Minnesota Bridge

Button Up Your Overcoat!

Party hearty this New Year's.  But, let this bridge tale from years gone by be a lesson to us all!

It's one thing to be stolen blind at the bridge table.  It's something else to lose your garments in the process!

The Last One

Today is the last day Wednesday of the month and the last day of the year.  Thus, by definition, we have the last John Koch column of 2008 for your enlightenment.

As he always does, John provides us with excellent reasoning about how to make the most of what you have.  "Making the most of what you have" is wise advice for life as well as bridge.  I hope that all of Minnesota Bridge's readers are able to do much of that in the coming New Year!  And - enjoy John's last column.  We are so fortunate that John is as talented as he is prolific!

Lorraine Schweitzer

Our bridge community has lost another of its important members.  Lorraine Schweitzer died Sunday.  We send condolences to her husband, Stanley, and all of her family and friends.

Those wishing to attend funeral services on Tuesday and shiva for Lorraine can find detailed information here. 

Following a beautiful service at Temple Israel for Lorraine, her bridge partner and friend, Larry Oakey, offers this equally beautiful remembrance.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

And - just as he has done on Wednesdays for almost two years now, John Koch presents us with another superbly written, entertaining and instructive column for our edification.

We are terrifically fortunate to enjoy the gifts of John and the other fine contributors to Minnesota Bridge.  We are quite lucky to be able to engage in the greatest mind game ever conceived.

Warmest wishes to all of our bridge playing friends and their families throughout the Gopher State and elsewhere.  May your holiday celebrations be merry, fulfilling and full of good cheer!

A Big Roll

Mike Cassel is on a big roll with big hands!  Today he provides us with another from one of Tony Ames' games in Plymouth.  Please check out Mike's report below and see if you could hit the big jackpot with this big holiday hand!

Dr. Allen Brink

Our bridge community is select; when any of our members is lost, it's felt deeply.  When that member is someone who has contributed so much to the bridge world in Minnesota, the sadness is even keener.

Unit 103 Board Member John Koch has kindly provided us with a warm remembrance of Dr. Allen Brink, who died just prior to Thanksgiving Day.  Our thanks to John for another fine column.  Nevertheless - it is a column we wish he had not needed to write.

Double - Redouble - Double

Bridge is an odd balance of communicating what you have to partner - and yet not communicating too much information to the opponents.

Sometimes, there is no happy medium.

This week, John Koch demonstrates how one of the world's best figured out how to make a tough contract from the information available to him.  Thanks to John's always-excellent explanations, you, too can perform such feats!  Check out the details below.

Another Big Hand

Mike Cassel is gracing us with thoughts about how to handle another Big Hand. 

Mike comes off a Big Win at the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club Knockout event.  Mike, along with Barry Purrington, Phil Schwarz and Judy Schwarz handily dispatched my team (Captain Kerry Holloway, Melody Bi, Paul Meerschaert and Joe Rice) in a final match last night.  As the Purrington team suffered no losses at all in a double elimination event, it was a particularly impressive win for them.

Mike's Big Hand is below; enjoy and congrats, Mike and team!

Wheel and Deal: The Competition

Would the wheeler or the dealer be victorious?

Read this story of competition.  Link courtesy of Chicagoan Stacy Jacobs.

Winter Carnival

It's over a month away.  But, no time like the present to start planning for St. Paul's famous Winter Carnival Tournament!

The tournament will be held over the first weekend in February, the 6th, 7th and 8th, at the Days Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Maplewood.  Below, you can find a schedule with all the details and all the excellent events available through the weekend.

Start searching for your partners and teammates now!

Life Master!

Duplicate bridge players have all kinds of exciting milestones.  Playing in our first club game is a thrill.  Earning that first full masterpoint puts a smile on our faces.  Placing in our first tournament is big.

Perhaps the milestone that we all know best, though, is the Life Master milestone. 

During last weekend's Holiday Sectional Bridge Tournament at the Bridge Center of St. Paul, Paula DeSanto earned the title of Life Master.  Paula did it in Saturday's pair/team game, with the assistance of these teammates:  Sally DeSanto, Kim Hayward, and Sandra Casey.

Well done, ladies - and Paula:  wear that title proudly!  You earned it!

Duck

Newer players often want to grab every trick as soon as they can.  I recall making a 3NT contract once - doubled - when a novice defender adhered to this policy.  He quickly cashed all his tricks - and I claimed the rest.  Had he simply led low a few times, I would have gone down two instead! 

This week, John Koch guides us through a simple but sometimes quite successful maneuver:  the duck.  A bit of patience combined with the duck can provide wealth to you, too!

Hot and Cold

Winter has definitely arrived in Minnesota.  Bone chilling temperatures.  Snow drifts.  Ice on the front stoop.

But - for those who attended St. Paul's Holiday Sectional last weekend, the competition was hot!

Congratulations to the top masterpoint winner for the tournament, Paolo Ranaldi of Eau Claire, and to nine other players who led the way in the masterpoint hunt.

1.    20.57    Paolo Ranaldi              6.  10.84    Peg Waller

2.    17.57    Mike Cassel                 7.    9.38    Brian Crossley

3.    11.78    Keith Connolly               8.    9.04    Don Priewert

4/5  11.29    Warren Nelson              9.    8.76    Bill Lough

4/5  11.29    Stephen Jackson        10.    8.57    Susan Jackson

To see the full list of finishers and masterpoint winners, check here for results.

Well done!

 

Big and Beautiful

It's exciting to get big hands.  And - what you can do with them is beautiful!

Sometimes, however, getting to where you ought to be isn't a pretty picture.

Mike Cassel presents a really big hand from the Boston NABC - and advice on how to achieve a lovely result with it.

Stratosphere

If you're a bridge player, then occasionally you reach a contract so high, it appears to have no play.

What do you do?

Many look disgustedly at partner and think of excuses as to how to blame him and get themselves off the hook for the horror.  Then, they flounder around for a few tricks as they go down one or two or three.

A select few, however, steel themselves to do the best they can under the circumstances.  If you would like to read about those with both the talent and the determination to succeed, then please click on the link below.  You will be fortunate enough to read John Koch's latest installment on how to win at this tough game!

The Green Card

Duplicate players know the meaning of "the green card":  you are passing.

Some claim that "pass" should be used far more often than it is.  Others claim people do not bid enough.

Irrespective of which camp you are in, you can commiserate with Mike Cassel in Boston about his green card experiences.

The Future of Bridge

Hamman.  Meckstroth.  Rodwell.  Garner.  Weinstein.  All great bridge names.  All recognizable by duplicate players everywhere.

Olson?  Jolley?  Everyone might not know these names today.  Nevertheless, I predict that one day, these two bridge players may be quite well known.  They are the two young men who won the first ever Youth Pair event at last summer's first Youth Competition.  I had the pleasure of meeting them in Boston last week, where Jake Olson and Eli Jolley were doing their best to succeed at the table again.

Some of you know that I have been writing columns about the nationals at the ACBL website.  If you wish to learn a bit more about Jake and Eli - please visit there!

Back from Boston

Boston surely had its ups and downs for this bridge player!  My women's B-A-M team got close to the big prize the first day; unfortunately for us (Cindy Balderson, Carole Miner, Petra Hamman, Nancy Passell, Laurie Kranyak and yours truly) day two was tougher.  With some illness on the team, Cindy and Carole played all four sessions.  They were the "ironwomen" of the team!  I know that everyone in Minnesota is well aware of what great players they are and what a fine partnership they have.  But - it never hurts to say it again. 

Minnesota players Bob Balderson and Paul Meerschaert made it into the overalls of the Open Pairs and the Open B-A-M; Melody Bi also was in the Open B-A-M overalls.  Cindy and Carole placed in the Women's Pairs, and our aforementioned team was 10th in the B-A-M.

For really big results, though, we need to go to our "raised in Minnesota" player league.  Joe Grue hit one out of the ballpark.   With teammates Curtis Cheek, Bart Bramley, Eddie Wold, Mike Passell and Captain Carolyn Lynch, Joe won the National Swiss Teams.  His team almost had a lock going into the last round, and Team Lynch won handily.  Although Joe previously has won international and national events, this was his captain's first win.  To say she was excited would be a serious understatement!

In the "close" department, the longtime partnership of Howie Weinstein and Steve Garner almost captured another title in the Reisinger.  Still - merely arriving at the third day to play in the Reisinger is impressive, so - being but a point behind the winners is excellent indeed.

Finally, although neither player is from Minnesota, the performance of Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth is so incredible, it deserves a mention here.  These two players won the Open Board-A-Match, the Blue Ribbon Pairs and the Reisinger!  Any one of these wins would be spectacular; all three are absolutely amazing.  On top of it all, Eric was second in the first pair event.  One for the history books, to be sure.

Congratulations to all who did well, and to all our Minnesota players who competed in Boston!