January 1st, 2013 ~ linda ~
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Ray and I want to wish a Happy New Year to all of our friends, our readers of books, blogs, and websites, and to our employees, Lisa and Sally who do everything.
Also our contractors, like Libby, Andre, Olena, of course John Goold (who has been my friend since I was a student) and all our students who help us to publish the books, ebooks, and software and manage our websites.
Happy New Year to my daughter Jennifer (who does sometimes read my blog despire her lack of interest in bridge) and husband Jason and her wonderful family: Cassidy, Malcolm and Lucas. And to my son Colin, his wife Luise (good luck with teachers college this year) and my other grandchildren: Marcus and Jessica. Luise thanks for all the years of help at Master Point Press.
I have a big and wonderful Jewish family – hugs to all of you.
Happy New Year and good luck to those bridge players who are competing to represent their country this year especially the women of Canada – I am no longer competing but I will watch with interest.
And the best to our authors, many of who are like family,they are too many to name but they have not only enriched our lives but brought pleasure and knowledge to many others. From my own experience I know how much work it is to write a book and then wonder how it will be judged. Thank you for bringing all of us so much entertainment and learning.
Finally my best wishes to all who blog about bridge especially those on bridgeblogging. I will always remember the line in the movie: Julie, and Julia when Julie who has been writing a blog about cooking and since she gets no comments wonders if anybody out there is actually reading it. Finally she is excited to get her first comment. She expectantly opens it – its her mother saying she doesn’t know why she keeps writing the blog. In the end, you blog because you have something to say and you want to say it. You do hope people will read what you write and enjoy it but I think you also have to do it for yourself.
January 1st, 2013 ~ linda ~
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On January 1st I was invited to teach a bridge lesson to a group of eight girls. In the previous week the girls had been learning about the opening bid of one notrump and responses. So I decided to review the Stayman Convention with them and then let them play this deal.
I shuffled out the East-West hands making sure they weren’t too distributional. All of my eight maidens were sipping some milk and munching leftover Christmas cookies.
We talked about the Stayman Convention. I reminded them that the response was two hearts with either four or five hearts. If you didn’t have at least four hearts then two spades with four or five spades and two diamonds with no four-card major at all.
I watched one table and saw this bidding:
These girls were paying attention! The opening lead was a spade. South, who was dipping her cookies in her milk, played very quickly. The snack was obviously getting most of her attention. She played off the ♥ A and ♥ K and was quite disappointed to see the trumps break badly. As it turned out although the ♦ A was onside nothing could stop the defense from getting two diamonds tricks and two trump tricks. This was the whole hand
‘It was just unlucky,’ I said. ‘There was nothing you could do with the bad heart break; you had to lose two hearts and there was no way to avoid two diamond losers.’
When I checked the other table I saw that the girls were just starting the play. They had thoughtfully decided to finish their snack before playing to avoid messing up the cards. Apparently the auction had gone:
I would point out in the discussion after the hand that the correct response to Stayman was 2♥ .
Here the opening lead was the ♣ 3. Declarer, a pretty girl named Alice, won the club in hand and played three rounds of trumps ending in her hand. West discarded a club on the third trump. This was the position after four tricks.
In order to make the contract Alice saw that she was going to need a diamond winner, and so she played a diamond up towards dummy. West hopped up with the ♦ A and got out with a small club won with dummy’s ♣ K. Now Alice worked out that if she could play hearts for one loser she would make her contract. She knew that if hearts were 3-2 she was home. But if they were 4-1 she would still make it if the singleton was a heart honor. She decided to cash the ♥ A and both followed small. This was the position from Alice’s perspective:
At this point, I suddenly realized that the hand was now a sure tricks hand – declarer has a 100% line to make the contract. I wondered if Alice was up to it.
Alice played the ♦ K and then another diamond. Either East or West could win the third diamond. Which everyone one of them wins this she is immediately endplayed if hearts do not break 3-2. If they are the one that has no more hearts then they must give Alice a ruff-sluff. If they hold all the remaining hearts and lead one it gives up a heart trick and Alice will by force win three heart tricks.
As it turned out West won the trick and played a heart but Alice was able to win dummy’s ♥ 10. Alice had made her contract despite the bad heart split.
I congratulated her on her brilliant play and I decide not to mention that her correct response to Stayman was 2♥ not 2♠ .
December 31st, 2012 ~ linda ~
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For several years Ray and I have hosted a dinner party on New Year’s Eve. Luise and Colin, Margaret and Fred Lerner and David and Barbara Silver are frequent guests. This year after dinner a foursome sat down to play a few hands of bridge. Fred Lerner, who has a license plate “I DBL U” was playing with Colin and David Silver was playing with Ray. The women were in the den watching a movie.
I had just finished cleaning up the dinner dishes and sat down behind David Silver to watch some deals. David Silver’s alter ego is Professor Silver. Professor Silver appears as the hero in all of David’s humorous books. On this deal I think it was Professor Silver who did the bidding.
Both vulnerable, Colin dealt as East and passed
David held:
Looking at his cards I thought about whether an opening bid of 1♠ or 4♠ was best. Being in second chair with a side heart suit I probably would have chosen 1♠ . But Professor Silver made a very unexpected call: he opened 1♥ . Those familiar with Professor Silver’s many writings will know that he believes in the supremacy of the heart suit and the need to bid it before the opponents can. Even if you follow this approach on this hand, the bid was a bit of a shock to me given that his FOUR-card heart suit was rather weak and he did have a fine SEVEN-card spade suit.
East- West were silent throughout the auction except for Colin’s request for more port. Ray bid 2NT which they had agreed showed a 16+hand with 4 or more hearts. David bid three clubs showing club shortness and slam interest, and Ray cuebid his ♠ K. David cuebid the ♦ K. At this point Ray just bid Keycard Blackwood and David’s jump to 6♣ showed one keycard and a club void. Off an ace Ray finished the auction by bidding the small slam in hearts.
This was the complete auction
Fred led the ♣ 2 and this was the dummy.
Professor Silver played the hand perfectly. At trick one he went up with the ♣ A throwing a diamond. He led the ♥ A and when Colin threw a club on this he thought for a while before playing the ♥ 7. The Professor played two rounds of spades ending in his hand and was pleased to see Fred follow to both of them. When Silver played the third round of spades Fred ruffed. The Professor overruffed high and claimed. Once Fred had shortened his trumps, David had enough trumps in hand to draw all of Fred’s, after which it was simply a matter of taking his spade tricks to make his contract.
Here is the whole hand:
“Curious hand,” said the Professor. “Playing in spades from my hand an opening heart ruff will defeat the contract two tricks, as the defense can then capture two diamond tricks. Playing spades from Ray’s side a diamond lead followed by a club ruff will also lead to down two. Even if we eschew the 9-card spade fit to play in hearts the slam must be played from my side to ensure success as otherwise a diamond lead through my ♦ K will be fatal.”
“The late great Ely Culbertson named this pattern a swan because the 7-4-1-1 resembles the elegant shape of a swan with the 7-card suit being the long neck. Ely also said that you should ignore a 4-4 fit if you had one and play in the 7-card suit. Ely, of course, died too early to read my ground-breaking work on the supremacy of the heart suit or he would know that if you want the swan to swim in safe waters you should be careful not to ignore the importance of hearts.”
Colin looked at David and pointed out that the hand really wasn’t quite a swan since David was not 7-4-1-1.
“Never mind,” said the Professor.
December 30th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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On December 30th my daughter-in-law has left the kids at home with Colin and is joining me for some duplicate at the bridge club. Luise is an inexperienced bridge player but she is a logical thinker and has some natural talent for the game.
Nevertheless, Luise and I are having what Colin used to call a risqué pajama game. A pajama game is tops and bottoms and the risqué version is short the tops. By the last round of the evening we have five goose eggs, five cold zeros on our scorecard.
The first board is decent and we have an average plus. Then on the final deal sitting South, vulnerable against not, I hold
I open 1♠ and Luise bids 3♣ , which we are playing as a four-card limit raise. At IMPs I generally push for all vulnerable games but at matchpoints this is not a good strategy. I like the high cards I have and the spot cards are generally pretty good. I probably should bid 3♠ but it is late, I am tired, we haven’t had a good game, also it is a full moon… I can probably think of more excuses… anyway I bid the spade game.
The ♥4 is led. I have three losers in the minors off the top. I have a pretty good chance of avoiding a spade loser. I have a potential heart loser but if I can work out clubs I might have a discard for the third heart in my hand.
Anyway this hand fits right in with a pajama game – it’s going to be a top or a bottom.
There is no point in doing anything but putting up the ♥ Q, and it holds the trick. When I lay down the ♠ A, West follows with the ♠ J.
The dreaded restricted choice – missing the queen, jack, after either of them appears on the first round in the offside hand then it’s twice as good to finesse as to play for the drop. Yes, but the odds have been playing fast and loose all night. And I have no quick entry to dummy. Still, I lead the ♣ 9 towards dummy and put up the ♣ J. When that holds the trick, I lead a spade from dummy and put in the ♠10 and for the first time that evening something goes right: West shows out, throwing the ♦ 7. I cash the ♠K, fetching the ♠ J from East and the ♦ 3 from West.
Now all that remains is to play the club suit for three winners. I can’t cross to dummy on a spade and lead clubs that way since if the ♣ A is third or fourth the defender can just duck and the long club in dummy will be stranded. So I lead the ♣ Q from my hand. East wins and plays the ♦ K and then the ♦ J. West wins the ♦ A and returns the ♥ 7. It is possible that West is underleading the ♥ K — he might be endplayed with only red cards left. But I don’t think it is likely so I play low from dummy and the ♥ 9 forces my ♥ A.
At this point it can’t hurt to play off another spade or two. I lead the fourth round of spades and both defenders play diamonds. On the next trump West throws another diamond and now East plays the ♥ 6, the last remaining heart spot.
When I lead the ♣ 2 West plays the ♣ 7. Should I finesse or play for the drop? I know one of East’s last two cards is probably the ♥ K. But is that last card a diamond or the ♣ 10? I play the ♣ 8 and …
So did I get a top or a bottom? Did the goose lay the sixth egg?
Looking at all four hands the defense seems, well, excellent. East’s duck of the ♣ A was very far sighted. I think leading the ♣ 9 and putting up the ♣ J was too helpful. In retrospect it would have been harder to duck the ♣ K.
Should have, would have, could have. It was all irrelevant.
The goose had laid the sixth egg.
December 29th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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Do you remember when you used to stay up all night to play bridge? I have to confess it’s been a long time since those days. But on the 29th of December we had a wild group for the foursome. My son Colin who in those remembered days B.C. (before children) could play just about any game till the wee hours was playing me. And Ray was playing with Colin’s wife Luise who was a games-player too.
I have always been a night owl and I still stay up pretty late and I still love playing just about any game there is. For once, Ray turned off the Soccer Sports News to join us. Family fun.
Ray and I say that Colin has a cork-screw mind. We mean that he thinks about things in a different way than most people. He is fast and he is brilliant. And you just knew that a hand would come up that would give him a chance to shine.
Ray and I were ready to pack it in when this Colin was dealt this hand.
Colin held
He opened 1♥ and I bid 1♠ . Colin continued with 2♦ and I bid 3♣ which did not show clubs but did establish a game force. Colin could have bid 3NT which would have suggested 2-5-4-2 shape. But he had quite a bit extra for the auction so far. What should he do? He could bid 4NT which I think would be natural here since there is no trump suit established – but that takes up a lot of bidding space. He came up with the rather imaginative bid of 4♣ . I don’t think that it can be natural. After all, with 5-4-4 he would have bid 2♣ over 1♠ . Colin expects his partners to figure these things out.
Anyway I bid 4♥ showing belated heart support. In this auction I am likely to have three spades and a good hand (at least I thought so) since I could have supported hearts earlier if I just wanted to play a heart game. One thing I felt confident of was that if anyone could work their way around a complicated auction it was Colin.
The next bid was 4NT and I bid 5♦ showing 1 or 3 key cards. Colin’s 5♥ bid was to play only if I held the lower number. I cuebid 6♣ on the way to 6♥ . Now it was up to Colin. I had denied the ♠ K BUT my 5♣ bid suggested something extra in clubs which could only be the ♣ Q. But there was still a chance we had a diamond loser. Colin came up with another master bid, he cuebid the ♦ K. And I bid 7♥ .
A trump was lead and this was my hand. Colin drew two rounds of trump both following and then played the ♦ Q and ♦ A. If the ♦ J was doubleton Colin could have claimed. But when it didn’t he still had more chances. He left out the last trump and played the third top diamond. If diamonds were 3-3 it couldn’t be trumped and he could draw the last trump and the last diamond would provide trick thirteen. But if as on the actual deal diamonds were 4-2 then as long as the hand that held the doubleton diamonds also held the last trump he would be safe.
Here is the whole deal:
As Colin finished the hand the clocked sounded five… five rings of the clock’s bell, enough for one night even for the later owls.
December 28th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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On the 28th of December our foursome for bridge included my friend Maureen. Maureen is a talker. She could be playing in the most important bridge game ever and she would still chatter away. She was playing with my husband, Ray.
I was playing with my brother-in-law Mark. Mark has had a distinguished career as a vet. He was actually chosen the 2012 Canadian Vet of the Year. He has now gone over to “the dark side” and is a consultant for a big multinational drug conglomerate. Whenever I ask him for medical advice Ray says I have to bark first.
We were playing at Maureen’s place. Her house is as cheerful as she it, with all the right touches. Lately she has added a parrot as a pet. While the pet does talk, Maureen assured us that his bridge skills are very poor.
Mark held the following hand:
He opened 1♠ and Ray sitting on Mark’s left passed. Maureen who had been chatting with me about our recent home renovation stopped long enough to look at her cards and bid 1NT. They were playing 2/1 which meant that this bid was forcing.
Mark had one of those awkward 2/1 bids and made the system bid of 2♣ , which did not say much about his hand. It just showed two or more clubs and nothing better to bid. It was up to Maureen now. Marueen bid 3♠ showing a three card limit raise in spades and it was now up to Mark to decide whether to bid the game.
He started to think. The bird behind him who had been chattering all evening was strangely quiet too. Mark did have a little extra but he also had a flattish with poor spot cards and he knew that Maureen only had three trump. He was still thinking a few minutes later when the parrot started to squawk again. He distinctly heard the parrot say “four”. So did everybody else. In fact, Ray sitting on Mark’s left, thinking Mark had bid game, passed. Mark pointed out that it was the parrot who had actually bid “four”. But in the end decided to take the parrots advice and with a “What the hey!” bid the spades game. The ♦ 9 was lead and this is what he saw.
What a clever bird! Prospects were great. In fact, looking at the dummy there was a good chance for making twelve tricks in spades, if the finesse was onside. Mark would have five spades tricks, five heart tricks and two aces.
Mark played quickly. He rose on the ♦ A and play the ♠ 10 from dummy running in when I played low. Ray won the ♠ Q and returned the ♦ 8. I played the ♦ J which won the trick and returned a heart and Ray ruffed this! There was no place for Mark to discard two clubs from his hand with hearts breaking so badly and so he still had to lose a club trick too. Down one.
This was the whole hand:
Mark had to confess that the “4-calling parrot” was right to bid the game. But unfortunately had not provided advice on how to play the hand.
December 27th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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On December 27th we have visitors for our evening bridge game. It is our long-time friends, Fred and Margaret Lerner. Fred who is finally more or less retiring from his job in a downtown law firm is spending the winter in France. Margaret decided that the climate in the south of France would be “Goldilocks” – not too cold and not too hot. And to change things in their lives even more they sold their house and bought a nearby apartment in the course of a single weekend. They definitely needed a bridge break.
Playing with me is my sister Sandy. Sandy is my youngest sister. She has four children, two boys and then two girls. I like a large family but obviously not as much as Sandy.
We agreed to do all our bidding in French so that the Lerners could practice their language skills.
The Lerners were soon given a chance to demonstrate their bidding ability along with their language skills. Fred held:
And heard Marget open un coeur. He bid un pique and Margaret jumped shifted in carreaux. Fred had heard enough. Fred invoked their favorite convention, Blackwood (yes with a void) bidding quatre sans atout. Margaret bid cinq coeurs showing two aces and Fred bid six piques.
If you are interested in the names of suits and court cards in different languages have a look here. http://www.math.bas.bg/~iad/tyalie/damapik.html
Here is the whole auction with our side silent (except for some gossip whispered between the Lerner’s bids).
The ♣ 10 was led and Margaret tabled her hand:
Fred won the ♣ 10 with the ♣ A. Fred cashed two top couers to discard his ♣ Q and then ruffed the ♣ 5 back to hand. It was now a simple matter of drawing trump and conceding the ♦ A. One of dummy’s high coeur would provide a discard for his third carreau, if needed.
We all say; “Tres tres bon”
And then I say “Voulez-vous que certains vins?” which I hoped meant “let’s drink”.
It isn’t all that easy to get to the right spot on a hand like this. With spades as trump it was relatively safe to bid Blackwood without agreeing a suit since if Margaret was confused he could always bid spades over any bid should made. And since they played REGULAR Blackwood, not keycard it wasn’t all that important to clarify what the trump suit was. He knew that the response would show her aces.
Sometimes simpler is best. Not that I am a fan of Regular Blackwood, but it does have its victories.
Over some Calvados, we talk about how you could get to six coeurs using Keycard Blackwood.
One way is to just bid it. It seems unlikely that partner who has no high cards in spades and is missing the ♥ K could have enough high cards without at least two aces although I can come up with some hands that match the bidding without them.
Any kind of Blackwood is a gamble since you could be off two quick club tricks on hands where partner has solid hearts and solid diamonds and nothing in clubs. But then again la vie est un pari.
We all had a temps bon, ce soir ; The four of us: three French-speaking hens and a poulet male.
December 26th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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It is December 26th, Boxing Day, a holiday in Canada. I don’t know for sure where the name Boxing Day comes from. I have heard rumors that it may be that people ran to the stores to return all their Christmas presents on the 26th (in boxes presumably) but does that make much sense? Anyway it is a day off work so I am not going to complain.
This time I am sitting South partnered with my husband Ray. Ray doesn’t play bridge much any more so this was a rare treat. It is not clear why he quit the game. Some members of my family think it is because I used to yell at him when we played together. But I don’t believe that slander.
My daughter-in-law Luise was playing with Colin, her husband and my son. Luise comes from a bridge-playing family but seldom plays these days. Like many mothers she is too busy with other things.
With nobody vulnerable, I pick up “my usual hand”, as Ray would call this poor assortment.
Luise opens 1♣ and Ray doubles. Colin redoubles showing values. I bid 1♥ . In this position I don’t think 1♥ shows any particular values. It is just suggesting a denomination, and as long as Ray has made a traditional takeout double hearts is pretty certain to be the right spot. Luise passes and Ray cuebids 2♣ showing a good heart fit and extra values. Colin, who is never one to stay quiet long, bids 3♣ and it is up to me again.
While Ray is certainly showing a good hand I think I have said my piece with my original 1♥ bid so I pass. Luise passes again and Ray now bids 3♥ .
This comes around to me. Should I bid again? Before I decide I think it is time to spike my egg nog with a bit of rum. I offer the rum around to the table and find that everyone is a taker. Should I bid on? A few sips of fortified nog later I am still thinking. Finally I pass and 3♥ becomes the contact.
Luise leads the ♣ J and Ray puts down this dummy.
At any form of scoring you don’t really want to be in non-vulnerable games unless you have at least an even shot of making the contract. How good a contract is 4♥ ? I know I should put this out of my mind. My task is to make 3♥ and that is what I shall try to do. I have lots of losers and I need some winners. I have drunk too much rum to form a coherent plan but on general principles I ruff the open club lead and go about setting up diamonds, leading the ♦ 2 from dummy. I would prefer to play spades from my hand. I don’t want to draw trumps just yet since I will need some as the hand goes on to ruff clubs.
Colin plays low and Luise wins the D9 with the D10 and persists with clubs. I ruff in dummy and this is the situation:
I think it is still right to hold off on playing trumps. I will have a trump in dummy to ruff a club later and I do want to keep the hearts for communication between the two hands. I persist with diamonds. From the bidding and play so far it doesn’t seem to me that either Colin or Luise has a singleton diamond, so I lay down the ♦ A. Both follow with low diamonds, leaving two out. I lead a low diamond from dummy and Colin follows with the ♦ K so I know Luise has the third diamond, the ♦ 10 and I can comfortably trump low. Things are going well.
At this point I could play the top two trumps ending in dummy. If the hearts don’t break I will have a heart loser. The defense has taken one diamond trick. So that makes two. I will play a top diamond from dummy discarding my last club. The defenders could ruff in with their hypothetical trump queen but they can take only one more trick, the ♠ A, since I will be able to discard the third spade in my hand on dummy’s diamond winner. When I play the top two trumps the ♥ Q comes down and I actually make five. The cards are friendly but even not vulnerable we should probably have been in game.
I know what the game will be now. Who should have bid four hearts? Before Ray can say anything I smile and say, ‘Remember it is the second night of Christmas and we are two turtle doves.’
Ray smiles back. Thank goodness we have all had enough rum.
The whole hand was:
December 25th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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Tonight I was playing with my brother Lorne. Lorne is a brilliant man. He is a lawyer and one of the best. He is a pretty good at just about everything he does. But he doesn’t spend much time playing cards so his bridge skills still need further development. When he does play it is almost always at the duplicate club near his house. Still, he likes a friendly rubber with the family as much as anything. A chance to best his siblings.
Sitting North, I pick up this decent hand vulnerable against not.
Lorne opens with 1♠ and my sister Judi jumps to three clubs, preemptively.
I like my hand. It is a little flat but I have controls and my high cards seem well placed. I am certainly worth a cuebid to create a game force and set up an opportunity to look for a spade slam. So I bid 4♣. My son, Colin, a strong and imaginative player, bids 5♣ . Lorne cuebids 5♦ which is passed to me.
I still like my hand and the auction has made it better. It looks like Lorne has some extra values, himself. He not only had enough to compete at the five level but enough to cuebid on the way. Our side is rich in controls and it is hard for me to imagine a hand where he wouldn’t have a good play for a spade slam, so I bid 6♠ ending the auction.
The auction has been:
The opening lead is the ♣K and Lorne does not looked displeased when I put down the dummy. While I know it isn’t the way things are done in serious games I go around the table to see what Lorne has before heading to the kitchen to get some eggnog and mince tarts for the table.
Standing behind Lorne, this is what I see:
I know how I would play the hand. And so I leave the table with some confidence that things will go well.
When I come back holding a tray of goodies I can see that the hand is wrapping up but the defense has two tricks. I wonder what went wrong.
Counting his losers Lorne could see that he was solid outside the trump suit. His third diamond could be parked on dummy’s long heart. At trick two he set about playing trumps. He played a trump from dummy and when East played the ♠8 he played the ♠Q. West won with the ♠K and, as it turned out, East had the ♠J and ♠10 left. It was impossible for Lorne to avoid another trump loser. It was hard luck that the preemptor had the singleton ♠K.
Colin certainly took advantage of the vulnerability with his aggressive 5♣ bid. The game stops for a while for snacks and we discuss this hand. Colin, who has an extensive knowledge of all things bridge, including the literature, points out that the Rabbi’s Rule would have worked. The Rabbi’s Rule states that when the king is singleton offside, declarer should play the ace! Not only that, but the spade king carries the image of King David, the biblical king. Somehow this all makes sense on the birthday of Jesus, the “King of Israel.”
But there really is a better reason for playing the ♠ A. Lorne can afford to lose one spade trick. If the spades are distributed two-two it really doesn’t matter how he plays the suit. When the spades are distributed three-one he cannot make it if Judi, West, has the three spades. So we can ignore that case. Suppose that East, Colin, started with three spades. If Judi has a singleton spade than if Lorne plays the ♠ A he will have exactly one spade loser, regardless of the spade Judi holds. If both players follow small to the first spade trick than Lorne can lead up towards the ♠ Q and simply cover the spade Colin plays. And if Judi started with the singleton king as on this layout, Lorne will still hold his spade losers to one.
Playing the ♠ A at trick two will always work except in the unlikely occasions when spades are 4-0 or when Judi has three spades. Plays of this type are known as safety plays. They occasionally may give up a trick but they give you a better chance of making the contract.
December 24th, 2012 ~ linda ~
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Ray and I are enjoying pre-Christmas in sunny Sarasota Florida. We had a wonderful dinner with friends last night – Ray has an amazing recipe for barbeque spareribs. I wonder if I will even by hungry by lunchtime.
We plan to spend today at the pool, tennis courts and of course a bit on our computers.
We wish to wish all of you a great holiday season and a wonderful 2013. (Is that the bar mitzvah year for this decade?) Will ’13 be lucky or unlucky? At least the world didn’t end with the Mayan calendar. I just hope that there are no more predictions of the end of the world for a long time… it gets kind of wearing, all that worry.
Our bridge lesson at the “Landings” in Sarasota start in about a week and we are looking forward to them. Free bridge lessons is the main way that Ray and I contribute to the wonderful community where we spend the winter. And while many of our students will never go to a bridge club or tournament we already know that they enjoy playing bridge at home with friends and I think there needs to be more of that.
Competition is fine but just enjoying the game is something we should encourage. When you compete there are stresses and emotions that ideally are not there in the home game – hmm, I seem to remember that isn’t always true.
Happy Holidays .. enjoy the blogs over the next 12 days.
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