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Many of us play bridge on "auto pilot." A familiar situation arises, and we play a hand as we would all the other times this theme is present.
Yet, giving a line of play a second thought almost never hurts - and - sometimes, it can pay off big rewards.
Today, Irwin Boris shares with us such a hand. And with it: excellent advice!
Late November, one of Minnesota's top and longest competing players, Forest Lowe, celebrated. While battling serious illness, Forest decided to enjoy while the enjoying was good. So, he scheduled a party at the Twin City Bridge Center.
Forest and friends enjoyed lunch, some champagne and a fine historical talk from Forest, complete with a slide show. Many positive comments came from those in attendance - and - of course there was bridge!
Too often, celebrations of a life occur when the person being feted is no longer with us. A true pleasure that Forest and his friends could appreciate his bridge career and friendships together.
For those who are curious as to how Forest is doing now, he faces more health challenges. Nevertheless, Forest is in fine spirits and relishing the photos and memories of his TCBC party.
Thanks to everyone for making the day so special - and to Forest for setting the bar for a successful bridge career so high.
Defense is a tough business. Declarer knows where his strength and weakness is. You and partner must guess.
From the opening lead, however, you and partner have an opportunity to communicate. What is partner's signal at trick one? As the play unfolds, what can you glean from declarer's choices and what you and partner communicate to one another?
This week, John Koch shows us how to trust what partner is telling us, and how best to judge our path with that information. Our thanks to John for ramping up our games to a new level!
Speaking of schedules - one of our best tournaments is less than one week away!
The St. Paul Winter Carnival has a variety of events to tempt all Minnesotans to get out and play bridge! Next weekend, from Friday, January 25th through Sunday, January 27th you can enjoy it all.
For details on schedule, location and much more, visit this link. We look forward to seeing you there!
Many of us like to plan our bridge events. Some of us like to do it far away into the future.
For that latter group of individuals, Steve Gaynor is here to the rescue! Steve has sent me a calendar of major events for years to come. It's posted below for your examination.
Our thanks to Steve for providing us with this service and info!
Experts often seem to be magicians. They take a contract that, on the face of it, seems impossible to make - and then they bring it home. They defend a hand that seems impregnable - and, somehow, it fails.
How do they do this? This week, John Koch takes one such hand and demonstrates exactly how the experts reach success with insightful inferences.
For many of us, much of bridge is attempting to avoid stupid mistakes. How many of us might have won our session or match, had we simply remembered to count out a hand, pull trump, or pay attention to the bidding?
Once in a while, however, we deliver a clever play or bid. When we do - particularly if the outcome results in success - it's a thrill.
For a few of us, however, a true brilliancy seems to occur more frequently than most of the rest of us put together. Today, John Koch describes such players and such plays.
Enjoy - and - admire this brilliancy.
As we welcome in 2013, the holidays are now behind us. But this weeks' Koch Korner column highlights a gift that John found under his tree.
Of course, the gift would not be possible without John's deft analysis of the hand. Please read below how John assisted Santa in delivering this present!