Minnesota Bridge

Play Nice

Lots of folks ask me for tips on how to improve their games.  I always offer lots of choices, all of which will facilitate this happening.  Among them are:

• Kibitz good players
• Play in as tough a field as you can find
• Read the better bridge books and publications
• Practice, practice, practice!
• Study famous matches
• Play conventions and systems that are comfortable for you.

Of course, there is much more.

One of the "more" is something that I cannot stress enough.  It is this:

• Be good to your partner

Practice Makes Perfect

Well.  If you've played bridge longer than 3 hours, you're well aware that perfection is an unachievable goal.  Even the best among us make miscalculations, misjudgments - or plain old get fatigued.

Nevertheless, playing, practicing, discussion, working on agreements, analyzing after the fact and more can assuredly improve your game.

District 14's Flight B Grand National Team has taken this to heart.  Team members Jason Bribitzer-Stull, Matt Bribitzer-Stull, Eric Hendrickson, Richard Lawson, Andy Caranicas and John Stansbury have set up a series of team matches against local experts to polish their games.  Last night, they invited Kerry Holloway and myself to enjoy a lovely dinner, then battle away with them and discuss afterwards.

They must be doing something right; they bloodied this (so-called) expert on a number of hands! 

Best of luck to this team in Nashville.  And good advice for anyone wishing to move as close as possible to perfection!

Not Zia

Part of judging what to do at the table involved sizing up our opponents.  Are you playing against one of the greats?  Zia, Bob Hamman, Jeff Meckstroth, Geir Helgemo?  Or is your RHO someone who forgot to take the setting trick against 3NT the hand before?

John Koch teaches how to judge these questions and more in his most recent offering below.

Enjoy!

Now THIS is a Milestone!

Joe Grue left the Mini-Apple for the Big Apple quite a few years ago now.  Still, in the hearts of all of us, he'll always been the little kid from Richfield with nerves of steel who adored bridge.

Joe still adores our game - and if anything, those nerves of steel have been fired in the hottest of ovens and become even tougher.  Today, I learned from Steve Gaynor that Joe just became a Grand Life Master.  To become a Grand Life Master, one must earn 10,000 masterpoints - and have a national title.

At 26, Joe is the youngest person in the history of the ACBL to achieve this distinction!  Superbly done, Joe - though we all know that you have many great accomplishments yet unborn.

Interestingly enough, Joe is not the first Richfield High School graduate to become a Grand Life Master.  Steve Garner did that a while back!

Something from Nothing

Party bridge?  Or duplicate?

One of the primary reasons that we competitive bridge players enjoy duplicate is the ability to make something out of nothing.

Paul Meerschaert graces us with another excellent article - and explains all below.

Thanks, Paul!

The Race is On

Speaking of masterpoints, some have an interest in current competitions for earning coin of the ACBL's realm.  Minnesota tabulations for 2007 so far are listed below:

Unit 103 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race

Unit 103 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race

Unit 178 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race

Unit 178 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race

Milestones

Bridge players always enjoy successes and reaching goals.  Congratulations to these Minnesotans who achieved new levels on the masterpoint quest!

Gold Life Master

Randy Okubo - Rita Xistris

Silver Life Master

Paul Gutterman - Robert Rewoldt - Scott Hiller - Wayne Pinsonneault

Bronze Life Master

Paul Klaverkamp - Marv Riedesel - Mary Johnson

Life Master

Sue Meurer - Tom Racciatti - Margaret Sowada

Overalls

If reading John Koch's column about a hand from St. Cloud piqued your interest in who performed admirably at the sectional, then here are your answers! 

Congrats to all.

Elopement

No, this is not a post about how to urge your daughter to run off with her boyfriend, avoiding the luxurious and very pricey wedding for you.  Instead, it's a tale of how to avoid extra trump losers and the price of going down in a contract you could have made.

As always, John Koch has an ear for what is going on in the auction, and a keen eye for what to do with that information.

Look below to see what to do and learn!

Tournament Updates

Please note that some Minnesota tournament competitions are on the horizon. 

If you're a 299er, you can participate in a tournament this coming weekend at the Twin City Bridge Center in Minneapolis.  You could end up smiling like these happy players with expert Mike Cassel from the I/N program at the recent Gopher Regional!

Anyone who wishes can enjoy the festive summer Aquatennial tournament, also at the Twin City Bridge Center, in July.

Hope to see one and all there!

Speculation and Subterfuge

A most fascinating aspect of bridge is the variance we see among players.  One man's limit raise is another man's force to game.  One player's pass is another's preempt - and another still may play it as an opening bid!

When it comes to declaring, we have options still.  Do we go with the straightforward odds?  Or, do we choose cunning and subterfuge? 

Richard Lawson weighs it all and reports below.

Happy Father's Day!

To all the bridge players who are dads, too - hope that Your Day is most special.

For you - and for everyone else in the bridge world, another excellent column from Paul Meerschaert.  It's a follow-up to his first fine piece on "To Bid or Not to Bid."

Please see below - and - enjoy!

Frighteningly Good

Over a decade ago, I and a few of my then regular partners used to frequently join John Koch and his then partners for team events.  We had some pretty successful runs.

Like so many bridge players, I attributed many of our wins to my partnerships' fine judgment.  When I read about hands like the one below that John submitted to me, I begin to wonder if my partners and I had much to do with our gains at all!

Think that you can overwhelm John Koch at your own peril!

To Bid or Not To Bid

If you play duplicate bridge at all in the Twin Cities, the odds are high that you know Paul Meerschaert.  He's a frequent player, teacher, mentor - and winner at both local games and tournaments.

Our thanks to Paul for sending us this excellent article.  Do you bid enough?  Or too much?

Paul expounds below.

Option Exchange

Lots of bridge players have worked on various options exchanges when they're not trying to beat you up at the table.

John Koch teaches us this week about options of another sort.

See below and learn!

Granite City Sectional

If the recent Gopher Regional and your local club games don't satisfy your bridge urges, then be sure to head toward St. Cloud for their sectional this coming weekend! 

See It Live!

If you want to watch how your favorite players are doing in their quest to represent the U.S. this fall, sign on to Bridge Base Online and watch the vugraph!  It's most entertaining - and instructional, too!

Team Trials

At present, I am in Chicago.  For a few days, I've been taking photos of all the participants in the United States Bridge Federation Team Trials - the competition that determines who will represent the U.S. in international competition in China later this year. 

  Two former Minnesotans, Howie Weinstein and Steve Garner, already have qualified in the first team trials held last August, along with teammates George Jacobs, Ralph Katz, Zia and Michael Rosenberg. 

This year, we have a couple of players with Minnesota ties in the fray.  Tony Ames is on the Einberg team, and Tony's team has qualified for the Round of 16.  Joe Grue is on the O'Rourke team, and he, too, is continuing on in this round.

Needless to say, we wish our guys the best!  Stay tuned for more info as the week progresses....

It's A Wrap!

As always, the Gopher Regional was the premier event on the Minnesota bridge calendar.  Although we have applauded her before - one more "congrats" and "thanks" to Patti Stuhlman for all her hard work.  A round of clapping for all the other volunteers, too.

If you'd like to see who did what in all the events, you can click here to find out.

And if you'd like to see more faces of players, students from Evan Sachs' school bridge classes who caddied, double winner Lijewskis and more - then take a look here and below!  (Let's hope, too, that next time our caddys get into the fray!)

Poker Face

Bridge is not poker.  As Richard Lawson rightly points out in this fine article, you are not allowed to "bluff" with singletons or other holdings as you could if in a poker game.

Nevertheless, having a "poker face" is still an integral part of bridge!

Richard explains all below.