Page 9 of 9 The Bridge Gazette

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From the Bridge Coordinator’s Desk Our Winter Sectional was held from February 12th through the 14th. Myriam Milgrom and her committee including Ruth Browning, Paul Bubendey, Claudia Haller, Jean Knoesen, Mimi Klug, David LeBar, Ann Taylor, Gerry Vaughn, Janice Woodbury, and Lou Ann Yates provided spectacular hospitality for the 229 tables of enthusiastic bridge players over three days. Arnie Summers performed the partnership responsibilities with his usual good humor. After two years of service Arnie has advised us that he can no longer serve in this capacity as he actually has other responsibilities. We have valued his service over the years and thank him for his efforts! STaCs (Silver Tournaments at Clubs) week begins on March 7th. We offer seven days of silver points at all of our regularly scheduled games. Play pairs for extra points through March 13. Audrey Grant is speaking at VBBC on Tuesday, March 8 at 9 AM on “Successful Finesses More than 50% of the Time”. Linda Holmes and her committee are organizing breakfast for the attendees and we look forward to another well received presentation. Dick Tompkins and Bill Cole-man are hard at work organizing another great Celebrity Series for next year. Please see these gentlemen if you can help out. Our own Bill Poole begins his three part series, “Seeing Thru the Back of Opponents’ Cards” on March 15th. Bill has lectured at the VBBC to great acclaim and gives all proceeds from his presentations to the VBBC. Do yourself and your Club a favor and sign up for this series of informative lectures on March 15th, 22nd and 29th. Breakfast will be served prior to the lecture which starts at 9:30 on these three Tuesday mornings. The 0-499er Non Life Master Sectional Tournament will be held on Saturday and Sunday, March 19th and 20th. This is a great chance to earn more silver points playing against your peers. Ginger Winkler and Pat Forsdick are providing the hospitality! Please see these women if you can help in any capacity. The Mentor/Mentee Championship game will be held on March 31st at 1 PM for all Mentor/Mentee pairings who have played at least three times together these passed ������������������Ͷ

From the President’s desk� ���A few months ago our long-time Treasurer, Don Brinkerhoff, notified us that he had suffered a minor stroke and that we should find a replacement. Due primarily to the efforts of Ann Bottelli, we found an excellent candidate in Mike Williams, and he took over as of the February Board Meeting. The list of Don’s accomplishments on behalf of the club is long, starting with replacing a bank mortgage covering the cost of the major upgrade of our building with Notes issued to members. He was a prime mover in replacing the hard-to-account-for game tickets with Bridge Bucks. He also identified the financial benefits of establishing the Moorings and Indian River Shores games as satellite operations. These last two years he played two major roles in dealing with our roof. Firstly, he presciently insisted on engaging professional engineering advice, and secondly negotiating the financing of the portion of the costs not covered by donations. Finally, with the Finance Committee, he drew up a complete scenario for managing our now not-inconsiderable total debt. In addition to all that, Don regularly cashiered, but all this pales in comparison to his most significant contribution – installing three manual pencil sharpeners! Which reminds me that in last month’s letter I forgot to mention the numerous members who, outside of any formal committees of volunteers, just fix things, without being asked and without any recognition. Thanks. And now to Mike Williams, who still works and is probably not well known by the majority of members. He is the (Vero Beach) Branch Manager of Raymond James Financial Services. A native of Indianapolis, he moved to Vero in 1980. He has BA from Furman and an MBA from Florida Tech., plus many professional qualifications. Mike’s other interests obviously include bridge –�he is a Bronze Life Master- and his bragging rights include having played with Easley Blackwood. Yes, that one! Welcome Mike! The effort that it took Ann Bottelli to identify Mike, reminds me once again how much we need a database ������������������Ͷ

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March 1 Stephen Coley, Thomas McAboy March 2 Jeannette Brophy, Joan Rubinstein, Gail Sloan March 3 James Devine March 4 Bill Bastian, Linda Jackson March 5 Judith Park March 6 Susan Appel, Jeanne Dell, Janice Woodbury March 7 Joan Diament, James Flagg March 8 Wendy Baker, Lyn Giuffrida, Paul Quinn March 9 Bette Eile, David Jarvis, Steve Warhover March 10 Barbara Gasser March 11 Madeleime Geoghegan, John Hamill, Suzie Lynch, William McMillen, Lou Steffens March 12 Richard Bettelon, Bill Coleman, Lynne Edgar, Leigh Mason March 13 Maggie Eggleston, Paul L’Homme March 14 Jane Coleman, Nancy Cruce, John Dobbs, Suzi Winters March 15 Joanne Dorey, Sally Holt, Gloria Sinni, Bill Stewart March 17 Jay Dolan, Lynne Whipple, Yolanda Williamson March 18 Karen Adelman, Nancy Edwards, Tonia Shamoo March 19 Bob Mercer, Donald Porteous, Ellen Silverstein

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

���SHUFHQWHUV�IRU�)HEUXDU\���¶ &RQJUDWXODWLRQV�WR�WKH�IROORZLQJ�ZKR�DFKLHYHG����SHUFHQW �RU�PRUH�JDPHV�LQ�)HEUXDU\� 2/2 George Bleskachek & Joanne Matchette 72.92% Emily Burr & Susan Hamilton 77.50% Peg Callinan & Newbie Cooper 72.50% 2/3 John Adourian & John Hamill 71.43% 2/4 Bob Geeseman & Ray Columbaro 70.14% 2/9 Paul Quinn & Paul Donaghy 70.83% 2/10 Bob Schives & Joanne Matchette 70.86% 2/16 Al Killian & Nancy Marquardt 70.58% 2/18 Candace Griffey & Susan Mayo 71.73% 2/26 Margaret & Norman Richard 70.83% 2/27 Susan Mayo & Jamie Portell 75.83%

March 21 Peggy Laurencelle March 22 Anne Diedrick, Dick Haverland, Sarabeth Smith March 23 Marshall Barrett, Jan Pilon, Chris Talbot March 24 Geri Essig March 25 Carol Baxter March 26 Sheila Connors, Dee Gaddy, Norman Joost, March 27 Helen Boom, Suzanne Hessian, Scott Jameson March 28 Michele Kelly, Claudia McNulty, Caroline Voorhees March 29 Nancy Conway, Eva Gurley, Robert Middleman March 30 Lelia Barnes, Carol Dolan, Robert Gasser, Bronia Jenkins, Susie Kasten, Barbara Lowry, Damon Martin, Barbara McKelvey, Mig McKinney, Nancy Paul, Helen Thurman March 31 Bill Corcoran, Nancy Garvey, Pinky Israel, Martha Moore &DUG�6KDUNV�IRU�)HEUXDU\� �0DUWKD�*ODVVPH\HU 0–5 Robert Murphy 6–20 Dave Willis 21–50 Bette Eile 51–100 David LeBar 101–200 Marcel Jacques 201–300 Lorie Heilberger 301–400 Ray Columbaro 401–500 James Flagg 501-750 Boots VanNostrand 751–1000 Paul Quinn 1001-2500 Joanne Matchette 2500+ Bob Schives

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY PICTURE

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%ULGJH�(GXFDWLRQ�� �� %LGGLQJ�5HYLHZ�&ODVVHV Every Wednesday from 9:30 to 11:30 there is a bidding review class. Neither reservation or partner is required. Pick a topic you’d like to brush up on and join us for a fun morning. Each class costs $15. There will be opportunity to practice what you learn. Here are some upcoming topics: * 3/09 - Opening the Bidding - Gail * 3/16 - Responding to Major Suits - Lyn * 3/23 - Responding to Minor Suites - Gail * 3/30 - Opener’s Rebid & Reverse - Lyn * 4/06 - Responder’s Rebid - Gail * 4/13 - Overcalls - Lyn 9 A.M. FRIDAY STUDENT GAME A brief lesson and at a somewhat slower pace makes this a great game for students or those who want to give duplicate bridge a try. The session begins at 9 a.m. with a brief lesson before the game. The fee is $8 for members and $10 for nonmembers. 9 A.M. TUESDAY STUDENT GAME A brief lesson and at a somewhat slower pace makes this a great game for students or those who want to give duplicate bridge a try. The session begins at 9 a.m. with a brief lesson before the game. The fee is $10 And is held at the Indian River Shores Community Center. 0HQWRU�0HQWHH�&KDPSLRQVKLS�*DPH The final game of the mentoring program, the championship game, will be held on Thursday, March 31st. If you have played at least three times with your mentor/mentee, you are eligible to play in this game. Please indicate on the sign up sheets that you will be playing in the Championship.

CLUB STATS FOR FEBRUARY Total Tables 1585 Black Masterpoints 2251.80 Red Masterpoints 11.28 Total Points 2263.08

7KH�7RS����� )RU�JDPHV�SOD\HG�LQ�)HEUXDU\ ���1 38.22 38.22 Bob Schives* 2 26.84 26.84 Joanne Matchette 3 25.36 25.36 Myriam Milgrom* 4 25.00 25.00 David Millward* 5 24.64 24.64 Deborah Drury* 6 23.00 23.00 Ruth Browning 7 22.91 22.91 William Poole* 8 20.43 20.43 Gordon Kreh 9 20.13 20.13 Susan Mayo* 10 19.57 19.57 Boots Van Nostrand 11 18.77 18.77 Rob Colton* 12 17.81 17.81 Linda Starr* 13 16.83 16.83 Bob Flynn* 14 16.52 16.52 E Freeman Bunn* 15 16.26 16.26 George Bleskachek 16 16.02 16.02 Bobbie Sward* 17 15.66 15.66 Ronald Andrews* 18 15.61 15.61 Gail Reams* 19 15.41 15.41 Donald Riefler 20 14.37 14.37 Judith Kane* 21 14.27 14.27 Nancy Marquardt 22 14.00 14.00 Patricia Riefler 23 13.81 13.81 Steve Hayskar 24 13.25 13.25 Karolyn Smith 25 12.95 12.95 Reanette Frobouck

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03�WKUX�)HE ���� �-� ��WK Frank McGowan �� 3KRQH�H[WHQVLRQV�IRU�IDVW�DFFHVV 201 Kim Howard’s office 202 Director’s desk 203 Courtesy phone by the bookcase 204 Cashier’s desk 205 Martha Glassmeyer-Bridge Coordinator Visit our web site at: www.verobridge.com · for daily game results · for tournament schedules · to locate a member’s e-mail address :H�©�2XU�§�

)HEUXDU\�5DQN�&KDQJHV Junior Master: Suzanne Caltwin, Patricia Hamlin, Beth Howard, Robert Moore, John Souza, Christina Vincent and Justine Wilcox Club Master: Anne Cooney, Marilyn Friedwald, Robert Gasser, Dawn Holmes, Jean Rohs Sectional Master: Tom Bentien NABC Master: Brian & Flo Fisher Life Master: Joanne Dorey

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ABC CLUB FOR February �.LP�+RZDUG Congratulations to the following C players ho came in first in all strata (C, B, A) in an open game during February: February 1 Lorie Heiberger & Christopher Smith Joe Paquette & Don Hickey February 4 Christopher Smith & Glenn Coulter February 5 Donna Pottle & Heidi Stott February 8 Ellie Lloyd & Mimi Kennedy February 9 Pam Sailer & Suzanne Mason Barry Rowles & Bill Baum February 10 Selwyn Kossuth & Christine Fletcher February 15 Meg Hall & Virginia Getz Linda Fix & Ruth McClure Sharon Cruickshank & Anne Nelson February 16 Mimi Klug & David LeBar Mary Sullivan & Wendy Stowe Ann Grealis & Pam Sailer February 23 Christopher Smith & Glennon McBride Louise Greco & Andre Renaud Margot Woodwell & Ann Veghte February 25 David LeBar & Maria Malloy Nicole Landriault & Lisette Jesmer February 26 Linda Connor & Carol Manning February 27 Joe Paquette & Martha Moore February 29 Pru Robertson & Meg Hall

$FH�RI�&OXEV�DQG�0LQL-0F.HQQH\ /HVOLH�3KHOSV Here are the Ace of Clubs ACBL nationwide (not Unit) standings of our members for points earned at the club level through February 2016 for the top 30 in each division. Our club should be proud of the fine accomplishments of these members: 03�/HYHO $&%/-:LGH�5DQN

$FH�RI�&OXEV 9%%&�0HPEHU 03�WKUX�)HE��� 0-5 3rd Frank McGowan 11

50-100 21st Martha Moore 15 300-500 21st Bill Baum 24 500-1000 16th Boots VanNostrand 32 1000-1500 4th Joanne Matchette 44 5000-7500 15th Bob Schives 61

From the Bridge Coordinator’s Desk ��������������������ͳ months. We will be awarding extra points for this game and winners will be celebrated! It is a busy time at the VBBC. WE look forward to seeing you at the Club! Martha Glassmeyer From the Presidents Desk ��������������������ͳ of member qualifications, experience and interests. We do not know who has financial expertise, nor planning, IT, construction, board membership etc. Any volunteers? Pref-erably with knowledge of modern database management. Max Hughes

FEBRUARY 2016 SERIES WINNERS Tues Series Game Bonus Masterpoints 0-199ers Kingsley Dolan 1.32 Linda Boutan 1.13 Bette Eile 1.13 Bill Mazzafro 0.33 Marieann Mazzafro 0.33 Tues Series Game Bonus Masterpoints Open Game Rob Colton 2.34 Bob Schives 1.54 David Millward 1.54 Bob Flynn 0.87 Boots VanNostrand 0.87 Tues Series Game Bonus Masterpoints Evening Game George Bleskacheck 0.33 Joanne Matchette 0.17 Karen Yellin 0.11 Stanley Yellin 0.11 Ruth Browning 0.11 Wed Series Game Bonus Masterpoints 0- 50 Game John Adourian 0.72 John Hamill 0.72 Barbara Gasser 0.41 Robert Gasser 0.41 Wed Series Game Bonus Masterpoints 0 – 499er Game Jim Flagg .08 Wayne Decker 1.08 Marcel Jacques 0.52 Bill Baum 0.46 Barry Rowles 0.46 Wed Series Game Bonus Masterpoints Open Game Bob Schives 2.19 Joanne Matchette 2.19 Debbie Drury 1.41 Myriam Milgrom 1.05 Page 4 of 8

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7KH�%ULGJH�*D]HWWH�� Editor: Kim Howard Contributors for this issue: Maxwell Hughes, Leslie Phelps, Kim Howard, Martha Glassmeyer and Barbara Seagram

COMMON ERRORS TO AVOID IN BIDDING & PLAY by Barbara Seagram bseagram@uniserve.com www.barbaraseagram.com Bridge is a game of mistakes. Even experts make mistakes. It is simply a question of how many mistakes you make. Those who make the fewest consistently win. A good player does not necessarily have a higher I.Q. He/she just knows the common pitfalls and avoids them. It is okay to make mistakes in bridge. With each one, you grow and you always learn from these errors. Try not to make the same ones again. In some things in life, mistakes do matter. An air traffic controller had better not make any; in bridge, they are a constant part of the game. It is impossible to be perfect. When you add a new convention to your repertoire, you will frequently get it wrong the first few times you try it. By the seventh attempt, you should have it down pat! What distinguishes experts from good players and good players from average players? The frequency of mistakes. Bridge is a game of mistakes. The players who make the fewest mistakes win at bridge. But take heart…when you make a mistake and it is pointed out to you, you often remember not to repeat that mistake. It is not the handling of difficult hands that makes the winning player. There aren’t enough of them. It is the ability to avoid mess-ing up the easy ones. Alan Sontag PLAYING TOO FAST Slow down. Yes, duplicate bridge is a timed event but take the time to make a plan at the start of the hand and stop playing instinctively and by rote. Stop and think. As a declarer, count your winners in NT contracts and your losers in suit contracts. As a defender, calculate how many high card points that declarer and dummy have in the combined hands, then count your points and subtract that total from the number 40. I call it the RULE OF 40! There are 40 HCP in the deck. Your partner has the leftover points. If you know that partner can only have 5 points and she has already led a King, you know she has the King and Queen in that suit (bby inference) and can have nothing more. ALL this thinking MUST be done at TRICK ONE. CASHING TRICKS TOO EARLY ON IN THE GAME: Aces were put on this earth to capture Kings and Queens. Kings were put on this earth to capture Queens and Jacks. Don’t just lead out your Aces, unless you have also got the next-door neighbor King in that suit. If dummy is on your left and has KJ72 and you have A63, plan that when declarer leads a small card from her hand towards that suit in the dummy that you will play low smoothly and not hesitate a long time. You are going to hope that declarer will play the Jack and that partner may be able to win the Queen.

Remember that if declarer has opened 1NT, she does have at least TWO cards in each suit so even if it is a trump suit contract, she cannot trump your Ace on round two of the suit. TO PULL TRUMP OR NOT TO PULL TRUMP: Sometimes you may fail to pull trump because your trumps are of poor quality. That should not make you nervous. If you have lots of good tricks (high cards) and lousy trumps, you simply have to draw those trumps, otherwise the opponents will ruff your good tricks in non-trump suits. North S AKQ H J10873 D 53 C 1087 West East S 5432 S 9876 H AK9 H Q62 D AK4 D Q72 C Q54 C AKJ South S J10 H 54 D J10986 C 9632 Less experienced players are petrified when they are dealt these cards. You find yourself in 4 S which is a better contract than 3NT as you will score 420 (or 620 vulnerable) while in 3NT only 400 or 600. But armed with such lousy quality trump, they hesitate to pull trump. North should lead the top of sequence: Heart Jack, not Ace, King Queen of trump. Declarer must pull trump immediately. If he does not, hen SOUTH will score a trick with one of his Spade J or 10 as he ruffs a Heart. When declarer wins the second Heart return, he must pull trump again. ANOTHER SCENARIO: Sometimes you may pull too many trumps or draw trumps when you cannot afford to do so. If, for example, you have to ruff some losers in the dummy, then you will have to keep some trumps in dummy with which to trump declarer’s losers. Also, sometimes you need to keep some trump in dummy as entries to the dummy. Barabara Seagram

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