P.S.

November 28th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  No Comments 

The diamond layout in my previous post is

West leads the 3.

Did you get my signal, partner?

November 28th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  3 Comments 

West is on opening lead against a spade contract, and under-leads the QJ of diamonds. Low diamond from dummy, low from East, and South, holding AK10, wins the ten. Everyone turns over the trick except East, who leaves his card face up, and then asks to “examine” the trick. Everyone turns their cards face up, East “examines” all, and then the trick is quitted. Shortly thereafter, East gets on lead, and leads to a winning card in West’s hand. West now returns a small diamond, and East……….ruffs. Now West can certainly count the diamonds, as South is marked with the AK, so no problem with the diamond return per se, but…..what exactly was East “examining” at trick one? 

Restoring equity ??

November 11th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  5 Comments 

Suppose S is in 3NT, wins the opening spade lead in hand, and plays on clubs. East revokes on the third club lead, and then wins the fourth. This deprives S of four club tricks, and he ends up taking only seven tricks – down two. Since E did not win the trick he revoked on, but E-W did win tricks later, is this a one trick penalty? When ruling on a revoke situation, many directors pay no attention to the damage done, and ask only (i) did the revoker win the trick he revoked on? (ii) did the revoking side win any tricks thereafter? How should equity be restored in the above situation? 

Plays the experts haven’t found yet!

November 10th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  1 Comment 

Watched an ACBL silver life master work some magic on BBO the other night – experts take note!

South is in 4♠ , and apparently has no spade losers. But……starts with a small spade to the ace, and then returns to hand with an off suit. Now a small spade toward the 10, losing to the stiff Q. Comes off dummy later in the hand with an off suit, could ruff successfully with either the K or J but ruffs instead with the 8, and gets over-ruffed by the 9. Down one, rather than making five. These kinds of advanced plays deserve names – any suggestions? 

What we have come to! – Part 2

November 5th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  9 Comments 

Further to my post of October 22, 2013, the three top master-point winners on BBO yesterday earned 21.60, 13.34, and 12.24 master-points. Sure makes going to a tournament worthwhile! Stay at home, pay $1 a tournament – have a smoke or drink while playing, eat when you like – hmmm….Or, use gas driving to a tournament, pay around $24 for two sessions, $15 for a meal, parking……hmmmm……
Are the above numbers an aberration? Well, the top master-point winner on BBO so far this year has earned 1878.75 master-points. That’s averaging over 6 master-points a day, for all 308 days so far this year. Now that’s performance!

Follow the money over the cliff?

November 5th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  3 Comments 

IMHO, there are three aspects to bridge: (i) bidding (ii) declarer play (iii) defense
What I object to is the incredible amount of time spent on the bidding aspect, with little or no time being spent on the other two.
Correct declarer play doesn’t change – there can’t be a new book to learn every five minutes. When you become a good declarer, you stay a good declarer.
The same is true for defense – the correct way to defend will be the same next year as it is now.
So there is little, if any, money to be made in writing books or giving lessons covering those two aspects. I’m not saying there aren’t any books,
but rather once you’ve read a good one, you don’t need any more.
All the money is to be made in writing books and giving lessons on bidding – and new ones pour off the press every year. This is what new players find daunting when they walk into a tournament area, see the huge book display table, and think “My God, how can I ever master all these things?”. And they feel intimidated when they sit down at a table, and find that their new opponents are using a totally different system than at the last table. And on and on it goes …..new “twists” at every table, and endless varieties of conventions. Even those who think they’ve mastered everything…2/1, Precision, Standard, ……don’t realize that they’ve barely scratched the surface, for in the rest of the world very few play those systems.
We do attract new players to the game, but…we don’t keep them. They leave, and they don’t come back. Does that matter? Yes! The median age of ACBL members is now around 70, and the attrition rate in the future is going to be brutal. We can be selfish, and say “Hey, there are enough players at the tournaments I attend to make up a good sized field, so why should I care?”. Or we can take a good look at what’s coming, and know that it’s absolutely necessary to bring new players into the game, and keep them. How can we keep them? Bring the “game” back into bridge – let newcomers know that there’s nothing wrong with keeping the bidding simple – focus more on declarer player and defense. Do otherwise, and we may soon reach the point where there aren’t enough players to make a game!

What we have come to!

October 22nd, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  2 Comments 

At a nearby Sectional last weekend, the winners of the Friday evening Open Pairs (9 tables/based on 16 tables) received 4.33 MPs. In contrast, the winners of the 12 table local club game Saturday evening received 4.67 MPs. And you say attendance at tournaments is falling? Hmmmmm…….

Congratulations!

September 30th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  No Comments 

Congratulations to Canada’s teams in Bali – Open, Women’s, and Seniors! After seven tough days of round robin play, the Open team gained a quarter-final entry with an eighth place finish, and the Women’s and Seniors finished “out of the money”. The Open team then played 96 boards against USA1, only to come up short in the end. To all our players, who represented Canada so well, congratulations!

Bali ByLine

September 22nd, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  1 Comment 

Canada is currently sitting ninth in the Bermuda Bowl, fourteenth in the Venice Cup, and ninth in the d’Orsi Trophy (Seniors). Go Canada!

This is about bridge!

August 12th, 2013  ~  paul cronin  ~  1 Comment 

After an auction starting 2C by South –>2D by North, North lands in 6D holding