The Award is today! Teacher of the year

July 20th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

In a few hours I will be presenting the award to one of the eight finalists for Master Point Press/American Bridge Teacher’s Association Teacher of the Year.  All eight finalists will be at the presentation this year, many with family and/or students.  All of them are truly exceptional people.   Only Marilyn the ABTA coordinator knows the winner so it will be a surprise to everyone.  We will be there taking pictures.

I will be back later to let you know about the winner and how it all went.

What makes a great teacher?

July 15th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

As we approach the time to announce the ABTA Master Point Press Bridge Teacher of the Year for 2011 I started to think about what makes a great teacher.

Perhaps my greatest experience with a teacher was my daughter’s second and third grade teacher, Mrs. Jones.  On one parents’ night we all came to her classroom and sat in the tiny desks.  The room was dimly lit and filled with the student’s work.  There were candles; lovely music was playing.  Mrs. Jones started off with these words; “Your children are wonderful.”  Right there she had us all. She taught organization and research (yes, they were in Grade 2).  She taught the children the idea of exploring and thinking.  During the summer she wrote to them and they wrote back to her.  She was a truly great teacher.  She impacted her student’s lives and I know that my daughter, Jennifer, Ray and I will never forget her.

So what makes a great teacher?

Clearly passion for teaching is the most important thing.  To do brilliantly at anything you must have passion.  It doesn’t matter whether the teacher is earnest, jumps around the room, or wears funny hats.  There are many ways to engage people and to have passion.

Love of subject is so very important.   When you love what you teach your enthusiasm spills over to your students.  Bridge is not about memorizing rules.  It is about the joy of getting to a good slam, making a challenging contract or finding the ruff that defeats the contract.  Sharing that joy is what makes some bridge teacher’s great.

A desire to learn and grow is needed in today’s fast moving world.  If you teach bridge you do need to keep up with the changing world of our game.   Whether it is bidding systems and conventions, new ideas in card play, changing rules and regulations in competitive bridge, new books and ideas or even new ways to teach our game is changing.  The computer, the internet, social media, (blogs) and other things all change the way we enjoy our game.  Teacher’s need to move with the times.

There are many other things too of course such as organization, a strong work ethic, a deep knowledge of the material taught and so on.  I found these ideas on a website when young students were asked what makes good teachers.  It is true for adults too.

The eight bridge teachers we will be honoring for Teacher of the Year all meet these very challenging criteria.  Their students will talk about the way that they become their friends, care about them, present the material in original ways, help them with their problems, encourage them to take the next step, make their classes interesting and fun.  These teacher our very important to their students and all of bridge because they bring their skills, their knowledge and their passion for bridge and for teaching to so many new players.

The nominees this year are:

Linda King and Lyde McReynolds from California, Richard Early from Ohio, Gerry Lachance form Ontario Canada, Kathie Walsh from South Carolina, David Glandorf and Mary Jane Orock from Texas and Jill McCormick from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Best wishes to all of them.  They have won already.

Toronto … my kind of town

July 13th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  13 Comments 

As many of you will come to Toronto for the NABC coming soon I thought it was a good time to tell you a bit about my city.  I was born in Toronto and have lived here all of my life.  This may not seem very special since many of us who were born here have stayed since Toronto has so much to offer.  But in fact Toronto is a city of immigrants.  Once a group of us who worked for a technology company went out to a restaurant after work.  I asked everyone around the table where they had come from.  There were 12 of us.  I was the only one who had been born in Canada.  We had people from India, Ireland, China, Poland, Romania, Pakistan, Indonesia, America, Israel, and other places I can’t remember now.  No two people had come from the same country!

So let me tell you about some of our neighborhoods.  Toronto has a huge Chinese community one of the largest in North America.  There are very large groups of Chinese people in many areas of the city.

One large area which is not too far from the tournament might be called Downtown Chinatown.  It is located all Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West.   You can easily get there by subway.  The sidewalks are filled with vendors selling produce and all sorts of Chinese merchandise.  There is a large Chinese cultural center, numerous wonderful Chinese restaurants, Chinese clothes and other products.  I really like the silk jackets that are imported from Hong Kong.  My favorite is the reversible ones.  I have worn them for business and for parties.  No problem getting Chinese medicine and treatments of any kind.

The Italian neighborhood is also very large.  Italians represents a large part of the population of Toronto.  When they won the World Cup the celebrations filled the streets around.  Many of the Italians live in the St. Clair midtown area of Toronto.  There are street fairs some times, lots and lots of Italian retaurants and gellaterie.  You can buy the big huge pots to make pasta and sauces and buy Italian clothes and products.

Kensington Market is an area that has hosted many nationalities.  The Jewish population of Toronto was part of this great cultural mix when my grandparetns came to live in Toronto around the time of the first World War.  My grandfather was an early draft dodger.  When the Russian army came to draft young Jewish men into the Czar’s army the whole community pitched in to provide him steerage fare on a boat headed for New York City.  The boat stopped in Toronto and my Zadie decided that he would get off right there.  He had an uncle in Toronto and that was enough to get him through immigration.

During the early twentieth century, Kensingston become populated by eastern European Jewish immigrants and some Italians.  It became notable for the items and gifts, reminiscent of those in Europe, that covered the streets of the area. From the beginning, the market sold items imported from the homelands of the various immigrant communities. It became known as “the Jewish Market”. Jewish merchants operated small shops as tailors, furriers and bakers. Around 60,000 Jews lived in and around Kensington Market during the 1920s and 1930s, worshipping at over 30 local synagouges.

Kensington is a great place to shop for well many things including clothes, gifts and produce.  In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site.   Today it is also home to artists and many cultural activites.

You may gather from some of this that Toronto is not a melting pot.  It prides itself on being the home of multiculturalism.  Some other large communities in Toronto include Greeks (we love to visit especially the restaurants, East Indians, Jamaica, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Russians, Koreans, Mexicans and many more make Toronto their home and enrich our culture.

Besides these wonderful neighborhoods Toronto has some lovely geography.  All the shores of Lake Ontario we have Ontario Place, Harbourfront, the Beaches and Toronto Islands.  Each of these locations has lots to offer.  I like to take a ferryboat out to the island on a summer day.  There are a number of islands to chose from.  On Centre Island you can rent bicycles, canoes and Kayaks.  There is an amusement park and a petting zoo.  All the islands have beaches with swimming.  If you want go to Hanlan’s Point where there is a clothes optional beach!  There are lots of restaurants and snack bars all around the islands.

I like to go to the beaches too.  It is a great place to take kids or dogs!  You can walk along the extensive beaches, swim or cycle.  There are nearby playgrounds for kids and a large dogs off-leash area.  When I went with my friend Victoria and her dog Angel we had fun watching the dogs swimming, although Angel is not much of a swimmer.

Some other attractions that I enjoy in the downtown area are the St. Lawrence Market, Baldwin Street’s eclectic restaurants, baseball and other events at the wonderful Skydome, Castle Loma (a bit out of the downtown), Allan Gardens Conservatory, the ROM (museum) and well a lot more.  I have never been to the Bata Shoe Museum but I hear it is terrific.

If you have time for a day trip one of my favorites is to the McMichael Art Gallery home to the Group of Seven artists.  I grew up with this wonderful art.   They were twentieth century painters who painted vivid pictures of the Canadian countryside.

Lawren Harris is my favorite.  Although A.Y. Jackson is the most famous.  Of course Niagara Falls is amazing.  I have seen it hundreds of times and will see it many more.  It fills my photographic albums.  But Niagara On The Lake, home of the Shaw Festival (theatre) is charming and doesn’t cross the line to being too cute.

I find that as I write I can think of more and more wonderful things.  Let me know your favorites.  And welcome to My Home Town.

A Hand That Might Have Been

July 8th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  2 Comments 

When I play with Sylvia she sends me analysis of the deals afterwards.  It is always fun to read and it usually raises some interesting points.  She is an easy person to discuss things with.  We don’t always agree but the discussions are always cordial.  The discussion is focused on bidding and defense and not on declarer play.  Here is a deal that I played.  There was not comment on our bidding but we obviously got very high.  I have been trying to figure out the best way to play this hand.  My approach did not work.  I am going to rotate the deal.

Dealer: Vul:	Sylvia ♠QJ6 ♥ J8 ♦AQJ62 ♣ 743
West		East
	Linda ♠ AK983 ♥ A103 ♦ 7 ♣ AKJ2

Sylvia opened a 10-12 notrump and I invoke forcing Stayman.  Sylvia showed three spades and five diamonds as we arrived at 4♠ .  Should I bid more?

Should the five card diamond suit turn me off?   Maybe I should consider that with a great hand for me Sylvia would have cuebid instead of bidding 4♠ .   Is there a sensible way to proceed?  I just decided to bid blackwood and ended in the spade slam.  In retrospect as we past comments back and forth I thought maybe I should just bid 5♣ and if Sylvia bids 5♦ bid 5♥ and then honour a signoff from her.  What do you think?

Anyway the problem is how to play this sucker on a trump lead to the 10 and your ace.  One way is to play for a heart ruff.  You duck a heart.  Now if West wins and returns a trump he will be eventually squeezed in the minors.  Lets say West returns a diamond to break up the squeeze.

Dealer: Vul:	Sylvia ♠QJ6 ♥ J8 ♦AQJ62 ♣743
West ♠ 52 ♥ K95 ♦ K943 ♣ Q865		East ♠ 1074 ♥ Q7642 ♦ 1085 ♣ 109
	Linda ♠ AK983 ♥ A103 ♦ 7 ♣ AKJ2

Deducing that East has the ♥ Q since West did not lead a heart you win the ♦ A and finesse the heart.  You throw a club on the ♥ J and crossruff.  If West ducks and lets East win the heart, East cannot return a diamond and the squeeze will eventually operate against West.

At the table I did consider some of this.  I decided that West did have most of the high cards because of the trump lead.  But I didn’t quite work out the idea of playing hearts right away.

I decided to play to bring the diamond suit home for four winners and failing that fall back on the getting three tricks from the club suit.   So I finessed the ♦Q and ruffed diamonds.  This doesn’t quite work.  But there is an interesting option in the end game that I missed.  East had thrown a club fatally.

Dealer: Vul:	Sylvia ♠Q ♥ J8 ♦ J ♣74
West ♠ – ♥ K95 ♦ – ♣ Q86		East ♠ 7 ♥ Q7642 ♦ ♣ –
	Linda ♠ 9 ♥ A10 ♦ ♣ KJ2

I arrived at this ending.  What I did was cash the ♣ A cross on the high spade.  I threw a heart on the ♦ J.  And so did West.  If West has all the remaining clubs then if  I can cash the HA and duck a club to West.  Notice that West was squeezed out of his heart exit as he had to hold all his clubs.  I sort of saw this at the table but I didn’t quite get there.  When East had played the ♣ 9 and ♣ 10 I should have realized that he probably didn’t have another one.

Well it is still an interesting hand even if I didn’t play it right.  I had my chances.  Now I have my regrets.

Double me at your peril

July 6th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  2 Comments 

I wasn’t really very clever on this deal but then neither was my opponent.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ KJ72 ♥ Q84 ♦ Q1096 ♣ A10
Linda ♠ Q1063 ♥ 5 ♦ AK8 ♣ KQ864		Sylvia ♠ A984 ♥ AJ62 ♦ 532 ♣ 72
	South ♠ 5 ♥ K10973 ♦ J74 ♣ J953

I opened 1♣ with the West hand and North made a perfectly reasonable if minimum takeout double.  Sylvia bid 1♥ and  South was definitely out of the auction.  I continued with 1♠ and Sylvia raised to 3♠ .   Even not vulnerable and even though Sylvia had initially bid hearts and even though North had made a takeout doubled showing majors – I am woman, here me roar.  I bid the spade game.

Now North who had already suggested he held spades with his bids so far doubled to make it absolutely clear that he had what was likely to be four good spades.  He started with the ace and one club which I won in hand with the ♣Q.  This hand looked like a cross-ruff to me.  I played the top club which he ruffed and dummy overruffed, cashed my three red suit winners ending in dummy and well cross-ruffed.  North manuvered this way and that but the cross-ruff was golden.

The star of the hand was Sylvia though.  Her 3♠ bid made it easy to bid game.  At the other table her opponent bid only 2♠ on a similar auction and they did not get to game.

A Championship Disaster

June 23rd, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Ray and I have once hit a loss of 24 imps.  We were playing Swiss teams with another couple who had managed to play in a redoubled cue bid.  They went for a huge number into their own vulnerable game.  They went down 6 vulnerable.  You may not be surprised to hear that only one of the two came to dinner with us.

When Singapore played Taipei in the Asis Pacific Federation Championships they didn’t do quite as well as that but they did managed a 17 imp swing.  If you want to comment with your own personal worst disasters let me know.  I can remember when I was playing with Ray and thought that one spade – four hearts was natural (not a splinter).  It was fortunately pairs so the loss did not have to be explained to partners and was limited to half a board.  It really is a neat hand with slams available in both directions.  I am naming no names though.

We are going to follow the action in the Closed Room where the auction was uncontested and the disaster was great.

Here is the auction.  In a minute you will have a decision to make.  You are not vulnerable versus vulnerable

North-South found a double fit in diamonds and hearts.  3NT was a serious slam try.  There were 3 cuebids in spades clubs and diamond.  North having heard the spade cuebid when South tried for slam North felt comfortable to just bid the grand slam in diamonds.  But West doubled.  It appeared that West had a void somewhere, probably hearts (well maybe not if it was Zia).  Its time for you to make a decision.  Do you pass, redouble, bid 7♥ or something else?

I don’t think this is an easy decision and remember … the four horseman are on the horizon.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ KJ108 ♥ A102 ♦ AK8532 ♣ –
West ♠ – ♥ J974 ♦ J104 ♣ QJ9654		East ♠ 976532 ♥ 5 ♦ – ♣ AK10872
	South ♠ AQ4 ♥ KQ863 ♦ Q976 ♣ 3

At the table North having heard the club cuebid decided that 7NT would be the best spot.  There was a small problem with this decision.  South didn’t have the club ace, in fact club only had one club.  7NT doubled was down 6 for 1400.  If you pass East should get it right but maybe they won’t.  Maybe he shouldn’t lead a heart.  If you have the ace its not going away and you can’t really have a void, can you?  I suppose that North-South probably have clubs since they probably wouldn’t bid a grand slam without anything in clubs and the refusal to respond to Blackwood suggests that North has a void somewhere.  So probably East would have found the spade lead, 95% I would put it.  Strange things happen in these situations.

But pulling to notrump is much worse.  If you have to pull you should pull to hearts where the hand will be played by South.  Maybe West’s void is not in hearts (as is the case) or maybe South’s hearts are good enough to pick up the suit.  But you can easily see the logic in 7NT.

Meanwhile at the other table  North-South were going to play in the small slam in diamonds.  That would have been a 20 imp swing.  But the players in the Open Room “saved” their partners when they took a vulnerable against not save in 7♣ .  This went for -200 doubled.  In fact 6♣ , 6♦ and 6♥ are all makeable in one direction or the other and 7♦ is makeable from the short suit.

Maybe you think the 7NT bid was awful but … as Marshall Miles put in one of my favorite books … there but for the grace of God go I.  (Well maybe I would have done things differently but I might have bid it exactly as he did.)

The Finals European Mixed Team … Au Revoir to the Dutch

June 22nd, 2011  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

The final of the mixed teams was a 45 board affair.  As I watch by the time we had reached board 40 the Zimmermann team had wrapped it up.  They came into the third stanza of 15 boards with a reasonable lead 65 to 37.   But still the Vriend team were in striking distance.  Five boards later they might as well have been shaking hands.  Zimmermann had scored 45 unanswered imps.   The onslaught started on the first board when Zimmerman got to 3NT in the Open Room.  Maybe they were helped on their way by Bertens.

Dealer: Vul:	Bertens ♠ AQ106 ♥ QJ6 ♦ 75 ♣ K1082
Cronier ♠ K83 ♥ 4 ♦ AKQJ104 ♣ 964		D’Ovidio ♠ J97 ♥ A97 ♦ 832 ♣ AQ75
	Verbeek ♠ 542 ♥ K108532 ♦ 96 ♣ J3

In the Closed Room when Verbeek showed a weak hand, Cronier was good enough to bid diamonds at the three level.  When D;Ovidio could double the heart partscore Cronier with a source of tricks bid 3NT.  I suspect that D’Ovidio if Bertens had passed.  In the Open Room where Williard as South just bid 1♥ , Bakkeren’s 3♦ bid sounded a lot more preemptive and it was passed out. 7 imps.  But it was the next board that probably ended the Dutch hopes.  In the Closed Room the auction got really out of hand for the Dutch when the French struck with a lot of preemption.  Try it out yourself sitting North.  You are vulnerable against not.  East D’Ovidio opens 1♣ .  Your partner Verbeek bids a natural 1♥ and West Cronier jumps all the way to 5♣ .  What do you do?

Let’s think about it. How would you rate each of the following choices:

A) DBL B) Pass C) 5♥ D) 5NT  E) Spade bid?

A)  What does DBL mean here anyway?  I don’t think it is a club stack.  It should suggest high cards like aces and kings which give you some defense as well as offense.

B) Pass.  This seems a bit wimpy to me.  You don’t really expect them to make 5C very often and besides that you could easily be making lots in a major.

C) I can see the point of raising partner.  You would like better hearts but partner did make a vulnerable overcall.  If partner has AKQxxx of hearts that will be enough.

D) A slam is certainly a possibility.  This seems a bit pushy too me but if you take an optimistic view then you might want to commit to slam.  Is 5NT a grand slam force or suggesting two places to play the hand.  I would want to be sure of this before making this bid.

E) I don’t think the spades are good enough to bid 5♠ … too bad

What is the winner?

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ AKJ963 ♥ J53 ♦ KJ102 ♣ –
West ♠ Q10 ♥ 7 ♦ Q754 ♣ QJ10852		East ♠ 842 ♥ AQ2 ♦ A63 ♣ K743
	South ♠ 75 ♥ K109864 ♦ 98 ♣ A96

5♥ makes as the cards lie and is the overall prize winner.  But I give an honorable mention to double.  They go for 500 into your 650.  Ont his tricky hand Bertens chose to commit to slam with 5NT and that was as we can all see not a winner.  In the Open Room where East, Bakkeren chose a 3♣ preempt the French were able to stop safely and without worries in the heart game.

Good power bridge.  Félicitations to the winners.

European Mixed Teams – the semis

June 21st, 2011  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I enjoyed watching the semifinals today much better than the quarterfinals.  It seemed like they all had turned it up a notch.

The first segment of 14 boards was mostly pretty dull though.  Almost no imps changed hands.  In the Mahaffey-Vriend match the final result sounded like an exciting baseball score … 9 to 8.  It was 10 to 8 in the Zimmermann-Badger match.   Naturally I was a commentator for one of these matches and had to talk about the coffee, the weather and whether the Dutch use of two clubs to show either a good balanced hand or a weak two in diamonds was a good treatment.

All the fun stuff seem to happen in Board 15-28.  Board 23 we curious.  In each match one table played 3NT and the other played in a slam.  When I show you the deal you can decide who won the imps

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ A953 ♥ AQJ ♦ K ♣ K8742
West ♠ KJ10874 ♥ 864 ♦ A32 ♣ 6		East ♠ Q2 ♥ 10972 ♦ 864 ♣ 10953
	South ♠ 6 ♥ K53 ♦ QJ10974 ♣ AQJ

3NT has no problem of course and a slam in diamonds will make as well.  In each match one of the North-South pairs arrived in 6♣ .  Both of those pairs got the killing spade lead and both went down.

With all vulnerable, the auction in the Closed Room in the Zimmerman-Badger match was as follows:

Do you think that South could have anticipated a trump problem on a spade lead and considered a diamond slam?  I think North’s diamond bid must show either the ace or king.  Maybe that is too hard.  In the Open Room South, D;Ovidio just bid 3♦ over 3♣ and this allowed North, Cronier to bid 3NT.

Both of the losing teams get bronze medals (sensibly) and the winners move onto the final tomorrow.

The European Championships – Mixed Teams

June 20th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  3 Comments 

I have been doing some commentary on the Mixed Teams taking place now at the European Championships in Poland.  I was planning to write more about it but to be honest the bridge has been … the best thing I can say is … not very good.  Mixed is sometimes like that because there are a lot of unfamiliar partnerships.  The first component was a Swiss designed to get down to 16 teams for a knockout.  I did commentary on the first half of the knockout today.  The particular match I watched was also not top caliber.  Perhaps some of the other knockouts were better.   A team named “Russia” drilled a Scottish team.  But Russia made their fair share of mistakes and just got away with them.

This was one case in point.  With everybody vulnerable  East opens 1♥ and you have

While slam is not out of the question I like the simple bid of 5♦ After all they could be making just about anything in the majors.  It is true that if partner has some club fillers six is not out of the question and partner will not raise but bridge is not about being “perfect”.  Anyway our South doubled.  West bid 2♥ which was a transfer to spades.  Undeterred North bid 2♠ natural anyway and West bid 3♣. At this point slam is very unlikely since you are probably going to have club losers.  No matter what I go back to my original plan of bidding 5D.  Our South was more cautious and bid 3♦ which as you note she can make easily in her own hand.  Now this should show a very strong hand with good diamond and I suppose she does have that.

North persisted with 3♠ (still not quite understanding the auction) and having one more chance South bid  … 4♦ .  Partner didn’t have much but just enough to make the diamond game.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ J6432 ♥ 10542 ♦ 3 ♣ QJ8
West ♠ K10975 ♥ J76 ♦ 875 ♣ 65		East ♠ AQ8 ♥ AK983 ♦ 2 ♣ K932
	South ♠ – ♥ Q ♦ AKQJ10964 ♣ A1074

In the other room South did indeed bid 5D over an opening strong club bid.  When East reopened with a double West was allowed to play 5♠ undoubled.  So as it turned out failing to bid the diamond game in our room only cost a couple of imps.

I wasn’t trying to pick on anybody with this particular example.  By and large it is representative of what went on during the match.  One spectator was lamenting the fact that the British teams were not prepared to play against the effective and different Eastern European system.  I think what happened had nothing to do with system.  It had to do with partnerships that were less strong than you might see in other events.  Maybe Mixed is an event which shouldn’t even exist except at dinner parties.

Happiness (or not), Bridge and the New York Times

June 12th, 2011  ~  linda  ~  7 Comments 

Toronto has four thriving local newspapers.  Amazing isn’t it.  One of these papers, the Toronto Star, includes a portion of the New York Times each Sunday in the paper that comes for home delivery.  I happen to read it recently and this article caught my attention:

Happiness Investigator Uncovers Something More

Apparently Dr. Martin Seligman, an avid bridge player, was president of the American Psychological Association in the late 1990’s.  He felt that there was too much emphasis on mental illness and the psychologist should study happiness and he wrote a bestseller in 2002 entitled “Authentic Happiness”.

But he found something interesting as he continued to study happiness.  It turned out that what people thought would make them happy didn’t always and that people purposefully chose paths that made them less happy at least in the short run.

Among the questions he raised was this one.  “Why do some  people keep joylessly playing bridge?”  He was talking about players who weren’t do it to make money or make friends or even to feel engaged.  “These players wanted to win for its own sake even if it brought no positive emotion.  Watching them play, seeing them cheat, it kept hitting me that accomplishment is a human desiderata in itself.”  I did have to look up desiderata which is the plural of desideratum: Something considered necessary or highly desirable.

In other words people need to have a sense of accomplishment.  When looked at that way it appears that Denmark and Switzerland ranked highest among people who “flourished”.

In his experiments he learned that when good things happen and they are not earned it doesn’t increase people’s well being.

When I think about it I know that part of the reason I play bridge is for that sense of accomplishment.  I understand that I won’t win all the time.  I know bridge is a game of mistakes and I know I will make lots of them.  But even in a session that didn’t go well there are often wonderful moments.

And I think it is that sense of accomplishment for all of us, newcomers and stars that makes us come back for more.

Dr. Martin Seligman, bridge player