Thursday Open Game 8 May 2025
Welcome to 2 new players today - Barbara Garnis and Cindy Eaton! We were a little worried, but I have since learned that Gordon is fine. We played a 9-1/2 table Mitchell movement. Congratulations to Herb/Ron for the first place overall awards today - I guess Ron is recovering! Nick/Darrell and Connie/Roger took first place in the B strat and Liz/Andi and Linda/Nancy were first place in the C strat. the points should be adjusted to award 25% gold mps.
Wednesday 7 May 2025 - Sunny after what seems like a month of rain! I think the drought is gone!
Today we had a 6 Table Howell movement where everyone played 2 hands with 8 other couples. The top 6 couples were so tight - only a 4 percentage point different. Unfortunately, there is always a winner even though you all played very well. I hope you had a great time! The winners today were by Mary Lynn and Claire (still taking advanced beginning lessons (they must work!), Jan/Carolyn with a 57% (rounded up -only one of you were taking lessons!), followed by Hildy and Paul with a 57% (rounded up). Next comes the team of Penny/Rick Marion(56% rounded up) and Cynthia and Marion (56% rounded up) , followed by Jack and bill with 53%!
You all did very well!
Summer is coming and I understand that some of you are going on vacation! Have a great time and remember we are sitting here missing you! Please come back.
Suzanne
Tuesday 6 May 2025
We had 3 tables in the Adv Beginners lesson and 8 tables +1 in the beginners lesson. WOW!!
We started the series on defense in Advanced Beginners and discussed Reverses in the beginners lesson. Next week we will cover more on defense in Adv Beginners and attack competitive bidding in Beginners.
We had 8 full tables in the pupil game as one person did not stay for the game. That is a new record for our pupil game! The big winners today were Mary Lynn and Claire who bid and made 3 of the possible 7 slams today for a 66,27%. Crazy Hands!! Second place went to Jan and Dianne with 60.71%.
I had a great time, even though I hardly got a chance to sit down with 8 tables worth of questions during the bidding of these crazy hands! I look forward to seeing all of you next time! I know a couple of you are away next week, so I will see you when you get back. Have a great week! ---Carl
Thursday 1 May 2025
May Day! May Day! Carl Wikstrom directed this game!
We had a lesson on Jacoby 2NT and splinters and when to use them today at 11:00. We had 10.5 tables in the sanctioned game that started a few minutes late.
We had two new members Kenneth Gminski and Jude McLean who finished second EW with 60.84%, Very nice for C strat players. Our C strat players did quite well today as Nancy Barron and MaryEllen Dunbar finished first NS with 62.05%. Yours truly was carried into first EW by Joyce Sweeny with 65.59%. Second Place NS went to Linda McCabe and Pat Betts with an even 60.00%. Congrats to all and thank you for playing with us in North Hampton! Skip should be back next week. See you then!
----Carl
Had an error on board 22 that has been corrected. --Carl
Wednesday 30 April 2025 Fun Bridge! Wow! What weather- this is scary 82 deg weather in April! Good thing tomorrow is May Day! What is it going to be like in August? and down the line - August 2050?
Today we had a 6 and a half table Mitchell movement where every E-W pair played 20 hands and every NS pair played 24 hands! So the sit out was 4 hands long! The algorithm in ACBL adjusts the scores so that the scores NS and EW are comparable. We had several 2 club openers! The top NS team were Janet and Jill with a 62%, followed by Rick and Penny then Sid and Bobbie! The top EW team were Hildy and Paul with another 62% followed by Mary Lynn and Claire and Jack and Bill! You all did amazingly! We had a couple of unbid slams and even bid slams - Boards 9, 12, 19, 23, and 24! This must be left over from the slam bidding lesson!
Thank you all for coming to beautiful Centennial Hall on a lovely day like this! See you next week!
Sorry I made a mistake in the first submission. One score can move everyone around!
Suzanne
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Tuesday April 29 2025
We had a lesson on New Minor Forcing in Advanced beginners and a lesson on the BIG double in beginners today. Next week we will begin a series on defense in Advanced beginners and a discussion of reverses in beginners.
The winners in our 6 table Pupil game were Ed Winslow (the assistant instructor) and Jan Ebeling. Ed has too many Masterpoints to be eligible in the pupil game so the second place is almost like first place and goes to Elizabeth and Jean L. Third place went to Jane G and Herb K. There were a abunch of wild distributions today, but that made it even more fun! See you next week! --Carl
Wednesday 23 April 2025 - what a beautiful day! Still we had 6 full tables of bridge. We played a Howell Movement with 8 rounds and 3 boards per round. You all did very well. Unfortunately, there always has to be a first place numerically. Today's first place was pair of Pat and Sherry with a 61.67%, followed by the pair of Hildy and Paul, then Jan and Claire, next Rick and Penny and tied for 5th were Jack, Bill, Jill and Janet with a 52.50%! I hope you all had fun! This is a great way to socialize and stimulate your mind at the same time. I will see you next week!
Suzanne
Tuesday April 22 2025
We discussed splinters and cue bidding first round controls in Advanced beginners and continued takeout double lessons in beginners. Next week we will discuss new minor forcing in Adv beginners and the BIG double in beginners.
We had 6 full tables in the pupil game and the winners (again!) were Betty and Wynne with a whopping 67.78%!! Second place was a tie between the Cullys and Jane and Susan with 59.44%!
This was the last of the card prizes, so next week, and for the foreseeable future, there will only be pride and points for the winners. See you next week! ---Carl
Also Ed Winslow, your future instructor, was present to learn about how to run your game. Thanks to him and to you for making him feel welcome.
Thursday Open Game 17 April 2025
We were happy to see the Connors visit today along with Liz Van Hof, Mark Forsyth and Guil Spencer. Top honors went to Pam/Larry followed closely by Mary/Rosyln. C strat players who ended up placing were Darrell/Brent, Nancy/Mary Ellen, Andi/Liz and Nancy/John. There were several slams today which were not bid by the majority of players.
Wednesday 16 April 2025 - Today we had 7 full tables and played 4 hands a round, for 7 rounds! You all did well! For some reason my ACBL/bridge composer is on the blink, so I can't put everything in one file, but I can still give you all the data. I switched browsers to Duck,Duck,Go? We are glad to see the Exeter contingent show up again! Welcome Jim and Wolfgang. Four partnerships bid a small or grand slam on Board 21! Great going!
Winners N/S Pat and Sherry, followed by Bobbie and Sid then Jane and Jan! Winners EW were Jack and Bill, Hildy and Paul, followed by Dave and Zelda. Thank you all for coming! and see you next week.
Suzanne
Wednesday Fun Bridge Wednesday Morning Session April 16, 2025
Scores after 7 rounds Average: 84.0 Section A North-South
Pair Pct Score Section Rank Overall Rank
A B C A B C
6 61.61 103.50 C 1 1 1 2 2 2 Pat Dodge - Sherry Lohnes
2 55.06 92.50 C 2 2 2 4 4 4 Bobbie Timmerman - Sidney Labonte
7 53.87 90.50 C 3 3 3 5 5 5 Jane Greenslit - Jan Poulin
1 52.08 87.50 C Marion Barron - David Pepple
5 49.70 83.50 C Jill Flanders - Janet Zetterberg
4 40.77 68.50 C Rick Dickinson - Penny Lyford
3 36.90 62.00 C John Burnap - Joan Nickel
Wednesday Fun Bridge Wednesday Mor Session April 16, 2025
Scores after 7 rounds Average: 84.0 Section A East-West
Pair Pct Score Section Rank Overall Rank
A B C A B C
6 61.90 104.00 C 1 1 1 1 1 1 Jack Sulger - William Boatwright
5 59.82 100.50 C 2 2 2 3 3 3 Hildy Stover - Paul Arond
2 49.40 83.00 C 3 3 3 David Moore - Zelda Moore
4 48.21 81.00 C Cynthia Muse - Margie Dickinson
7 47.32 79.50 C Mary Lynn Powers - Claire Devellian
1 42.56 71.50 C Wolfgang Harder - Jim Nay
3 40.77 68.50 C Jan Ebeling - Audrey Parker
Tuesday 15 April 2025
TAX DAY!! You got yours filed months ago, right?
We discussed two way reverse Drury in Advanced beginners and Take out doubles in beginners class. Next week we will discuss splinter bids in Advanced beginners and More take out doubles in beginners class.
We had 6.5 tables in the pupil game and had a fun time. The computer deemed me ineligible for points before I report them, which is fine by me because it saves one line of typing in my report to ACBL. I am surprised it hasn't done that every other time...computers have strange logic sometimes... Anyway the winners today were John Safford and Bill Swett with 65.56% and right behind in second p]lace were Claire D and Mary Lynn P. with 62.5%. I will hold John and Bill's prize until next week as they left before everyone else was finished.
See you next week! --Carl
Thursday Open Game 10 April 2025
We had a fabulous 11 table Mitchell movement today. We had several new players and a player who has not been here in 8 years. Welcome to David Walker from Philadelphia and to Deanna King. Rita Bowlby was also back after an eight year hiatus. Congratulations to Claudia/Carl and Sandy/Bob for first place finishes. Liz/Andi, Louise/George, Brent/Darrell, Suzanne/Je and Nancy/Mary Ellen all finished with points from our C strat. Well done everybody.
Wednesday 9 April a Sunny, but cold day - Today we had a 5 and a half table Howell movement, where each pair played 7 other pair and there was one sit out. We had 3 sets of cards for each round. There were no spectacular hands, but we all had a good time. The winners were Pat and Sherry with 66.67% game, followed by Paul and Jan with a 64.89% game. Next were the Moores with a 61.91% and Jan and Jane at 58.95%. You all did very well! and to keep you on your toes, the output is by pair number!
My informal survey shows the average age of our group is 79.1 years old. I was looking for someone younger who might want to slide into running the games in a couple of years, since last week I was so exhausted, I did not know how much longer I could do this. This week I was much more peppy! I guess that is what a COVID vaccine does to you!
We are hoping some of our summer people will start to show up! We also miss the Exeter people! Thanks for coming and see you next week~
Suzanne
Tuesday April 8 2025
We had a practice lesson of 2/1 bidding and play in Advanced Beginners class and discussed opening weak and responding to weak opening bids in Beginners class. Next week we will introduce Drury in advanced beginners class and takeout doubles in beginners class.
We had 7.5 tables in the pupil game (a record for the past year, if not longer). I want to thank everyone for their understanding with having a playing director/instructor with so many tables. We still finished around 3 o'clock, so all went well. I hope we continue to have this many and more tables, although someone should remind me to play 6 rounds of 3 so we don't have to share boards.
The winners today were Jan and Jean with a whopping 67.02%! (They took the special prizes, I still have two or three sets left, so you could still win one.) Martha and Donna came in second with a very nice 59.73% and right one their heels was the Gerri/Kathy duo with 58,51%. I had a great time, even if it didn't look like it, as I felt a bit frazzled with the board sharing. Thank you for minimizing the director calls, it really helped.
See you all next week! ---Carl
Thursday Open Game 3 April 2025
Today we had a perfect 9 table Mitchell movement where all EW teams played all 27 board and all of the NS teams. Congratulations to Donna/Peter and Sandy/Nancy for their first place finishes. Nancy/Ellen and Louise/George have the second place finishes. Andi and Liz also placed. Next week will be double black points. We will continue with the lessons I picked up at the Memphis nationals.
Wednesday 2 April 2025 - This lovely spring day we had 7 full tables! Some very interesting hands. Dave got 2 hands in his first 3 that made slam, so his opponents started at the bottom of the pack!
First place today goes to Paul and Hildy with a 62.92%, followed by Jane and Jan with a 60.83%, next came Bobbi and Dave, then Audrey and Colleen, round out for 5 to Jill and Janet! You all did very well! I think we need to review our slam biddin! LOL!
Thank you for coming!
Suzanne
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Tuesday April 1 2025
We covered more 2/1 bidding in Adv Beginners and Responding to NT without a flat hand (Transfers and Stayman) in beginners class. I haven't decided on next week's topics, yet, so it will be a surprise!
We had 6.5 tables in our Pupil game. We also had a new player that Gary T brought in as a ringer. At least that who I think he is as he and Gary came in second behind yours truly and Mary Lynn. Welcome to Michael Bean! He and Gary had 63.5%, Mary Lynn and I had 68.5% for first place and Jane G and Susan S cam in third with 57.26%. Since it seemed a little unfair for Mary Lynn to play with the instructor, she graciously allowed Gary and Michael to have our prize of two decks of special cards from Memphis. These will be prizes for the next two weeks, so sharpen up your game and win a deck.
See you next week! ---Carl
Thursday Open Game 27 March 2025
We had another very nice 9-1/2 table Mitchell movement today. Congratulations to Sandy/Bob and Lesley/Dave for the first-place finishes. Patti Andrews placed first in B for her first time here. Suzanne/Barbara, Brent/Darrell and Ed/Jim placed in the C strat. Barbara McAdoo also had a nice finish for her first time here.
Today we had a full 7 table Howell movement where we welcomed Lyndon and Charles from the Tuesday lessons! You all did very well! Unfortunately, with 7 tables we only play 2 hands against each opponent Pair, and some of you think that is a warmup and forget how to play, since there are a few people that can extend 2 hands to 30 minutes. 2 hands should be played in about 18-19 minutes. We missed Bobbie and Sid and Wolfgang and Jim! and Especialy Dave and Anne! Please come back!
The winners today were Guil and Mark with an astounding 67.63%, followed by a tight grouping startig with Roger and Connie with 56.41%, Jill and Janet with 55.13% then a tie between Hildy and Paul and Jane and Jan followed by Jack and Bill! You all did very well!
Thank you all for coming! I hope you had a good time. In the future we will try a Mitchell since 2 boards a hand takes too long. This game should be over at 3:15 not 4:05! Please try to speed up the play move efficiently and put the scores in! talk about the hands after the Game not just the round! They are posted for you to review!
Suzanne
Tuesday March 25 2025
We were back to advanced beginner's lessons today and did more 2/1 hand evaluation and bidding. In beginner's lessons, we did a review of responding to an open of one of a suit. Next week, we will discuss pre-emptive bids and responses in beginners and more on finding the right level and suit in advanced beginners.
We had x full tables in the Pupil game today with a special prize for the winners. I procured some give-away cards at the NABC last week and I am giving 2 decks (one each) to the winners, who today were Betty and Wynne with 66.11%. Mary Lynn and Claire came in second with 62.78% and Jane G and Susan Scott were third with a very nice 58.33%
I will continue to give out decks of cards to the winners while supplies last. There is a limit of one prize per pair, so if the winner has already won decks of cards, the cards will go to second place and so on. I look forward to next week! (Go Hogs!) --Carl
Hello All, Thursday 20 March 2025 ACBL game
Apparently this was a "GLITTER GAME" so instead of getting all those black points, because Skip wanted this to ge a Glitter game (I guess this is special!). ACBL has given 33% gold points and 67% black points at the expense of Fewer points! This was done by ACBL at their headquarters. I am not able to post Gold points.
There is no change in ranking. Just you traded your black points for gold points and got some fewer points. Look at the ACBL website to ascertain they outcome.
We had a nine table Mitchell movement playing 3 hands a round. We had a person come play with us we have not seen in years Welcome Back Jerry Poirier! There were winners in both N-S and EW directions. N-S and OVERALL Winners were Darrell and Brent! Followed by Carl and Claudia in NS direction. Then Ellen and Nancy in EW were 3rd overall! followed by a 2 way tie between George and Louise and John and Nancy! You all did very well! Thank you for coming to N. Hampton, Sorry about the low light, and the confusion. I want to thank Carol for helping me pass out the bridgemates (I kept them back until I was sure how many tables, Jimmy D for sitting in for 3 hands until I got all names and numbers in and Sharon K for helping and also Nancy B. I was a nervous wreck after driving to MGH in Brookline a few times this week in a new car! Thank you all for being so understanding! Note that hands 24, 25, and 26, were the "yellow" boards while the rest of the boards were blue. The yellow boards may be out of order since I had to type them in and I typed 25 in 4 times, before it took.
You all did very well. the NE means that one of the partners in the team is not eligible for points UNLESS they sign up as an ACBL Member. They have a certain period of time to do so, and that will allow their partner to get any points he/she deserves.
Thank you all for coming to our Beautiful Centennial Hall!
Next week we will continue with normal lessons at 11 am given by Skip Page.
Suzanne
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Hello all,
Here is the final grouping. We had a 6 and a half Mitchell movement with 4 boards a round. Long sitouts but we had Shadow and Feather to watch feeding the twins! First place NS went to Roger and Connie (no surprise there!) followed closeline by Jill and Janet and the Dickinsons! Second place overall but first place East west were Barb and Paul, followed by Bobbie and Sherry, who did a great job then Pat and Claire Hope you all had a good time. Note Remember Michael's? hand 21 was a classic Michaels. East opens 1 minor, South cue bids 2 of the minor telling partner he has 5-5 in the majors. It should have been played by North at 2 Spades, but somehow it was played by S in Spades/? Maybe it is I who should look up Michaels? The director could not figure out how to put the names in for pair 7.
Suzanne
Hello All,
Dave Roberts set up the tables and you all played several hands of bridge until about 2 pm. If you scored anywhere I can figure out, I will post the hands and scores.
Will not be until after bridge game on Thursday
Thank you for coming and I am sorry about the game!
Suzanne
Here are the hands for those who wish to review them.
I have not deciphered the scores yet.
Thursday Open Game 13 March 2025
Wow what a turnout for this special upgraded point game - 10-1/2 tables! Congratulations to Maureen/Paul and Nancy/Lisa for the first place spots. Donna/Peter and Leley/David took the B strat and Pat/Gordon, Darrell/Brent and Ed/Jim took the C strat finish. We had some very long suits today.
Wednesday 12 March 2025 - Fun game. Today we had 7 full tables and played 13 rounds of 2 hands, for a total of 26 hands! We had a new partnership Claire Morton and Barb Turk who came in first with a 61.01%! Congratulations! you all did well. Poor Paul came partnerless and had to put up with the director who left him to play many hands! Thank you Paul! in 3rd were Mary Lynn and Claire D! followed by Bill and Jack, then Margie and Jan, and the Moores! You all did well. We had a number of small and large slams. Must ask Skip or Carl how to bit the slam on Hand 9 which made 6 NT, but people mostly stopped at 3NT. We need lessons on slam bidding! Today we had a lot of them! We also need lessons on what to lead!
See you next week and bring your friends!
Suzanne
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Tuesday 11 March 2025
In advanced beginners, we continued learning about bidding after a forcing 1NT. In beginners we discussed Stayman and transfers after a NT open. Next week there will be no Advanced class and Suzanne will review responding to an open at the one level.
We had 6 full tables in our pupil game. The Cullys were surprised to win with 66.67% (I don't know why they were surprised, they win a lot,) Gerri and Kathy were in second place with 55.56% and John B and Joan N came in third with 55% (Well done!) I will be in Memphis next week at the National tournament. Suzanne will run the Pupil game and the review lesson mentioned above. Remember NO ADVANCED LESSON NEXT WEEK. See you in two weeks! --Carl
Another Bridge Boot Camp is happening THIS SATURDAY March 8, 2025
What it will be like:
We will discuss up to 27 randomly dealt boards, one at a time. Attendees will bid and play the same hand, followed by discussion of how I would have bid and played the hand and why. A hard copy of the hands and my discussion of the bid and play will be provided at the end of the camp. I will have enough sets of cards to handle up to 5 tables. If needed, due to extra players that don't fill out a table, some players will need to rotate as observers, but no one will need to do so for more than a few of the hands. That will only happen if we have one or two extra because I will fill out the table if we have three extra.
It will start at 10 AM and continue until 4 PM or until 27 boards have been discussed, whichever comes first. There will be a 15 minute break for lunch at about noon, but no lunch will be available, so bring your own.
The fee will be $15/person, which is divided between Centennial Hall, North Hampton DBC, and me.
If you have any questions, email me at cvwikstrom@gmail.com. Hope to see you there! ---Carl
We had a robust 5 and a half table Howell movement where each team played 21 boards and 7 other partnerships! It was a dreary overcast day, but we could tell Spring is coming! You all did very well today! We welcome Marie-Laure, Mark Forsythe and Bob Eberhardt to our Wednesday game. We also had Jan, Virginia,and Colleen come visit us and play! I hope you had a good time.
Even though all of you did well, we do have a team that came in first and that would be by Dave Pepple and Virginia with a 59.52%, who edged out Hildy and Paul with a 59.38%, then Pat and Marie-Laure with a 55.73% followed by Dave and Zelda! This was a horse race up until the end!
Thank you for coming and See you next week! Board 9 was hard to bid if East preempted with 2 spades NS never found its Slam!
Suzanne
Tuesday 4 March 2025
We discussed forcing 1NT response for 2/1 in advanced beginners and responses to 1NT open with flat hands in beginners class. Next week we will go further with forcing 1NT responses in advanced beginners and transfers and Stayman in beginners.
We had 6.5 tables in our pupil game and welcomed back 2 players after several years(Emily and Christine) and three brand new players! (Sally, Linda, and Pauline) Welcome! It was a great time and I am excited to have new players coming to bridge lessons! We look forward to seeing them next week!
Gerri and Kathy won the day with a very nice 66.9%! The Kingsburys were second with 63.8% and the Cullys were 3rd with 56.88% . I hope everyone had fun! I know I sure did. See you Saturday if you are coming to the boot camp or next week if you aren't. ----Carl
Another Bridge Boot Camp is happening THIS SATURDAY March 8, 2025
What it will be like:
We will discuss up to 27 randomly dealt boards, one at a time. Attendees will bid and play the same hand, followed by discussion of how I would have bid and played the hand and why. A hard copy of the hands and my discussion of the bid and play will be provided at the end of the camp. I will have enough sets of cards to handle up to 5 tables. If needed, due to extra players that don't fill out a table, some players will need to rotate as observers, but no one will need to do so for more than a few of the hands. That will only happen if we have one or two extra because I will fill out the table if we have three extra.
It will start at 10 AM and continue until 4 PM or until 27 boards have been discussed, whichever comes first. There will be a 15 minute break for lunch at about noon, but no lunch will be available, so bring your own.
The fee will be $15/person, which is divided between Centennial Hall, North Hampton DBC, and me.
If you have any questions, email me at cvwikstrom@gmail.com. Hope to see you there! ---Carl
Thursday Open Game 27 February 2024
Congratulations to Pam/Larry and Sandy/Dave who tied for first place today. Linda/Joe took the B strat honors and Jim/Ed and Pat/Gordon took the C strat finishes.
Sorry for the very bad splits you had to deal with. That is the part of bridge which is not as much fun.
Today we had a 6 Table Howell movement with 3 boards around where everyone played all 24 hands and four couples missed playing each other. You all played well! We welcome back Christine and Emily after a long absence, and welcome a new player Barbara McAdoo, who is taking the lessons on Tuesday with Carl. Our team that came in first were Hildy and Paul with 66.96%, followed closely by Claire and Mary Lynn with a 63.5%, then Bobbi and Sid, with 61.67% and Pat and Sherry with a 57.33%! Congratulations are in order to all of you! It was sunny with white fluffy clouds the whole day and not cold! FINALLY! No breezes and no overshoots in temperature!
See you next week when we have 3 people who could not make it today showing up. Perhaps 7 tables? Fingers Crossed! We still miss all of you from Exeter!
Suzanne
Tuesday 25 February 25
We started learning about 2/1 Game Force in advanced beginners today. In beginners, we discussed responding to an open of a major at the 1 level. Next week we will continue learning about 2/1 in advanced beginners and discuss the No trump opening and responses with a flat hand in beginners.
We had six full tables in our pupil game today, including the playing director. Kathy H and Gerri C came in first with 63.33% while John Richards came in second with 60.56% despite being saddled with playing with the director. Melissa V and Christopher K came in third with 53.89%. I had a great time today and look forward to next week! Hope to see you then. Happy Birthday, Martha! ----Carl
Thursday Open Game 20 February 2025
We had a 7-1/2 table Mitchell movement today. Thank you for your patience with me leaving early. Ed/Jim took the first place honors for this Unit Championship game! Other non A strat winners were Connie/Roger, David/Peter, Louise/George and Nancy/John. Some of the fits today were miserable!
19 February 2025, a very cold, yet sunny day, where 5 full bridge tables showed up at Centennial Hall. We played a Howell movement, where every pair played 27 boards missing nothing! It was nice and sunny when we went home shortly after 4 PM. Thank you all for coming on such a brutally cold day! You are all winners! But we do have daily rankings! Today Jill and Janet with a 57.30% , followed by Jan and Dave with 56.50%, then Dave and Zelda with a 53.59%, followed by Rick and Penny!
The rankings changed almost every hand. At one point there was a potential to have 2nd place divided by 4 couples! You all do an excellent job playing! You all are a joy to work with! Please show up early. I would like to have you all sitting in your seats by 11:55 so we can start on time, and make sure that the pair that needs to be stationary is in the stationary position. Please encourage the Exeter people to come and visit us again!
See you next week!
Suzanne
Tuesday 18 February 2025
In Advanced beginners lessons we discussed the squeeze play and the end play. In Beginners we discussed responding to one of a minor. Next week, we will start our lessons on 2/1 Game Force in Advanced Beginners and we will discuss responding to one of a major in Beginners.
We had six full tables in the Pupil game. Wynne and Betty were the winners with 70%! Second place went to Jan and Tricia with 62,78% and Melissa and Mary Lynn came in 3rd with 55.56 %. It was an amazing set of hands with many slam contracts possible, Very unusual in a randomly dealt 18 board game. Glancing at the results below, 8 hands had a contract of 6 or better possible!
Just two and a half weeks until the Boot Camp on March 8th! No need to sign up. Just show up at 10 AM and be prepared to stay until 4 at Centennial Hall.
See you next week!
Thursday Open Game 13 February 2025
We only played 5-1/2 tables this week because people were scared of the storm which did not really materialize. ACBL will award 25% gold for today's game. Congratulations to Simone/Gordon and Jim/Ed for getting points in the C strat today. Please forgive the earlier posted result. Previously there was a mistaken switch in direction for boards 13-15 which my earlier correction did not take.
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Hello All!
We had a 5 and a half table Howell Movement where we had one sit out and everybody played 24 hands, in 8 sets of 3 boards. The first place went to Margie and Suzanne with a 60.11%, Dave and Jan came in 2nd with 58.33%. Third/fourth place was a tie between the partnership of Dave and Zelda and Cynthia and Marion with a 54.17%. You all did well! The top score for Hand 9 was a 930 by Pat Dodge on a doubled 3 Spades making 4. Wow! Great Bidding! It was a cold and overcast day! We missed all our friends from Exeter, Please come back!
Please remember Jane G.! Give her a call or take some food! Poor gal! We will welcome her back with open arms! Enough of the joint problems!
See you next week!
Suzanne
Tuesday 11 February 2025
We discussed handling the opponents as declarer in Adv Beginners and began a new cycle in beginners lessons with evaluating the hand and opening one of a suit. Next week we will look at the squeeze play and the end play as declarer in Advanced Beginners and responses to openers bids in Beginners class.
The winners today were the Cullys with 64.58%! Second place went to Wynne G and Betty L with 59.03% and third place went to Cathy V and Dianne Luby with a very nice 56.94%. We welcome a new member Tricia Higgins who is brand new to bridge, but is picking it up quickly! Welcome Tricia!!
See you all again next week! ---Carl
Another Bridge Boot Camp coming March 8, 2025
What it will be like:
We will discuss up to 27 randomly dealt boards, one at a time. Attendees will bid and play the same hand, followed by discussion of how I would have bid and played the hand and why. A hard copy of the hands and my discussion of the bid and play will be provided at the end of the camp. I will have enough sets of cards to handle up to 5 tables. If needed, due to extra players that don't fill out a table, some players will need to rotate as observers, but no one will need to do so for more than a few of the hands. That will only happen if we have one or two extra because I will fill out the table if we have three extra.
It will start at 10 AM and continue until 4 PM or until 27 boards have been discussed, whichever comes first. There will be a 15 minute break for lunch at about noon, but no lunch will be available, so bring your own.
The fee will be $15/person, which is divided between Centennial Hall, North Hampton DBC, and me.
If you have any questions, email me at cvwikstrom@gmail.com. Hope to see you there! ---Carl
Another Bridge Boot Camp is happening THIS SATURDAY March 8, 2025
What it will be like:
We will discuss up to 27 randomly dealt boards, one at a time. Attendees will bid and play the same hand, followed by discussion of how I would have bid and played the hand and why. A hard copy of the hands and my discussion of the bid and play will be provided at the end of the camp. I will have enough sets of cards to handle up to 5 tables. If needed, due to extra players that don't fill out a table, some players will need to rotate as observers, but no one will need to do so for more than a few of the hands. That will only happen if we have one or two extra because I will fill out the table if we have three extra.
It will start at 10 AM and continue until 4 PM or until 27 boards have been discussed, whichever comes first. There will be a 15 minute break for lunch at about noon, but no lunch will be available, so bring your own.
The fee will be $15/person, which is divided between Centennial Hall, North Hampton DBC, and me.
If you have any questions, email me at cvwikstrom@gmail.com. Hope to see you there! ---Carl
Hello bridge players!
Today WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2025 we played a 6 table 8 round Howell movement with 3 boards a round for a total of 24 boards!
We welcomed a new player - Bob Walsh who played with Jim Nay and takes lessons from Joe Watts in Exeter! North Hampton welcome Exeter players!
Today the first place finish went to John Burnap and Joan Nickel with a 61.67% game! One of our longest partnerships! Congratulations! Second place went to Hildy and Paul with a 59.58% game! In third with 59.17 were Jan E. and Suzanne then in 4th were Jan P. and Jane with 58.75% followed closely by Pat and Sherry! You are all winners! (PS Jan E and Jan P's names are not pronounced the same!)
Thank you for coming today! Stay safe tomorrow with the expected snowstorm. We broke down the tables to save the director a trip over the weekend if it snows and bridge is canceled on Thursday!
See you on Lincoln's birthday (remember him??) next week!
Suzanne
Tuesday February 4, 2025
In advanced beginners class we discussed planning the hand and preserving entries. In Beginners lesson, we reviewed Jacoby 2NT and talked about filling out the convention card. Next week we will talk about handling the opponents in Adv Beginners and we will reboot to a new cycle and discuss evaluating your hand in Beginner's lessons.
It will be a new cycle of lessons so if you know anyone looking to learn how to play bridge with no prior knowledge, next week is the lesson they want to start.
The winners today and for the second week in a row were the Kingsburys with a whopping 67.89%!!! Lyndon B and Charles M came in second with 56.25%. We welcomed two new members with Barbara McAdoo and John Ricjards. Welcome!!
I had a great time as usual and look forward to next week! --Carl
Wednesday 29 January 2025 - This morning we had a little bit of snow. We had 4 and a half table and played a 9 round Howell game with 27 boards.
The couple in first were Jan and Jane with 60.42% , in second place were Rick and Penny with a 57.64% followed by Bobbie and Sic, and Gordon and Jack. You all did very well.
Thank you for coming to bridge on Wednesday. Remember you can come without a partner and we will set you up. (a good set up hopefully)
Suzanne
Tuesday 28 January 2025
In Advanced beginners, we discussed the importance of determining when to pull trump as declarer. In beginners. we discussed the Gerber convention used to ask for Aces and Kings in No Trump. Next week we will continue play of the Hand in Advanced Beginners and review Jacoby 2NT in beginners.
We restart the cycle on February 11 (That's just two weeks away!), so tell all of your friends who are interested in learning bridge, but were reluctant to come into the middle of the lesson cycle.
We Had 6 full tables in the pupil game including a fill-in by the instructor. Gerri C and Kathy H were the big winners with 63% and the Kingsburys came in a very repectable second with almost 62%! Our new player, Lynn Bubley( WELCOME!!), came in third, in spite of being saddled with the instuctor.
Looking forward to next week already!! ---Carl
Thursday Open Game 23 January 2025
We had another perfect game yesterday with 9 full tables. I just learned the mps shown below are 50% below the mps eventually awarded by acbl and there is nothing I can do to fix the acbl program to report the correct mps. I understand that this report is based on playing 18 boards, but since we played 27 boards the mp award below is multiplied by 27/18.
Anyway there were a couple real buzz saw hands yesterday. Board 6 had a C void opposite a D void which was great for defense but horrible for offense. On board 21 I thought my 2H bid was safe in S since I had 6 until I found that W had 6 H also!
Congrats to Pam/Larry and Sue/Barbara for first place finishes. John/Nancy and Brent/Darrell did great as C strat teams and Ellen/Nancy and Joe/Linda placed well as B strat teams.
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Wednesday 22 January 2025 - Daybreak saw negative numbers in Fahrenheit, but 5 tables of hearty people showed up to play Bridge. We had a visitor on his way to Bermuda- Richard , from Arizona who played with Jan Ebeling! On hand 3 they bid and made 6 NT.
Unfortunately, I thought we had 6 tables and put the mats out for 6 tables. Then when I discovered my error, I tried to run the game the old fashioned way - with Travelers - little slips that belong to each board, Unfortunately we had people playing the same people. The travelers were the half a sheet of paper. Everybody said they did not care about the score, so we just played 9 rounds. I will show the cards that you played, so you can see for the few hands, what you played.
Tuesday 21 January 2025
We continued Play of the Hand Suit bids in advanced beginners and went over King Asking in the Beginner's lesson. Next week, we will discuss planning the play in advanced beginners and the Gerber convention in the beginner's lesson.
We had 4.5 tables in our Pupil game and played 9 rounds of 2 with a sit out. The Cullys were the winners (again!) with a score of 58.33% and Lyndon B and Charles M are back and came in second at 56.25%. Christopher and Melissa were third at 54.17% and the Kingsburys came in fourth with a respectable 53.15%.
We will be doing a restart of the beginner's lesson cycle on February 11, so tell all your friends who are interested in learning the game.
Also, I want to remind you to keep March 8th clear for our "Bridge Boot Camp" here in Centennial Hall.
IMPORTANT REQUEST! There are several forms of viruses that are making the rounds this winter. We are an elderly club and don't have the ability to fight off infections that we had when we were younger. So, please, if you are feeling symptoms or think you may have been exposed to a virus (not just COVID, but flu, a cold, or any of the alphabet soup of viruses that have been identified) stay home and come back when you are feeling better. Thank You for your cooperation.
Thursday Open Game 16 January 2024
We had a great 9-1/2 table match today. I was happy to see Ellen Hamil, Carolyn Furber and Lucia here again. Congrats to the new partnership of Carole Shepis and Bob for first place N/S. Jim/Ed took first place E/W even though they are C strat players. Joe and Linda also finished in the money as C strat players. I am not yet sure why my acbl program calculates the mps below when acbl actually awarded 4.24 mps for first place.
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Today we had a 6 and a half table Howell game, where all players played 24 boards. The people in first were Jane and Jan with a 63.3 % game followed by Colleen and Audry with 59.17% and Cynthia and Marion with 56.67%, but all of you are winners. There was a tie for 4/5 between Bobbie and Sid and Hildy and Paul. We welcome Bill Shipwreck back after a prolonged absence.
Thank you all for coming on such a cold day!
See you next week.
Suzanne
Tuesday January 14 2025
We talked about counting losers in suit bids in adv beginners lesson. We will begin discussions on planning the order of play next week.
In beginners lessons, we talked about 1430 (RKC) . Next week we will discuss asking for Kings,
We had 4.5 tables in the pupil game. The winners were Christopher and Melissa with 68.75%. Second place went to John Safford and Bill Swett wih 61.46% and third were John B and Joan N with 57.29%.
See you all next week. --Carl
Thursday 9 January 2025
We had 8 full tables in our STaC game today. WE played 8 rounds of 3 boards with a ship after 4 rounds so you played the same people in the 8th round as the 1st. Lesley and Carol were the overall winners in both A and B strat and Lisa and Nancy were the EW winners in both A and B strat. Darrell and Brent won the C strat NS and Jim and Ed won the C strat EW. The points will convert to silver by the end of the week,
