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You are Visitor Number  3233733 Go to the bottom of the page       I've played bridge over half my life...    The lesser half I wasted.--roy    Roy Wilson -- Contact:                    unit559webmaster@gmail.com 626 340-9575 Club Managers and Directors Support (Or are you a player with a question?) Do you need help with a ruling, scoring or an administrative question? The ACBL has a toll-free number available from 8:00 AM until midnight. 855 275-7629      Need help with the Common Game?   941 404-6600 ACBL - Duplicate Decisions District 23 Bridge News Map of District 23 Clubs Pat Abbey Bridge Club La Fetra Bridge Club ACBL Headquarters Telephone and Email Directory Tips, Articles & Announcements - ACBL BridgeFeed American Contract Bridge League Arcadia Bridge Center San Marino Bridge Club email:  Marie  email:  Roy   email: Mary   email:  Art   Friendship Chairman:    Linda Stuart 909-592-6800 909 641-3790 - Cell Unit Game Director:    Marie Nimmrich 626 448-3304 626 552-2344 - Cell Unit President:    Mary Falvey 626 359-0271 626 484-7169 - Cell San Marino Bridge Club:   Marie Nimmrich 626 448-3304 626 552-2344 - Cell Arcadia Bridge Center: Art and Diane Gulbrandsen 626 445-3797 . Unit 559 Webmaster: Roy Wilson 626 340-9575 . San Marino BC Results   The Common Game   STaC Game Results Arcadia BC Game Results   District Club Game Results B U L L E T I N   B O A R D Information for Unit 559 Clubs Arcadia Bridge Center               San Marino Bridge Club San Marino Club Party On Monday the San Marino Club will have its annual Holiday party, but this year there will be a surprise for everyone.  (Well, not everyone, but certainly for everyone who is there!)   As always, there will be great food and desserts, and, as this will be a unit game, there will be extra masterpoints.  All of our members and bridge guests are welcome. For those of you who are not regular players at the San Marino Club, you should know that the game has three flight - A, B and C.   Everyone has a chance of winning their flight, so there are always lots of masterpoints to be won. New Year's Eve Bridge Party - Game Time is 4:30 Our unit is sponsoring a bridge party at the Arcadia Bridge Center, on New Year's Eve.  Don't eat dinner before you arrive!  (And don't arrive too late for the food, either.) From the Director's Chair:   by Brian Richardson (This article appeared in the Southern California Bridge News, November, 2019) For many years it has been a not-infrequent occurrence for players to make an opening bid of 1NT with a semi-balanced hand (2254) or indeed an unbalanced hand (1435).  In the last couple of years, the ACBL has attempted to clarify the issues surrounding an opening bid of 1NT.  The initial edict stated that it was legal to open 1NT with a singleton Ace, King or Queen, PROVIDED the hand did not also contain a doubleton.  When this change was introduced, it, in my view, probably created more problems than it solved.  Players, on occasion, still opened 1NT on a disallowed shape.  After all, what would YOU bid if this was your hand:  My guess is that a good number of players would have chosen to open with a bid of 1NT because of the difficulty of finding an appropriate rebid if they opened 1 and partner responded 1. When the ACBL introduced this "change" to the permitted shape of 1NT, there was no prohibition on an occasional psyche in which a player might perhaps open 1NT on the type of hand shown above.  There was no provision for protection for the non-offending side, provided that such non-approved bids happened very infrequently.  Matters surrounding acceptable 1NT shapes, and point ranges, were clarified in November 2018, with the issue of new ACBL Convention Charts.  On all Convention charts that apply to Club play, a 1NT opening bid is legal if it satisfies the following criteria:  The hand contains no voids, no more than one singleton, which must be an ace, king or queen, and does not contain 10 or more cards in any two suits combined.  (This means that the only "allowable" shapes for a 1NT opening bid are: 4-3-3-3 4-4-3-2 5-3-3-2 6-3-2-2 5-4-2-2 4-4-4-1 5-4-3-1 The hand must contain at least 10 high card points and the range of points is not greater than five.  (This means that 1NT opening bids may have, say, an opening range of 10-14, 11-15, 12-16 and so on.  BUT, a pair playing a 1NT opening that has a 5-point range, may NOT open a 1NT call that does not fall within that range.) What is the task of the Director when he is called to the table, by a player whose opponent has opened 1NT, with a hand that does not fit either of the shape or point range requirements specified above?  The 2018 Convention Charts provide this statement:  If an agreement would be disallowed unless it satisfies a specific high-card or shape requirement, a player may not use judgment to include hands with fewer high-card points or a different shape.  This effectively means that a deliberate psych of a 1NT opening bid that does not adhere to both the shape and point-range requirements is now an illegal bid!!  If there is an illegal 1NT opening bid the Director has to adjudicate two issues, Would the offending pair have reached the same, or similar, final contract if all of their bidding had been "legal?  If the answer to this question is in the affirmative than no adjustment to the score is warranted. If the Director is convinced that a less advantageous contract would have been reached, then an adjusted score may then be allocated.  Have the defenders been adversely affected by the illegal opening bid?  If the answer to this question is in the affirmative, again the Director may allocate an adjusted score.  It should be noted that a player may claim that they opened an "illegal" 1NT because they missorted their hand!  Yes, indeed, there are occasions when hands are missorted.  Such claims of "missorted" require careful consideration by the Director, particularly if the player concerned has a history of bids that are somewhat "strange."  There should really be no automatic penalties for opening a 1NT bid that does not fit either of the two requirements previously mentioned.  A penalty should certainly be allocated against a player who opened 1NT, KNOWING that he was making an illegal bid.  In such a situation a Procedural Penalty of, say, 25% of a top, would be appropriate. Much of this article has been adapted from an excellent piece by Matt Smith on pages 30-31 in the October ACBL Bridge Bulletin. Brian Richardson   Close   Pasadena-San Gabriel Unit 559 Our unit is one of nine in District 23 and we are sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League.   We have an elected board of 12 members that meets monthly and is responsible for unit games and the annual John Waken sectional.  There are two clubs in our unit - The San Marino Bridge Club and the Arcadia Bridge Center. Unit Game Our next Unit game will be in January, and the date is yet to be announced. We have a unit game generally on the first Sunday of each month.  The card fees are $10.00 and students may play free.  The game has three flights, A, B and C.  There is also a separate section for 499ers for thos players who prefer to play there. The fee for seniors over the age of 90 is $5.00.  Gametime is 12:30 and lunch is available at 12:00. The location is the San Marino Bridge Club 1800 Huntington Drive San Marino There is a map link below. If you want to request a N/S or you need a partner, call Miriam Harrington:     626 232-0558 Our Director is Marie Nimmrich.  626 448-3304     mareeelizabeth@aol.com John Waken Tournament John Waken Results Sectional Map Table Assignment Policy Flight Assignment Policy Unit Board Policies San Marino Club Map Unit Game Results Unit Game Dates Hand Records Unit Game Winners Unit Board Members Scholarship Foundation Holiday Party Results

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