August Direktor

Can you believe that the Santa Clara Regional is almost here, and so is our Fall Sectional! I hear the entire Rose Meltzer team is going to be in attendance at our Sectional.

Do you remember earlier this year when I asked for worthy charities, because the ACBL had lots of money to give away. Well, they finally selected Hospice, and gave them a whopping $160,000. Thank you all for your submissions, and I think you would all agree that Hospice is a very good choice. Our dues at work!

The Unit needs someone to be our Publicity Chairperson. Short hours, a few phone calls a year, and no experience needed, however some experience would probably help, as our "no experience" has not managed to make much headway getting our events into the local newspapers.

Our book exchange is going great, if you missed the accumulation that keeps growing. Special thanks to Helen Mitchell who brought down 7 full boxes (I know, because I helped bring them in from her van). Feel free to read all you want and pass the good ones to friends, so we have room for some new material. Apparently, you all have your favorite receipts memorized or eat out a lot, as the cookbooks keep gathering dust.

Phyllis Vierra would like to let you all know to plan to make sandwiches for our Fall Sectional at the end of September. Look for a sign-up sheet at the club. I heard something about a free play for the best sandwich, or the most sandwiches, or something. Ask Phyllis!

The NAOP Unit Final will be on Sunday, September 16, at 12:30 p.m. If you haven’t qualified yet, better hurry up!

Condolences to Jean Power who lost her husband. We’re hoping Olive Tangney will feel chipper with a new pacemaker.

Our next Unit Board meeting will be September 5 at 5:30 P.M. at the club. Come by for a slice of pizza, and throw in your two cents worth.

See ya at the tables.

The July Winners

Sunday 5 p.m. San Jose Bridge Center (SJBC)

7/8 Janice Curb - Rosemary Roney

Gail Meikle - Donna Webb

7/15 Shih-Wei Lu - Tom Coleman

Gerry Piaget - Joan Piaget

7/22 Gary Kao - Shih-Wei Lu

Lucy Burke - Gail Meikle

7/29 George Compton - Ed Sutton

Shih-Wei Lu - Gary Kao

7/2 Cheryl Liptak - Geri Colwell (A/B)

7/9 Billie Mechanic - Bev Rennie (A)

Florence Switzer - Alan Becker (A)

Y.E. Chen - Jim Tseng (B)

Mervin Falk - Shirley Falk (B/C)

Malcolm Stewart - Richard Jacobs C()

7/16 Dolores Clinch - Jack Clinch (A)

Dan Turkus - Art Fonda (A/B)

Malcolm Stewart - Richard Jacobs (C)

Madie Horton - Billee Giansiracusa (B)

7/23 Paul Amato - Jim Wulfhorst (A/B/C)

Maxine Lubow - Ray Lubow (A/B/C)

7/30 Bev Rennie - Florence Golden (A)

Ginger Herrick - Bill Coke (A/B)

David Chang - Donald Chang (C)

Billee Giansiracusa - Madie Horton (B)

Maxine Lubow - Ray Lubow (C)

7/2 Elizabeth Leader - Dorothy Donielson

7/9 Phyllis Vierra - Ray Crist

Elizabeth Leader - Dorothy Donielson

7/16 Mike Sullivan - Hiram Shen 67.62 %

Ron Laffen - Joseph Poppo

7/23 H Zoellner - John Swindlehurst

Rita Randolph - Judy Namanny

7/30 Joseph Poppo - Ron Laffen

Candy Wentworth - Nancy Habbas

7/10 Jyme Schmieder - Anne Boboricken (A)

Bill Yetter - Steve Bosma (A/B)

Tania Moalem - Robert Friend (B)

7/17 Charlie Dorn - Diane Shannon (A)

Art Fonda - Robert Jonesi (A/B)

Sidney Safir - Bev Rennie (B)

7/24 Charlie Dorn - Tina Pearson (A)

Richard Sarsfield - Mostafa Hafezi (A)

Jack Dittmann - Yvonne Van Zandt (B)

Beverly Wright - Jean Power (B)

Y.E. Chen - Norman Wang (C)

7/31 Marjory Yates - Pat Chambers (A) 65.18%

Kathleen Keener - Josephine Cooley (A)

Sabina Siem - Jeanne Becht (B)

7/10 Eugene Vodkin - Boris Ginzburg - Victor Rivkin - Douglas Hong (Swiss teams)

7/17 Michael Heymann - Steve Chen (A/B)

Josephine Cooley - Paul Nelson (A)

Vandana Vidwans - Mike Cailean (B)

Adam Kauk - Preston Kauk (C)

7/24 George Pledger - Melinda Foos (A/B)

John Oswalt - Cindy Gilbert (A/B)

Z Kadah - Bassam Baroudi (C)

Mike Ravera - Pam Woods (C)

7/31 Robert Ritz - Mike Cailean (A)

Faye Parsons - Andre Dermant (A) (tie)

Melinda Foos - Shih-Ming Shih (B/C) (tie)

Derek Fiero - Mike Roney (B)

Richard Jacobs - Hiram Shen (C)

7/18 David Chang - Chien Fan

7/25 Sabina Siem - Candy Wentworth

7/11 Neal Webb - Barbara Harkleroad - Ray Yuenger - Annette Powers (Swiss teams)

7/18 Curt Hastings - Richard Reitman (A) 65.34%

Tony Staw - Raymond Yuenger (A/B) (tie)

H Lyle Supp - R Schwarer (A/B/C) (tie)

Dana Brown - Srinivasan Ravindran (B)

7/25 Marshall Yancey - Jack Verson (A) 68.25%

Panette Talia - Ronald Siegrist (A/B)

Susan Zimmerman - George Humphrey (B)

7/11 Elaine Erickson - Anne Struthers (A)

Tina Pearson - Glenda Ciochon (A)

Larry Miller - Abby Adecoa (B/C)

Marilyn Campbell - Dan Oneal (B)

7/18 Elaine Erickson - Anne Struthers (A)

Ayan Banerjee - Ashok Vittal (A/B/C)

Anne Dudman - Val Abid (B/C)

7/25 Keith McMahan - Julia Novy-Hildesley (A/B/C)

Mervin Falk - Shirley Falk (A/B/C)

7/5 Gigi Spinazze - Judy Fisher

7/12 Patricia Hannah - Read Kitson - Y.E. Chen - Gary Yang (Swiss teams)

7/19 Diane Shannon - Frances Dickman

Jyme Schmieder - N Hatfield

7/26 Kit Humphrey - Bill Langlois

Ted Richmond - Charlie Dorn

7/5 Dhingra Rajiv - K.V Rao (A/B/C)

Jan Sullivan - Mike Sullivan (A/B)

Ed Sutton - Martha Sutton (C)

7/12 Richard Jacobs - Tom Coleman (A)

Billie Untiedt - Kim Kennedy (A/B/C)

7/19 Phyllis Vierra - Hiram Shen (A)

George Pledger - Keith McMahan (A)

Judy Etherington - Karen O'Connell (B/C)

7/26 Keith McMahan - George Pledger (A)

Frank Napolitan - Ursula Gueldner (A)

Gerry Piaget - Joan Piaget (B/C)

Richard Jacobs - Tom Coleman (B)

7/6 Maureen Ellenberg - Ruth Sporer 65.54%

7/13 Leon W. Lee - Karel Wong

Joyce Sogg - Rita Randolph

7/20 Karel Wong - Leon W. Lee

Judi Carollo - Elizabeth Moley

7/27 Gabriele Pani - Eileen Edwards

Joan Bates - Janice Scott

7/6 Gary Porter - Walt Hoffman

Marshall Yancey - Marolyn Imaoka-Yancey

7/13 Ashraf El-Sadi - Jill El-Sadi (A) 65.34%

Tien-Chun Yang - Fang Wu (A/B)

Will Watson - Mike Cailean (B)

Shantanu Chakraborty - Gerold Wieber (C)

7/20 Susan Zimmerman - Ted Zimmerman (A/B)

John Hoffman - Leila Sink (A)

7/27 Nagraj Alur - Mike Roney (A)

Tania Moalem - Susan Zimmerman (B)

John Prior - Hiram Shen (C)

7/7 Eileen Edwards - Joyce Sogg

Bill Barnes - Jean Barnes

7/14 Jewel Schimke - Malcolm Stewart

Joan Simpson - Mike Braun

7/21 Mildred Brewer - Russell Brewer

Joe Barletta - Sandi Barletta

7/28 Joan Simpson - Mike Braun

Gigi Spinazze - Tony Staw

Law 25.A: "Until his partner makes a call, a player may substitute his intended call for an inadvertent call but only if he does so, or attempts to do so, without pause for thought."

Law 27.B: "If an insufficient bid . . . is not accepted, it must be corrected by the substitution of either a sufficient bid or a pass."

Law 25.A is often misinterpreted by players.

North opens 2 NT. South sees it incorrectly as 1 NT and pulls the 2 Club card from the bidding box to bid Stayman. Before laying the 2 Club card down one of the following cases occurs:

South immediately says "Oops, I was reaching for the 3C card and got the 2C card instead," and changes it. This is a proper application of Law 25.A. South made a slip of the finger.

South looks up, sees that partner opened 2 NT, not 1, and says "Oops, that isn’t enough," and changes it. This is an illegal change of bid. (And the penalties are not pleasant for this particular case! See below.)

People see "inadvertent call" in the rule and think it covers slips of the mind, as well as slips of the fingers. It does not. Note that the rule states "a player may substitute his INTENDED call . . . ."

In Case 1, South’s INTENDED call was clearly 3 Clubs. In Case 2, South’s INTENDED call was clearly 2 Clubs, but he changed his intentions after realizing that he had seen his partner’s bid wrong.

Notice that in neither case did the player do any more than remove the bidding card from the box. Duplicate Decisions (a director’s manual) says that a bid is considered made once a card has been removed from the bidding box with intent. This is in contrast to playing, when a card is not considered played simply because it is removed from the hand.

Most players think that even Case 2 is much ado about nothing. After all, a player is always allowed to make an insufficient bid sufficient, right?

Wrong. An option available to the non-offending side is to accept the insufficient bid. Perhaps West wants to bid Hearts on the 2 level, in this case, and wants to require South to leave the insufficient 2 Club bid in. Yet almost everyone who makes an insufficient bid tries to simply make it sufficient without giving the opponents their options and without calling the Director.

If West does not want to accept the bid, South may be in trouble. Law 27.B.2 states: "If either the insufficient bid or the lowest sufficient bid in the same denomination may have been conventional or if the bid is corrected by another other sufficient bid or by a pass, . . . the offender’s partner must pass whenever it is his turn to call . . . ." In other words, North is now barred from the bidding and South must either pass or attempt to place the contract. Further, there may be lead penalties.

Opponents may waive these penalties by accepting the insufficient bid or substituted call. So it pays to call the director to preserve your rights.