Minnesota Bridge

Congratulations & Trophies!

If you needed more incentive to attend the Holiday Tournament this weekend - here you go!  Trophies for these players .... Kerry Holloway, co-chairman for the MN State Tournament has the excellent details!

Thanks again for coming out to the MN State Tournament last month. We promised a trophy to the top masterpoint winner in the 0-300 bracket.  Our I/N trophy winner for 2017 is ... we have a tie!  Congratulations to Joseph Dixon and Scott Eller. 

Your trophies, 1 for each, will be available at the Holiday Tournament this weekend.

The top ten:

8.21  Joseph Dixon, Minneapolis, MN
8.21  Scott Eller, Minneapolis, MN
6.54  Steve Bohnenblust, Mound, MN
6.33  Cynthia Schield, Prescott, WI
6.24  Susan Knauss, Rockville, MN
6.24  Roger Knauss, Rockville, MN
5.30  Julianne Holt, Edina, MN
5.03  Alexander Friedan, Brookline, MA
5.03  Thomas Scruggs, Berkeley, CA
4.83  Mark McGree, Bloomington, MN

Holiday Sectional

 

While some of Minnesota's players are competing in sunny San Diego, plenty of fun is available back home!

December 1-3, The Bridge Center of St. Paul hosts their Holiday Sectional.

Whether you're one of our seasoned experts or an up and coming I/N player, enjoy the season, the hospitality and events at this fun winter event!

The flyer is here; check it out!

Nominations are Open!

 

Do you have interest in serving on Unit 178's Board?  Then your time to act is now!

Nominations are open for three Unit 178 board members.  Terms are for 4 years, and commence on July 1, 2018.

If you think you might be the right person to serve 178, then please contact any current board member or linda.brammer@yahoo.com

Linda Brammer

President, Unit 178

 

 

I Dream of Two Suiters

 

Rich Newell, one of Des Moines' top players, shared a fun article about two suiters with us. Thanks, Rich - and - enjoy, those of you who crave distributional monsters!

 

ATTACK OF THE TWO-SUITERS

by Rich Newell

 

One of my best partners during the Minnesota phase of my bridge habit was a Canadian named Scott Martin who, sadly, died in his mid 40’s.  Anyone who knows me knows I crave 70% games (I have had 3 of them).  For Scott, the dream was being dealt 13 cards in two suits, something I don’t think he ever experienced. 

Well this fall 2-suiters have been running amok in my life.  On October 21 I was with Toby White at a sectional in Omaha and was dealt this hand:

ME                              TOBY

♠ -                                ♠ J73

♥ AKQ7654               ♥ 9

♦ QJT765                   ♦ 984

♣ -                               ♣ KJT975

Unfortunately the opponents were bold enough to bid to the level of 5♠ which makes, so my 6♥ sacrifice was only due to result in an average board.  I got a 4-1 trump split and Toby didn’t provide any assistance with the diamond suit.  Even more unfortunate, the shock of the hand caused me to lose track of the trump situation and I went down an extra trick for a near zero.

Then on November 7 I found myself in the Los Angeles area at a seminar.  I picked up a partner at the Beverly Hills Bridge Club and this occurred:

ME                              PARTNER

♠ -                                ♠ ??????

♥ -                               ♥ ??

♦ AJT9xxxx                ♦ Kxx

♣ AKJ9x                     ♣ Qx

The auction started 1♦ by me, 1NT by LHO, 2♠ by partner.  Now I bid a timid 3♣ which was about to end the auction until RHO chimed in 3♥.  Now 4♦ by me, 4♥ by LHO, 5♦ by me, and 5♥ by RHO to end the auction.  I really didn’t think I had too much defense although I probably should have doubled out of principle since partner made a free bid and RHO procrastinated.

Dummy came down:

♠ AKTx                                  

♥ AQxx                                  

♦ Q                 

♣ Txxx                       

I turned to LHO and inquired why she didn’t make a takeout double over 1♦?  Well she was clearly a beginner who was not well versed in doubles, so she bid 1NT to show her 15 HCP.  Declarer had six hearts and two queens to her name, going down two and scoring a top board.  I was quite dumbfounded by the turn of events.

 

The trifecta just arrived today, November 14.  This hand was in a BBO ACBL matchpoint game and was much kinder to me:

ME                              BOT (CHO)

♠ AKQJ65                  ♠ -

♥ AKJ8753                ♥ Q92

♦ -                                ♦ JT754

♣ -                               ♣ QJ985

The bot in front of me opened 1♦ making my task simple enough.  I bid 2♦, partner bid 2♥, and I raised to 7♥ which scored 86%: 4 people tied this result, 11 weren’t in a grand, and 2 didn’t ruff out a spade and went down.

 

SO EXACTLY HOW LIKELY IS ALL THIS?

 

The probability of getting all 13 of your cards from 26 particular cards in the deck is:

26C13 / 52C13 = 1 in 61,055

But this would be for a specific situation like hearts and spades.  As there are 4C2 = 6 ways to choose which two suits your cards will come from, it becomes 

6 x 26C13 / 52C13 = 1 in 10,176.

If you play one game of 26 hands of bridge every week, you would expect to be dealt one 2-suiter every 7 ½ years.  It’s quite amazing that I was dealt three of them in less than a month.   

Smile! And - Support Bridge!

 

Minnesota Bridge Education joined the Amazon Smile family of charities. Since then, we have earned $94.69, an amount about equal to the cost of 12 bidding boxes for the new U of M bridge club, one of our charity's main benefactors.

 

Every contribution helps us work toward our goal of bringing new players to this great game!

 

To help us earn more Amazon Smile dollars, simple select our charity when you shop at Amazon through the Amazon Smile site (There is no price difference when using Smile vs non Smile). 

 

To learn more about MN Bridge Education, check out the link on the left hand side to our Article or Incorporation or contact Sue Jackson at sjackson@smumn.edu

 

Thank you - and - thanks for supporting bridge!

Tuesday At Carleton Bridge Club

 

Recently, your intrepid webmaster headed south to Carleton College to kibitz and chat with members of the Carleton Bridge Club.  Great to see smiles from students as they headed into the lion's den to compete against one another.

 

 

Some faces were familiar; some new.  And after watching for a bit, not difficult to determine that some students had been studying, learning and playing for some time; others were just sticking their toes into the "bridge pool."

 

 

Irrespective of their knowledge base, however, all the players were having a great time!

 

We were thrilled to see some of the students at our Autumn Sectional in Oakdale - with one pair achieving first in their flight!  Alexander Frieden (Carlton Bridge Club President) and Thomas Scruggs placed 8th in Flight A, 4th in Flight B and FIRST in Flight C with an almost 59% game!

5.03

8

4

1

Alexander Frieden, Brookline MA; Thomas Scruggs, Berkeley CA

58.94%

 

 

Last night, two teams of Carleton students entered the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club Swiss Team event! 

 

 

And - they are having a blast! 

Bridge is challenging, intriguing, infinitely interesting - and - FUN!

Autumn Harvest Sectional Results

 

The Autumn Harvest Sectional, held at the Oak Marsh Golf Club, had autumn views the first day. But - come Friday - "Mid Winter" appeared a more appropriate description!  Fortunately, however, the elements did not prevent a huge number of players coming out to compete!  Tournament Co-Chairs Kerry Holloway and Keith Thompson not only found a fine location last minute when the originally scheduled place was no longer available, they and their volunteers organized a sectional that many enjoyed tremendously.  In just 3 days, 279 players attended, and we had 258 tables of bridge players!

Of course, bridge players always want to know "how did those competitors do?" and we have the answers for you. At the top of the masterpoint list, we find two well known names:  Tony Ames and Paolo Ranaldi. This partnership earned an impressive 34.61 masterpoints, with the partnership of Carole Miner and John Koch next in line with 28.01. Special recognition to Kerry Holloway, who somehow managed to work long hours every day and yet rack up 24.20.  The masterpoint list can be found here; results for each event are here.

 

 

For those of us hoping for a strong new generation of players, the sectional provided this tidbit of news. Carleton Bridge Club members, President Alexander Frieden and partner Thomas Scruggs, scored almost 59% in the open pairs, first in Flight C. We look forward to more and more of our juniors players to competing in tournaments and were delighted to have them!

And now - a report from Co-Chairs Kerry and Keith.  Big thanks to them - along with all the other people who delivered a winter wonderland of an autumn sectional!

 

A huge thank you to all the players who attended the MN Fall Autumn Harvest Sectional. Without players the tournament would be like a yacht without a breeze. 

 

We planned for 170 tables and hoped for 200. A total of 258 showed up! With a nice turnout, it is easier to provide some measure of hospitality. 

 

Another thank you goes to our tournament directors Kim Hayward and Brian Weikle, who did a great job handling the extra tables. A third thank you to our volunteers, Maureen Weiman, Carrie Kaplan, and Sandy Nelson. 

 

Finally, watch this space in one week for an announcement of the I/N trophy winners.

 

Please come play again next year. 

Kerry Holloway

Keith Thompson

Tournament Cochairs

Al Malmon - 1929-2017

 

We regret to report that another of our "old guard" players has passed away.  Al Malmon, of Minnetonka, was often found both at duplicate and rubber bridge tables, and more often than not, quite successful at both.

Our thanks to Kerry Holloway and Ron DeHarpporte for sharing thoughts of Al.  

 

Al's obituary can be read here.

 

I remember Al Malmon. Forty years ago I would often see Al at a Bridge tournament, most often partnered by David Clarren. They invariably scored back-to-back 60% games. 

 

Twenty years later he would occasionally substitute in the 5 cent rubber bridge games hosted by David or Joe Rice.  On a couple sunny days, Joe Rice and Jim Hall would meet Al and me at the Oak Ridge Country Club for a round of golf and a few hours of Bridge.

 

Al was always very polite, competitive, and garrulous. Never was there a lull in the conversation when Al was around.

        

    Kerry

 

 

I knew Al well and did some non bridge related business with him.  He had a reputation for high ethics in both

the business world and at the bridge table.  

 

Al usually played with Dave Clarren who was, by most people’s thinking, the best player in the area during those years.

 

    Ron 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand National Teams 2017-2018

 

The season for Grand National Competition has begun! Compete locally in clubs to become eligible - then head to Edina, MN the weekend of May 5th & 6th for the District 14 finals. Teams winning in Flights A, B and C will earn a subsidized trip to the 2018 Summer NABC in Atlanta!

District 14 GNT Coordinator Mike Cassel has flyers about the event below. Don't miss this great opportunity to battled against your peers from across ACBL-land next summer!