By Valerie Rhead
A HUMBLING GAME
Bridge is a humbling game. We can play at our bridge clubs twice a week. We can buy, and usually read, the books on bridge that line our bookshelves to explain and expand on the finer points of the game. But, all this knowledge doesn’t prevent lapses of memory or lapses of concentration that cause us great angst and uncompetitive scores.
We can count our trump diligently, but still we miscount and go down on perfectly makeable hands of bridge. Particularly challenging is counting the trump in a hand where a lot of ruffing has occurred, or those hands in which some players are short-suited and it’s difficult to add up all the three-card and two-card rounds of trump. Sometimes, the cause of the problem is just hearing an interesting conversation at the next table when we should be concentrating on counting trump.
Perhaps we should take out some insurance to protect against our shortcomings. As long as the insurance isn’t too expensive, it will enable us to survive some of our most frustrating errors. When you can’t remember, for the life of you, whether or not all the trump are accounted for, you can draw an extra round of trump. That extra round of drawing trump can be costly and use up trump that could be used to destroy losers. At other times, drawing an extra round of trump can be successful without jeopardizing the contract or overtricks. In some cases, it’s worth the peace of mind to do so.
So consider taking out this insurance on questionable hands. On others, redo the count in your head, and if necessary, take a chance. But most of the time, you can solve this problem if only you’d just concentrate and count the damn trump.
PLEASE NOTE that my email has changed. If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group, send the information to vrhead23@gmail.com and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Games for the Huntsville Club are Tuesdays, 7:15pm, Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive 15 minutes early. Contact Susan [email protected] for information and partnerships.
NOTE: Plan for our Summer Party of Dinner and Bridge Tuesday, June 21. Dinner at Tall Trees 4:30 for drinks and to place your food order. Bridge back at Trinity United.
There was NO GAME on June 14 due to a function needing the activity hall.
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games at the Bracebridge Club are at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road 7pm Monday evenings. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For information or partnerships, call Brian at 705-645-5340 [email protected]
The following winners are from Monday, Jun 13 with 11 tables playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Mary Luke and Donna McIntosh; 2. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 3. Fay MacDonald and Mary Whitehead; 4. Mary Hogarth and Albert Eatock; 5. Gail Lederer and Hazel Bowes; 6. Mary Mitchell and Susan Maddocks; East-West 1. Bob Schives and David Bryce; 2. Art Insley and Don Evans; 3. Liz Barnes and Lyn Walisser; 4. Laura Hawthorn and Myrna Rosemeyer; 5. Catherine McMillan and Julianne Guselle; 6. Pat Davies and Sue Scott
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