Cincinnati fall sectional (and cba board Elections)

Saturday Evening Stratified Open Pairs

Flight A: 3^rd James Edmiston-Rob Weidenfeld

5^th Donald Wlaker-Ron Babcock

Flight B: 2^nd James Edmiston-Rob Weidenfeld

5^th Bernice Stevens-Belen Suarez

Sunday Open Swiss Teams

Flight A:

1^st Michael Pierve-Frederic Pollack-Norman coombs-Bruce Parent

2^nd Nancy Sachs-William Higgins-Amitabh Raturi-Judy Cohn

3^rd Harriet Spiegel-Ed Lee-James Myers-Bob VeVerka

Flight B:

1^st Harriet Spiegel-Ed Lee-James Myers-Bob VeVerka

2^nd Jane Burpee-John Burpee-Bonnie Parker-David Parker

3^rd/4^th Harry Davidow-Ralph Davidow- Ethyl Blatt-Ann Zeff

3^rd/4^th Phyllis Poccia-Nancy Crell-Betty Wills-Mike Broida
Flight C:

1^st Shirley Levy-Carol Jercher-Jeff Ward-Philip Resnick

2^nd Richard Magnus-Anita Mangold-Cecelia Gleisinger-Michele Staats

♠ ♥ TOURNAMENT WINNERS ♦ ♣

Middletown Sectional, August 23-25, 2002

Friday Afternoon Stratified Open Pairs

Flight A: 1^st Agnes DeLany-Deborah Cummings

2^nd William Higgins-Amit Raturi

3^rd Linda Wolber-Nancy Sachs

Flight B: 1^st Rene Piper-John Stoppiello

2^nd June Cushman-Sharon Elgin

3^rd Herb Behr-Walter Bunker

Flight C: 1^st Rene Piper-John Stoppiello

2^nd June Cushman-Sharon Elgin

3^rd Timothy Martin-William DeLaVega

Friday Evening Stratified Open Pairs

Flight A: 1^st William Higgins-Amit Raturi

Flight B/C: 1^st Arun Goyal-Rachna Goyal

Saturday Afternoon Stratified Open Pairs

Flight A: 1^st Joseph Muenks-David Tsui

2^nd Sherby Chernin-Ed Lee

3^rd Ed Long-Ruth Ammentorp

Flight B: 1^st Sherby Chernin-Ed Lee

Flight C: 2^nd Arun Goyal-Rachna Goyal

Saturday Afternoon 199er Pairs

Flight D: 1^st Sharon Elgin-June Cushman

2^nd Timothy Martin-William DeLaVega

Flight E: 1^st Timothy Martin-William DeLaVega

2^nd Robin Carver-Marcia Moss

3^rd Michael Lipp-Paticia English

Saturday Evening Stratified Open Pairs

Flight A: 2^nd Otto Walter-Larry Klein

3^rd Amit Raturi-Nancy Sachs

Flight B: 2^nd Paul Pschesang-June Cushman

3^rd Laura Owens-Elena Hickman

Flight C: 2^nd Doug ReamsRoscoe Garland

3^rd Myrna Rosen-Rabert Carter

Saturday Evening 199er Pairs

Flight D: 1^st Timothy Martin-William DeLaVega

2^nd Michael Lipp-Stephen Megerle

Flight E: 1^st Timothy Martin-William DeLaVega

Handicap Knockout Teams Bracket A

1^st Marshall Tuly-Jim Bachelder-Russsel Shoup-Vickie Sebastian

Handicap Knockout Teams Bracket B

2^nd Carol Sigler-Fred Sigler-Bruce Walker-Ernest Dalton

Sunday Flight A/X Swiss Teams

Flight A: 2^nd Amit Raturi-William Higgins-Michael Oechsler-Nancy Sachs

3^rd Kay Mulford-Donna Miller-Deborah Cummings-Jackie Toth

Flight X: 2^nd Phyllis Poccia-Mike Broida-William Brewer-Todd Barker

Sunday Stratified B/C/D Swiss Teams

Flight B: 1^st Gerry Mirus-Earlene Eckert-Sylvia Peters-Lorna Davis

2^nd Mary Clifton-Patty Brunswick-Donald Brunswick-Julie Thomas

3^rd Wlater Bunker-Sherby Chernin-Barbara Wagner-Betty Hurst

Flight C/D: 3^rd Myrna Rosen-Robert Carter-Howard Ringel-Sanford Frannklin
Dear Members of CBA:
Thank you! Your support of our Middletown Sectional helped to make it a “howling” success.

We truly appreciate your cooperation & turn-out, and we hope all enjoyed yourselves.

Thanks again! -- Mary Clifton, Chairperson

BECOMING A BRIDGE EXPERT -- PART 1
by

Fred Pollack

How does a decent player bridge player elevate his play to the status of expert? It’s not easy and takes time. Bridge is a game that takes years to master. You can’t become an expert in a couple of years. It simply can’t be done. Playing with a better partner and against better opponents is absolutely the only way to improve. I was very lucky to be mentored by some world-class players and learned more from that experience than from reading any book or taking any class. I strongly believe that you can’t learn bridge the easy way. Up and coming players need a stern lecture more than an ego boost. Let’s admit that not every bridge player can become an expert. All great players have a natural talent and feel for the game that can’t be taught. Either you have it or you don’t. The Cincinnati Bridge Association has many talented newer players. Will they become experts? To do so, they will need to realize how much they have to learn. In two articles for the Alert, I will give a guideline of the knowledge of the bridge expert and the work needed to get to that level. And work it is!

Defense: You should know clearly what situation requires an attitude, count or suit-preference signal. Giving count on defense on declarer’s lead is one thing that almost all experts agree is absolutely necessary. The book Dynamic Defense by Lawrence is an excellent book to improve your logic on defense. Kantar has written some incredible quiz books on defense. Read them. You should also be familiar with surrounding plays and mandatory falsecards.
AQ2
H1093
Declarer leads a low card to the Queen; it’s mandatory to play the 9 or 10. This gives declarer a guess with J87xx. Playing low gives declarer no guess as he is forced to bang down the Ace. Do you know this? For an expert this play is as easy as pie.

Knowing when to cover is a basic skill that you must know perfectly.

A76
Q54
Declarer leads the Jack. Playing the Queen in this situation is a novice play. Of course, you should

duck because covering accomplishes nothing and ducking saves a trick if declarer has the 10 as he is expected to have. You must duck in tempo! A hesitation gives your Queen away. You should really be thinking ahead of time in what situation you would cover. And you thought bridge was not work?

Declarer play: You should know all basic techniques of declarer play like crossruffing, ruffing losers, dummy reversal, establishing a suit, endplays etc. Watson’s book on declarer play was written in 1934, but it is still the “Bible” and is really a complete analysis of declarer play. You need to know all basic card combinations.
Kx A109xx
The correct way to play for 4 tricks is to play the King and lead to the Ace. The play is correct since the combination of Jx and Qx offside is more likely than QJxx onside. Do you know this? You also need to know basic odds. For example, you must know that the likelihood of a 3-3 break (36%) is less than the likelihood of a finesse working (50%). Bridge Master is a great computer program to test your declarer play skills. Can you tackle the problems of the 4^th level? 5^th level? I don’t think so. Of course, you need to be familiar with squeezes like double squeezes, Vienna coup, criss-cross squeezes etc. Read squeeze books by Love and Kelsey when you find the energy. Believe me, tournaments are not won on squeezes! Still, this reading opens up your mind to new ideas and makes you a much more thoughtful declarer.

(Next ALERT: Discussions on bidding, judgment, ethics and intangibles.)