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The fascination of bridge remains endless! Bidding, defense, weighing how to play a hand...
This week, John Koch offers a deal that offers several decisions for declarer to judge. After he decides in what order to attack which suits, declarer must weigh how to play a key suit.
And - because it's matchpoints - declarer has to contemplate whether to go for the jugular with overtricks, or simply make his contract.
As always, John gives us much food for thought and many tools for understanding how to find the key to winning at this game!
Snow. Sleet. Freezing rain.
It may not sound like it - but - spring is going to be here! This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, head on down to the Twin City Bridge Center for the Spring is Coming Sectional.
MN Bridge is sad to report the death of a longstanding, successful bridge player and good friend to many, Van Christenson. Van was in Arizona with wife and long time partner, Sharon, when he passed away. Sharon sent us this remembrance of her husband.
Condolences to Sharon from all of us in the Minnesota bridge world family.
Stafford Van Arnam Christenson, Age 85
Van Christenson, of Edina, MN and Sun City, AZ died February 24, 2012 in Odyssey Hospice, Sun City, Arizona, of respiratory failure.
Born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, January 31, 1927, to Arthur and Hazel Christenson, Van was a brilliant and generous man, wonderful father, excellent student, and a ACBL Gold Life Master with over 4,700 master points. He graduated from high school in Fergus Falls, MN , at the age of 16, was accepted into the V-12 Navy College Training Program at age 17 and attended one year each at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Union and Rensselaer in New York, and the University of Minnesota where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Van was a veteran of WWII, and was one of nine young men in the U.S. to participate in the first class of Atomic Studies at the Argonne National Laboratories.
He worked for Ottertail Power, Donovan Construction, and was President and CEO of his own firm Vanalt Construction. Besides playing bridge, his hobbies included: playing volleyball at the St. Paul Athletic Club, exercising at the YMCA, cycling, and spending time with his family. He was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, MN and Church of the Palms in Sun City, AZ.
He is survived by his wife, Sharon, of 36 years; siblings, Georgia Tayler, Howard VanDyk (Dorothy), Jan Prietauer (Ed), Jack Christenson (Terry); children, Sue Favilla (Mike), John Christenson (Suzan Wiberg), Mary Christenson (Nan Cournoyer), Brenda Jo Bowling (John), Shari Brandt (Jeff), Marcie Errico (Greg); grandchildren, Peter Favilla (Andrea), Andy Favilla (Satoko Muratake), Jonathan Kline, Elizabeth Ovel (Joe), SaraLynn Bowling, Andrea Brandt, John-William Bowling, Jeffrey Brandt, Granite Errico, Braun Errico, Max Errico, and Strijker Errico, and great-grandchildren, Alexandra and Louis Favilla.
Van was preceded in death by wives Evelyn (Thalmann) Christenson and Lucille (Thalmann) Christenson; and parents Hazel Van Dyk and Arthur Christenson, and stepfather Anthony T. Van Dyk.
A celebration of life service was held on February 26, 2012 at Church of the Palms in Sun City, Arizona. There will also be a celebration of life service in Minneapolis at Plymouth Congregational Church in June
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Church of the Palms, Plymouth Congregational Church, or Gentiva Odyssey Hospice Foundation at 202 E. Earll Dr., Suite 160, Phoenix, AZ 85012.
On top of all that - Steve goes out waaaay into the future! Want to know when the NAP District 14 Finals are in 2019? Steve's got it!
Thank you, Steve, for putting all this valuable information together. Steve's calendar can be found below. And - it's also linked to the left.
Now that we're more than halfway through February, masterpoint races for 2012 are up and running. We've posted links on the left for masterpoints races in both Units 103 and 178. Links are available for Ace of Clubs and the Mini-McKenney.
We'll leave the 2011 races up for a while, for those who wish to linger a bit in the year past. In the meantime, happy masterpoint hunting to all our Minnesota players! Whether
the local dupe, a tournament or online play, we hope you're having a great time at the table!
This week, John Koch demonstrates how bidding too high might lead to a poor score - unless, of course, you can declare as well as John does! You might note, too, as you read this week's column, that tempo can give your opponents an edge. Bid and play with as smooth a tempo as you can; you will be a tough opponent indeed.
A link to the February tournament is on the left. Check out the events and venue - and - enjoy this month's Minnesota offering!
A week ago, the venerable Minneapolis Grand Slam Club celebrated Sharon Anderson's position as ACBL President for 2012. A grand time was had by all!
To see a report and photos from Sharon's Big Night, check out her blog. And - if you'd like to play in a B-A-M team game, come on out tonight to 70th and Nicollet! This is the 2nd session of a B-A-M - but - new teams are assuredly welcome.
(And yes; Sharon's team is leading!)
If you bid a lot, though, you need to play up to those high standards! In today's column, John Koch analyzes a difficult slam hand. From both declarer's and defender's viewpoint - you have to put forth your best effort. John explains just how to do that.
This week, the NEC Cup is being played in Japan. Mike found an intriguing hand and shared his thoughts about it with us. Thanks, Mike!
Talking general principles is common in bridge. Still, it can be most helpful to see real life examples of how these principles play out in action.
Mike Cassel has analyzed one of the hands from the MGSC mentoring game. This hand provides food for thought on preempting, competing for the part score and defense.
Mentoring games can be both educational and fun - for both more experienced players and our newer competitors!
Excellent items to consider for our intermediate to advanced players - and - never hurts for our more experienced players to review, too! Thanks, Mike.
Winter 2011-2012 so far has not seemed much like a winter. Nevertheless, in honor of the Winter Carnival, we had a nice dusting of snow on Saturday.
We also had a fine dusting of results throughout the weekend!
Congratulations to the Beckmans, Terry and Kathy, who topped the masterpoint winners. Their over 30 point total edged out Joe Rice, Linda Webb and Rick Ekstrum (3rd and 4th/5th) by less than 4 masterpoints. All ACBL results for the tournament can be viewed here.
Other highlights were our new champion of the Junior USBF Team #2, Ben Kristensen, competing with his dad, Curt. And, we were fortunate that ACBL President and District 14 Director Sharon Anderson had returned from Bermuda to be able to compete in Sunday's Swiss.
Our thanks to Mike Flader and Gregg Van Dyke for their directing efforts, and to our tournament chairman, Gus Doty, for all his fine planning and execution. As always, a big "thank you," too, to the volunteers who made this year's Winter Carnival a success!
To begin, we must make an opening lead which is quite often an educated guess. Then, once we see dummy, we must reconstruct all the hands and contemplate what will happen, trick by trick.
In today's Koch Korner, John provides a hand with a lead that isn't tough; KQJ. Nevertheless, after a straightforward beginning, the continuation takes some deep thought.
As he does so well, John takes us through various lines of defense - until the winning one is discovered. See if you can do it!
The answer is below!