February Bridge Letter 2009

First let me thank the 10,000 visitors to this site.  February looks like being as bad as January weather wise so we are decamping for a few weeks sunshine.
 
We are off to Lanzarote in March with Bridge Overseas.  www.bridgeoverseas.co.uk  We went last year and it was good.  The location and hotel lived up to the brochure and we are both looking forward to a little relaxation and a lot of sun.

I have been looking into playing bridge on line or improving ones’s game and have come up with the following sites.  Hope they will be of use.

Glossary of useful bridge terms

Pair
one partnership; two players acting as partners; North-South or East-West.
Pairs
a duplicate-bridge tournament among partnerships.
Pajama game
(slang) a duplicate-bridge session in which relatively many scores are top or bottom.

Palooka
(slang) poor player.
Pancake
(slang) Hand with 4-3-3-3 distribution (similar to Flat).

Par
the result on a deal on which both sides do as well as possible.
Par contest
an event based on pre-set deals with scores awarded for superior technique in bidding and play.
Pard
(slang) partner.
Parity
(1) evenness or oddness (usually of a suit length);
(2) equal length (as another player's).
Partial

part-score.
Prepared bid

a bid made with a mind to the possibilities on later rounds of bidding.
Preparedness

principle of choosing the suit for the opening bid to facilitate a rebid.
Present count

a defensive card-play method in which a count signal relates to the number of cards presently held in a suit.
Primary

(1) (describing strength or high-card values) of the most useful or highest kind;
(2) (describing a control) first-round;
(3) (describing support) enough to guarantee at least an eight-card fit.
Professional

(1) person who makes a living from bridge;
(2) paid partner or teammate.
Progression

in a tournament, the movement of players and deals.
Progressive squeeze

a squeeze position in which a newly created winner produces another squeeze.
Promote
(1) (of a card) move to or closer to winning rank;
(2) (of a hand's value) add to the number of valuation points counted for.
Proprieties

the section of bridge laws that deals with personal or partnership behavior.
Protect

(1) (slang) (verb) balance;
(2) (slang) (verb) reopen;
(3) (verb) accompany (a higher card) so as to protect from capture;
(4) (verb) guard (a suit).
Protected suit

a suit including a stopper.
Protest

appeal.I

“People should be encouraged to take up bridge, gardening and Egyptology” Baroness (Elspeth) Howe, wife of former Tory Chancellor Geoffrey Howe.
This good quote came from the site of the EBU. Don’t know about gardening  hard if you live in an apartment and Egyptology might be a touch exotic for Birmingham.
www.ebu.co.uk

This week I also found that Timesonline.co.uk had puzzles from the Times and articles by Andrew Robson.  This site is well worth a visit as it contains crosswords, sudukus and other mind games.

There is also an international online bridge club which might be fun: www. bridgeclublive.com

  I came across a fantastic site set up by Bracknell bridgers.  It is really worth a visit especially if your club is thinking of up grading or starting a bridge website.  This is how to do it!!!!

www.bracknelbridge.com

Another good site

www.bridgeclublive.com

 This is an international on line bridge club giving possibilities of playing against a wider range of opponents.

You can visit www.mrbridge.co.uk/forum for views and news on bridge laws.

There are free online games at www.msoworld.com www.mindzinenewsbridge.com it would be great to hear if this site  lives up to its claims.

As a foot note even in this day and age the Scotsman reports on a contest
confined to male players. Ugh.

www.News.scotsman.com

Pattie Dupree