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Kelsey Additional-Chance Example

This hand is adapted from “Example 24” in from Hugh Kelsey’s book, Master the Odds in Bridge. In hearts, North holds K3 , and South (declarer) holds A10985. Declarer needs four tricks from the suit and can afford to lose the lead only once in his no-trump contract. Therefore, he must capture one of the two missing honors. If the suit breaks 3-3, the contract will be made, as one missing honor will drop and the other driven out. Declarer ponders whether he can succeed against a four-two split as an additional chance.

North plays the K and leads the 3. If South plays the 10, he can succeed if East holds both honors and four cards. That is, one of the honors will drop on the third round. If South rises with the A, the contract succeeds if West begins with a doubleton honor. The point of this deal is that South does not need to analyze details about the positions for which failure is inevitable, but only needs to compare the relative odds for his two choices at the decision point. Neither choice affects the prospect of a 3-3 split.

South deduces that xx in West’s hand represents the 6 combinations from abcd : ab,ac,ad,bc,bd,cd. Alternatively, imagine drawing two cards from HHxxxx. The successive odds are 4/6*3/5=6/15. Hx from West’s hand is 4 possible x’s times two possible H’s, for 8 combinations of the 15 possible from HHxxxx. The only other doubleton is HH, which has been ruled out by the play of the king. Therefore, playing for the drop is favored by 8 to 6.

Suit Split Tables

This is an excerpt from a lengthy post titled “Basic Bridge Odds.” The main purpose is to suggest useful approximations to use at the table: Also, the Individual probability entry can be multiplied by the number of combinations* in a given hand to obtain a probability for the holding.

1)Missing an odd number of cards, they will divide evenly 2/3 of the time and one step from evenly 1/3 of the time. (Ignore greater steps.) Exception: Three missing cards divide 2-1 about 3/4 of the time and 3-0 about 1/4 of the time.

2)Missing an even number of cards, they will divide evenly 1/3 of the time, one step from evenly ½ of the time and two steps from evenly 1/6 of the time, seldom worse. Exception: Two missing cards divide 2-0 vs 1-1 about 1/2 of the time.

Suit Splits

Number of Cards	Distribu-tion	Proba-bility	Combin-ations*	Individual Probability	Approxim-ation
2	1 – 1	0.52	2	0.2600	1/2
	2 – 0	0.48	2	0.2400	1/2

4	2 – 2	0.40	6	0.0678	1/3
	3 – 1	0.5	8	0.0622	1/2
	4 – 0	0.1	2	0.0478	1/6

6	3 – 3	0.36	20	0.0178	1/3
	4 – 2	0.48	30	0.0162	1/2
	5 – 1	0.15	12	0.0121	1/6
	6 – 0	0.01	2	0.0075	0

8	4 – 4	0.33	70	0.0047	1/3
	5 – 3	0.47	112	0.0042	1/2
	6 – 2	0.17	56	0.0031	1/6
	7 – 1	0.03	16	0.0018	0
	8 – 0	0	2	0.0008	0

Number of Cards	Distribu-tion	Proba-bility	Combin-ations	Individual Probability	Approxim-ation
3	2 – 1	0.78	6	0.1300	3/4
	3 – 0	0.22	2	0.1100	1/4

5	3 – 2	0.68	20	0.0339	2/3
	4 – 1	0.28	10	0.0283	1/3
	5 – 0	0.04	2	0.0196	0

	4 – 3	0.62	70	0.0089	2/3
7	5 – 2	0.31	42	0.0073	1/3
	6 – 1	0.07	14	0.0048	0
	7 – 0	0.01	2	0.0026	0

	5-4	0.59	252	0.00234	2/3
9	6-3	0.31	168	0.00187	1/3
	7-2	0.086	72	0.00119	0
	8-1	0.107	18	0.0006	0

* To illustrate “combinations,” consider a five card suit containing H1,H2,x1,x2,x3. For a 2-3 split, ask how many combinations there are in Hxx — Hx. The doubleton could be either of H1 or H2, together with any one of x1,x2, or x3. That makes six combinations for Hx or for Hxx. Swapping the sides gives a total of 12, for a probability of .0339*12 = 0.407. XX offers 3 combinations and HH is one combination. Swapping sides makes it 6 and 2. Therefore the total number of combinations for a 3-2 split is 20.

An excel spreadsheet that will compute precise probabilities of suit splits (suit splits tab) and probabilities for combinations (combinations tab) involving honors can be downloaded here.

The table information is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge_probabilities but rearranged to emphasize patterns.

Longest Day 2024 Earns $3500

What an amazing day! Our club earned nearly $3500 for Alzheimer’s. There were 27 tables of bridge in the three sessions.

There are many people to thank! Paul and Nancy Klein helped all day and donated the bagels. Al and Karen Langenfeld donated prizes for both the social bridge winners and the raffle bags. Westminster gave us a break on the room rental.

Various sponsors donated gift cards or food. Tommy’s Restaurant was especially generous. Subway gave us a great price on lunch; if you see Ken at the Mt. Vernon Rd. Subway, thank him. Other sponsors to thank are Applebee’s, Pizza Ranch, Cheddar’s, Red Robin, Olive Garden, Hu Hot Mongolian Grill and Kwik Trip.

It was fun to have a six-table social bridge game in the morning. If you encouraged those people to come, please thank them for us.

Thank you so much for participating or donating! We are proud that our small club could contribute so much to such a worthy cause.

Jim and MaryAnn Boardman

The Longest Day 2024

We are excited to announce Build Better Bridge will be holding The Longest Day on June 17, 2024. We have sponsored this event through the ACBL since 2012. I’ll enclose the flyer.

One of the highlights of the event is the party bridge game at 9:00. It is so fun to mix up some of our regular players with new faces. It is relaxed and social. Prizes, too! If you are a duplicate friend who plays in social bridge groups, please encourage your social bridge friends to come to this game. You can copy the flyer or pick some up at the club.

There are lots of free events. The 9:00 game, breakfast, lunch, and a guest speaker from Alzheimer’s Association. Also treats all day. There are two sanctioned duplicate games, noon and 6, that cost $8 which goes to Alzheimers. There are raffle baskets.

The doors open at 8:45 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, lower level. 1285 Third Ave. SE CR.

If you can’t come, but want to support the cause, here is the place: donate

Hope to see you there!

Jim and MaryAnn Boardman

“Longest Day” – Alzheimers Charity Event – 2023

The money we raised from online donations, sanctioned game fees, raffle tickets, and other donations.was very close to $3000. I’m pretty sure that was an all time record breaker for The Longest Day for BBB. We are overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity!

We had a sign out to thank our sponsors who donated , but there was so much going on that I want to mention them again. Tommy’s Restaurant was the biggest donor. Please go there and tell Steve that you are there because of his generosity to The Longest Day. These.restaurants also donated: Applebees, Pizza Ranch, Cheddars, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, HuHot Mongolian Grill, Scott’s Family Restaurant, Subway(half price subs!) and Mary Boyd (who donated a convention card book).

Thank you to so many of you who donated labor by bringing food, helping clean up, and giving gift cards. A huge thank you to all of the people who helped get the party bridge crowd to come. Six tables!! Several of the regular duplicate players played with the group. That was a huge bridge community builder, not to mention all the donations collected from the 9:00 free game.

Nancy and Paul and Jan and Duane helped in many ways. Bob Buckheister helped spread the word through our web site and was there for all three games, also.

The raffle winners were Joe Rinas, Mary Day, and Carolyn Wadsworth. Mike and Wyn donated a plant that was won by Judy Vopava.

Someone left a phone at the playing site. We have it here at home and are waiting to hear who lost it. There has only been one call that we have caught and it was an IC number, but we couldn’t answer.

We were especially pleased that so many out of town people came. Thank you to Vickki who cancelled her Q Cities evening game and encouraged players to come to CR instead.

We had record breaking number of tables for the games, 6 at the 9:00 game, 12 at the noon game, and 7 at the 6:00 game. Wow!

Meagan Wagner gave a very informative presentation about Alzheimer’s. She brought her helper, Jonah, who efficiently passed out materials.

There were several players who played in all three games or were there to help during all three.Nancy Klein directed the 9:00 game. Thank you!

We can’t figure out why the results for the 7:00 game did not come to us automatically through Live for Clubs. You can find the results for that game here: https://my.acbl.org/club-results/details/808087

Thanks again everyone! Way to go Bridge Players!

Jim and MaryAnn

The Longest Day 2023

BBB is having The Longest Day celebration again this year. The ACBL sponsors this event and we will be participating. We will be having all day activities (Details) on June 19. Doors will open at 9 for free bagels and coffee and social bridge. At 11 there will be a free Subway lunch and a speaker from Alzheimer’s. There will be two sanctioned enhanced-point games at noon and 6:00.

There will be raffle prizes. The entry fees for the sanctioned games and the raffle ticket money will go to Alzheimer’s. Snacks and coffee will be provided all day.

The event will be held at the Family Life Center at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

We are so pleased to be able to do this for a worthy cause. So many lives have been touched by this horrible disease. We’d like to do what we can to help and use our favorite game to enable it.

If you would like to donate at the site, use this link Build Better Bridge Team Page.

Jim and MaryAnn Boardman 319 540 4206

New Diamond Life Masters — Tom and John

The Build Better Bridge Club of Cedar Rapids honored both John Morano and Tom Flanders as new Diamond Life Masters.

Four other Diamond Life Masters attended the event: Beth Kelly, Rich Bailie, Mark Patton, and Joyce Dodson-Anderson.

The achievement was celebrated 3/27/23 at an 11-table Grand National Teams Qualifying game.

LTR: Beth, Rich, Mark, Joyce, Tom, John

Honoring Mary Ann

On September 26th, 2022, the Unit 163 Board honored MaryAnn Boardman for her many years of tireless service to our bridge unit. Carol Panzer has written a nice article , complete with pictures, about the surprise celebration and the many things for which MaryAnn was honored.

The Longest Day 2022

We are very excited to get back to celebrating The Longest Day for Alzheimer’s. We will be having all day activities on June 20. Doors will open at 9 for free bagels and coffee and social bridge. At 11 there will be a free Subway lunch and a speaker from Alzheimer’s. There will be two sanctioned enhanced-point games at noon and 6:30

There will be three raffle prizes worth over $100 each. The entry fees for the sanctioned games and the raffle ticket money will go to Alzheimer’s. Snacks and coffee will be provided all day.

The event will be held at the Family Life Center at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

We are so pleased to be able to do this for a worthy cause. So many lives have been touched by this horrible disease. We’d like to do what we can to help and use our favorite game to enable it.

If you would like to donate at the site, use this link BBB Team page.

Jim and MaryAnn Boardman

Congratulations, Paul and Nancy!

We are pleased to announce that Paul and Nancy Klein made Life Master. Not only that, but they went over 750 at the same time to make Bronze Life Master. They have done so much for bridge, volunteering at numerous events and supporting our clubs and tournaments. We wish we could have a big party for them now, but it will have to wait a bit.

I asked them for a blurb about their accomplishment and here is what they sent:

We are both grateful for all the help and instructions we have had during our journey towards Life Master and Bronze Life Master. We took lessons from MaryAnn Boardman, Bob Otto, Bill Kent and Paulette Koontz.

We often teamed at 8 is Enough events with Bill and Paulette or Bob and Bill Kochneff or Tom Flanders and Gary Haddy at local sectionals. We teamed with Phil & Karen Cummins at Regionals in Minnesota. All helped us win Gold and Silver points.

At Regionals around the country we often sat and visited with people that gave us advice about how to play the hands better. Peggy Kaplan, Tony Ames, Jade Barrett and Dr. Donna Lombardini were all most generous.

We would be remiss if we didn’t thank all our opponents. When we first started playing sanctioned duplicate in June of 2013 at the local Longest Day event, we found that we had many opponents that were much better than us. Most had been playing for many years and being new to this form of bridge the folks at the local clubs were very kind in helping us to become more efficient in our bidding and our play. We found that every time we sat down at a table our opponents were kind and nice people. This kept us coming back.

We have traveled with Melissa Heston and Sally Meixner. Teamed with them and with Bonnie Stettler and Mary Wyatt. We have made so many good friends because of duplicate bridge. Thank you. We look forward to seeing everyone again. We will miss those that have departed us during this pandemic but hope that Face to Face bridge can once again be played.