Pat Peterson Takes Over the Bank

Well, not exactly, but sort of – Pat is moving her Florida Citrus County Bridge Games to new digs. She will be occupying part of the Nature Coast Bank Building (formerly the Ted Williams Museum) on Route 486 and Citrus Hills Boulevard. The first game in the new location will be Monday, September 20. It is a step forward for Pat and I am sure that I speak for all of her players in wishing her the very best.

Pat, who moved to Citrus County following retirement, has been widely recognized for her many contributions to bridge, not the least of which is her notable success in introducing new players to the duplicate bridge and bringing back some of us retreads. Her accomplishments were recently recognized on the ACBL web site and at last count her Florida pupils who had reached the Life Master milestone were at 35 and climbing. She is truly inspirational.

In furtherance of building bridge in Citrus County, Pat is offering FREE "Easybridge" lessons to beginners and novices or social players who wish to update their skills. This is not read 10 chapters and weep, Pat guarantees that students will be playing bridge by the end of the first day. The lessons start on Tuesday, October 19 and run from 2:00 to 4:30. We all have a big stake in the success of duplicate bridge in Citrus County, so make an effort to sign up any friends who may be candidates. Call Pat at 352-746-7835.

Pat’s success at managing and building bridge is equaled by her skills as a player. She can do it with such quietude and grace that you almost miss it. Recently I was watching Pat (Patpete2)and Sharron Rosenberg (Sharronr) dueling a couple of BBO World Class opponents. I had just finished reading a Chapter in Slam Bidding Made Easier by Marty Bergen on the importance of correctly bidding controls with distributional hands. Marty, no shrinking violet, just flat out said that notwithstanding other well intended expert opinion, the only way to successfully bid controls is to bid 1st and 2nd round controls up the line with equal priority.

I was rousted from my Internet daze by my cat Axel leaping to his perch on my desk and looked up and saw Pat and Sharron dealt these hands:

Sharron; KQJT542, void, A98, AJ8

Pat: A87, AJ732, KT7, 98

Sharron dealt and opened one spade, Pat 2 bid hearts (game forcing), Sharon 2 spades, Pat now bid 4 spades (spade fit and minimum hand). Now if all you count is hcps you might pass in Sharron’s seat. No matter what system you use for revaluing shapely hands, once the fit is established, this one is begging for further exploration. You can bid 4NT asking for key cards, but when partner shows you 2 key cards, you are still left with no complete solution to your minor suit losers. Sharron did not disappoint, she bid 5 clubs showing a control in clubs. Pat and Sharron obviously agree with Marty, since Pat bid 5 diamonds showing her control in diamonds, even though it was a 2nd round control. Now having a workable plan for diamonds, Sharron bid 6 spades. The slam makes against any lead and garnered a big bunch of IMPs. Axel wagged has tail and I sent an “attaboy” text.

The key to their success was both good hand valuation and also the critical control showing bid that Pat made of 5 diamonds. This is apparently how experts show controls (Marty said that) and the worthiness of the concept is proven by the result. So, if you and your partner don’t have an agreement on how to show controls, it might be a good idea to discuss it. Don’t be too surprised if Partner says ”Oh, I always bid 1st round controls first and then 2nd round controls.” If partner says “Oh, I just use Blackwood,” consider ripping up his ACBL card and if he is a life master borrow some tin snips.

Just a comment on hand valuation. I asked Pat what planted the seed in Sharron’s mind that more was there for the taking. An advocate of Losing Trick Count, she noted that Sharon had 4 ½ LTC hand and that her 2/1 game force bid showed about 7 LTC, so taking 12 tricks seemed quite reasonable.

Since my most recent blog post ("Slammin' with Marty Bergen") was about Marty Bergen’s system of valuing fitting major suit hands, I e-mailed the hand to Bergen for comment. Marty said Sharron’s hand is revalued at about 24 Bergen Points, but the void in hearts cannot be fully revalued since it is in partner’s bid suit. Anyway you put it together, as long as you don’t get sidetracked with hcps, you fully justify the bidding continuations and hit the jackpot..

That’s how it is done son!!!