Got an invite to a new playing site, Bridgehit My first board I opened in first seat 1nt, LHO bid 2D, pard doubled, RHO passes and my turn. What the devil did x mean? In SAYC it means belt, so I passed. Pard thought it meant neg for takeout. Oh well. Can’t we get this sorted out?
I want to run a little test to see if we can help each other improve our website rankings. I’m going to use my site and another that is linked from mine. Let’s see if the page rankings for the two sites improve dramatically. If they do, then we can all hit each others sites and improve everyone’s rankings! The two sites are simplicitybridge.com and pdibridgesupplies.com. (Add the www.) PDI carries Steve Bruno’s book on Team Tactics which I recommend. Let’s see what happens!
CardSlingers Contract Bridge Video Game
I now have CardSlingers version beta 0.1 linked from my website. I know there are glitches and that the graphics are terrible and that it is incomplete. This is the place to post comments on other things about the game, such as basic bridge errors, hand errors, play errors, game errors, etc.
Good to see Billy Miller back in bridge and back in the Bulletin. His article this month featuring the “Impossible 2S” bid is spot on for Forcing 1NT players, and could work for non-forcing 1NT players as well. I recommend that you take a look.
Watched an instructive hand today. Bidding with opponents passing throughout was 2NT-3C 3H-4NT 5S-7H swish. Making. Cold for 7NT but about 25%, so the bidding was perfect. At the conclusion of the round I asked the 2NT bidder how he knew what 4NT meant, quantitative, Blackwood for notrump, or BW for hearts. (they play RKC) He said it had to be BW for hearts as trump. Never quant, never for notrump. If for notrump responder would have bid 4C Gerber, which would also have guaranteed a 4 card spade suit. Question: Do you and your partner have such clearly defined agreements?
Safe trip and good luck to all who will be going to Reno for the year end regional. I always liked that tourney and wish I could still join you.
Traveling to Sunsites, Arizona tomorrow to play in the 1st Invitational STaC in the badlands of Arizona, 2!/2 hours from anywhere with more than 20,000 people. Carol Erbeck has been nurturing a bridge club where one couldn’t exist, and doing it anyway despite the odds. She has invited our Unit to play tomorrow, and despite infirmity I’ll limp in and play to support her club and its members. Thank goodness I get a new driver at the halfway point in Benson! Will let you know how it all comes out. BTW, Carol and her partner won our District’s NAP and will compete for the Title in Reno come Spring.
The first three of four books in the American Bridge Series which were first published in 1998 as print on demand books are now available as ebooks. Volume IV (4 card majors) is almost finished but stuff keeps getting in the way of getting it done. Hopefully we can finish the draft in January. Chris Hasney\'s Contract Bridge Books
Since the Fall NABC is in progress at the moment it seems a reasonable time to raise a contentious issue. What’s with all the Mini events, e.g. Mini LM Pairs, etc.? I contend that having these perversions screws up the field in the main event. It would be like holding a mini WSOP main event alongside the real one for lower purses. Yuck. Why is the ACBL diluting all of its prestigious events?
Just found out my friend and fellow Pro Bridge Tour veteran Eddie Rose has published a new book called “BRIDGE—From A to Z; Taking Your Game to the Next Level” (2009, Xlibris). You can reach him for more info and pricing at eddierose_2000@yahoo.com and please be sure to mention that I referred you. (Maybe he’ll give my books a plug, lol.)
