January 2012 - saskatoon bridge club

Bridge LessonsWe are happy to report that the Fall Lessons presentedby Ken Connell and Verla Zerebesky were verysuccessful, with record enrolment. Our thanks tothese teachers for their wonderful work.Ken’s popular Easybridge 2 lessons began in January,and continue on Mondays at 7 PM and Thursdays at9 AM, with capable assists from Cathy and Tom Walsh.Ken also offers workshops on selected Saturdays. Callhim at 373-5747 for more information and check theBulletin Boards at the club.A new class on Declarer Play will be presented byVerla, beginning on Thursday, March 8 at 9:30 AM.This 8-week class will include discussion on planningthe hand, trump management, suit development,trump promotion, counting, safety plays and endplays.Please register with Karen Morris 249-4064 or PatDickson 374-0318.Charities SupportedAndy Anderson of Saskatoon and Claire Jones of Reginaadvise that the 2011 charities supported by District 18of the ACBL are the ‘Loaves and Fishes BenevolentFund’ of Red Deer ($2,000), the Emergency HousingExchange of Idaho Falls ($3,000) and the children’sHospital Foundation of Saskatchewan ($3,000). Thefunds for the children’s hospital came from charitygames held in Saskatchewan.Andy is the current President of District 18.Claire is the District 18 member on the ACBLBoard of Directors and webmaster for WASUMI(www.wasumi.org). A very informative site to visit.Those who step forward and serve, deserve credit.AchievementsElaine Crocker and Lynne Monar of Saskatoon are thenational winners of the 2011 Erin Berry Rookie-Masterevent with a score of 72.16%. The event is sponsoredby the Canadian Bridge Foundation. This year, therewere 632 Canadian pairs in the competition.Well done.Jay Anderson and Brent Moulding have qualified toplay in the 2012 Flight B North American Open Pairscompetition on March 20 and 21 in Memphis.Good luck.Masterpoint MilestonesOur Bridge Club has about 365 members. We now havemore Life Masters.New Gold Life Masters, with 2500 masterpoints, areLinda Connell and Ursula Jugnauth.New Silver Life Masters, with 1000 masterpoints, are LyleElmgren, Bob Hope, Marion Mendelsohn, Shirley Porter,Cathy Walsh and Tom Walsh.New Bronze Life Masters, with 500 masterpoints, areGeorges Colin, Lorraine Dixon, Linda Fraser, DeniseGrimard, Pat Jackson, Moe Hnatick, Jack Kernan, GloriaMcPhadden, Karen Morris, Maureen Scott, Lynn Starkand Ray Styranka.The new Life Masters with 300 masterpoints or more, areGord Anweiler, Paul Clemens, Jo Custead, Pegie Lyell,Anne McElroy (missing from photo), Karen Morris, JoanneRobertson and Larry Whitlow. After January 1, 2010, oneneeds 500 masterpoints and the assorted colour points.Well done all.Top Masterpoint AchieversDennis Nelson is the Club King, yet again. Heaccumulated 257 MP in club games and a total of 612in the Mini-McKenney race. Good partners or what? Theothers in the top five were Andy Anderson with 557 MP,Curley Anderson with 496 MP, Jay Anderson with 412MP and John Pulles with 298 MP.We are all impressed and proud of you.

For the LearnersThe two websites described below are excellent.The Larry Cohen site is:bridgecruises_lessons@larryco.comIt contains bridge articles on bidding, defending,declaring, bridge history and information on his bridgecruises. You can sign up, for free, to receive his monthlynewsletter online. It is always interesting.The Mike Lawrence site is: bridgeclues.comIt contains, amongst other things, free daily hands withexpert advice on bidding and playing.Who’s at the TableRuth SandyRuth Sandy had a career as an elementary school teacher.Her first teaching job was undertaken at the tender ageof 17. She claims to be the biological mother of LyleElmgren. Imagine that. She was Lyle’s school teacherfrom grades 2-7. She is still trying to teach him things.He must be a slow learner.Jim SpinneyJim Spinney had a career as a CA. He first played duplicatebridge in 1969. He curls five times a week.Better Defenders• They know the opponent’s bidding system or they ask.• They estimate the number of HCP partner could have.• They defend aggressively, when declarer will make,once in.• They defend passively, when their tricks will likely notgo away.• They think ahead and play in tempo.• They consider declarer’s potential problems.• They put a declarer to an early decisions, becausedeclarer may have other options available and not wantto risk going down early or because they may not havefigured out how to play the hand.• They know that when declarers are playing a contract inan unusual way, they are likely hoping for a defensivemistake.• They try to avoid breaking new suits, unless it isessential.• They try to visualize partner’s potential problems.• They try to avoid end-playing themselves or partner.• They know that honour cards are meant to capture theopponent’s honours.• They known partner’s attitude, count and suit preferencesignals.2013CanadianBridgeChampionshipsIn order to play in the 2013Canadian Bridge WeekChampionship events, onemust have been a paid upmember of the CanadianBridge Federation for theentire year of 2012. Thechampionships will be heldin Toronto from May 25 toJune 1, 2013.