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Humans chose to heed the call of the winter season by canceling our Tuesday game of bridge, being home safe and siding with the mantra of better safe than sorry in the face of inclement weather. However we were back at the Mower County Senior Center in Austin on Wednesday with nine teams playing.

Winners were:

• First place, John Leisen and Rick Stroup

• Second place, Barb Rofshus and Paul Hanson

• Third place, Larry Crowe and Jim Fisher

• Fourth place, Gail Schmidt and Dave Ring

As the scoring team was passing out the money to the winner, a faint comment by a player lamenting the fact that there was no runner up?

This is something we could change, especially when the fourth or fifth place is only a half a point less than the aforementioned placement. We will start naming that notification when that difference happens.

Jerry Helms writes an article for the ACBL in the December issue of that magazine;

He starts out by saying: “While we often open light, 99% of the time we will have two defensive tricks.” He begins by showing a hand of  a six card spade suit, headed by king/queen, a singleton low heart, a singleton low diamond, and a five card club suit, headed by a queen jack.

He says he would not open this hand, despite other bridge players who are of the thought that the earlier we get into the bidding, the better. In a letter from another reader we read how experience is  gained by playing and listening to experts along the way. One such expert shared the following: Pass is never  an option holding a strong, six card ( or longer ) major suit. 

Mr. Helms ends his article with the following: “Always look for a reason to bid before you settle for an excuse to pass”