November 2008 Bridge Newsletter.

We have returned safely from Turkey where we spent three glorious weeks on a bridge overseas holiday.

The bay of Marmaris was so beautiful it could have been the setting for a James Bond movie.   I kept looking out to sea in the hope that Daniel Craig would come snorkling towards me but no such luck....

The Hotel Mares was superb,  the food was varied  always a good choice of entrees  while the salads and desserts were outstanding.  I felt I was drowning in honey.
The bridge was good, ably run by Margaret and Roger Chaplin.  The holiday was much enlivened by the appearance of himself,  aka Edward Kelly.

www.bridgeoverseas.co.uk

While browsing the web I came across a site for Marty Bergen author of Points Smoints.  I have found his book both helpful and amusing and so I was very pleased to find that he has a website which provides all sorts of goodies.   He even has free downloads of particular bids eg Jacoby.  Very useful for all of us.
Carlritner.com/martybergen/downloads.html

mbergen@mindspring.com
 
I have also come across another website which looks like a promising site for those of us who are addicted to browsing the web.   It is called web ring and appears to be a community based site offering lots of opportunities to chat to others and above all lots if bridge activities.

Dir.webring.com

   For the life of me I cannot remember whether I passed on the gift website.  I have been looking for presents myself and have found exactly what I wanted.
www.giftsforcardplayers.com

Pattie Dupree.

Glossary

MacGuffin a card that if played exposes its discarder's side to one danger but if kept exposes it to another. Major penalty card a card prematurely exposed deliberately, or any honor prematurely exposed. Major tenace a holding of the first- and third-highest then outstanding cards of a suit. [Example: The ace-queen of a suit before that suit has been played.] Make (1) (verb) fulfill (a contract); (2) (verb) capture a trick, or a number of tricks. (3) (slang) (noun) successful contract. (slang) (usually an adjective for bridge) simple; straightforward. Marionette (1) (noun) a transfer (meaning 2), after which partner will usually make the cheapest bid but is permitted to bid higher with special hands. (Compare with puppet.) (2) (verb) to use a marionette (meaning 1). Marked finesse a finesse against a marked card. Master (1) (adjective) the highest outstanding card of a suit; (2) (noun) an expert player. Master bid (1) an imaginative, perhaps brilliant, bid, typically with lesser values than usually associated with similar actions; (2) (said sarcastically) an unusual bid that leads to disaster. Master hand the hand having (or eventually having) the predominant trump length. Masterpoint a unit of measurement of achievement in tournament play. Matchpoint (verb) calculate the score on a deal in matchpoints. Matchpoints (1) a common form of scoring in duplicate bridge in which a pair scores one unit for every other pair whose score they best and one-half unit for every other pair whose score they tie. (2) the scoring units in (1). Mathe (1) a defense against big-club openings in which a double shows the major suits and one notrump shows the minor suits; (2) an asking-bid to locate a short suit in the hand of a responder who offered a direct limit major-suit raise. Matrix a generic layout of the cards (usually describing some form of ending, especially a squeeze).

Maximal overcall a bid that leaves the opponents no room below the next level of the suit they have already bid (e.g., one-spade opening, two-heart overcall). Maximal overcall double the double of a maximal overcall, or of the raise of a maximal overcall, as a game invitation. Maximum a relatively strong holding for the previous calls made. McCabe Adjunct a two-notrump response to a weak two-bid as a puppet to three clubs, usually preliminary to signing off at three of a suit underranking opener's. McKenney suit-preference signal. Menace a card that an opponent must guard lest it become a winner. Merrimac coup (also Merrimack Coup) the sacrifice of a high card to deny an opponent a timely entry. Michaels cue-bid a direct cue-bid over an opening bid (e.g., North one club, East two clubs) to show distributional strength. In its modern form, a minor-suit cue-bid shows length in both majors, a major-suit cue-bid shows length in the other major and one of the minors (second suit unspecified). Middle honors kings, queens and jacks. Mini- (prefix) of lesser strength; weaker than the usual kind (e.g., Mini-Roman two diamonds: a two-diamond opening showing the same hand-type but less strength than a Roman two diamonds.) Minimum a relatively weak holding for the previous calls made. Minimum equal-level conversions an agreement between partners that doubler's new-suit bid that does not raise the bidding level of a new-suit advance does not show extra strength. [Example auction where such an agreement might apply: one heart -- double -- pass -- two clubs -- pass -- two diamonds.] Mini notrump a one-notrump opening showing less than usual opening bid strength (typically 9-12 or 10-12 points). Mini-splinter a splinter raise describing the values to invite game. Minnie (slang) minimum. Minor penalty card a card below honor rank inadvertently exposed prematurely. Minor suit diamonds or clubs. Minor honor lower honor; (usually, but not necessarily) queen, jack or ten. Minor tenace the second-highest outstanding card of a suit and at least one other card where the other card (or cards) is at best the fourth highest of the suit then outstanding (such as king-jack or king-deuce of a suit before any cards of that suit have been played). Mirror (1) (of distributions) identical. (2) (of tournament movements) simultaneously held in parallel (as in a Mirror Mitchell, a team-of-four movement in which the pairs are organized into two Mitchell arrangements). Misbid (1) (noun) a bid that is inappropriate because it is of the wrong kind, or is misdescriptive to partner (as opposed to an underbid or an overbid). (2) (verb) to err by making a misbid (1). Misfit a pair of partnership hands, each having poor support for the long suits of the other; no combined eight-card or greater trump holding despite skewed distributions. Mississippi heart deal a swindler's deal, dating from whist, on which the mark holds six solid hearts and seven top cards in the black suits but cannot make more than six tricks with hearts trumps, because left-hand opponent holds the other hearts and solid diamonds, with no black cards. Mitchell movement a tournament arrangement in which all pairs remain seated at fixed compass directions (North-South or East-West) and meet only pairs seated in the opposite direction. Mixed (1) (of a partnership) composed of one player of each sex; (2) (of a tournament) one in which every competing pair is mixed; (3) (of a call, usually a raise) having both preemptive and constructive aspects; (4) having varying (especially conflicting) properties or objectives. Monster (slang) a strong hand. Morton's fork coup the forcing of an opponent to choose between establishing one or more extra tricks in the suit led and losing the opportunity to win a trick in the suit led. Montreal relay an artificial one-diamond response to leave room for opener to show a four-card major at the one level, usually used in conjunction with major-suit responses to one-club openings that imply at least five-card length. Movement the arrangement and rearrangement of players and boards to achieve appropriate replays and comparisons in duplicate bridge. [Related entries include: American Whist Movement, Flower, Howell, Mirror Mitchell, Mitchell, New England Relay, Relay Boards, Relay Table, Scrambled Mitchell, Rainbow, Shomate, Stagger, Stanza, Three-Quarter, Web.] Moysian fit a partnership trump holding of four cards in one hand and three in the other. MUD acronym for Middle-Up-Down; the lead of the middle card from three low cards. Mrs. Guggenheim a character of S. J. Simon's who cannot achieve anything beyond the obvious or routine; hence, any such player. Multi a two-diamond opening showing one of several hand-types, usually including some weak and some strong. [One popular variation: two diamonds shows a weak two-bid with long hearts, a weak two-bid with long spades, or a balanced hand with 21-22 points]. ________________________________________