Changed hand diagrams at bridge blogging

June 25th, 2010  ~  Luise Lee  ~  No Comments 

Greetings bloggers, and fans of bridge blogging!

I have some news regarding changes that I recently made to the way our hand diagrams are generated from the blog editor.  Clicking on the spade symbol in editing mode to edit your hand diagrams works the same way as it did before, but the resulting diagram is slightly different in the way it is coded and displayed.  Hopefully this change won’t have any negative impact to you in the way that you compose your blogs.  The change should result in hand diagrams that are slightly easier to read, since I have reduced the font size to a normal size.

Another benefit of this change is that your blog posts will now be more readable to those viewing the blogs on our facebook page, as the hands, suits and suit symbols will now be displayed in a more logical order when viewing the blogs from facebook.

These changes will only take effect to any new blog posts that are made.  If you with to manually edit your previously created blog posts, you may do so by creating a new hand diagram and copying and pasting from the old to the new, and then highlight and delete the old diagrams.

If you encounter difficulties with the recent change, or if you just have any questions or comments, feel free to post those to this blog, or email me at support@bridgeblogging.com.

A tale of a young bridge player, spirit crushed by “DIRECTOR!”

May 27th, 2010  ~  Luise Lee  ~  4 Comments 

I posted this story before, but never as a post on my own blog.  So I am writing it here now to preserve it for eternity, for I fear I might forget where I initially posted it:

Did I ever tell you why I quit playing bridge in the first place? I remember I was in university at the time. My parents and grandparents had tried to teach me bridge numerous times prior, but it was not until I actually saw my peers playing at the card tables that I actually took an interest in the game in the first place. Anyway, I took a few lessons from Eric Sutherland, who was a senior at the time that I knew him… I learned enough that my friend and I used a simple system, and there was a university tournament being arranged in the “big city” (Toronto) and we were all going on a field trip! As a small-town girl, it sounded like great fun to me. I was looking forward to it.

I was so nervous that I would make a mistake (This was well before I learned the lesson that every mistake is merely an opportunity for learning). Anyway… on the second or third board that we played, the dreadful sound “DIRECTOR!” emitted from my opponents mouth. I had never heard this before… What does it mean? The harsh tone that it was spoken with clued me in that this was not a pleasant word and that something very bad was about to happen. A very tall and intimidating gentleman appeared, spoke to my opponent, spoke to me (which was impossible because my brain shut off and I was rambling jibberish by then) and the director ruled against me.

It didn’t help matters that this particular director behaved inappropriately, was curt and rude to me, and said directly “I don’t believe you” after I gave him my explanation for my line of play.  Eric Sutherland was also a director at that same event.  When he noticed the goings on at our table, he came by.  I proceeded to give the same explanation, and he made the same ruling as the first director, but at least he had a meaningful explanation: When you said “Ace, no small…  No, play the ace”,  you paused after you said “play small”, so that must be the card that we accept”.

I was distraught with the whole experience. It took all the strength I could muster to make it through the rest of the board, going down in a cold 3NT, before I had to excuse myself and go have a good cry in the hallway.

That was my one and only experience with playing in a bridge tournament.  It will be a very, very long time before I choose to go back to that situation again.

Canada’s REALLY Big!

May 27th, 2010  ~  Luise Lee  ~  1 Comment 

Canada’s Really Big — The Arrogant Worms

Album: Live Bait  1997

When I look around me,  I can’t believe what I see.
It seems as if this country has lost its will to live.
The economy is lousy, we barely have an army.
But we can still stand proudly ’cause Canada’s really big!

We’re the second largest country
On this planet Earth
And if Russia keeps on shrinking,
Then soon we’ll be first! (as long as we keep Quebec)

The USA has tanks, and Switzerland has banks
They can keep them, thanks, they just don’t amount.
‘Cause when you get down to it, you find out what the truth is:
It isn’t what you do with it, it’s the size that counts!

Most people will tell you that France is pretty large,
But you can put fourteen Frances into this land of ours!

(it’d take a lotta work, it’d take a whole lotta work)

We’re larger than Malaysia, almost as big as Asia
We’re bigger than Australia and it’s a continent!
So big we seldom bother to go see one another
But we often go to other countries for vacations…

Our mountains are very pointy,
Our prairies are not.
The rest is kinda bumpy,
But, man, do we have a lot!

(we gotta lot of land, we gotta whole lot of land)

So stand up and be proud
And sing out very loud
We stand out from the crowd ’cause
Canada’s really big!

Bridge Blogging re-design: Phase 1 Complete!

May 12th, 2010  ~  Luise Lee  ~  4 Comments 

This just in: Bridgeblogging.com has completed the first phase of our website redesign (yay)!

Phase 1 Includes:

• New Places: We’ve divided our Bridge Bloggers from the rest of the feeds we carry, to make it easier for you to follow your favorite bloggers. If you don’t have a favorite blogger yet, you’ll be able to read posts from our new Featured Bloggers section, now appearing at the top of the page!
• New Spaces: The old, narrow Bridgeblogging.com is a thing of the past. We’ve expanded our site to fill the whole screen (and we’ve made the text bigger, too)! We’ve also moved a few things around – you can now find our list of bloggers at the bottom on the page, while syndicated newspaper columns are all in the sidebar.
• New Faces: Besides all the wonderful new color on the page, we’re going to be including pictures of our bloggers with all their posts. So sitting down to read Aces on Bridge, for example, will be more like having a face-to-face chat with Bobby Wolff. Exciting!

In Phase 2 (coming soon!), we’ll be adding more photos, archiving old posts on the main page, decreasing page loading times, and implementing a few other neat tricks to improve your Bridgeblogging experience.

Do you have a suggestion for Phase 2? Be sure to e-mail us at support@bridgeblogging.com! Or, you can post your ideas on my blog, or on our BridgeBlogging Facebook page.

What would you play?

April 29th, 2010  ~  Luise Lee  ~  4 Comments 

I was on defense against a 3NT contract.  The bidding went :

 
Partner led the ♥3 and here’s what I see:

Dealer: Vul:		North (me)
		♠	Q632
		♥	106
		♦	K962
		♣	432
West (Dummy)				East
♠	AKJ10			♠
♥	J5			♥
♦	54			♦
♣	KJ1096			♣

The declarer plays the ♥ J from dummy which holds, (declarer contributing the 7), and leads the ♦4.

What do you play, and why?

I was thinking about the problem and I couldn’t figure out why Declarer played the ♦4.  What was he thinking?    Is this a quick trip to his ♦A so he can finesse in spades or clubs?  And what does Partner have for his 1♥ bid?

Of course, all of these questions needed to be answered before I played to the first card…  I’ll continue the story later.

Cheating to win: confessions of a foolish girl

October 9th, 2009  ~  Luise Lee  ~  1 Comment 

All this talk about cheating lately has gotten me to ponder the reasons why people cheat.  I have done a little browsing on the internet and have come up with a few answers to the question as to why people cheat:

1) Because they aren’t good enough at whatever it is they are doing to win “honestly”.

2) Because the thrill and excitement of whether or not they will get caught gives an addictive adrenaline boost.

3) Because they cant stand losing, they are insecure, and winning (at any cost) gives them a twisted sense of pride or ego boost.

4) For the money

5) Because they are miserable, angry, conceited or self-centred people and don’t give a rats ass about cheating their opponents out of a well-earned win.

6) To rebel against authority

I hear people complain about number 1 so often, but honestly, I really don’t buy that as a reason.  You need more than simply lack of skill in order to bring you down the level of cheating to win. 

I actually used to cheat  (gasp!  say it ain’t so!)  No, really, I did… My reasons for doing so were probably a combination of number 2, 3 and 6 — NEVER reason number one, and certainly not reason 5.  I had tons of skill and could have easily taken down any opponent in my path in any challenge or competition I entered (though, I admit, not every time.  There is a factor of luck that one must take into account). Hmm — I suppose I need to add “to offset the luck-factor” as #7 on my list of reasons…

I also stole things when I was in high-school.  I stole a ton of things.  I remember I went to an amusement park for a field trip once, and I didn’t have very much money to bring.  My friend and I were bored, so we decided to go around to strangers to ask them for a quarter to use the phone and call home to get our parents to pick us up.  We would go to the phone and pretend to make a call, then pocket the quarter and go ask the next person.  I think we probably earned enough to buy 3-4 more rides on our favourite roller coaster that day.

There are other incidents that I could relate.  I cheated at games (mostly card games… never any money involved), I cheated on tests in school (not often, because I’m brilliant, but occasionally).  I knew at the time that what I was doing was wrong, but I didn’t care and I did them anyway.  I was so afraid of failing… so afraid of letting those around me down, (afraid to let MYSELF down), that I couldn’t care less how I got the results – I just needed to get them!  Failure was not an option!

I remember the last time that I ever stole anything.  I was at another amusement park with my friend (perhaps I should add “Because you had a bad influence” to my list of possible reasons for cheating?) and we were clearing out the souvenir shop of trinkets that we felt were overpriced.  I liked this small stuffed cat, and I remember my bag was so full of crap that I had trouble closing the zipper in my bag before I turned around to leave.  As I turned around, I met face-to-face with this woman who was staring me down.  BUSTED!  I slunk out of the store, and then I was so terrified at what might happen to me I raced away from that store so fast that I could have given Ben Johnson a good run for his money.  I never stole so much as a dime from anyone since.

When I think about all of the incidents from my past, I am ashamed at myself for being such a foolish, insecure and immature girl.  I suppose everyone has skelletons in their closet.  Well, those are mine.  I hope you don’t feel any less of me for sharing, but I can tell you that it feels good to get that out in the open.

What happened to the good ol’ days?

September 21st, 2009  ~  Luise Lee  ~  1 Comment 

I wasn’t around the time that my father played tournament bridge, some 35+ years ago — long before my time on this earth.  My father’s introduction to the game was from his friend Ken Murray, who back in the day and in my father’s small circle of friends, was quite an accomplished bridge player.  One day he went with his friend to a tournament where Ken handed my father a single sheet of paper with various scribblings of opening bid requirements:  With a strong hand (16+), bid 1C.  1D response waiting, etc.  1H opening shows 13+ with 5 hearts.  1S, same with spades, etc…

My father was quite a good poker player and eucher player at the time, but had never tried his hand at bridge before.  He watched a few games and quickly got the hang of it, and then sat down with his new partner to play in a pairs tournament.  His poker experience served him well at the bridge table. With his reference sheet of paper and his experience at reading table presence, Ken and my father had a very good game and ended up winning the event!

Things sure have changed since then… I went with my dad on the weekend to play in the Barrie Regional tournament.  My dad hasn’t played compettitively probably since I was born.  His sole exposure to the game these days is through playing online at BBO.

At first, my father seemed quite pleased to be at the event.  As usual, he was the social life of the pre-game party, chatting up everyone who passed by about the good ol’ days and his past bridge adventures with his friend.  My dad has an amazing ability to strike up random conversations with practically everyone he meets and become friends instantly.  I wish I could do that!

Then we get to the table before the game is about to start and my dad immediately starts focusing on the bidding boxes.  “They didn’t used to have these when I last played — how do these boxes work?”…  Then the tournament directors came around with the boards for our table to set up — we played 4 boards per round so there was lots of work for us to do.  My father was obviously intimidated about trying to help set up the hands and was very clearly confused, constantly putting cards in the wrong hands or making mistakes. 

When we started playing, my father struggled with learning how to use the boxes.  We did play in the newcomer game, but of course the event was stratified, so we also played against experienced bridge players, some of whom were not very forgiving or patient, and visibly just unpleasant to play against.  We started the game late because both my father and I had to go in the washroom just before the first round started. By the second round, we were quite behind and the tournament directer asked us to skip a board because of late play. 

In our third round, since the director rushed us along and made us skip, we hadn’t even written down the scores from the previous round yet.  The next couple that faced us was an elderly couple, obviously a husband and wife.  I was sitting North (my father can’t walk around very easily so we had to be stationary) and I was trying to keep up with the scoring and playing/bidding at the same time.  Our opponents had been bidding and I was trying to write down the score sheet from the last round while they were bidding.  A couple times, the bidding got to me and I had to take a second to review what had happened, and then dutifully passed with my 2-count balanced garbage.  When the auction ended with my father’s last pass, my LHO  said impatiently “It’s your lead, dear!”.  If she had stopped there, I wouldn’t have been frustrated, but then she proceeded to say, (while I was thinking about the bidding, the contract, the scores from the last round that I still hadn’t finished writting down yet, etc., etc.), “You can’t hold up the game like that — you should make your opening lead and then write things down after the lead has been made — someone might say something to you about that”…  My dad couldn’t contain himself and was obviously very frustrated at this point, and retorted “I think you just did.  Isn’t this supposed to be a newcomer game?”.  I returned to thinking about the lead and she was still talking, and my father responded “She’s allowed to think though, isn’t she?”.  Her husband was playing particularly slowly at the time as well, so it was quite ironic that she was annoyed by our mild (by comparison) delays.

Anyway…  all in all, we had a decent game.  I can post more about the results later, but I think that it is a shame that my father was so intimidated by the people we played against and by the new system of using the bidding boxes, and about all of the rules about what he’s allowed/not allowed to do.  I asked my father if he wanted to come back the next day to play in the afternoon, but he clearly had had enough.  I was sad to hear him say so — I was hoping it could have been something we did together on a regular basis.  I guess we will have to stick with the impersonal connections offered online.

England vs. Poland — Round 1 a disappointment

September 10th, 2009  ~  Luise Lee  ~  No Comments 

I got really excited for England today when I heard the news that they had reached the finals.  I always like cheering for the unexpected surprises that crop up every now and again.  (My work also has a direct connection to England finishing in the finals, so that is another draw of interest for me).  I decided that I would jump on the band wagon and start cheering them on as they started their first round this morning.

I sat down at one of the England-Poland VuGraph tables today to see how they were doing.  Well, I think I might just jump right off that band wagon again.  They stunk the joint out!  The table that I selected to watch, IMHO, was responsible for a large number of the big swings in favour of the other guys…  Now I am by no means anywhere close to world class,  (I’m not even a good player yet), but the game was so painful to watch that I started thinking even *I* could have done better!!

I hope that I speak too soon and that they will have a quick break for regrouping and come back fighting.  I know there’s a lot of bridge left to play, but it certainly looks as though England forgot to bring their game to the table this morning.  Current score:  England 1,  Poland: 62.

Adventures with Pamela Hughes

August 26th, 2009  ~  Luise Lee  ~  4 Comments 

I had a great time in Washington at the nationals. (I think I mentioned that before, but there’s no harm in repating the statement!). I was a little anxious about my first ever competitive bridge match (not counting the one very bad experience in university), but I was also excited at the same time.  It was an odd feeling!

The first bridge match that I played in was in the 0-5 Masterpoint pairs game. I showed up 5 minutes before the event without a partner, thinking that it was an individual event. (I mis-read the schedule in the daily bulletin. I thought that “single” meant “single person”, not “single-session event”, and I completely missed the word “pairs” in the listing.  Doh!)

Fournately for me, the helpful administrators scrambled to find me a partner at the last minute, and I met Pamela for the first time. We got to know each other a bit over the course of our partnership that evening, and I learned that her boyfriend and my husband were ex-partners when they played as juniors. What a small bridge world we live in!

Anyway, we actually had quite an interesting and enjoyable match  – plus, we had a very good game to boot  (I wonder if the fact that we played well made the game even more enjoyable?  Hmm…) 

Here’s how our score card looked for the session:

We were on fire until the last 4 boards, but got very chilly after that. (Speaking of chilly — man, was it cold in that tournament room!  That’s the last time I wear a skimpy summer dress to an evening game in an air-conditioned hotel conference room).  With 4 boards to play, I couldn’t believe that our names were first on the print-out of the results so far!  All in all, we did very respectively, and we won 2.06 master points! 

I’m not going to talk about the boards where we got a top — more often than not, it was because we were playing with total novices who, in some cases, had difficulty following suit.  I think it is more interesting to talk about the boards where we didn’t really get a very good score.

I’ll start with board 13, because quite honestly, I have no clue what happened on board 2.  I tried looking at the hand records and I can’t reconstruct anything about the hand.  Obviously we set them 1 trick in something, but I have no idea how or why.  Not even looking at the complete hand records was enough to jog my memory. (I guess the more experienced of a bridge player I get, the easier it will be for me to remember the hands correctly). 

Board 13 Dealer: North Vul: Both		North
		♠	Q 6 4
		♥	A 4
		♦	Q J 9
		♣	K J 10 9 7
West				East
♠	A 10 8 2			♠	J 7 5 3
♥	9 8 7			♥	K Q J 10 5 3 2
♦	10 8 7 6 3			♦
♣	Q			♣	6 3
		South
		♠	K 9
		♥	6
		♦	A K 5 4 2
		♣	A 8 5 4 2

I don’t understand why we didn’t do well on board 13.  We bid and made 5♣, which was almost the best we could have done.   (The hand records say that N/S can make: 5NT, 5♦, North: 5♣, (4♣ from the South side), and EW can make 1♠ and 4♥).

I was initially confused as to how North/South can make 5NT, but I suppose with careful play, concessions can be made to cope with the 5-0 diamond break.  If the opponents lead a heart, then declarer can win the ace and start with the ♦Q.  If diamonds are 5-0, he knows he will need two club entries to the South hand to finesse the diamond 10, and then to cash the remaining ♦AK.  So he has to hope that clubs are not also 3-0.  Declarer crosses to the ♣A, (being careful not to squander away the precious ♣7), and leads a diamond to the 9.  He then cashes the remaining diamond in the North hand, then gets back to the South hand on the club 8 to reach the last two diamonds.

If West and East both follow to the first diamond, then declarer knows that he doesn’t need to worry about the fifth diamond trick.  Now he can cash the club ace to guard against the 3-0 club break in the West hand.  Declarer doesn’t need to put the contract at risk by setting up a spade trick as long as he can count to 11 with 5 diamonds, 5 clubs and 1 heart.

I was disappointed with our score for board 13 because I didn’t think we did anything wrong.  But more surprising to me was what happened on the next board:

Board 14 Dealer: EAST Vul: NONE		North
		♠	A Q J 9
		♥	Q 7 3
		♦	A J 9 6 4
		♣	10
West				East
♠	5 4			♠	K 7 3
♥	10 9			♥	A K J 6 4
♦	K 10 7 5			♦	Q
♣	7 6 5 3 2			♣	A Q J 9
		South
		♠	10 8 6 2
		♥	8 5 2
		♦	8 3 2
		♣	K 8 4

Not vulnerable, it was East’s turn to bid.  He opened with a strong, forcing Two Clubs.  (Isn’t he a little weak to open two clubs?  I thought you needed more than that…).

Anyway, me and my 3 points with no distribution passed, and his partner ALSO PASSED!  East shook his head in despair at this misunderstanding of his bid (it was clear that East was more experienced than his partner).  My partner apprehensibly passed Two Clubs as well. 

I led one of my random irrelevant cards, and when West laid down his hand, East practically burst out laughing.  It was lucky for E/W that they couldn’t have made anything.  According to the hand recordes, NS can make 1♠, and EW can make 1NT, 3♥ and 4♣.

…  to be continued

New tutorial in “Tools” section

August 14th, 2009  ~  Luise Lee  ~  1 Comment 

I have added a new tutorial to the “tools” section of bridge blogging.  This should assist anyone who wishes to post a bridge movie, such as the one shown below this paragraph, into their blog or website. Happy blogging, all!