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Fireside Chat
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FIRESIDE CHAT APRIL 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome and Announcements
Believer's FireSide Kindling
Bidding with Bridgboy
Guido's Really Important Stuff
Fifee's SolidGold
Hand of the Month
Dealing With Dann
Special Treats
Moogal's FireSide Log
Treble's Table Talk
And Finally Kaltica
=======================================
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hi all!
Welcome to the April, 2003 issue of FireSide
Chat, our monthly newsletter written for and about
our FireSide friends and events.
We hope you enjoy all of this month's articles and
features. Please feel free to write to us with any
comments, questions, ideas, or whatever, that you may
wish to share. This newsletter is for and about you,
and we want you to feel welcome to participate. Just
email Believer at sarastobbe@aol.com or Moogal
at Moocake@aol.com.
A special thanks to all of you who have been sending
us contributions for our "giggle breaks". We appreciate
everything you send, and use as many as we can. Keep
'em coming, please! :-)
OKbridge also offers us an email discussion opportunity,
the Discuss List. You can join that list by emailing them
at Discuss-Request@okbridge.com and put the word 'subscribe'
in the subject line. You can also participate in the
discussions via the OKbridge web site now, just go to the
members area at www.okbridge.com and you'll find the Discuss
List there at the bottom of your opening page.
You can now find our "FireSide Chat" posted at two
different web sites. You can go to OKbridge's web site:
http://www.okbridge.com/membersclub/periodicals/fireside/
Or find it at our FireSide web site:
http://www.firesides.net/thechat.htm
If, for any reason, you do not wish to receive
these mailings, please write to Believer at
sarastobbe@aol.com to be removed from our mailing
list.
===========================================
CURRENT FIRESIDE SCHEDULE
Day Pacific Time Commentator
MON 11:00 A.M. POOKA
MON 5:00 P.M.* BRIDGBOY
TUE 11:00 A.M. BRIDGBOY
TUE 5:30 P.M. MEZZIE
WED 11:00 A.M. FREDW3
WED 5:30 P.M. DIANEW
THU 11:00 A.M. POOKA
THU 5:30 P.M. WISHTRIK
FRI 11:00 A.M. BLUEBEE
FRI 5:30 P.M. KALTICA
SAT 11:00 A.M. WINTAKA/FREDW3
Commentators may change without notice,
according to their availability.
(*starts 1/2 hour earlier on Monday night)
*******************
Although there is no set fee for participating in
these "open to all" sessions, please note that FireSide
Bidding Practice Sessions operate with the support of
those in attendance. For information about how to
become a supporting member, please contact Kaltica at
kaltica@mts.net, Moogal at moocake@aol.com, or
Believer at sarastobbe@aol.com.
Thanks to all of you for supporting the FireSide sessions
in all the many different ways you have of doing so.
We want to thank our commentators for their dedication
and caring. Please, think of them when you are thinking
of taking private lessons, paying a professional to play
tourneys with you, getting involved in a group session
mentoring program... most, if not all, of our commentators
and contributors to this newsletter are available for those
services. Just think how much easier it is to learn
from someone who's already a friend!
*******************
All articles herein (c) 2003 by FireSide Chat.
All rights reserved.
===============================================
BELIEVER'S FIRESIDE KINDLING
============================
April 1, 2003! April Fools Day :-)
Watch carefully, you just don't know what you might find in
this Anniversary Issue of the FireSide Chat! That's right!
I said "Anniversary Issue"... We have now been sending you
this newsletter for 3 years. Hard to believe... our first
issue was April of 2000. Whew, where'd that time go? Thanks
to all of you for your ongoing support and contributions.
You make doing this newsletter a fun thing to do!
********************
Right now, we're just finishing up our second annual "Gator"
tourney -- and what a lot of fun we're having with that!
Normally I'd be a 'bit' intimidated by the big name players
participating in this event -- but a nicer bunch of folks you
couldn't ask to meet. I find myself thinking that they all
seem like the sort of folks I'd like to get to know better.
Moogal and Kaltica both have more detail from this event
in their columns, and we have a neat view from D'Loye in our
"Special Treats" column. Also, you can go to:
http://www.firesides.net/gator.htm
to see how this year's event played out. Don't miss out on
this fun event next time we have it!
********************
When you have a chance, you might want to try playing in the
new Saturday version of the Novice/Mentor tourney. Besides the
regular free Novice/Mentor tourney that Tuna runs for us on the
second Thursday of every month, he now offers a second FREE
Novice/Mentor tourney for our fun on the third Saturday of each
month, at 12:00 P.M. OKb time. We will no longer be holding a
FireSide session at that time, so that you can take advantage
of playing in that tourney instead. We will still have our
Saturday sessions on the other Saturdays though, so remember to
look for us on all but the third Saturday!
********************
http://www.firesides.net/chatline.htm is our newest fun link
at our Firesides website. A bulletin board, chat room type
idea, a place to leave messages for your FireSide friends,
make announcements, find out what's going on... whatever we
want it to be! Go check it out! And be sure to say "hi" while
you're there :-)
********************
For something fun and interesting to try out, read on:
I've been participating in the following project of Brian's
for over a year now, and I think it's neat :-) If nothing
else, it's a fascinating screen saver! I never notice any
lag time or interference in the use of my computer at all, and
who knows, maybe.... just maybe...
From Brian Meadows:
I have set up an OKBridge members group as part of the SETI
(Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) at home initiative.
For those unfamiliar with SETI at home, it's a project to allow
internet users to donate *unused* processing power on their PCs
to a project to screen the signals received from the Arecibo
radio telescope, looking for groups of signals which might be
evidence of alien civilizations.
Running this software doesn't affect your PC in any way, it
either runs as a screen saver or crunches away quietly in the
background, and once in a while it will ask you (user
configurable option) whether it can upload the current chunk of
data and download some more.
If you want to read more about the SETI at home initiative, the
WWW site is http://setiathome.berkeley.edu, where you'll find
more information about the project than you'd want to read.
If you decide you'd like to join the OKBridge group, it's called
"OKBridge members". I've written a step-by-step guide to
installing the Windows version of the software and joining the
group, you can get a copy by sending a blank e-mail to
seti@wellsborocomputing.com and the autoresponder will return
the instructions for downloading and joining the group.
********************
You can write to Believer (Sara Stobbe) at:
sarastobbe@aol.com
============================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Benson for these 'one-liners':
Creditors have better memory than debtors.
Love is grand, divorce is a hundred grand
Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.
Stupidity got us into this mess -- why can't it get us out?
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you
just sit there.
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a
horrible warning.
I've been telling my wife for 37 years that diamonds look tacky
on younger women. So far, it has worked.
Sound travels slowly. Sometimes the things you say when your
kids are teenagers don't reach them till they're in their 40's.
Driver carries no cash. He's married
=================================================
BIDDING WITH BRIDGBOY
=====================
There is always one hand that is the talk of any major bridge
tournament. This is the one from the recent NABC in Philly.
You pick up this red suit collection:
S void
H AKxxxxx
D AKxxxx
C void
Now, after readjusting your glasses (where are the black
cards??) you have to decide how to bid this red wonder. I can
suggest several approaches to this hand, and many were tried
throughout the session I am sure. You could try a sneaky
pass, hoping to get doubled later in the auction, knowing in
your heart of hearts this hand is not getting passed out. I am
sure Colin is smiling at that approach! You certainly can
open 2C -- if ever there were a hand that was game forcing,
this is it. Or you might just try for the straightforward
approach and open 1H planning on rebidding lots of diamonds
later.
Let us see if we can decide which to try. If we open 2C, that
will alert partner that our hand is strong, but partner still
has no idea what our hand looks like. With so much shape on
this hand the opponents will certainly not sit idly by and
allow us to slowly describe our hand to partner. If we open
2C, it will go 5C by lefty with a double from partner, back to
us, and we have done nothing yet to describe our hand.
Do you see why opening 2C has a real downside whenever we have
powerful two suited hands? It is much better to open 1-of-a-
suit -- at least we have started describing our suits to
partner and we can sort out the strength issue later. After
2c-5c-X-p-? it is a total guess what to do now, as we could
have slam in either red suit, or not, and we are at the five
level.
Bidding is supposed to solve these types of problems, not
create them! It is more important to at least show our suits.
So let's go with opening 1H! And, by the way, have you
chosen a rebid yet? I suggest 6D, which should get the picture
of our very red hand across to partner. Partner won't even
need reading glasses to see 13 red cards, or at the very least
12 red cards with no black suit loser. Partner then can look
at his red suit holding and decide which suit to prefer, and
whether to raise to 7 or not.
Let's say we all vote now to open 1H with a 6D rebid over any
expected black suit bid by partner or opponents. On this
hand, partner will raise to 7D which is cold. Partner had a
stiff heart and 4 diamonds to the queen! What a nice partner!
********************
You can find Bridgboy (Bob Lavin) doing his FireSide
sessions on Monday evenings at 5:00 p.m., and Tuesdays
at 11:00 a.m. OKbridge time.
Anyone interested in one-on-one lessons on any topic of
the game may contact Bob at bridgboy@charter.net
===================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to BobW for this Groaner!
Finally, a human being has been successfully cloned in
Holland.
He was perfect in every way, except for his remarkable
attachment to foul language, scatological humor, offensive
gestures, and exposing himself in public. While the
experiment was successful beyond everyone's wildest dreams,
this one quirk was a huge psychological embarrassment. No
matter what the scientists tried, they couldn't get the clone
to change.
Finally, the enraged scientist in charge of the project pushed
him out the window, and the clone fell - SPLAT - to his death.
Colleagues were appalled, but also relieved. Since the clone
wasn't an actual human, the legal system couldn't figure out
how the scientist should be charged.
Prosecutors finally charged him with making an obscene clone
fall.
=====================================================
GUIDO'S REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF
==============================
My Best Leads of the Twenty-First Century
by Paul Friedman
!
********************
You can email Guido at: paulfriedman@attbi.com
================================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Eleanor for this one:
A woman gets home, screeches her car into the driveway, runs
into the house, slams the door and shouts at the top of her
lungs, "Honey, pack your bags. I won the lottery!"
The husband says, "Oh my word! What should I pack, beach stuff
or mountain stuff?"
"It doesn't matter," she says. "Just get out."
================================================================
FIFEE'S SOLIDGOLD
=================
By Patricia Anderson
Troubles with Doubles
Thank you for your emails regarding the Troubles with Doubles
Column in the February Newsletter! Keep 'em coming!
Next month we will offer classes with Tuna on his redoubling
methods. He has written the authoritative book, "The Trouble with
Redoubles." If you ask him, he will send you an autographed
copy.
To recap: In our last column, we discussed Takeout Doubles and
what we should expect if partner makes a Takeout Double. Our
ideal Takeout Double in immediate seat over opponent's bid would
show:
1. 4 card support in any unbid major
2. 3 card support in any unbid minor
3. An opening hand
4. Shortness in opponent's suit (singleton or doubleton)
Of course we seldom have the "Perfect" Takeout Double, so we
suggested that one less card in a suit requirement would be 1
flaw. Another flaw would be 3 in the opponent's suit. Another
flaw would be slightly less than opening hand. Goldway treatments
allow a Takeout Double with 1 or 2 flaws, but more than 2 flaws
is unacceptable.
Any serious partnership should discuss and agree to definitions
for doubles and responses. Following are some recommended
responses to a Takeout Double when the double was made
immediately over opponent's bid by unpassed hand.
This month we will talk about Partner's (or Advancer's) Responses
to an Immediate Takeout Double. Goldway uses disciplined
responses to Takeout Doubles so discussion with partner is very
important! If you can count on partner's responses to fit in an
agreed range, then it is much easier to know whether you should
bid game or stop in partscore. These are the guidelines which
we recommend you use when partner makes a Takeout Double and the
opponents pass to you:
With 0 to 7 or a bad 8 points -
Bid your longest and strongest suit, no jump. If you have 4 cards
in an unbid major, bid it now. Bypass a longer minor to show a 4
card major with a weak hand. Longer unbid suits should add trick
taking potential to your hand, so use this in hand evaluation.
Example response hand:
S Q43
H 852
D QJT85
C J6
North East South West
1H Double Pass ?
Bid 2D with this hand. 0-7 HCP
With 8+ to 12 points -
Jump in your suit. Example response hand:
S Q43
H 852
D AQJT85
C J
North East South West
1H Double Pass ?
Jump to 3D with this hand with 8+ to 12 HCP
With 13+ points -
Cuebid with a game going hand. Partner will show his best unbid
major now unless he has a strong hand with a long minor and was
planning to double and then bid his suit to show strength.
Example response hand:
S KQ43
H 852
D AQJT5
C J
North East South West
1H Double Pass ?
Cuebid 2H with this hand showing game going strength.
Responding to Partner's Takeout Double After Interference:
If opponents interfere by bidding after your partner's Takeout
Double, bid your own suit (free bid) at the 1 level with 6-8+,
etc. Make a free bid over interference at the 2 level with extra
length or strength.
If opponents redouble, bid a long suit over redouble to show
partner a good escape. He should not count on you for points.
Opponents opened, he made Takeout Double and opponents redoubled,
so not many points left. If you do have points here, then
cuebid or jump to give partner this information.
Please note that Goldway makes exceptions if the Takeout Doubler
has passed originally or if he is in balancing position. For
example:
You are North and pass originally.
North East South West
Pass 1H Pass 2H
Double
South hand:
S JT53
H 4
D AJT8
C QJ53
Since you are a passed hand, your double should show less than
opening hand but shortness in Hearts and tolerance for any suit
bid by partner. Partner's response should be conservative since
you are a passed hand.
We recommend that the partner with shortness in Hearts should
take action here as soon as possible.
You are South and pass originally.
North East South West
Pass 1H Pass 2H
Pass Pass Double
South could hold:
S K864
H 2
D QJ94
C KT43
South should have shortness in Hearts and may be light in
balancing position, but have tolerance for any suit named by
partner. We refer to this as a Balancing Double. Again North
should be cautious with his response.
Now let's see how much Trouble with Doubles we have with the
following hands. Please send your answers to the following
questions and any comments to bandersn@mountain.net. I will
respond with our analyses and recommendations.
1. No one is Vulnerable. You are West and hold
S J963
H AKT4
D 982
C KQ
and bidding has proceeded:
North East South West
1S Double Pass ?
What is your bid?
2. NS is Vulnerable. You are West and hold:
S KQT8
H 74
D QT96
C 732
And bidding has proceeded:
North East South West
1H Double Pass ?
What is your bid?
3. No one is Vulnerable. You are West and hold:
S QJ52
H K76
D AT85
C 73
And bidding has proceeded:
North East South West
1D Double Pass ?
What is your bid?
4. Everyone is Vulnerable. You are West and hold:
S AQT43
H 92
D AT875
C 3
And bidding has proceeded:
North East South West
1H Double Pass ?
What is your bid?
5. EW is Vulnerable. You are North and the bidding is dying at an
early stage.
North East South West
1S Pass Pass
As North you hold:
S KJ7
H QT8
D K976
C QJ6
What is your bid?
6. No one is Vulnerable. You are East and hold:
S JT53
H 7
D AQT3
C Q987
The Bidding proceeds:
North East South West
1H Pass 2H Pass
Pass ?
What is your bid?
Please send your bids and comments or questions to
bandersn@mountain.net. Looking forward to hearing from you !
================================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks (I think) to Benson for these awful groaners:
Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.
A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says "I'll
serve you, but don't start anything."
A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we
don't serve food in here."
A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm
and says, "A beer please, and one for the road."
Two aerials meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The
ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was brilliant.
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other, "Does
this taste funny to you?"
Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy
says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true, no bull."
Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, "I've lost my
electron." The other says, Are you sure?" The first replies,
"Yes, I'm positive."
I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I
couldn't find any.
I went to the butcher shop the other day and I bet him $50
that he couldn't reach the meat on the top shelf. He said,
"No, the steaks are too high."
What do you call a fish with with no eyes? A fsh.
================================================================
HAND OF THE MONTH
=================
(A huge 'thank you' to Gail Wix for all her hard work putting
this together for us! We couldn't do this without her help!)
From The 2003 Daily Bridge Calendar. For more information
call 1-888-453-1976, or email: calendar@interlog.com
********************
Vul: N/S North
Dlr: W S Q62
H J7
D AJ2
C AK762
South
S AJ7
H 8543
D KQT4
C T9
West North East South
1C 2S* 2NT
3H 3NT All pass
*weak
Opening Lead... S8
This deal occurred during the 1957 American Masters' Individual,
when 16-18 notrumps ruled the roost. Still, with that excellent
five-card club suit, I [Phillip Alder] think the North hand is
worth 16 points.
You are allowed to win the first trick with the SJ. How would
you continue?
(*Calendar Ed. note: If you can figure this one out, there are
people out there who will *pay* to play with you.)
*****************************************
S Q62
H J7
D AJ2
C AK762
S 84 S KT953
H AQT962 H K
D 83 D 9765
C J84 C Q53
S AJ7
H 8543
D KQT4
C T9
Contract: 3NT Lead: S8
********************
East's 2S weak jump overcall looks like something from
1997, not 1957, but that's what he did.
West surely has six hearts for his bid. Yet if he had all
three top honors, surely he would have led the sit. So, East
is marked with a singleton high honor. But declarer realized
that he would have to let the defenders in if he was to
establish dummy's clubs and at that point, unless East's
singleton was the HA, the defenders would presumably run the
hearts.
Consequently, the unnamed South led a low heart at trick two!
Understandably, West -- the player who reported the hand --
went up with his HQ, and now the contract was unbeatable.
East won with his HK perforce and shifted to a diamond, but
declarer won in hand and ran the C9. South ended up with ten
tricks: two spades, four diamonds and four clubs.
**********************
Hand and analysis by Phillip Alder, courtesy of the
Daily Bridge Calendar, published by Ashlar House Inc.,
Brampton, ON, Canada. Reprinted with permission.
(Special thanks to Lee Daugherty and Dann Kramer.)
===================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
A big thanks to O_Bones for this giggle:
A linguistics professor was lecturing his class. "In English,"
he explained, "a double negative forms a positive. In some
languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still a
negative." "However," the professor continued, "there is no
language wherein a double positive can form a negative." A
voice from the back of the room piped up. "Yeah, right."
====================================================
DEALING WITH DANN
==================
Two-Suited Hands, Part 3
Last month we discussed reversing with a two-suited hand.
Now for an advanced toy -- responding to partner's reverse. If
you are familiar with Lebensohl, it's the same idea. Suppose
our auction goes:
1D-1S
2H (there goes partner reversing on us)
Preferred responses:
2NT (I have little, partner -- sorry I responded;
non-forcing.
If opener returns to their first bid suit after a 2NT
call that is sign off.)
2S (Any rebid of responders original suit is forcing and
lengthens the suit to 5+ . This allows us to find a
possible 5-3 or 6-2 fit after partner reverses)
Since 2NT is our only non-forcing bid, a return to partner's
first bid suit becomes constructive and puts the ball back in
partner's court. Generally we start a Q-bidding sequence, but
if we have a poor reverse we can attempt a bail-out in 3NT.
1D-1S
2H- 3D moving along
- 3NT sorry, partner, a poor reverse, probably 17 and a
club stop but some flaw -- don't get excited with
only a 9 count or so.
- 3H first round control, encouraging more input from partner.
If we respond in the 4'th suit to partners reverse it
should be natural, and show a great hand probing for a 3
card fit from partner for one of our (responders) suits,
and slammish if we find a fit.
A raise of reverse suit, such as,
1D-1S
2H-3H suggests a fit and moves along, so the theory of fast
arrival applies.
2H-4H suggest a-fit and minimum response (no side controls).
2H-3NT stuff for game but soft stoppers in either or both of
partners non suits and a poor fit at best in partners
first suit (xxx possible but never 4).
In review, if we reverse and partner doesn't bid 2NT, we are
in a game force auction! This takes away any "is it forcing"
questions and allows room to probe for a possible minor suit
slam.
I hope this sheds some light for all of you on the dreaded 2
suited strong hands and how we can better handle them. As usual,
knowledge is not as good as experience, but forewarned is
forearmed!
As usual, Happy Bridging All!
*******************
You will find Pooka (Dann Kramer) doing his FireSide
sessions on Monday and Thursday mornings, at 11:00 a.m.
OKbridge time.
Dann is available for one-on-one lessons, group mentoring
sessions, and/or tourney play.
For more information, write Dann at: Dann-Kramer@shaw.ca
===================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thank you to Luc for this giggle:
Stock Market Report:
Helium was up.
Feathers were down.
Paper was stationary.
Fluorescent tubing was dimmed in light trading.
Knives were up sharply.
Cows steered into a bull market.
Pencils lost a few points.
Hiking equipment was trailing.
Elevators rose, while escalators continued their slow decline.
Weights were up in heavy trading.
Light switches were off.
Mining equipment hit rock bottom.
Diapers remain unchanged.
Shipping lines stayed at an even keel.
The market for raisins dried up.
Coca Cola fizzled.
Caterpillar stock inched up a bit.
Sun peaked at midday.
Balloon prices were inflated.
And, Scott Tissue touched a new bottom.
=====================================================
SPECIAL TREATS
==============
D'Loye sends us her thoughts on this year's Gator tourney --
neat stuff, D! Thanks a bunch! Keep 'em coming!
********************
It's a What?
It's a Gator. I can't talk on the phone this weekend, Mother.
I'm playing in the Gator.
So let me get this straight, you're going to sit at your
computer, play bridge all weekend and call that FUN??
Nope, not going to call it fun, it will be fun.
And it was. Losing in the first round was pretty disappointing,
but we picked up our marbles and were able to play in a second
and I even got to watch the third and fourth rounds, with a
gallery that felt like half of OKb. Since the losing teams get
"picked up" by the victors, the bench just gets deeper and deeper
as the event progresses. And I'll probably be right there
trying to line up a team for the next Gator. With the
computer, the number of spectators is nearly unlimited. What a
deal. Bridge, wits and wags. Even with spring beckoning from
my window, I didn't manage to get out much. Just having too
much fun. Yup. It's a Gator. And I would venture that it's
about as much fun as you can have with a mix of novice/
intermediate players, right up through some of the best card
tossers around. Hope to see you there next year. Maybe a semi
annual event Colin?
=====================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Benson for this giggle:
This is for all grandparents to have fun with their young
grand-children!
Who is bigger? Mrs. Bigger or Mrs. Bigger's baby?
Answer: Mrs. Bigger's baby. He is just a "little" bigger!
===========================================================
MOOGAL'S FIRESIDE LOG
======================
OKB Tourneys
Well done to all our Fireside friends who excelled in
the tourneys this past month!!
Sun Mar 16 15:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 sam143/Wintaka 68.33 12
Wed Mar 19 19:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 mcphee/rac 2.80 12
Fri Mar 28 16:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 mcphee/miccia 70.25 12
****************************************************************
NOVICE MENTOR TOURNEYS
Congrats to Sandra (QUEENHRT) and her partner AndyEdw, and to
Lucy (LUC) and her partner onaping for winning the two Novice
Mentor tourneys in February.
And well done to all our top finishers:
Thu Mar 13 18:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 AndyEdw/queenhrt 66.00 20
2 bruinal/kentw 60.84 20
3 cesar/jackl 60.24 20
4 greta123/spednic 59.93 20
5 dwidman/mam105 56.12 20
6 DCorn/lagringa 55.83 20
7 luc/Rasputin 55.22 19
8 curls/gladys 53.99 19
9 DavidRG/merrygal 51.76 20
10 hahaha48/nancor 51.70 19
11 glenda/SUSIMC 50.18 20
Sat Mar 15 12:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 luc/onaping 65.60 19
2 isabela/obi 59.89 20
3 marjking/sannick 58.11 20
4 gaus271/taxlady 56.36 20
5 misterx/roann 55.95 18
6 fcd/Petunia 54.71 20
7 mayb/okpaula 53.95 19
8 altaya/mab 53.93 20
9 AndyEdw/David100 50.95 18
So, mentors and novices, join us this month on the 10'th and on
the 19'th - email Sandra at sandree@attbi.com if you would like
to find a partner ahead of time. We'll do our best to match
you up! I promise you a fun evening.
****************************************************************
MENTOR CUP GAME
March 2: Team ANDRE55: Andre55, JanetE, Jundith and Hawes
March 16: Team BOBOWEN: Bobowen, Queenhrt, Pringle and Unicorn
Well done Teams Andre55 and Bobowen!
Visit our website at www.firesides.net/mtc.htm for info and
lists of all our top placing stars. To get on the email reminder
list for these games, contact me moocake@aol.com - all welcome!
****************************************************************
FIRESIDE NEWS
As you have probably heard, OKB and 5th Chair have added a
second Novice Mentor Tourney on the third Saturday of each
month at Noon OKB time. We will be canceling our Fireside
session on that day and we hope you will take part in the NM
tourney instead. Bill and Fred look forward to seeing you on
the other Saturdays of the month!
****************************************************************
FIRESIDE FUND
Ben (BENSON) has made a special donation to Fireside in honor
of his partner Al (ALBERTB):
Albert will be 88 years 'young' on April 4. He was left on a
doorstep at an orphanage at birth. Hence, he was given his
'birth date' on the date he was found there (4/4/15).
He is still Treasurer of his county Republican party
(Wisconsin State Republican Party). He continues to lobby for
WWII veterans. He manages to play 9 holes of golf (weather
permitting) every Monday and Wednesday. And he still plays
the organ at his church every Sunday. Incidentally, he
donated the organ to his church.
A happy, happy birthday Al!
****************************************************************
Olivia (BAOL) has a challenge for our readers:
As you may have observed, Juliet (JUST-J) and I have become
partners. I will be 86 on March 31 and Juliet will be 83 on
May 19. Is there any partnership whose total age is higher?
Incidentally, it was a casual remark by DavidRG to Juliet
about my age that led to her contacting me about playing
together. Thanks David!
Quite an inspiration to the rest of us, Olivia and Juliet!
Many of you will remember Juliet's late husband Glenn (GORJ),
and her son, also Glenn, currently plays on OKB under the
username Iowa.
****************************************************************
CNTC 2003
It was a clean Fireside sweep in the qualifying match to
represent Manitoba in the Canadian National Teams this summer.
After a long drive to Thunder Bay for the qualifying session,
Bill (WINTAKA) and his team won the A side, and Colin
(KALTICA) and his team won the B side! Congrats to our FS
Winnipeggers! Go get 'em in Penticton in June!
****************************************************************
2003 Annual Fireside Gator
**************************
What can I say? We had THE BEST time at the Gator Tourney.
We have so many people to thank....first, we owe eternal
gratitude to our celebrity players:
Harmon , DCorn, IraC, DaffyDoc, Mugwump, Seligman, Pef
DBetter, JackL, PamA, HalSimon and Tuna
They selflessly donated two full days of their time and were
so incredibly gracious throughout.
Next, and equally important, thanks to all those who bought
shares -- your support enables us to continue our tradition of
online bridge education with the finest commentators. We
hope you enjoyed the experience and we can't thank you
enough. The same goes, of course, to all our regular
contributors!
We thank the commentators who also gave us their time,
and all the volunteer players who filled out the teams.
Special thanks to Tuna, and OKB, for helping us
publicize the event.
Bottom line, we thank and love everyone!! :)))
So how did things go?
The first round of a Gator is always a fiasco.
Colin insists that F2F/live Gators were even worse,
but I don't know how that could be! Last year's was
daunting enough, but we chalked that up to inexperience.
Little did we expect 2003's startup to be even more
difficult than our inaugural 2002 effort! I *thought*
we were well prepared -- and I imagined all 64 players
happily skipping off to the right table at game time.
Yeah right :) But after some glitches and hitches, though,
we managed to get the first round under way--and only 30
minutes late!
Round #1
63 Mugwump vs Fredw3 7
56 IraC vs PamA 41
56 Kaltica vs Bridgboy 50
52 DCorn vs Pooka 45
62 DaffyDoc vs Wintaka 51
64 Harmon vs Seligman 54
79 DBetter vs DianeW 41
72 JackL vs Tuna 33
When Bridgboy's owners selected Kaltica the fun
started. Team Kaltica's owners, Benson and AlbertB,
staked the team out to a 45-0, yes, 45-0 lead after
10 of the 20 boards. But, as Wintaka and RBrough will
tell you, no lead is safe with Colin at the table!
10 boards later Team Kaltica squeaked out a mere 6, yes,
SIX IMP win. Benson was wondering if it was too
late to change his share selection.:)
On to round 2!
Round #2
73 Kaltica vs Mugwump 69
49 DCorn vs DBetter 40
69 IraC vs JackL 26
68 Harmon vs DaffyDoc 33
Team Kaltica relied largely on its owners,
AlbertB and Benson, and its acquisition of
Bridgboy-RCoop (who played all 20 boards) to
get past a strong Team Mugwump by a mere 4 IMPs.
DCorn didn't waste too many IMPs beating Team
DBetter, either. Team IraC was very happy to
add JackL to the fold with a convincing win.
The Team Harmon steamroller, augmented by
Seligman-Pef, kept chugging along, this time
adding Daffydoc to his corner.
Round #3:
21 Kaltica vs IraC 10
68 Harmon vs DCorn 24
Team Kaltica threw enough bodies at Team IraC
to confuse both parties and the scoreboard. When
the smoke cleared only the margin of victory (+11
for Kaltica) was evident. Even DCorn's strong
squad could not resist Hurricane Harmon.
This means that the alliances for the 2003
Gator Final showdown were:
Harmon Kaltica
****** *******
DCorn IraC
DaffyDoc Mugwump
Seligman-Pef Bridgboy
DBetter JackL
DianeW PamA
Wintaka Tuna
Pooka Fredw3
The Final involved four 6-board segments.
Harmon Kaltica
1st Qtr 3 8
This was the only segment that Team Harmon lost
in the entire Gator! Tuna-JackL and IraC-Halsimon
played brilliantly for Team Kaltica here. For the
spectators, Tuna's antics and the joking and joshing
that went on in this segment may have been one of the
many highlights of the event.
2nd Qtr 15 8
Solid play by IraC-Bridgboy kept this set close.
Clearly, though, the tide was turning inexorably in
favour of Team Harmon.
3rd Qtr 18 14
This set had the most interesting hands: a
grand slam, a small slam and three difficult games.
I knew Seligman and Pef weren't going to play a
wrong card -- my heart was pounding as I bid those
slams! As usual, Eric refused to send me meds.:)
4th Qtr 34 12
RCoop-Bridgboy held up well under strong pressure
from Harmon-DBetter but flawless play by Seligman and
Pef over Colin and me settled the issue. I wondered whom
I could bribe at OKB to withhold the evidence of my play
from our teammies at the other table.:)
Total 68 44
Congratulations to Team Harmon on a well-earned
Gator victory!
My favorite line of the Gator: Bob (BRIDGBOY) comes back to
our table to compare scores (playing on team KALTICA at
this point). Staring dolefully at his emailed results, he
says "I've had a minus seventeen twice in my life, and both
times it was playing on a team with Colin." :)))
See you next year, at the Gator!
****************************************************************
Here's one hand from the Gator, with commentary by Bob
(BRIDGBOY) to whet your appetite for playing next year:)
Whenever you are locked in a close match all hands are
important. Here is the last board of our match against a
favored team. You pick up:
S J32
H 43
D 532
C AKJ42
A decent collection for a one bid hand. Partner opens 1D and
you bid 1NT. Partner now rebids 3D and you have to think and
decide what to do now! Your diamond fit is decent. Your nice
side suit is good. the rest of your hand is marginal. It is a
guess what to do now.
Let us now change the auction slightly to help us decide what
to bid. The auction starts:
Partner RHO You LHO
1D p 1NT 2S(overcall)
3D (free bid) 3S ?
The auction now is clearer. Partner has the same good hand but
has nothing of value in spades. In fact he has at most one
spade, if that. So counting probable losers you can see that
we have a great play for 5D.
Give partner 16 points with nothing in spades and you can see
that we should be able to place most of the high cards in
diamonds and hearts. The opponents allowed you to diagnose the
stiff spade in partner's hand and made it easier to analyze
the problem. So the next time you are about to make a frisky
3S competitive raise think twice! All you might be doing is
giving the opponents too much information that they can use to
reach a hard-to-get-to game.
By the way, partner had
S void
H Axx
D AKQJxx
C 6xxx
Slam rolled, but getting to game won SIX imps and the match by
FOUR. :)
****************************************************************
Delusions of Grandeur by Richard Pavlicek
Welcome to the Grand Canyon! It took Mother Nature millions of
years to carve the natural wonder in Arizona, but this version
took less than a month. You are playing in the Grand National
Pairs and, incredibly, bid a grand slam on each of the first
six boards. Talk about needing to win some tricks! This is a
play contest open to all bridge players. Try it! It's fun.
http://www.rpbridge.net/7x25.htm
Results of the March bidding poll "Hamman Crewmen at Finis"
(ending March 31) will be posted April 3, 21:00 GMT.
Poll/Quiz: http://www.rpbridge.net/7y25.htm
Analyses: http://www.rpbridge.net/7y32.htm
Scores: http://www.rpbridge.net/7y31.htm
Overall: http://www.rpbridge.net/7w97.htm
Bot Results: http://www.rpbridge.net/7y97.htm
Thanks Richard, and congrats on your *fabulous* 2nd place finish
in the Vanderbilt teams in Philly!
****************************************************************
Philadelphia Fun!
The Philly NABC's were fun and successful for many of our
Fireside friends! Special congrats to Lynnette (LYNKOS)
and PATRICIA for reaching Life Master status while there.
First just some results:
Education Foundation Stratified pairs
144 pairs
MPs Rank Names
1.50 6 John Mayne, US; Jason Flinn, Ann Arbor MI
J. & S. Sprung KO Bkt 1
16 Teams
MPs Rank Names
23.00 3/4 Lynn Deas, Schenectady NY; Curtis Cheek - Hjordis
Eythorsdottir, Huntsville AL; Steven Norvich,
Barrington IL; Harold Mouser Jr, Philadelphia PA
MOLLY MCGUIRE COMP KO #1
16 Teams
MPs Rank Names
12.65 3 Lynn Deas, Schenectady NY; Steven Norvich, Barrington
IL; Hjordis Eythorsdottir, Huntsville AL; Harold
Mouser Jr, Philadelphia PA
BEN FRANKLIN KO BKT 1
15 Teams
MPs Rank Names
20.32 3/4 Lynn Deas, Schenectady NY; Steven Norvich, Barrington
IL; Harold Mouser Jr, Philadelphia PA; Per Olof
Sundelin, Stockholm Sweden; Mark Itabashi, Murrieta
CA
Machlin Women's Swiss
18 Teams
MPs Rank Names Score
6 Lynn Baker, Austin TX; Debbie Rosenberg, New Rochelle
NY; Kerri Sanborn, Stony Point NY; Karen McCallum,
Exeter NH; Lynn Deas, Schenectady NY; Beth Palmer,
Silver Spring MD
Sun-Mon-Tues Side Game
70 Pairs
MPs A B C Names
3.84 3 Robert Lavin, East Longmeadow MA; Patricia Wright,
Charlotte NC
MOLLY MCGUIRE COMP KO #6
16 Teams
MPs Rank Names
4.36 3 Gail Wix, Salt Lake Cty UT; Lynette Koski, Pewaukee WI;
John Rothschild, Elkridge MD; James Mesbur
Fri-Sat Morning Compact K O Brk 3
16 Teams
MPs Rank Names
2.77 4 Judith Hess Fairfield CT; Lynette Koski, Pewaukee WI;
Mindy Aiken - Leland Aiken, Baltimore MD
Sun-Mon-Tues Side Game ( Sun evening )
70 Pairs
MPs A B C Names
2.88 1 Lynette Koski, Pewaukee WI; Gail Wix, Salt Lake
Cty UT
Nittany Lions Morning KO's- M T W Th am.
Bracket 4 16 Teams
9.26 2 James Mesbur, Philadelphia PA; Gail Wix, Salt
Lake Cty UT; Lynette Koski, Pewaukee WI;
Stephen McDevitt, Medford MA
6.18 3/4 Donna Anglin (DONNAA), Hamilton TX;Barbara
Simpson, Godfrey IL; Virginia Wynne, Nixon TX;
Leon Tomaszewski, Boothwyn PA
Womens Pairs
52 Pairs
MPs Rank Names
11.54 21 Sheri Winestock, Las Vegas NV; Diane Walker,
Gaithersburg MD
0-750 KNOCKOUT TEAMS
33 Teams
5.24 5/8 Donna Anglin, Hamilton TX; Leon Tomaszewski,
Boothwyn PA; Virginia Wynne, Nixon TX; Barbara
Simpson, Godfrey IL
Vanderbilt KO Teams
93 Teams
MPs Rank Names
180.00 2 Richard Pavlicek, Fort Lauderdale FL; Lee
Rautenberg - Barnet Shenkin, Boca Raton FL; Michael
Kamil, Holmdel NJ; Martin Fleisher, New York NY;
Bob Jones, Hypoluxo FL
********************
Now some stories:
Bob (BRIDGBOY) wrote:
For those that were not able to get to Philly for the winter
nationals, you missed a fine tournament. Being able to play in
one hotel without leaving the area was great. All the many
fine eating establishments that the city is famous for were
within walking distance. I was also lucky to be able to be
carried to the winners circle many times by my capable
students. I have many hands to tell about but will save them
for future articles in my column right here in the Chat.
Particular congrats to Pat Wright (PATRICIA) who became a life
master at this event. Her hard work certainly has paid off
over the last two+ years. See you all in Long Beach in July!
Patricia added:
The Philadelphia nationals were special for me, indeed. I
became LM playing with my favorite partner and teacher,
Bridgboy. I regard this achievement as just one more step on
the learning ladder of bridge. With Bob's expert help, I
hope to advance further and become a more confident and solid
player.
A nice advertisement for Bob's well-known teaching skills!
Congrats Patricia:)
********************
Of course Gail (GAIL37) has a report for us:
Philadelphia was GREAT! I had such a good time... but then,
don't I always? Prior plans had been made, and I was to meet
James Mesbur (MEZZIE) at the hotel registration desk Sunday at
noon and we would play a KO with Lynette Koski (LYNKOS) and
her pard from home.
At 12:20 pm James still hadn't shown and I was getting pretty
nervous. Then my cell rang...James! He's at the ACBL
registration desk, 3 floors up! A dash up the escalators, find
James, meet Lyn, buy our entry and somewhat out of breath we
sit down to get our convention card filled out. Unfortunately,
we got knocked out immediately, so what are we going to do for
the evening? James, Lynette and I walked a couple of blocks to
a Thai restaurant, had a great meal and made a plan. We'd
play the side game that night. James and I did OK, not
spectacular, but OK.
The plan was for the three of us to do a morning KO starting
Monday morning. Lynette needed a pard for that as her pard
from "home" was leaving on Tuesday, and wouldn't be available
for all the sessions.
We overslept Monday morning. I was ready to go down to the
playing area first, so my assignment was to find a pard for
Lynette. Hanging around the partnership desk, looking for a
2/1 player, available for 4 mornings, not too many Master
Points -- and a young man comes up, looking to fill out a
team. He has no pard so I grabbed him, as he fulfilled all of
Lynette's requirements. James shows up. (Oh, and BTW, did I
mention that James is this really cute, very young man, age
28, and I'm going to adopt him. He looks about 17 and is so
pleasant to play with.) Well, things go well, and we advance
to the next round. That afternoon we play a compact KO and do
well, advancing to 3rd round (Lynette has found another pick-
up pard since Steve [the pard from the morning] is not
available) that evening, losing that but winning the
consolation, which brings us in 3rd, a few gold, a few red,
not quite enough for Lynette to reach her goal of Life Master
:((
Next morning we play the 2nd session of the morning KO and we
win that one! This puts Lynette over the top and she's Life
Master, being guaranteed 3.09 gold, even if we lose the next
morning. By now we've learned a little bit about Steve...
he's 30 yrs old lives in Massachusetts, had played an earlier
KO and won. Lynette says he's a really nice player.
Wed. morning, we are reading the Bulletin (nice article about
our own Lynn Deas [WISHTRIK] on the front page... she's now
top woman in masterpoints -- 23,712 -- and will be more than
that, when we add in her Philly wins) but there on page 4 we
learn that our teammate, Steve McDevitt is the reigning 2002
49er pair! Well, did I pick a ringer for Lynette or what?????
We win our KO this morning, and on to the finals on Thurs
morning.
Unfortunately we lose our final, but still that gives us 4.63
gold, and 4.63 red. So that, along with our compact KO 3rd
place gives us a total of almost 7 gold... more than enough
for Lynette to claim Life Master Status!
An added tidbit about Steve... in Thursday's Bulletin we learn
that on Tuesday, he helped 3 players attain Life Master.
Lynette by reaching the semis, a teammate in an afternoon KO,
and an opponent (who beat them out) in the evening. Steve's
plan is to gain enough Master Points to make Life Master this
summer.
More fun stuff. People I saw, and met. Of course I roomed
with Olivia Barnes (BAOL) and saw Bob Lavin (BRIDGBOY),
Patricia Wright (PATRICIA) who also made Life Master, Lyn Deas
(WISHTRIK), Judith Hess (JUNDITH), Tina McKim (LUCKYLU), Gloria
(GLORIOUS) and Nick France (GANDALF). DIANEW was there, but we
missed each other.... AGAIN! We really have to make a plan for
these Nat'ls, Di. Diane (OBRAVEN) didn't play, but did meet
Olivia a couple of times for dinner and sightseeing.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to meet her, between playing
and trying to find something to eat between sessions.
We has some great food, Thai on Sunday night, Italian on
Tuesday night when Lynette bought celebratory dinner at Sal's
on 12th, and Afghani when a local friend of Jundith picked us
up and took us to the Old City.
Now for my ad for James. I really learned a lot playing w/
him. He is so nice in correcting errors. He doesn't get
upset. If you are looking for a good instructor ... do think
about him. He's a grad student and can use any extra money
that teaching would give him. And he really is the cutest
thing... Gotta go call his mother now, and ask if it would be
ok to adopt him!
PS: Remember at Las Vegas Nat'ls, DavidRG and I were
evacuated from our hotel due to a fire? And remember in
Washington, DC there was a fire alarm which turned out to be
false, but Olivia and I had already walked down 6 flights? (ok
that's easier than the 11 in LV and I had my new knee). Well
guess what? Wed afternoon session, Lynnette and I are playing
side game and the fire alarm goes off. We're told to
evacuate, and we did, but half way down to lobby we're told
it's a false alarm. We continue down anyhow as did many
others and the session was held up 25 min! At least this is
only 4 floors and the escalators are running. We never did
get it together after that, and think we came in dead last in
that session. Anyhow, we go off to dinner and GUESS WHAT????
Hugs to all,
Gail37
********************
Fireside Friends: From Phoenix to Philly on a Quest for
Gold! (sort of like "There and Back Again " - without the
trolls and dwarfs)
By Lynette (LYNKOS)
After our successful KOs in Phoenix, Judy Hess (JUNDITH), Gail
Wix (GAIL37) and I made arrangements to meet again in Philly.
I had reached 300 masterpoints in December but I still needed
3.76 gold for Life Master and they were bound and determined
to help me get it!! Gail convinced Fireside's illustrious
commentator James Mesbur (MEZZIE) who just happens to be
attending grad school in Philly to partner her. What an
excellent choice!
They were to arrive Sunday afternoon, so Judy and I found a
pair to start off the Sat-Sun am compact KOs. We finished 4th
for 1.38 red/1.39 gold. (Our teammies had <95 pts combined
and were so excited to win their 1st gold!)
Ok- I still need 2.37 gold....
Exit Judy - who must return to Ct for work - and enter Gail
and James. My friend from Wisconsin and I team up with them
for the Sun-Mon pm KOs. Her mega masterpoints shoot us up to
the bottom of a rather high bracket and we are knocked out.
No problem - we have the Mon-Thu morning KO's coming up.
Monday morning Gail leaves the room early to find a partner
for me. And what a partner she found! Stephen McDevitt is a
treasure and a joy to play with, and our team wins our first
match handily. In the side game in the afternoon Gail and
James make the overalls in bracket C (way to go!) and I
scratch with a pickup pard to pick up some red points. By
the end of this session James decides we must be made of iron
to play 3 sessions daily for days on end and he begs off the
evening session (Don't know about this younger generation-
they lack stamina!!! LOL) Gail and I pair up for the
evening game and win 1st overall in C. We are on a roll
now......
Tuesday morning we are again successful in our 2nd KO match
and will advance to the semi finals! OMG! I am guaranteed at
least 3rd/4th. Is it enough? I am afraid to look....Gail
says yes, but goes to check. Yippee - even 4th is 3.09 gold so
I have made Life Master! Tears.....sighs...... high Fives!!!
(We make it to the finals Thursday morning and finish 2nd for
a total of 9.26: 4.63 red/4.63 gold!)
And in the compact KO's Tue afternoon and evening we finished
3rd for another 4.36 - again half red and half gold! We
celebrated with a fine dinner that evening and Judy was able
to rejoin us - and gifted me with a magnum of Moet Chandon with
which we toasted our successes after the evening session.
Thank you Judy, Gail and James for your outstanding effort and
support. I hope I will be on your teams when you make LM as
well. What great friends we have in fellow Firesiders!
And a special thanks to the teachers and the commentators at
Fireside who have helped me figure out this "tricky" game!
Colin (KALTICA) can tell you how many times I repeated
lessons, LOL. Thanks also to my 5th Chair mentor Rick Barrett
(RickB) and to Judy's mentor Nick (GANDALF) who taught us 2/1!
I joined OKB 2 years ago - with less than 70 masterpoints. I
feel like Cinderella - and Fireside/OKB is my fairy godmother!
:-)))
My P.S.: Gail's P.S.doesn't actually tell about the full
story of the fire alarm in the restaurant -- 20+ minutes of
claxons and flashing lights -- nor that she is a magnet for
them! They follow her everywhere!
********************
Congrats Lynette!! I would also be drinking champagne if I
ever made Life Master!
I would also like to thank Lynette for cutting and copying her
relevant results from the ACBL bulletin website and emailing
them to me. As I mention each time, I do look thru them, but I
*know* I miss some results that I would love to report. So
don't be shy please, if you have a result in the bulletin that
belongs here, please let me know. I do my best.:)
***************************************************************
Can you believe it, the start of the fourth year of the Fireside
Chat! Thank you for letting us into your email box each month.
Happy holidays to our friends who will be celebrating Easter and
Passover this month. And prayers for the troops that will not be
celebrating with their families this year. May they stay safe
and be home soon.
Hugs....Janice
*********************************************************
Have a comment you'd like to make about the FireSide program?
An event or announcement you'd like to share with the rest of
us? A question you'd like answered? Check out Colin's latest
addition to the Firesides website:
http://www.firesides.net/chatline.htm
********************
Can't remember if this is a Mentor Cup week or when the next
Fireside session is? Get the complete schedule of events at:
www.firesides.net/whatsup.htm
Bookmark this page, and check back often. You don't want to
miss anything!
For those of you who use a credit card to support Fireside,
it's easy now! Go to:
www.firesides.net/support.htm
**********************
FIRESIDE UTILITY SITES
http://www.firesides.net/checker.htm
http://www.firesides.net/dealhand.htm
********************
And if you haven't had a chance to check them out yet,
here are some links to some of the quizzes that Colin has
developed to enlighten us:
www.firesides.net/staymantest.htm
www.firesides.net/sayctest.htm
www.firesides.net/sarctest.htm
www.firesides.net/spectrumtest.htm
www.firesides.net/bidstest.htm
www.firesides/net/IGITSAP.htm
(Note that IGITSAP must be in CAPS.)
Give them a try! They are fun and instructive.
**********************************************************
April Events: (All times Pacific)
===============================
NOVICE/MENTOR TOURNEY:
Thursday, April 10, 6:00 P.M. and Saturday,
April 19, at 12:00 P.M. A low-key introduction
to the tourney experience, sponsored by Fifth Chair...
see www.fifthchair.org for more info on this and
their other services, including getting a mentor.
MENTOR CUP TEAM GAME:
Sundays, 5:00 P.M. April 6 and 20.
See www.firesides.net/mtc.htm for info and lists
of past winners. To get on the mailing list for
this game, email me at moocake@aol.com.
OKSCRIPT SEMINAR:
OKScript seminars are held as demand warrants.
Email Kaltica to schedule a session, usually available
on the same Sunday as the Mentor Cup Game, at 2:30 p.m.
OKScript is an add-on program that saves you many
keystrokes while playing on OKB by sending
prepared text to the table, opps, or lobby at the
push of a button. Try to download the program BEFORE
the seminar by going to www.firesides.net/okscript.htm.
For more information, email Colin at kaltica@mts.net.
FIFTH CHAIR INSTRUCTIONAL EVENTS:
=================================
Interested in getting a mentor to play with you periodically
in your learning of this wonderful game? Please contact
tarsh1@mindspring.com and ask for a mentor.
SAYC Novice Team Game:
Saturdays, at 8:00 a.m. PACIFIC. Newcomers very
welcome! In addition to the team game, there will be
an open table for those waiting to join the team game.
This table will also have a commentator.
2/1 Team Game for intermediate players:
Saturdays, 1:30 p.m. Pacific. Novices are welcome in
spectator mode.
Look for the words FIFTH CHAIR beside the server's name,
in the table notes, to attend either of these sessions
You can also go to the Fifth Chair Foundation webpage:
www.fifthchair.org if you have any bidding questions.
After clicking on the webpage, find the Ask Anything section.
Write an email to Lucy, and she will be most happy to answer
your questions.
********************
Moogal (Janice Kofman) stays busy collecting all sorts
of news about our FireSide family members to share with us.
Please help her out by emailing her any news or stories you
are willing to share with the group.
Janice's email address is moocake@aol.com
=====================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to De for this one:
Dusting.....
"A house becomes a home when you can write 'I love you' on the
furniture."
I can't tell you how many countless hours that I have spent
CLEANING! I used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend
making sure things were just perfect--"in case someone came
over." Then I realized one day that no one came over...they
were all out living life and having fun and helping others!
Now, when people visit, I find no need to explain the
"condition" of my home. They are more interested in hearing
about the things I've been doing while we were apart living
life and having fun. Life is short...ENJOY IT!
Dust if you must...
but wouldn't it be better...
To paint a picture or write a letter?
Bake a cake or plant a seed...
Ponder the difference between want and need?
Dust if you must...
but there's not much time...
With rivers to swim and mountains to climb....
Music to hear and books to read...
Friends to cherish and life to lead.
Dust if you must...
but the world's out there...
With the sun in your eyes and the wind in your hair...
A flutter of snow...
a shower of rain...
This day will not come around again.
Dust if you must...
but bear in mind...
Old age will come and it's not kind...
And when you go...
and go you must...
You yourself...
will make more dust!
========================================================
TREBLE'S TABLE TALK
===================
The Third Man
In my many years of playing bridge, one of the conversations
I remember most vividly is one that I had after a game at a
club that I run on Wednesday evenings with a friend of mine.
He had been playing that afternoon at another club and was
involved in a director ruling that did not go in his favour.
A buddy of ours had stayed to help with the cleanup, and my
friend, who was quite incensed by what had happened in the
afternoon, was unburdening his soul to both of us. I didn't
say a whole lot, and my comments were limited to the facts of
the situation. At that point, our compatriot burst forth with
something quite remarkable and profound that really cut to the
heart of the matter on director calls. I wish somehow that I
could have recalled his comments word for word and put it on
tape, because it was so eloquent and superbly delivered that
it should be required listening for anyone that plays or
directs the game.
The gist of his message was "Do NOT make the director part of
your game!" This was not the first time that my co-manager
had come to me with a tale of woe about how the opponents did
something untoward and he'd felt that he'd been damaged but
was unable to get satisfaction from the director. He, like so
many other players, rather unconsciously got into the habit of
calling the director and using hir as a crutch rather than
simply just PLAYING THE GAME. Sure, there are times in which
you need to get a director to the table to sort out an
irregularity or some other problem, but in my experience, at
least half the director calls are totally unnecessary. The
same goes for the endless interrogation about the opponents'
bids that so many players seem to revel in.
There are several people in our locale that habitually call
the director to the table, and make a "routine" out of it,
just like having two cups of coffee a day. There is nothing
routine or pleasant about a director call, especially when you
are playing "live" bridge. It's a potential source of grief
for everyone at the table. It's very public in nature, and
everyone in the room will know that something is "going on".
For the pair that may have committed an irregularity that
generated the director call, it can be acutely embarrassing.
If they are relatively new players that are not familiar with
the hurly-burly of competitive duplicate bridge, it can be a
major turnoff. For the players that call the director, even
if the ruling goes in their favour, they may not really "win"
in the long run. If their manner was rude and disrespectful,
they will plummet in the estimation of both their opponents
and the director. And if they make liberal use of the
director call over a period of time, the only thing gained
will be a reputation that they are more interested in
achieving victory with the rulebook than with their skill and
wits at the bridge table.
I have a few suggestions for how to reduce the number of
director calls and be able to maintain a pleasant and friendly
atmosphere in the game.
1) The first one is very simple. One of my friends was once
playing in a game at Kate Buckman's Bridge Studio in Toronto
with the manager of the club, Barbara Seagram. The
tranquility was abruptly shattered by a loud bellow of
"DIIIREECTORRR!!". Now, how many times have those of you that
play live bridge heard the exact same thing over and over
again ringing in your ears? Barbara turned to the gentleman
that had made the call and quietly admonished, "I think what
you meant to say was 'Director, please." What a difference it
would make if everyone who felt the need to summon the
director did so in exactly those words and in an audible but
measured and level tone of voice! Now, instead of getting the
sense that a hanging offense has been committed, there has
merely been a slight disruption that the man/woman in charge
will quickly and easily straighten out.
2) Giving and asking for explanations. First, rather than use
the name of a convention in describing an alerted bid, give a
brief but clear explanation. For example, partner opens 2D
which you alert and say "Flannery" when queried about its
meaning. Now, MOST people will know what you are talking
about, but if you are playing against a pair of newcomers or
even rubber bridge players, they may just give you a blank
stare. The proper explanation is "Flannery: five hearts, four
spades and 11-15 points." Another one is 1NT by LHO, 2C by
partner, alerted by you. They ask, of course, and you blurt
out "Cappelletti". More confused expressions and then "What
is that?". It would have taken just a fraction longer to say
in the first place, "Cappelletti: ANY one-suited hand". You
should, therefore, give:
a) the explanation
b) the convention name AND explanation, but NOT
c) just the name of the convention
On the flip side, I've also seen frivolous questions slow the
tempo of the game and create potential unauthorized
information scenarios. Case in point: 1C opening by partner,
and RHO jumps in with an enquiry about the meaning of the bid.
Well, there was no alert, so that's three or more clubs, which
is basic SAYC, so there is NO reason at all to be posing that
question. Sometimes RHO has turned out to have length and
strength in clubs, making the enquiry a "leading" question
(pardon the pun) and somewhat unethical in nature. More
often, however, the question was quite innocent and random in
nature, as RHO had a balanced and nondescript hand. I
sometimes get the impression this happens because asking
questions about the opponents' bids is "the thing to do". It
most certainly is NOT. As my friend Len Doerksen, who is a
director, once said "bridge is a timed event", and these
fatuous enquiries about natural, unalerted bids just clutter
up the airwaves for no reason at all. In a Canadian National
Teams zone final last weekend, the opponents twice opened 1NT,
we overcalled in a suit, unalerted. So instead of the
bidder's LHO simply treating it as natural, the opponent asked
"what is that?". I mean, come on, this is simply a delay of
game. You bid out your hand, and if it turns out there was a
failure to alert, THEN you call the director.
That said, there are a few situations in which you might ask
if there's reason to suspect there has been a failure to
alert. Suppose the opponents are playing 2/1, which usually
incorporates a forcing 1NT response to a major suit opening.
It goes 1H on your left, pass by partner, 1NT on your right,
NOT announced by your LHO as forcing. In this case, it might
be in your interests to ask opener whether the 1NT response
was forcing or not.
3) Misinformation. First of all, I strongly feel that a pair
that constantly gives faulty explanations or forget about a
treatment that they are playing should consider trimming some
of the fat off their convention card. If you ARE playing a
sophisticated and complex bunch of gadgets, then you and
partner have an obligation to demonstrate a command and
mastery of your system. Dave McLellan and I play a very
intricate form of 2/1 with lots of artificial sequences that
we alert and properly explain. One of the things we put on
our convention card was to play 1C-2C as natural and 1C-2D as
Michaels. We have auctions that are WAY more complicated than
that, rhymed off precisely if we're asked about it. But in a
major competition I forgot our agreement on the 2D overcall
after 1C by the opponents not once, not twice, but THREE
times. And so that convention was quickly ditched. At the
club level, what I see happen fairly often is a pair using
something different to compete over a weak notrump opening
than they would over a strong notrump and a mixup happening,
usually because the overcaller bids without thinking first
about the range of the opponents' 1NT. And if I were
directing and had the same pair goof up on their interference
over 1NT consistently, I'd be suggesting they play the same
thing over both strong AND weak notrumps. It's fine to play
conventions and treatments, but if your memory cells can't
retain all the information, you should shed some of the excess
baggage and go onto the slim-fast convention card diet.
Another problem with misinformation situation arises when the
"non-offending" side (and I use the quotation marks for a
reason) calls the director because of an adverse result that
they suffered on the hand. Quite often, one of them makes a
bid that is extremely risky, if not downright silly, and then
comes whining to the director for redress, pleading that s(he)
would have never made that bid if the correct explanation was
provided. I am here to say right now that at least two-thirds
of players that use this argument are whistling through their
teeth and would have made the same bid regardless of what
explanation was given. My only advice here is that when you
find out that misinformation has occurred, did it REALLY
affect your bid or not, and to be honest with yourself. It's
all right to call the director on the misinformation, but when
s(he) asks if it affected your bridge, DON'T take the easy way
out and look for a cheap score adjustment when you know in
your heart of hearts that you would have bid the same way
regardless of the explanation. To do so simply does not serve
the interests of the game in the long run and more
importantly, you will become imbued with lazy bridge habits
and an unnerving tendency to disclaim responsibility for a bad
decision.
4) Hesitations. I've got two pieces of advice here. One I've
been exhorting my partners and students to do until I'm blue
in the face. That is to use the time the opponents are
spending to decide on their bids to anticipate the auction and
be ready with YOUR call in reasonable tempo when your turn
comes. The worst thing to do is take a siesta and go into
shutdown mode when you've made your bid and are waiting for it
to come back around. Say, for example, that you pick up:
S--AKxx H--xx D--AJ10x C--Kxx and open 1D in first seat.
LHO bids 1H and partner bids 1S. RHO pauses for a second and
you should now be thinking, WHAT am I going to do if he jumps
to 4H? Pass, double or bid 4S? If you are taking your nap at
RHO's turn to bid, you will now almost certainly hesitate when
the 4H bid IS made, and if you now pass or double after much
thought, you have just guaranteed a visit to your table by the
director if your partner bids on when it isn't clear-cut to do
so. If you anticipate the preemptive raise and do your
thinking on how to proceed on the opponents' time, then you'll
be in a much better position to make your call without any
noticeable hesitation and then partner will not be restrained
by unauthorized information (UI) in making hir decision. One
last suggestion, which Colin Ward (Kaltica) mentioned once.
Say on the hand above LHO DOES bid 4H and you go into a dither
because you just can't pull the trigger on an immediate
action. Once you are out of tempo, you should err on the side
of BIDDING, since a slow pass or double WILL leave partner
hamstrung, unable to do anything that isn't 100% obvious.
Now we veer over to the scenario where in your view one of
your opponents has gone into the tank and there may be a
problem brewing. Although you can wait until the end of the
hand to call the director, it is better to either beckon him
over at the time of the hesitation so that he can advise the
partner that s(he) has to act based on the values in hir hand
and not make a bid that might be suggested by the hesitation.
Another perfectly acceptable course is to say to the opponents
"It's agreed there was a hesitation?" and if they concur, play
out the hand and get the director at the end if you feel it's
necessary.
The next question is SHOULD you always call the director when
the opponents break tempo? I used to, but have revised my
practice somewhat. If I'm playing against an expert pair that
I respect, they can be depended upon not to use the UI gained
from a hesitation making their decision. Similarly, against
relative novices, THEY would not be prone to benefit from UI
for two reasons. First, they might not notice the hesitation
because of focusing on what on their own actions or simply
because they are to nervous to notice any of partner's
mannerisms. Second, even if they DID notice the hesitation,
they might not be able to interpret the true meaning of it in
the way a more experienced player could. So when I play
against experts or novices, I generally don't call on a
hesitation. Against other levels of players, in the interests
of maintaining the harmony of the game, I will NOT call on a
hesitation the first time it happens. I'll trust them to do
the right thing and not make a bid that is suggested by
partner's indecision. If it appears to me at the end of the
hand that in fact they HAVE taken advantage of the UI, I will
NOT call the director since I forfeited that right once I did
not call at the point of the hesitation. What I do THEN is to
file that pair in my memory cells and that if a break in tempo
situation arises with them in a future game, I WILL call the
director the next time out. To sum up, then, when a
hesitation occurs, my suggestion would be to NOT call when the
opponents are experts or novices, or when it's a pair that
you've never had a problem with before. When it's a repeat
break-in-tempo instance with a pair that DID in your view
benefit from the UI the last time it happened, THEN you should
start calling the director on them.
Anyway, those are my suggestions for improving the tempo and
spirit of our fine game and lightening the workload of our
third man (or woman), our fearless director. See you next
month.
********************
You can write to Wintaka (Bill Treble) at: bbtreble@mts.net
You will find Bill doing his FireSide sessions on Saturdays
at 11:00 A.M. OKbridge time.
Wintaka and Kaltica present classes on:
SAYC (Rainbow Series)
2/1 (Spectrum series)
Precision (Prism Series)
and other selected bridge topics (Kaleidoscope series).
They also offer private/group lessons and/or supervised play
sessions. Email Bill (bbtreble@mts.net) or Colin
(kaltica@mts.net) for more information.
================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Kaltica for this giggle:
Government Workers
A guy stopped at a local gas station and, after filling his
tank, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. He stood by
his car to drink his cola and watched a couple of men working
along the roadside.
One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move
on. The other man came along behind him and filled in the
hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was 25 feet
behind filling in the hole.
The men worked right past the guy with the soft drink and went
on down the road. "I can't stand this," said the man tossing
the can into a trash container and heading down the road
toward the men.
"Hold it, hold it," he said to the men. "Can you tell me
what's going on here with all this digging and refilling?"
"Well, we work for the government and we're just doing our
job," one of the men said. "But one of you is digging a hole
and the other fills it up. You're not accomplishing anything.
Aren't you wasting the taxpayers' money?"
"You don't understand, mister," one of the men said, leaning
on his shovel and wiping his brow. "Normally there's three of
us: me, Elmer and Leroy. I dig the hole, Elmer sticks in the
tree, and Leroy here puts the dirt back. Elmer's job's been
cut... so now it's just me an' Leroy".
===================================================
AND FINALLY KALTICA
===================
Why Are Gators So Much Fun?
***************************
With the successful completion of our second annual
Fireside Gator the time may be right to ask ourselves
why people seem to enjoy them so much. The answer is
quite simple: it appeals to all levels of play and all
forms of interest!
Novice & Intermediate Players:
Gators start out as a participation event. The
ratio of kibitzers to players in the early rounds is
about the same as a normal Club mode game. Developing
novices and intermediates get a rare chance to play
with their favourite Commentators or Celebrity players
in a formal event *without being too intimidated by
throngs of spectators*.
Expert Players:
For experts, playing with and against fellow
experts is a different game from competing with and
against non-experts. In the early rounds the top
players can demonstrate their ability to transcend
the experience gap and form effective partnerships
with novice-intermediates. By contrast, the Final
is a competitive encounter between fairly equal
squads in an environment analogous to top flight
Vugraphed events.
In the days before Lehmans, Gators were a good
indicator of one's skill level -- or, more accurately,
the community's perception of one's skills. If you
were invited to play as one of the 16 you would be
honoured. Otherwise, if, after the sale of shares,
you were one of the first to receive five or more
offers to join teams, you were in the second echelon
of local players. Any newcomer was bound to be
subjected to enumerable "talent biopsies" as game
time approached and owners became more and more
frantic in their quest for bodies.
"Are you someone I might know?" was a question
that a stranger might field early on in the search.
Eventually, this would deteriorate into: "Hey, you,
can you name all four suits in order?" :)
Owners:
In a "real", old-fashioned F2F/live Gator, the
owners were at the heart of the action. The sale of
shares might reflect some rather intense rivalries
between magnates and conglomerates. Once this ended,
a hectic search for the best augmenting players
would ensue. Try to imagine the New York Stock
Exchange, the NASDAQ and the Chicago Board Options
Exchange all happening on the same floor, with the
same people and at the same time. Now pretend that
the Securities and Exchange Commission didn't exist.
No holds barred! That would give us some idea of the
kind of arm-twisting, cajoling, favour collecting,
coercion, bribery, wheeling and dealing that would go
on just before play started.
"You're playing for Johnson's team? Not with
us? Ingrate! After all the things I've done for
you!"
"Sorry, Mom. But they have those pictures of
me at the Mardi Gras!"
The melee would heat up as desperate owners
(who might not even play bridge themselves) looked
for a fourth player. Had these Gators survived into
the era of Masterpoint awards we might have heard:
"Hey, you, how many Masterpoints do you have?"
"What are Masterpoints? I'm the janitor here,
you know."
Sheesh. You would think the mop was a clue! :)
Due to the absence of a gambling element and
the fact that owners have weeks rather than minutes
to organize their teams, things are far less frantic
in our Fireside Gators. Still, sight unseen, I would
be willing to bet dollars to dog biscuits that no
Gator event EVER started on time!
Kibitzers:
At any given moment on OKBridge we may find more
people kibitzing than playing. As the rounds progress,
a Gator provides a great spectacle: eight great
players playing with "all the marbles" on the line.
Fan interest derives from more than just pleasure in
watching fine players show their stuff. Many of these
fans have a stake in what is going on. In short, no
spectator event in bridge--not even a Bermuda Bowl--can
rival a Gator for fan interest and intensity. Indeed,
it might only be surpassed by football (be it World Cup
or Superbowl). Now that is saying something! :)
Organizers:
No one ever got rich running Gators. In live
ones the percentage taken from the pool would cover
directors' fees and the rental of the playing space.
In short, they were run to promote the game, just as
ours are run to promote TEACHING the game.
In the process of organizing such an event one
learns a simple paradox: it is FAR easier to get
48 children to gather at one place at a given time
than to gather 48 adults. I'm betting that every
teacher who ever organized a PTA meeting or grad
ceremony could have told us this! In our two Gators,
of 29 celebrities, we have had one no-show, and several
unavoidable late arrivals. Add this to the normal
pandemonium of seeing who requires players and who needs
help serving team tables. At the commencement table
before Round #1 Jan and I were fielding UPWARDS of 15
[often private] questions and requests PER MINUTE.
Pile that on top of all of the pre-game preparations:
writing out the rules, announcing the event hither and
yon, helping owners contact players, preparing an OKScript
file, programming the web site, etc. It isn't hard to see
why this is an exhausting enterprise.
Every year, after we finally get the 16 teams up
and running, Sara, Jan and I breathe a collective
sigh of relief. Were anyone to stop us at this exact
juncture and ask us if there will be a Gator next year
the answer might be a resounding: "Heck, no!" But
things settle down quickly after the first round.
Players are very helpful once they know where, when
and against whom they are to play. Still, two facts
may be quite revealing here:
1. At the end of play DCorn spoke for most in
wishing that Gators were held twice a year
or even once a month!
2. The organizers never miss the opportunity
to pair the word "Annual" with "Gator"!
Hmm. What does that tell you? :)
**********************
You'll find Kaltica (Colin Ward) doing his FireSide
sessions on Friday evenings at 5:30 P.M. OKbridge time.
Kaltica and Wintaka present classes on:
SAYC (Rainbow Series)
2/1 (Spectrum series)
Precision (Prism Series),
and other selected bridge topics (Kaleidoscope series).
They also offer private/group lessons and/or supervised
play sessions. Email Colin (kaltica@mts.net) or
Bill (bbtreble@mts.net) for more information.
=====================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to MaxJ for this one:
WOMAN'S REVENGE
"Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items
the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her
wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set
in her purse.
"So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.
"No," she replied, "but my husband refused to come
shopping with me, so I figured this was the most evil
thing I could do to him."
=====================================================
Fireside Chat Issues
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