Start of a New Year
We are all working hard now on getting our new ebook website up and running. It will be called www.ebooksbridge.com. If you click on this link right now you will get a message saying that the website is coming soon. In about two weeks we will have our new website up and running. Over the next few months we will get all of the books we have published available as an ebook, even the ones that are out of print. Also all of our software. So, if you like the new media you will be able to get Master Point Press books that way. We are very happy that we will be able to make our out of print books available to you as ebooks. Even if only a few people want a book we believe they should be able to get it. This makes that possible.
You don’t even need an ebook reader to read an ebook. All of the ebooks are PDF’s. That means you can read them on a PC or you can print off some pages that you want to refer to. Ebooks have some nice features like hyperlinks which allow you to navigate around the ebooks in ways that are not possible with a paper book. It also means that you can have the book in minutes whenever you want it. Will this be the wave of the future?
When we start out only some of our books will be available but it won’t take long before all are there. I am sure there will be a special offer on the site so that you can try out an ebook at a low price and see if you like it.
I am also planning to post all of the deals that won IBPA awards this year so that you can read about them. However I am going to post them with my commentary. In order to qualify for an award the deals were written up by the press and submitted as candidates by the author for awards. I will post a link to the IBPA writeup of the winning hands which I believe are finally online.
My student Kathie and I had a fun session practising last week. I particularly liked the deal where we got to a type Meckwell 3NT. I had a nice 11 count and overcalled 1C with 1S.
S AJ872 H 1043 D QJ7 C K9
Kathy had a nice 12 count with
S 102 H J862 D AK1064 C A8
and decided that was enough for game. Actually it was enough. As you can see our 23 HCP produced nine tricks when the opening bidder showed up with the onside SKQ. Maybe 23 HCP is too much to call it a Meckwell 3NT. Well done, Kathie anyway.
As part of the mentoring program, I think I like playing and then discussing the deals with Kathie the best. Usually one of the other players hangs around for the discussion. There is always so much to talk about. If you are interested in being a mentor or helping out this wonderful program check out www.bilbridge.com. The last time I talked to the founder Maureen Hall she was looking for two things. A bit of financial support and some more mentors. There were quite a few students waiting for mentors but if you fall in that camp sign up anyway. Being a mentor is very rewarding and really not that much work – so go for it.
I have been thinking that I wouldn’t mind coaching some serious women players or partnership. I am not looking for a fee, I just think I would enjoy doing it and I think I could help out. I might follow up on it.
I have just finished the first pass at converting Larry Cohen’s wonderful software My Favourite 52 into a book manuscript. It will require one more quick pass to make it consistent and ready for the editorial group here. It is a wonderful material and actually has a lot more than 52 deals since Larry snuck in some bonus deals. I am still not sure that I have found the best way to present the material in book form yet but the team at MPP will work it out. I love the way Larry writes, his sense of humour and the ideas he presents about bidding, play and defence. I keep learning new things. In fact I like everything Larry writes.
But I do want to make one comment about his article in the January 2009 article in The Bridge World. I am once again wading into the sticky waters of professional teams. Larry, I think it is fine to say that some sponsors are experts and a few may even be players who would have been chosen for a top team even if they were not dishing out the money. But let’s face it the qualifications to be a sponsor are not to be a star player. Only high rollers need apply. So sponsors run the gamut from near novices to experts and rarely even top experts.
Here’s one interesting hand to bid from Larry’s article. You hold S 865 H KQ10 D Q3 C KAJ85. At unfavourable vulnerability the auctions starts 1S by partner 4H by your RHO. What do you do?
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
I think there are only two choices double and 4S. I kind of like double in that you have a flat hand with what looks like a lot of wasted heart values. You only have minimal support and trump often doesn’t split well on those hands.It is also flexible because with a distributional hand partner can bid and with a balanced hand partner can pass. Bidding 4S doesn’t give partner many choices. Double was the action chosen at the table and it turned out to be the right action. Partner had SA10974 H 85 D A95 C A103 and you cannot make 4S. However I can see arguments for bidding 4S too. Just because double was right on this hand doesn’t mean it is always right.
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I thought the more contentious point Larry made in his Las Wages article was that NABCs were more enjoyable when he did not have to worry about the methods used by aliens (foreigners). Not only a strange view from a strong club player who plays a nebulous 1D opening, but illustrative of the closed and closeted environment that many American bridge players seem to desire – everyone is welcome as long as they play Standard American or 2/1.
Land of the free? I think not.
I believe that you can play most methods in the major knockout events. I do find it irritating sometimes that I can’t even play multi in a stratified Swiss or a pairs game.
But it is more relaxing not to have to contend with too many really weird things. I am sure Larry is used to it and doesn’t mind but its nice when you are focusing on the bridge and not someone’s destructive methods.
I love the ACBL Nationals. They are great tournaments but then again I have never played in an equivalent European tournament. Is there one?
Most methods that I play are permitted at Mid Chart, so there is no problem when I play at the Nationals. However I do feel that Larry should not be overly concerned about methods that are legal at all tournaments in the UK, even the equivalent of the 299er pairs. It is not that the methods are destructive, there are very few of these, but that they are just different.
I play in the Nationals as it provides a higher level of competition, and more variety, for a week than I can find in Europe.
The biggest tournament here is the English Summer Congress in Brighton in mid August. The first weekend is a 14 round Swiss (matchpoint) Pairs; the second weekend is Swiss Teams with the top 16 after 10 rounds being swept into all-play-all finals and the rest of the field playing another 4 matches. During the week there are small events to play in the afternoons and evenings, but typically only 30-40 tables. The weekends will get about 500 pairs/250 teams.
The other major event is the European Open, held every two years. This year it will be in Sanremo, Italy, in June. I’m going to Washington DC in July instead as I think the bridge will be better and cheaper.
Ray and I are probably going to go to both Italy and Washington. We both love Italy and can’t resist.
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