BRIDGE News:
Winners of last week’s games were Cliff Rudy (twice), Michelle Rudy and Jerry Fleming. Bill Dorin from Fort Collins, a long time Los Alamos resident and former member of our bridge club, checked in and asked if there were players he would remember. It turned out there are a few.
Today’s hand is very distributional in the North and East seats, so it’s likely that most auctions will get fairly high fairly fast. That’s exactly what happened in our game.
This is board #16. East is the dealer and E/W are vulnerable.
East opens the bidding with 1♦. With two touching suits of equal length, it is appropriate to open the higher ranking, so that the lower ranking suit can be bid next without getting the level too high. While some in the South seat would be tempted to make a takeout double with this 13 point hand, that should show shortness is the opponent’s suit and support or tolerance for all the other suits. The South hand does not qualify, and so should pass at this turn. The West hand has a solid raise to 2♦, showing some values and at least 5 diamonds.
There’s no way to keep North out of the auction, and he/she will likely bid 2♠. At this point, East will likely jump to 4♦, and South can now enter the auction by bidding 4♠. A good, competitive auction! 4♠ will make easily, but if E/W decides to sacrifice at 5♦, they’ll get doubled and receive a very poor score.
When this hand was played locally, 2 pairs played in 4♠/N, one making 5 and the other making 4. Two pairs played in 4♦/E down 1, and the 5th pair played in 1NT/W making 1.
The Los Alamos Duplicate Bridge Club games are held at the Betty Ehart Senior Activity Center (BESAC) Wednesdays starting at 12:45 p.m., and at the White Rock Senior Activity Center (WRSAC) Mondays at 12:45 p.m.
Check out the Los Alamos Duplicate Bridge Club’s new website at www.ladbc.net to learn what it’s all about, contact the club to get involved, join the fun, and much more. Perhaps you’ve seen the old card game “Bridge“ mentioned in a book or seen it being played on the Orient Express in an old Agatha Christie black-and-white movie. Maybe you’ve even tried to play it in the remote past with Mom and Dad (or even more likely Grandma and Grandpa) around the kitchen table. Well, it hasn’t quite gone the way of the typewriter or film cameras, yet – and, in fact, it has a substantial Free-on-the-Internet presence. LEARN TO PLAY BRIDGE!
That being said, it is a game that needs new and younger Face-to-Face players and, here in Los Alamos the local club is ready to bring you on board with nighttime, after work or weekend, FREE lessons, and playing opportunities.
We have four locations available – the game store in White Rock, the Mesa game store on Central here in Los Alamos, the Los Alamos Public Library, or Smith’s Market! What we need from interested folks is some indication of interest and what day of the week and location would be most convenient. Please reach out to Neill Goltz at 641.236.1170 (neill.goltz2@gmail.com) or Bobby Haynes at 505.753.3249 (rsh@valornet.com) with your questions and preferred time and location!
