Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Duplicate bridge is played Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Mower County Senior Center in Austin. Both sessions start at 11:30 a.m. sharp.   

Players come from Northwood and Mason City, Iowa, Rose Creek, Austin, Albert Lea and Lyle. We are aware that there are duplicate players around the territory each week, and we hope to welcome them into our games.  

Tuesday, we had nine teams playing and winners were:

• First place, Jim Fisher and Dave Ring

• Second place, Barb Rofshus and Lorraine Quinlivan

• Third place, Edna Knobbe and Garil Schmidt

• Fourth place, Vandy Newman and Ron Peters

• Fifth place, Theresa Baldus and Barb Grinstead

Five tables played on Wednesday. Four places were held by :

• First place, Gail Schmidt and Dave Ring

• Second place, Barb and Orrin Roisen

• Third place, Larry Crowe and Jim Fisher

• Fourth place, Tom Flaherty and Stan Schultz

Some of our players have master points. Those of us who do not excel to that extent, will often find ourselves picking our brains of those few who do hold them. Tom Flaherty from Mason City is one of them, and Dave Ring from Austin is another. Seasoned players will recognize this expertise and take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions about “rules.” There are so many rules, so let’s start with the rule of 20.  

An article written by Leslie Shafer, given to me by Romelle Enderson of Northwood, is the simplest explanation;

Quoting her: First or second seat openings, decide to open light with the following hand — Spade KQ642,  Heart   84,  D10 ,C AJ10 8 6 .  She added her high card points (HCP) to the number of cards in each of her two long suits which equaled 20, so she opened 1 spade, (bid the higher suit over the lower).  

She goes on to note that her honors were spread out among the long suits. If  they had been in the short suits, she would pass. So like the saying goes, “Try it, you might like it,” this writer can attest to “it works.”

There will be no game on Tuesday, July 4 as the center is closed for the holiday, but we will play on Wednesday. Stay safe, enjoy the holiday, and see you next week.