I volunteered to work at the Southeastern Regional in Fort Lauderdale last week. I was assigned to work the Partnership Desk and soon found myself playing in the Senior Stratified Open Pairs with a lovely lady from Nashville.

Pat Kirby had only been playing about 1 year and had 25 MP’s.  Her convention card was pretty barren except for Stayman and Blackwood. We had a so-so morning round with a 43+% effort.  At lunch, I urged Pat to be more aggressive and not pass out hands after 1C-P-1D-P-1NT-all pass. I assured her that we had as many HCP’s and probably one or both 4-card majors.

After a 1C-P-1D-P-1NT-P-P sequence, Pat haltingly placed a red card on the table and Jim bid 2 Hearts which made. The look of success was wonderful to behold. Pat began to play with renewed vigor and we finished our round with a 53+% effort that placed us seventh overall, worth 0.71 Red points.

Pat was beaming after scoring her first pigmented points which she proudly proclaimed to her husband after the session.  You would have thought she just won the Bermuda Bowl. Success is measured in such small increments.

For me, it was the most satisfying 0.71 MP’s I had ever acquired. I advised Pat to be just as aggressive when she returned to Nashville.  Be Helen Reddy - you are woman.  Don’t get pushed around at the bridge table.

Sincerely, Jim Somma

Millie Dabbs and I, playing against Linda Reeder and Carol Hargrave had a bidding error in which I failed to recognize a 4th-Suit-Forcing bid she made and so failed to Alert it.  Instead, I took it as a Reverse, also forcing, and bid 3NT.

Millie had a singleton in the suit she had bid artificially, and believing that I would think she had that suit when she didn't, she bid 5D.  (She believed that because I had failed to Alert.)  For my part, believing she had Reversed, I bid 6D since I had a good hand myself and good suit.  We went down 1. 3NT made 5. So opponents were not damaged.

One of the most bizarre events in the history of bridge occurred in a “friendly” game in 1929 in Kansas City, MO. The victim of this tragedy was John Bennett, a perfume salesman taking part in a weekly game with his wife as partner against their neighbors, the Hoffmans.

When have you had a hand when a defend­er has to underruff three consecutive times?

Ann Loan was in a spade contract Friday. Here is the 4-card ending, where Anne is South and on lead.

She led a diamond. West was forced to ruff, knowing North could and would over­ruff. She then led the Heart from dummy, and ruffed with her Spade Q. West had to under­ruff again. She led another diamond, and again West had to ruff and be over­ruffed. At that point, she took the last Spade trick in dummy.

I've played a lot of bridge, but I don't think I've ever seen 3 consecutive under­ruffs before. 

One of the most endearing qualities of a great player is their ability to take a bad situation and turn it into a winning one. At a young age, Adam Kaplan showed his mettle by his fearlessness and his stellar declarer play to bring home the contract. Take this beauty from a club game when Adam was 10 years old.

Here is an interesting hand regarding failure to alert where the Director's Ruling was appealed. It is a tournament hand played in the semi-finals of the Blue-Ribbon Pairs in December 2009. Tournament rules can be more strict than at clubs, but not in this case.

I have added some emphasis on important points. Here is the ABCL's original .pdf file: link.

¹ Support Redouble, not Alerted. [A Support Redouble shows exactly 3 spades and a minimum opening hand.  Ed.]

The Facts: The director was called at West’s turn to bid over 2♠. Just prior to the director call, West had asked about the meaning of the redouble. North said, “Oh sorry, I failed to Alert.”

The Ruling: [North's] failure to Alert was determined to be UI [Unauthorized Information.  Ed.] for South. The UI demonstrably suggests balancing with 2♠ and pass was judged to be a less successful logical alternative. Therefore, the result for both sides was adjusted to 2♥ by West making two, E/W plus 110, per laws 16B1 and 12C1e.

Here are a couple of hands from Saturday's St. Pete event played by Adam Kaplan and I.