Minnesota Bridge

Upcoming Events

What is happening in Minnesota Bridge?  All this!

• Saturday, April 30th is the Unit 178 banquet open to all bridge players.  A free dinner will be provided at 6, followed by awards and a bridge game(including 299).

 

• May 14-15 is the GNT District final in Des Moines, Iowa. 

 

• May 24-30 is the Gopher Regional in Bloomington at the Ramada.  Please check out new events this year in addition to popular returning events.

 

• June 11th is the Twin City Bridge Center Charity event.  Dinner and silent auction will be from 5:30-7pm with bridge starting at 7 (including 299 game).  The charity is Wayside house. 

 

• June 17-19 is the Granite City Sectional in St. Cloud.

Overbidding; Overplaying!

Can an optimistic view in the auction lead to success?  It can if you are a superb card reader!

John Koch definitely knows how to figure out who has what.  With today's hand and lesson, John shows the rest of us how to do it.

The Three Beats the Deuce!

Want your bridge hand laugh of the day?  Bill Voedisch is here to provide it!

Bridge in the New York Times

 
No, this is not a link to some interesting hand in the Times' bridge column.  This is instead a story about how bridge can challenge and aid the mind of children - and how bridge is once again growing in popularity with youth.

Be sure to read more at District 14 director Sharon Anderson's website!

Do Well - Do Good

How often do we have the opportunity to have fun and do well at the bridge table - and do good for our community?  Well - here is the chance for both!

On Saturday, June 11th at the Twin City Bridge Center, a silent auction, dinner and game will be held.  All proceeds raised will go to the Wayside House.

You can help out by donating goods or services to the silent auction, by participating in the auction and purchasing items, or by playing in the game.  If you wish, select all three!

Barb Zipoy and Linda Brammer are organizing this excellent event.  An information sheet about the evening is below.  Please do review it, then get in touch with Barb or Linda about how you can participate.

Have fun and help people in need!

The BIG One

For those who enjoy regional tournaments, Gatlinburg, TN is the Holy Grail.  2011's tournamment saw 8918 tables in play; larger than some NABC's!

Even though Gatlinburg is not around the corner from Minnesota, we still see a number of hardy MN competitors battling to earn some of the over 56,000 masterpoints up for grabs. 

This year, the top MN masterpoint winners were:

Peder Langsetmo          63.49

Bjorgvin Kristinsson       63.43

Carol Mahoney               54.95

Gregg Van Dyke            52.10

Mary Lemmons               28.43

Alice Goetz                      28.43

Hope that everyone who made the trek had a great time.  I've never been myself - but - one day in Gatlinburg, I hope!

Combating the Merrimac Coup

Are you familiar with the Merrimac coup?  It's a somewhat counter-intuitive method of preventing a player from being able to enjoy good tricks.  Gory details are here.

Once in a while, however, declarer can fight back with fire.  What can one do when defenders attack with the Merrimac?

John Koch shows us how to fight fire with fire!  Super hand, by the way.  If you calculated how to go plus with this defense, you are an expert's expert - like John!

Unit 178 Awards Banquet

On April 30th, Unit 178 will hold its 17th annual Awards Banquet.  Honoring those with outstanding performances in 2010 Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs awards, this is a most special evening.

Unit 178 President Marv Riedesel andMary Johnson will cater a fabulous dinner.  Steve Gaynor will emcee the awards ceremony.  A fun session of bridge will follow, with the inimitable Larry Oakey directing.

More details can be found below.  Please join everyone for a great evening of food, friends and competition!

Yeh Brothers

If you like watching top notch bridge in an international setting, then consider kibitzing the Yeh Brothers competition in Shanghai.  You can kibitz at Bridge Base; the vugraph schedule can be found here.  (Sorry about some of the times, but unfortunately the world doesn't revolve around Minnesota!)

As a bonus, one of our former Minnesotans, Joe Grue, is competing.  Currently, Joe's team - Hampson - is in third place.

No guarantees if Joe & Company will be on vugraph.  Whoever shows up, though, should be an excellent show!

Off to the Races

If you look to the left hand column of MN Bridge, you'll see that we have updated our masterpoint competitions for 2011.  Search either Unit 103 or Unit 178, and see how you and your buddies are doing for either the Mini-McKenney races, or the Ace of Clubs battles.

Some of our players have already built up impressive totals!  Yet, lots of 2011 still to come.

Enjoy collecting all of your masterpoints this year!

You Devil!

As we all know, bridge is not a simple game!  When declaring, not only does our analysis include recalling the bidding and placing cards, we must weigh the odds, calculate the defenders' response - and - appreciate the defenders' abilities and imagination.

In today's hand, John Koch helps us analyze what is most likely to come up with the best line of play.  Still, as John points out in the end, it helps to know your customer.  When that customer happens to be one of the finest players in the world - all bets can be off!

With a Little Help from Our Friends

  Some of us play bridge as if it were a solitary enterprise.  These people like to bid and defend as if they are alone at the table.  Partner is some non existent entity.

Yet partner is there for a reason!  (And sorry - not just to take the blame for every poor result that may befall us.... :)) 

Today, Irwin Boris explains how partner can help us - if we choose to let him do so!

From Teenager to Bridgewinner!

Many of us remember Joe Grue when he truly was "just a kid."  We watched him play with his folks, Sue and Tom Grue, and other local players who "took him under their wing," like Jerry Lee and Kerry Holloway.

That was then - and this is now!  Now, Joe is one of the top ranked players in the world, competing against the best - and frequently beating the best.  If you wonder how Joe does what he does, then you should consider checking out this new bridge site, www.bridgewinners.com.  The site has a range of articles and benefits for bridge players of all levels. 

Their latest post is written by Joe himself.  Here, Joe chronicles what it was like to play against and beat one of the toughest teams at the Spring NABC, the Cayne team.  Of course, we know that Joe beat everyone 'till his team got to the finals - and at that, his squad got quite close to capturing the Vanderbilt.

If you want to know what it takes to best the best - and how "our Joe" is doing - then be sure to check out Bridgewinners!

Two Wrongs Make a Right?

Have you ever made the wrong decision at the bridge table - yet your opponents make errors themselves, thus turning your wrong decision into a "right"?  This week, John Koch reports on such a turn of events.  (Yes, it's true.  Even the best among us do not make the finest choice!)

Of course, as John reports, due to two defensive errors, his poor choice (and some excellent card reading) turns his "wrong" into a "right".  You can read all the gory details below!

I'd also like to take this moment to issue a huge "thank you" to John.  This is column #219 that he has produced for the bridge community!  We are extremely fortunate to have John creating these excellent articles for us, week after week.  Top level abilities with fine writing skills and a generous spirit; John - you are the best!

Ah, Youth!

Many of you are aware of Joe Grue's super showing in Louisville.  Winning the Flight A NAP and capturing 2nd place in the Vanderbilt is an awesome feat!

Yet, Joe was not the only player in his 20's to 30's to have a fabulous NABC.  Read here to see how younger players are making their mark - big time - on the national scene.

Spring Has Sprung

A bit of warmer weather brought our first spring sectional to Minnesota!  Official results are not yet posted at ACBL.org.  If you cannot wait to review how your favorite players performed, however, you can check the links below from Rochester's website. 

Congratulations to all who competed, did well, and (most importantly) had a great time at the Hiawatha Valley Spring Sectional!

UPDATE:  Official results are now posted here at ACBL.org.  Kudos to Dave Hoffman for leading the pack with 22.33 masterpoints, and to Lance Chamberlain, about one point behind Dave.

April Board Meeting - Unit 178

Unit 178's board will be meeting this Saturday at the Twin City Bridge Center.  For those who like to know what issues the board is addressing, or who might wish to attend and listen, the agenda for this month is below.

As always, our thanks to volunteers who work so hard to make bridge in Minnesota as awesome as it can be!

Experienced-Novice Game

What's tremendously exciting for a novice player?  To be able to play with a well-experienced partner.

What's most rewarding for an experienced player?  To "give back" to the game and help mentor a novice player.

On March 24th, many of our players had the opportunity to experience all of the above - plus more.  Teri & Chip Blu  hosted this fun event at the Twin City Bridge Center, with a yummy potluck before the festivities.  Of course, the inimitable Larry Oakey ably ran the game, along with organizational assistance from Peg Mitchell. 

To all the players, novice and experienced alike, many thanks for making this event a big success!  And thanks to Unit 178 President Marv Riedesel, able photographer for the evening, who captured the many smiling faces you see here.