alan Templeton, Lori Spaeth, Cres Cole
Int/ Novice Richard Johnson
D-21 Contact Claire Coleman, Cres Cole
--
2001 Financial Report
Unit 503
Income:
Firecracker $3,881
Membership 2,121
Unit Games 721
Education 616
Interest 285
Total Income $7624
Expenses:
Insurance $507
Kibitzer 3191
Office (administrative) 267
Easy Bridge (Mat'l) 987
Computer 300
Other 461
Total Expenses $5713
Income/Loss $1911
Palo Alto Bridge Center
Income:
Interest $19
Total Income $19
Expenses:
Storage $968
Computer 79
Owner Deposits (refunded) 258
Other 12
Total Expenses 1317
Income/Loss $-1298
Bridge Center Donations, Interest, Pledges: $27,453
--
Player Advancements
The ACBL December 2 printout shows that the following players
have moved up.
Congratulations!
Junior Master Freya Charney
(5 MP)
NABC Master Carolyn Kwiatek
(200 MP)
Life Master Paul Cornelius
(300 MP)
Bronze LM Marianne Moutoux
(1000 MP)
--
Newcomers
A warm welcome to new Palo Alto Unit 503 members: Sally Ahnger,
Gary Kao
and Eleanor Rosenberg.
--
Test Your Knowledge of the Laws by Morris Jones and Gary Porter
Part Two of Two. (Part One appeared in December.) Answer each
of these 25
questions True or False. Answers appear after the quiz.
13. The auction proceeds: 2NT pass 2C (insufficient). The director
should
allow opener's partner to correct his bid to 3C without penalty,
unless the
2C bid is accepted.
14. As a defender, I should call attention to my partner's failure
to alert
my alertable bid before he makes the opening lead.
15. Until a card is led to the next trick, declarer or either
defender may
inspect, but not expose his own last card played.
16. If dummy notices that declarer has a quitted trick turned
wrong, he
should call it to his attention as soon as possible.
17. When any player at the table notices and irregularity during
the play,
he should call the director immediately.
18. Dummy is allowed to attempt to prevent an irregularity by
declarer.
19. If declarer leads from the wrong hand the lead must be corrected
unless
either defender accepts.
20. By law, you must count the cards in your hand before examining
them.
21. By law, you must count the cards in your hand before putting
them away.
22. A defender's card is considered "played" when held
in a position such
that his partner could see it.
23. If a defender accidentally drops a small card face up, it
is a minor
penalty card.
24. If a players revokes to a trick, it is a two-trick penalty.
25. After declarer claims the remaining tricks, if a defender
disagrees,
with the claim, he should ask declarer to continue playing.
ANSWERS:
13. FALSE - If the director determines that the insufficient bid
may have
been a conventional call (as in this example) and it is not accepted
by the
next player, the call must be substituted with any legal call
(other than
double), and his partner must pass for the remainder of the auction.
Not all
cases are as clear-cut as this one, so always consult with the
director.
This is an important rule to know! (Law 27B2)
14. FALSE - As a defender, you must wait until the end of the
play to call
attention to a failure to alert. Otherwise your announcement could
affect
your partner's defensive play and that is not allowed. If your
side is
declaring, you must call attention to a failure to alert before
the opening
lead is faced. (Law 75D2) (On the other hand, if you suddenly
realize that
you should have alerted a bid, you should say so immediately,
even if it
isn't your turn to call or play.)
15. TRUE - Surprise! (law 66B)
16. FALSE - Dummy many not help declarer play the hand. Correcting
the trick
record could well affect declarer's line of play. (Law A1C)
17. FALSE - Dummy may not initiate a call to the director. Doing
so forfeits
any right to a penalty. If the dummy notices an irregularity,
during the
play, he should call the director only after the last trick is
played. (Law
43 A1a)
18. TRUE - This is one of dummy's rights. Dummy may attempt to
prevent
declarer from leading from the wrong hand and may question a possible
revoke
by declarer. (Dummy cannot call attention to a possible revoke
by a
defender, since declarer may not have noticed and it could change
declarer's
line of play.) (Law 42B1 and 2) But dummy must not habitually
remind
declarer which hand has the lead. (Law 42B2b)
19. TRUE - Either defender may accept a lead from the wrong hand
by
declarer. (Law 55A)
20. TRUE - Count your cards before looking at them. (Law 7B1)
21. FALSE - However, each player is responsible for seeing that
the correct
13 cards are returned to his pocket. You could be penalized if
the next
table discover that the board has been fouled. (Law 7C)
22. TRUE - It doesn't matter if the defender's partner saw the
card or not.
If the card is in a position such that he could have seen it,
it is
considered "played." (law 45 C1) (Declarer has a different
rule!)
23. TRUE - A minor penalty card must be played before any other
small card
(9 or below) from the same suit, and does not have lead penalties.
(Law 50C)
24. FALSE - The revoke rule is complicated and the penalty depends
on the
situation. The penalty could be 2 tricks, 1 trick no tricks or
more than 2
tricks, depending on who won the revoke trick and what happened
afterward.
Always ask a director. (Law 64)
25. FALSE - After making a claim, declarer is not allowed to continue
play.
If there is a double, the director must be called to decide the
resolution
of the remaining tricks. Any subsequent play after a claim is
canceled.
Remember that declarer must make a statement regarding his line
of play.
(Law 68D).
How did you do? 25 NABC Director, 20-24 Legal Eagle, 15-19
Keepin' 'em
honest, 10-14 Just playing for fun,
0-9 Rules, what rules?
--
Changes in 2001 Unit Statistics...What Changes??? By Elinor Tanck
A look at the Unit 503 statistics as of December 2001 makes
one wonder, if
we're looking at the year 2000 all over again.
The Unit membership total is 661, which is a 0.3% loss from
2000, while the
total master point increase is 0.3%. The table below compares
the 2001 data
with that for 2000. An examination of the data does offer one
surprise, the
decrease in the number of life masters. Another bit of trivia,
which is
not obvious from the numbers, is the explanation for the increase
in members
residing within the Unit boundaries of Los Altos, Palo Alto and
Mountain
View. This change reflects a correction of an ACBL error persisting
over
many years, which assigned players with a zip code of 94022 and
94024 to
Unit 507 instead of 503.
How has the Unit performed in the enrollment and retention
of new members?
Not well, according to the recent ACBL Quip report for the 2001
calender
year, the active membership decreased by 1%, ranking 10 of 19
in District
21. The new member gains were 6%, 15th in D-21; the member losses
6%, 4th
in D-21 and the new member retention in year two, averaged 49%
over the last
3 years, 17th in D-21. The average member age is 65 and the average
years
of ACBL membership are 12.
The top five players in master point totals are also the same
as in 2000.
Sheila Bleiman, with the most master points at 6458, has a substantial
lead
over Sherie Greenberg with 5,720. The players who rank third through
fifth
are: Don Rothschild, Rich Spitalnick and Peter Friedland, respectively.
The
player closest to the average masterpoint total is Betty Liddicoat
with
539.12 and the members at the median point are Anne Merolla with
206.48 and
Rosanne Jacobs with 206.63.
The table below also compares the master point distribution
for the members
for 2001 and 2000. The source of the information is from analysis
of the
membership information supplied by the ACBL.
2000 2001 MP Total 2000 2001
Members 663 661
Juniors (<20 MP) 123 133 0-1 35 31
Life Masters 259 246 1-5 39 47
Highest 5753 6458 5-10 21 27
Median 199.58, 201.5 206.48, 206.63 10-20 28 28
Average 536.61 539.86 20-50 55 56
Total 355,775 356,847 50-100 75 63
100-300 118 125
Unit Residence 371 (56%) 378 (57%) 300-500 85 79
Santa Clara 128 (19%) 119 (18%) 500-1000 102 101
San Mateo 146 (22%) 146 (22%) 1-2K 68 66
Other D-21 10 (2%) 12 (2%) 2-3K 18 18
Outside D-21 8 (1%) 6(1%) 3K+ 19 20
--
Upcoming Events:
.
Sectional, Friday, March 1 at El Cerrito Comm Ctr
Club champ., Monday, March 11 at 10 a.m., Palo Alto BC
Club champ., Wednesday, March 13 at 11:00, Bridge 'n Brunch
Club champ., Thursday, March 14 at 1 p.m., Sherie & Kathy's
BC
Sectional, Saturday, March 9 at San Mateo Fairgrounds
Club champ., Thursday, March 21 at 7:15 p.m., Red Club
Sectional, Saturday, March 23 at Tamalpais HS, Mill Valley
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*Hand records provided. |
**Includes lesson and hand records with analysis. |
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