Unit 239 welcomes new members: Nate Thomas (Rockford,) Darryl Einhorn (Cary,) Bruce Jasper (Rockford) and Leslie Nautiyal (Rockford)

Congratulations to the many members who have achieved new ACBL levels:   

Junior Master: Jan Clemmons (Freeport), Judith Coenen (Rockford), Theodore Ingrassia (Rockford) and Keith Larson (Cherry Valley)

Club Master: John Bassett (Geneva), Alan Cooper (Rochelle), Terry Hodges (Cherry Valley), Ken Strappini (Fox River Grove), David Black (Rockford), Kathy Cooper (Rochelle) and Susan Sallmen (Rockford)

Sectional Master: Joseph Schatz (St. Charles)

Bronze Life Master: Mike Shedlock (Crystal Lake)

Ruby Life Master: Janet Brandt (Elgin)

Diamond Life Master: Alma Karas (Batavia)

Janet Brandt is a Ruby Life Master and tells about her bridge history.

I started playing duplicate bridge when I was in my twenties, but back then I felt it was not very friendly so I quit after a very short time. When a Life Master friend of mine asked me to be her partner in Lake Geneva, I was very hesitant from my prior experiences. She talked me into playing and I found that the game still appealed to me and that the atmosphere was far more friendly. I did not do well, but so enjoyed myself that I decided to become a better bridge player and learn more conventions.

I started playing online and amassed over 400 points. Friends advised me to go to club games and tournaments as I had too many online points and needed color points. My first attempt was at Roland’s game in Elgin and I played with Bob Corron as a pick-up partner. I was amazed when we came in first overall. I might mention that I was terrified.

I continued to play at other games as well and gained Lynn Van Poucke and Roger Dieringer as regular partners. With my husband’s support, I played a lot of bridge until I earned my Life Master. A short time later my husband became ill and I spent almost five years caring for him. He passed away almost three years ago.

Bridge has now become almost a full-time pastime. I have gained many friends and new partners who continue to help me learn the game of bridge. As an aside, after many years, Bob and I played a second game of bridge together (I guess we did not want to ruin our record perfect record) and did not do very well. Recently, we tried a third time and came in first overall.

This is a very humbling game, but such fun.

Alma Karas shares her excitement about becoming a Diamond Life Master!

I have been working really hard to accomplish the 5,000 points for Diamond Life Master and was hoping to have it by the end of 2017 – but, too many vacations.  We have been trying to take vacations five weeks a year.

Since I retired in 2000, I have been playing a lot more bridge. When I started playing bridge in 1978, I only played in Eleanor’s novice game in Naperville on Tuesday nights. I’m sure the novices now would find it very hard to believe but it took me two years to get 20 points. In those days, we had very few high paying games so we would win like .08 or .23 or .57. I don’t know if I ever won a whole master point in my first few years of playing bridge.

From 1978 to 2000 I played only in Jack Snyder’s game on Monday nights in St. Charles and an occasional tournament. Do you remember the directors had their little boxes in alphabetical order with your points until you picked them up and mailed them in? Andy Katai mentioned to me once that he wondered who this Alma Karas was with all the .08 or .11 (or whatever little thing I won) as we were filed in the same box under K. Of course, he played with the big guys.

Once I started playing in St. Charles on Monday nights, I met John Kinst, We asked him if he would help us learn to win more often. He came over to my house, and three or four of us would try to follow his suggestions; we learned to play 3NT instead of minor-suit games and a few other John Kinst tricks.

Over the years, I have had many partners – from Fermilab grad students to people I met at bridge games. Many of my favorite partners from the old days have passed. Bridge is a hard game for that reason. So many people who start playing regularly after they retire or after their family has grown.

In the old days, most of the big games were at night. Once in a while someone would talk us into going to Elmhurst or Glen Ellyn; the Glen Ellyn game moved around and ended up now in Wheaton. Many players and directors are gone now. It is hard to keep track of all the people I’ve met and what period in my life I knew them.

One of the things that has really been fun for me was becoming a Life Master and playing with lots of people when they became Life Masters. In the old days, they would say once you became Life Master you didn’t have to pay dues anymore. That didn’t last until I got to be Life Master even.

Things have changed so much. Most of the well-attended games are in the day time, and the night times games are dwindling. I was retired when Betty Wade decided to start a game on Wednesday in Aurora. Frieda Thomas started a Tuesday game in St. Charles, and then later Marilyn Croft took over and started a Friday morning game also. Rolando Brabant started a game on Thursdays in Elgin; when the church didn’t want us meeting there anymore, they moved to The Center in Elgin. Now Marilyn Croft runs that game. With so many games around, I soon found myself playing five days a week.

Thanks to all my wonderful partners for helping me to finally win 5000 points. Lately, it has been mostly thanks to Diane Clark and Sherry Wynn. I have 12 Ace of Clubs Certificates – not sure that was all of them. I also have a couple of plaques from the old days winning the Mini-McKenney and 3 or 4 medallions. It is hard to win the Mini-McKenney when you go to as few tournaments as I do.

Bridge has treated me well. I have met lots of wonderful people! I wish there were more people teaching bridge and getting people interested. Young people just don’t have the patience these days, and there are so many other choices available to them.

Mike Shedlock is a Bronze Life Master. 

Mike shares his journey here:

Decades Pass, Memories Remain    by Mike Shedlock

I made Life Master decades ago. I do not remember the date, but many memories are intact. A bit after I made Life Master, I stopped playing. That was in the 1980s.

I recently received a nice letter from District 8 congratulating me on becoming Bronze Life Master. I am more than a bit embarrassed by my feeble point total, but that’s what happens with point inflation while one goes into hibernation for decades.

When I phoned the Unit 239 editor, she told me her experiences were similar. She too gave up bridge for decades and started playing again. She assured me that people would be interested in my story.

With that introduction, here goes.

My Bridge Start. I grew up in Danville, Illinois, and started playing bridge in high school. My brother Tom, four years older, picked it up first. I financed my way through college, not by playing bridge, but rather poker. Bear in mind that tuition at the University of Illinois was only $250 dollars a semester in 1971. What is seemingly impossible today was very possible then.

 I met some colorful players at the U of I, all of them much better than me. Among them were Karen Walker, Hugh Williams (aka the Ghost) and Mike Halvorsen (aka Puppy).

Chicago Alpha Club. Upon graduation, with a degree in civil engineering, I moved to Chicago. That was 1976. I often played bridge seven days a week. That is how hooked I was. My partners at the time were Larry Bass, Leonard Ernst, Howard Goldrich, occasionally national champion Frieda Arst, and also a cigar-smoking high school kid named Gary Cohler. Yes, that Gary Cohler. He was in still in high school, with paying customers at that age. And yes, I recall that he was smoking cigars in high school. I knew the moment I met him that he would someday be a national champion.

Moving On. When I married Joanne Reid, we made an agreement. She would not take up bridge and I would not take up golf. You probably know where this is headed. I gave up bridge in favor of a lot of outdoor activities, one of them was golf.  

Joanne and I were married for 27 years. She passed away from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I wrote about the experience on my blog (I am currently an economic writer) and raised $500,000 for the benefit of the Les Turner ALS foundation. Money came in from 44 countries around the world, including Uzbekistan. That is one of my proudest moments.

Unexpected Reversal. I met my current wife Liz shortly after Joanne passed away. I did not disclose when we first met that I played cards. She is a bridge player. When she found out that I played, she said, "Please let’s play". I said, “Sweetie, let’s not go there”. She said “please” and I said. “let’s not”.

Once again, you know where this is headed. She had about 50 points at the time. We played in a couple of club games then in a regional in Lake Geneva. We won the 0-1500 Pairs on Saturday and the 0-1500 Swiss Teams on Sunday, for back-to-back wins.

In a sense, this is unfair. I am not a 750-point player. Then again, that’s what the rules are. Yet, to me, it’s not a win unless it is flight A. Points are not points.

Flight A Win. The email from District 8 came immediately following my first flight A win. Playing with Mark Holle, we put together a near 64% game followed by a 70% game to win a recent Crystal Lake open pairs event.

The Unit 239 editor asked for a hand. I have a couple. The first hand below is from the recent Crystal Lake Regional. The second is a hand I remember from decades ago.

A Bit of Luck. The opening bid on your left is a weak 2D, partner overcalls 2H, Pass on your right. You hold  ♠A10643  ♥63 ♦109 ♣AJ106 , so you bid 2S. Partner raises to 3S and possibly in a bit of a stretch, I said 4S. The opening lead was the ♣5. Dummy hits with  ♠KJ  ♥AQ8752  ♦64  ♣KQ9 . 

Clearly you would rather be in the 6-2 heart fit than the 5-2 spade fit, but even 4H is not a great contract. If the king of hearts is offside, you will lose two hearts and two diamonds.

OK, what is the 5 of clubs? It looks like a stiff, but it could easily be from ♣53, ♣52, or ♣875. This is where you have to assume you are in the right spot. I elected to play West for something like AQ of diamonds and the king of hearts. West would lead a club on that layout for sure, no matter what his club holding was. And if West has the king of hearts, he is unlikely to have the queen of spades, giving him 11 points.

The correct play, in isolation, is a spade to the jack. But the correct play to make the contract is different. I won the trick in my hand, led a spade to the king then led the jack and ran it. It held. Now what? In retrospect I should have taken the heart hook first so I could cash the ace and ruff a heart with the 10 to get back to my hand. But all is okay if my assumption that the club was not stiff was correct. I had another chance, and that is East does not rise on a diamond lead. But he did. A club came back, West showed out, but he was also out of spades. The heart hook was on, making 4S even though I lost the ace of hearts to a ruff.

The hearts split 4-1 so 4H went down. This was a very lucky result for a cold top. In retrospect, I played the hand reasonably well, at least in regards to placing the cards where they need to be, but I think I could have played it better. It’s important to analyze hands this way, always asking, “What could I have done better?”

Memories Remain.  Let’s now go back to a hand I played with Larry Bass at the Alpha Club 40 years ago or so. I remember the hand like it was yesterday. Vulnerable vs. not, the auction starts with 1H on your right. You hold  ♠x  ♥Void  ♦KQ10xx  ♣AKQJ10xx .

To this day, I am still not certain of the correct bid. Yet, I am pretty confident I would make the same call today.

This was my thinking: We may have two diamond losers and one spade loser. The opponents may not be able to make four of a major. I had one chance and one chance only to find out if partner had diamonds.  So, I overcalled 2D.

The auction proceeds, 2S on your left, 3D by partner, 4S on your right. Your call? Partner cannot have much. In fact, all he can have is four or more diamonds to the ace. Without hesitation, I bid seven diamonds. Think about this. You have time now, but not at the table. What is LHO going to lead with me showing a spade void?

The auction unexpectedly went pass (showing a diamond void), pass by partner, then double (this is either Lightner or general principles). The opening leader had the ace of spades, but what would you lead? I got a heart lead and made 7D. Partner had five diamonds, LHO was void in diamonds, and 6S was cold.  Dummy had two small spades and I was able to pitch both of them on my clubs, then ruff my singleton spade in dummy.

Bridge Memories. That’s why we play this game.

The Real World. Those interested in economics can follow me at MishTalk.com where I have the third most popular economic blog in the country, not counting syndicates.

For everyone, please check out my photography website MishMoments.com for some world-class images. Mish is my pen name. It’s simply the first two characters of my first and last name.

  -- Mike “Mish” Shedlock