Tuesday June 17 2025
We had a lesson on defense in Adv beginners and a lesson on Blackwood in beginners.
There will be NO ADVANCED BEGINNER LESSON next week and Suzanne will be teaching the beginner lesson which will be a review of pre-empts and responding to pre-empts.
We had 6 full tables in the Pupil game. The winners were Guil S and Bob E with 58.89%! Second place went to John Safford and Bill Swett with 57.78%.
NO ADVANCED BEGINNER LESSON NEXT WEEK, but there will be a beginner lesson by Suzanne Sayer. I will be back as usual on July 1. See you then.
Thursday Open Game 12 June 2025
Wow - 14 tables here today! Thak you all so much for coming. I was really happy how the game went. However, we need to work to reduce the noise. Also, players must get here earlier. The Monday game sends people away if they are not here within 15 minutes of start time. It creates a lot of trouble for me and confusion for everyone f I need to keep changing the game to accommodate late comers.
Congratulations to Rita/George and Brent/Darrell for the first place finishes! Both of these teams were in the C strat. In fact take a look at the score below - there were more finishers in the C strat than in the B strat which was 500 - 3000 mps. All those with a Q after their names below are eligible to compete to represent our district and get a free trip to the spring 2026 regional.
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Wednesday Open Game 11 June 2025
I was really happy to see 10 full tables today. Carl will direct next week's game starting at 11:30. The group which was originally playing her on Wednesday has decided to play on Mondays so Wednesday will only be an open game.
Congratulations to Carl/Cliff for the first place overall finish. Bob/David were first place EW. Nancy/Jim were first place in C followed by Judy/Carolyn.
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Tuesday June 10 2025
In advanced beginners we discussed signaling to your partner with your card play and in beginners we talked about Splinter bids as an alternative to Jacoby 2NT when you have opening points, 4 of your partner's opening major and a singleton or void. Next week, we will talk about Blackwood and Roman Key card 1430 in Beginners and developing tricks on defense in advanced beginners.
We had six tables in our pupil game today. Jan pulled the director up to first place with 61.38% and Mary Lynn and Claire came in a close second with 61.00%! We only played 16 boards today, because we could only get in 8 rounds by 3:00, but it was still a fun time!
See you next week! ---Carl
Thursday Open Game 5 June 2025
We had a very smooth 8-1/2 table Mitchell movement today for our NAP game. Congrats to Nick/Bob and Nancy/Skip for first place finishes. The new partnership of George/James came in second place. The oldest partnership of Leslie/Bob (that is a joke) got a good finish, as did the Carole/Carole team, the Labonte team, Ed/Jim and Joyce/Carl.
The previous fun game which was running as a separate section on Wednesdays has moved to Monday so there is now plenty of room for you to come play on Wednesdays also.
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Wednesday Open/Fun Game 4 June 2025
Next week's FUN game will be held Monday at noon which is what I originally suggested. This will be directed by Suzanne. The Wednesday game will only be a single session open game.
The Fun Game had a 5-/2 Table Howell movement. The Open game had a 6-1/2 table Howell movement.
Following are the results for the FUN game:
Following are the results of the Open NAP Game:
Tuesday June 3 2025
We had a lesson on signaling in Adv Beginners and a lesson on Jacoby 2NT in Beginners. Next week we will continue discussing signaling in Adv Beginners and we will discuss splinters in Beginners.
We had 6 full tables in our pupil game.Betty and Wynne were back in the winners circle with 65.56% and Mary Lynn carried the director to a second place finish with 62.22%. Thank you all for putting the tables away after the game for the recital tonight.
The weather is warming up and we will need those air conditioners the rest of the week. See everyone next week! --- Carl
Suzanne is feeling over pressured. I have heart conditions. She is going to take the summer off, while Skip and/or Carl will be running 2 sections on Wednesday, one of which will be the Fun Bridge. Two members of Suzanne's family are in different Medical facilities in parts of Vermont 3 hours away from each other each 3.5 hours away from her. Also she is taking an advanced college course that is unrelentless 12 weeks of college Mechanical engineering in 6 weeks. Fascinating! but lots of work. A tree fell down in my yard, and I have to cut it up, and My cherry tree and 5 blueberry bushes need netting put up so the birds wont get them all. I've never had any apples or grapes since I've never had the time to net them.
Have a good summer and I will reevaluate my health in August. Suzanne
Thursday Open Game 29 May 2025
Welcome to a few players who are relatively new - Jim Scamman who has not been here for about 10 years and Margaret/Dave and Jude/Ken from the Derry Club. These new club members helped make this the largest single game I have run here - 11-1/2 tables!
Darrel/Brent and Bob Jerry took the top spots. Liz/Ted, Nick/Ed, Jim/Gordon and Louis/George also did very well earning points. The points were not very high because 25% of the points will be gold points. Next week the points will be high because it will be a NAP qualifier game.
Wed Open Game 28 May 2025
Well it was certainly an exciting game today. I was really impressed with the quality of play we had. The B stratification was 500-1200 mps by team average. We played a 6-1/2 Table Howell movement so sit-outs were only 2 boards. Ruth/Harvey earned the top spot with a fabulous 68%. The top C stratification point winners were Nancy/John and Lynn/Cate.
Thank you for everyone's efforts to be gracious hosts and friendly guests. I think we did an excellent job working together even though we are used to playing such different games. I for one have found that I usually think I know what is best, but usually find I am only seeing half of the truth.
Noise is an issue that I think we can improve on. We both had 7 tables but the Fun group (Section A) was playing a 4 board Mitchell while the Open group (Section B) played a 2 board Howell. Therefore the two groups were moving at different times. We will also try partition barriers next week which we hope will reduce the noise.
Thanks again. I hope everyone had a nice time. There is a 25% Open gold game tomorrow, same time same place.
Today 28 May 2025, we attempted to run two sections of duplicate side by side.
The A Group (FUN group) played 2 boards, 6 rounds of 4 boards in a Mitchell Movement, while the B group played 26 in 13 rounds of 26.
Group A's winners in NS were Roger and Connie with a 62%, followed by Jane and Jan with a ~60%, then Rick and Penny ~54%. In EW direction were Paul and Susanne 60%, then Margie and Carol~56% followed by Guil, and Claire ~52%.
If you would like to see what the "B" section might have done against the same cards, Please look at their section. We were playing the same cards.
For Group B see the other post for May 28,
Thank you all for coming,
Sorry about the confusion, we will be discussing how things went. I personally am exhausted, not really excited, and a bit depressed
Suzanne
Tuesday May 27 2025
We discussed second hand play defense in Adv beginner and 2 club opening and responses in beginner bridge lessons. Next week we will continue our defense series discussing defensive signals in adv beginners and another lesson on 2 club hands in beginner lessons
We had 5.5 tables in our pupil game with Jane G and Susan S winning the day with 67.97% while Jan managed to carry his partner up to second place with 66.40%.
I had a wonderful time and hope you did, too
See you next week! ---Carl
SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, July 12
Another Bridge Boot Camp is happening July 12, 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 6 tables. If needed, due to extra players that don't fill out a table, some players may 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 22 May 2025
We were happy to welcome Ann Wicander to the game today. Please note that this district sTac game has different stratification than what we are used to. It was Open/2000/500 based on the average of both players. Congrats to Ron/Herb for their first place finish. It is nice to see Ron getting back to his old self! Final results for anACBL sTac typically take a little while and will be available at https://tinyurl.com/RES2505510. Next Thursday we will be having a 25% gold game.
Wednesday 21 May 2025 - Today on an overcast, dreary and coolish/wettish day, we had a melded game! Our normal Wednesday fun game only had 8 couples and Charlie Felton's "Kittery/Eliot" game as well as his Tuesday York game have folded, so we gained 3 couples from his game for a total of 11 couples. So we ran a 5 and a half table Howell movement with 3 hands per round for 8 rounds.
We polled the membership several weeks ago to see if we could move to Friday or Monday. We would lose 25% if we did that. Skip suggested that we could add a separate section to the game such that the two groups could play at the same time. Some had played at clubs where there was a 299 section for those with less points and also an open section. However it seemed that almost all members did not want to earn ACBL master points (or really be part of ACBL at all). Only one person wanted us to get ACBL points.
Skip has decided that our club will invite the Kittery/Eliot Club as guests next Wednesday to see if we can work something out to accommodate the needs of both groups. He expects about 6 tables to arrive from Eliot for their sanctioned open game. The two games will sit side by side and run independently. The fun group will be Section A and the Open group will be Section B. We are even hoping to put a sound barrier down the middle to separate the two groups. Skip and I will both be there, but hope that a single director can run both groups in the future.
Our top scorers were Nick and Ed with a 70.83%, followed by Nancy and Skip with a 60.72%, then Pam and Claire with 58.33%. Next came Bobbie and Sid with a 57.8%. It looks like Jan and Bill might make a good pair in the future! You all did well and we hope that you had a good time.
Thank you all for coming. We welcome your feedback as we work together to grow and continue to meet the various needs of our bridge community.
Please bear with us and our growing pains!
Thank all of you for coming to our game in fabulous Centennial Hall!
Suzanne
Tuesday May 20 2025
In Adv beginners we discussed Third Hand Play and in Beginners we discussed more about competitive bidding. Next week we will discuss the Strong 2 club open and responses in beginners and Second Hand Play in adv beginners.
We had 5.5 tables in the Pupil game and Sue and Martha won with 65,63%! Second place went to Jane G and Susan S with a very nice 60.94% I look forward to next week! ---Carl
Thursday Open Game 15 May 2025
We had a very nice 9-1/2 table Mitchell movement today. We were happy to welcome Linda Garey's sister Ann Buchanon and Patti Andrews to our game today. Congratulations to Bill and Bob who made a great surprise partnership today for first place EW. Paul/Rita were first NS. Mary/Andi were first in B and C followed closely by Linda/Nancy. Nancy/Mary Ellen and Jim/Ed also placed in the C strat.
Tuesday May 13 2025
We had a lesson on leads against suit bids in Adv Beginners and a lesson on competitive bidding in beginners. Next week we will have another lesson on defense on adv beginners and another lesson on competitive bidding in beginners.
We had 6 full tables in the Pupil game and had a couple return after a few years off, Alan and Kathy Gibbons, Welcome Back! The winners today were Jane G and Susan S with 64.00%! Second place went to Bill Swett and John Safford with 59.56%.
It was a fun day and I will see you next week!---Carl
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.
