My colleague, friend and partner John Walston and I did pretty well in the Wednesday night pairs game at the Bridge Studio of Delaware this week (John subbed for my usual partner Arthur Zadrozny, who was having shoulder surgery to recover his powerful tennis serve). Going into the last round, we … [Read more...]
Snow doesn’t show, but ‘burglar’ does
November 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The threatened first snow storm of the season (which never materialized) didn’t do much to hold down attendance at this week’s Wednesday night open pairs game at the Bridge Studio of Delaware (sanctioned by the ACBL) -- we had five full tables. Steve Blomstedt and Jane Malloy were the overall and … [Read more...]
From the cornfield to the concrete jungle
October 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
READING, PA and MANHATTAN, NYC - Talk about contrasts! At the beginning of the past weekend my partner Christine Matus and I played in a Sectional bridge tournament in the cornfields in rural Pennsylvania, and at the end of the weekend we tried our luck in a club game in Manhattan among the … [Read more...]
Snookering the bridge pros with four little hearts
September 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
CONSHOHOCKEN, PA - A week after my partner Christine Matus got her Life Master ranking in bridge at a Regional tournament in Rhode Island, I got all the silver points I need to achieve the same distinction at this past weekend’s Sectional tournament in Conshohocken. I’m within about 40 … [Read more...]
God bless America – and the odd Dutchman, too
July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
BETHESDA, MD - Before leaving on a brief vacation to Holland for a family reunion, my partner Christine Matus the math professor convinced me to have one more try at getting some of the gold MasterPoints we both need to get our Life Master designation. That meant going to the National Capital … [Read more...]
Bridge scoring
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar’s Contract Bridge Primer Contract bridge scoring: Here are the points scoring tables for contract bridge NT Spades Hearts Diamonds Clubs 7 (13 tricks) 220 210 210 140 140 6 (12 … [Read more...]
Playing of the bridge hand
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar’s Contract Bridge Primer After the contract has been determined, the players proceed to the playing of the bridge hand, to see how many tricks the offensive players can make and how that will relate to their prediction in the bidding (the contract). While all four … [Read more...]
The Auction
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar’s Contract Bridge Primer Every hand of bridge starts with a auction. The purpose of the bridge auction (or the bidding) in contract bridge is to determine which pair will play on offense (or, in bridge terms, will try to make a contract), and which pair will play on … [Read more...]
Ogust bridge convention
January 27, 2012 By 1 Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar’s Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions The Ogust bridge convention is probably the most exact system of determining what the real possibilities are for a partnership in which one partner opens with a weak 2 bid but the other has a good hand. The weak 2 opener no … [Read more...]
Asking for a feature in bridge
January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar’s Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions Asking for a feature in bridge is is one way to shift from an expected defensive role (when you or your partner have opened the auction with a weak 2 bid) to offense. There's a rule of thumb that if your partner opens with a … [Read more...]