Defense is the most difficult half of your bridge game, and the average defender does not

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Chairman: Lamya Agelidis Director: Arleen Harvey Wednesday, January 30 Morning Side Game Series, single session.................................... 10:30 a.m. Flight A/B/C Pairs 0-1500/3000/+.

............. 10:30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday Knockout Teams, Rounds 3 & 4............... 10:30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 299er Pairs, single sessions...................................... 10:30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Afternoon Side Game Series, single session.

1 Chairman: Lamya Agelidis Director: Arleen Harvey Wednesday, January 30 Morning Side Game Series, single session :30 a.m. Flight A/B/C Pairs /3000/ :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Gold Rush Pairs 0-200/ / :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday Knockout Teams, Rounds 1 & :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday Knockout Teams, Rounds 3 & :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 299er Pairs, single sessions :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Afternoon Side Game Series, single session :15 p.m. Swiss Teams, single sessions :15 & 7:30 p.m. Evening Side Game Series, single session :30 p.m. Evening Knockout Teams, second of three sessions :30 p.m. Today s Guest Speaker Wednesday, January 30, 2:30 p.m. Ken Monzingo Defensive Tips Defense is the most difficult half of your bridge game, and the average defender does not do very well at it. Improving your defensive thinking is the fastest way to raise the level of that game. Improvement can come early with some simple, but often critical, tips. Unlike Dummy play, defense is a partnership game. Ken will assist you both in your communication clues, and minimizing careless defensive errors. We all fail at this at times, but we can Ken Monzingo improve by just thinking a litter better. Ken, a Platinum Life Master with over 12,500 MPs has two 3rd place finishes in NABC events: the 6-session Life Master Pairs, and the Senior Swiss Teams, and also won an Open Pairs at the World Bridge Federation 1994 event. Ken served on the ACBL National Board for nine years as ACBL Treasurer, chair of the Finance Committee, and the Conditions of Contest Committee. He was elected 2016 ACBL President, and Chairman of the Board in Ken published the Western Conference Contract Bridge Forum for 38 years, and has chaired, co-chaired, or assisted seven national tournaments, plus 20+ years of chairing District 22 regionals.

Partnerships Mary Ann Braden will be available daily to find you the perfect partner or team. See her in the foyer at the Hospitality Desk one hour before each 10:30 & 3:15 session.

Also, all overall pairs winners and teams winners may receive awards at this desk.

How to Access Fast Results No reason to stand around waiting for your results for the pairs game just completed. You can now retrieve all of the information via the Internet.

3 Partnerships Mary Ann Braden will be available daily to find you the perfect partner or team. See her in the foyer at the Hospitality Desk one hour before each 10:30 & 3:15 session. Section Top Awards Mary Ann Braden will be happy to award you with a great prize if you win your section in any strat. See Mary Ann at the Hospitality Desk. Also, all overall pairs winners and teams winners may receive awards at this desk. Tournament Photographer The Roving Photographer will be available daily between each 10:30 & 3:15 session for picture taking if you make Life Master here. Also, overall winners of two session pairs events or teams events come by for a photo op for our D22FORUM online newsletter. Bridge Parking The Riverside Convention Center offers parking at $8.00 per day. Limited side street metered parking is also available. The area Host Hotels are also offering discounted $5.00 per day at the Hyatt, and $8.00 per day at the Marriott. How to Access Fast Results No reason to stand around waiting for your results for the pairs game just completed. You can now retrieve all of the information via the Internet. If you already have an address registered with the ACBL, you don t have to do anything. If your address is not registered, you simply send an message to: fastresultshelpdesk@gmail.com or text your last name & ACBL # to Sign up is easy! Farewell Riverside! We ve enjoyed holding our winter regional in Riverside for many a year, particularly since the major renovation of the Convention Center in The quaint city of Riverside with its charming downtown and iconic sights welcomed us wholeheartedly during those years. Unfortunately, after spending months on re-negotiating future contracts with the Convention Center and the local hotels, we could not reach an agreement satisfactory to all concerned. An extensive search of the area to find a nearby alternative venue was also fruitless. Relocation our popular winter regional was now looking unavoidable. We are moving! We are very excited to announce our new venue, centrally located, familiar to most: The Hilton Costa Mesa in Orange County, the same hotel that hosts our popular Labor Day Regional! You ll be able to play and stay in the same luxurious place, with easy access to Orange County s finest dining. Hilton Costa Mesa Farewell Riverside, Hello Costa Mesa! The renamed SoCal Winter Regional will be awaiting you the same week it s always been, but now in Costa Mesa instead of Riverside. See you January 27-February 2, 2020! Tomorrow is Goodwill Day Thursday is traditionally Goodwill Day at our regionals. The day is set aside to the principles of Goodwill we all should follow. The late Aileen Osofsky was a force in bringing the tradition to the front and Warren Cederborg was its most fervent supporter, spawning the District 22 Goodwill Committee, now chaired by Diane Gunther.

4 Tips and Analyses of Recent Hands By Maritha Pottenger Redeux with Maritha Hands are from the Riverside Regional, 2:00 p.m. Charity Pairs, January 28, The bridge gods were very considerate my Monday lesson was on Match Point Penalty Doubles, and the very next session gave us a couple of excellent examples. Hand #22 West K A East South West North Pass 3 Pass 4 Dbl Pass Pass Pass North QJ109 AJ96 J85 73 South -- Q743 Q74 AQJ1095 East A43 K1085 K102 K82 East opened 1 they were playing a Big Club system, so East could not open 1. South overcalled 2. (Remember, this shows an opening hand! It may be minimal in HCP, but you have a hand you would have opened if you had been Dealer.) West bid 2 and North passed. Two spades is forcing, so East raised to 3. South passed. At the table, West fell in love with her hand. She had an extra spade, and perhaps thought they had a double fit since partner had opened 1 (although that should not be assumed with a Big Club system). Her hand is a 7-loser hand. So, she bid 4. My partner, John Jones, was prepared to double 3 for penalties, so 4 was even more appetizing. He led the 7. Declarer called for the 8 in Dummy, and I won the 9. I returned my 4th-best heart. John took his A and played the 3. I won the club and played a high club. Declarer ruffed and John overruffed. John returned a heart. Declarer took the K and made the useless (to her) discard of a small diamond. We were still coming to a diamond trick in the fullness of time. Down 3 was +800 to us, and a top (3 doubled would have been a top, or near top as well).

Hand #8 North QJ962 Q J8 A9742 West AK10853 J42 7 Q83 East 74 K975 K9432 J10 South -- A10863 AQ1065 K65 West North East South 2 Pass Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass Opening Lead: Q West deals and opens 2.

5 Hand #8 North QJ962 Q J8 A9742 West AK10853 J42 7 Q83 East 74 K975 K9432 J10 South -- A10863 AQ1065 K65 West North East South 2 Pass Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass Opening Lead: Q West deals and opens 2. Pass and Pass. South, with three places to play and a void in spades, reopens with a double. [Do not bid hearts on this hand! Do not bid Leaping Michaels it is not good enough. Bidding 3 would show a source of tricks suit and ask partner to bid 3NT with a spade stopper. Double is the only correct call.] North, with five great spades and an outside ace passes, converting to penalty. The lead is the Q. Declarer covers with the K (to promote her J) and South returns an original fourth best heart for partner to ruff. North plays the J which is covered again. South takes the A and the Q is ruffed by West Declarer leads a low club. North ducks and South takes the K, then cashes the 10 North discards a low club. South plays the 10 and West s 8 is overruffed by the 9 in the North. North cashes the A and exits with a club. In the end, North got three spade tricks. South got two heart tricks and the A, and N/S got two club tricks. So, poor West who made a perfectly reasonable call was down three. Plus 500 for N/S who are not vulnerable, and whose only makable game (5 ) would be almost impossible to reach, is an excellent match point result. Most pairs were doubled in a spade contract. Some N/S pairs played in notrump (making, and going down in 3NT). One N/S played in clubs and one in diamonds with part scores. Learn to love that red card!

6 Tips and Analyses of Today s Hands By Maritha Pottenger Redeux with Maritha Hand Visualization and More Defense Against Doubled Contacts By Maritha Pottenger Hands are from Riverside Regional, January 29, 2019, 10:30 Session Hand #12 West K K6 J10653 North J105 QJ1042 J5 872 South Q762 K AKQ9 East A983 A83 AQ842 4 W est passes, as does North. East opens 1, so South has nothing to say. West bids 1. North passes. Despite 14 HCP, East elects to pass. South reopens with a double. West passes. North does not have enough to pass 1 doubled, so bids her 3-card spade suit. East takes the push to 2. South needs to stop, think, and visualize the hands around the table. On this auction, East almost always has only 3-card heart support. Otherwise, even with a minimum, East will generally give a courtesy raise to partner even a passed hand partner both in case partner s hand improves on the auction, and also to make it harder for opponents to compete. Given that assumption, partner has a minimum of four hearts, and could have five hearts on this auction. Where are all the diamonds? RHO (East) opened 1 and you have four. LHO does not have four diamonds because she probably would have bid 2 over your original double with that hand. So, partner probably has at least two diamonds. Partner did not bid clubs, so she has fewer than four clubs, probably. So, partner could be She could also be At best, she is , but that is by no means guaranteed. In addition, your K is not useful on offense, but is useful on defense. The wisest choice is to pass 2 and hope that your partner does has five of them. At least you have pushed them up one level.

7 Hand #32 West 106 AJ8532 J9 Q72 North 872 Q K854 South AKQ54 7 Q764 AJ10 East J93 K AK West opened with a Weak Two heart bid. North and East passed. South reopened with a double superior to bidding 2 even with five lovely spades. You have three places to play and partner might be waiting for your double with a heart stack. North does indeed pass, and East feels her singleton K and AK of diamonds are worth leaving the contract at the 2 level. The 8 is led. Declarer takes the A, dropping the 9. After unblocking the K, Declarer calls for a low spade. You win with the Q. Knowing that partner s diamond was a singleton (because the J is missing), you return the 7 (suit preference for spades). Partner ruffs and returns the 8. What now? Do not return another diamond. The rule about trump promotion is: Do not aim for trump promotion until you have cashed All Your Side Suit Winners! If you play another diamond, partner will be ruffing with what is probably a natural trump trick, and Declarer will be able to discard a black suit loser. Think about partner s pass. She must have one good card (Ace or King) in addition to her five decent hearts. The only card she can have, now that you have seen Dummy, is the K. So, play another high spade, forcing Declarer to ruff. [The other advantage of the high spade is that once you and your partner win all your club tricks, the 7 will be a winner and will set up a trump promotion opportunity for partner without giving anything away to Declarer.] Declarer will ruff the third round of spades. She will probably play A and a heart. Partner will win the 9 (!!) and play a low (promising an honor) club to you! Time to count! Declarer is known to have exactly six hearts; two spades; and two diamonds. Ergo, she has exactly three clubs. So, before you do any trump promotion, you must lead the J to finesse her Q. If Declarer covers, partner will win the K, and return to your 10. Now your 7 puts Declarer in a very uncomfortable position. [If Declarer ducks, partner will take the third round of club suit and return the 13th club to make Declarer ruff.] If Declarer ruffs the 7 with the 8 of hearts, partner gets her 10 and Q. If Declarer ruffs with the J, partner gets her Q and 10. All roads lead to down 3 by E/W vulnerable. That is 800. It happens that N/S can make an unbiddable 21-HCP 3NT game. This further proves what I call Budak s Rule: If we were making game, the opponents are going down 800 or more!

Thursday, January 31 Goodwill Day! Morning Side Game Series, single session.................................... 10:30 a.m. Flight A/B/C Pairs 0-1500/3000/+................................. 10:30 a.m. & 3:15 p.

10 Thursday, January 31 Goodwill Day! Morning Side Game Series, single session :30 a.m. Flight A/B/C Pairs /3000/ :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Gold Rush Pairs 0-200/ / :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Bracketed Swiss Teams, 2 sessions :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday Knockout Teams, Rounds 3 & :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 299er Pairs, single sessions :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Afternoon Side Game Series, single session :15 p.m. Swiss Teams, single session :15 p.m. Evening Side Game Series, single session :30 p.m. Evening Knockout Teams, final session :30 p.m. Thursday-Friday Swiss Teams, first of two sessions :30 p.m. Single session entries allowed Friday, February 1 Morning Side Game Series, single session :30 a.m. A/B/C IMP Pairs /3000/ :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Gold Rush Pairs 0-200/ / :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Friday-Saturday Knockout Teams, Rounds :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 299er Pairs, single sessions :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Afternoon Side Game Series, single session :15 p.m. Swiss Teams, single session :15 p.m. Evening Side Game Series, final session :30 p.m. Thursday-Friday Swiss Teams, final session :30 p.m. Single session entries allowed Saturday, February 2 Morning Side Game Series, single session :30 a.m. Stratified Pairs by average MPs 0-750/3000/ :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Bracketed Swiss Teams 2 sessions :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Friday-Saturday Knockout Teams, Rounds 3 & :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 299er Pairs, single sessions :30 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. Swiss Teams, single session :15 p.m. Afternoon Side Game Series, final session :15 p.m. No games Saturday Evening!

Chairman: Lamya Agelidis Í Director: Arleen Harvey. Today s Guest Speaker

Chairman: Lamya Agelidis Í Director: Arleen Harvey Monday, January 28 Maritha s I/N Reception/Lecture........................................... 11:30 a.m. Charity Bracketed Swiss Teams, playthrough................................