ACBL Museum/Hall of Fame now open

The ACBL Museum and Hall of Fame officially opened yesterday, and it's amazing.


Above: A visitor checks out the Charles Goren presentation. The image of Goren is made of clay and was built by a company in Maryland -- they did it from photos and information about Goren's height, eye color, etc. (For all images, click to enlarge.)

Goren is a large reason for bridge being so popular during the Fifties and Sixties. He took Milton Work's 4-3-2-1 point count, simplified it and presented it to the the everyday bridge player. He had a column in the Sports Illustrated and developed and popularized bridge on TV. There are flat panels that show some of the old shows, but they didn't photograph well, so I won't bother posting a photo of any.


Above: The trophies are now inside their cases. The Vanderbilt and the Reisinger team game trophies have individual presentations.

There are also flat panels that that look like hi-def TVs that have touch screens, similar to an iPhone. If you want to know who won the McKenney Trophy (now called the Barry Crane Top 500) in 1965, you can ask for that by touching the appropriate icon, then sliding to the year you are interested in. You can also find out who was ACBL president in a certain year or find out information about each trophy.

The Hall of Fame is similar. There are three flat panels. The two on the side have a slide show of inductees. Some are in color, some in black and white. The black and white are awesome to me as they indicate history. The visitor can touch the flat panel in the middle and scroll to someone they want to know more about. In some cases there are photos and an information page, but in some cases they have taped interviews. Very cool.


Above: The floor near the trophy case has 13 granite slabs with each one representing a playing card. All 13 together represent a bridge hand. If you want to stump someone with an obscure trivia question, ask them what's the significance of this bridge hand:
♠A K 10 6 ♥Q 7 6 5 3 ♦9 ♣K J 8?
The answer is that it's the one depicted on the granite slabs. Flannery anyone?


Above: Josephine and Ely Culbertson. They were probably the two best-known bridge players in the world in the Thirties and Forties. He created the Bridge World magazine.

Do you know what a trump indicator is? The Museum has a collection of nearly 800 of them. Do you know who introduced the changes that turned auction bridge into contract bridge? (Harold Vanderbilt) There's all this and much more here. The curator, Tracey Yarbro, has done a fantastic job. The ACBL didn't cut corners as far as funding.

If you are in the Memphis area, and are interested in the history of our great game, plan to stop by and take a tour of our new Headquarters. Save the Museum/Hall of Fame for last and leave plenty of time to enjoy it - you won't be disappointed.

UPDATE: A local newspaper has written a nice article about the Museum. You can read it here.

Photos by MOJO and taken yesterday with my P&S.

Grand Opening was that -- grand

Today was the Grand Opening of the new ACBL Headquarters. Bridge-playing and non-bridge-playing dignitaries showed up, made their speeches, then cut the ribbon.

The ACBL staffers are thrilled to be located in a modern facility in a good location. The previous HQ was located near the airport - not so good a location. Driving to work is farther for some, but closer for others. We're located in Horn Lake MS, just off I-55 and Goodman Road.

The ACBL Museum and Hall of Fame officially opened today, as well. I took some photos and will make a separate post later.


Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

Poker pearl #49

Above: Scan of the cover of the June 16 issue of Card Player magazine.

Lex Veldhuis discussed a hand he played on the TV show, High Stakes Poker. The blinds were $400/800 with a $1600 straddle. Barry Greenstein opened for $5800 and Phil Ivey raised to $18,000. Veldhuis re-raised to $31,000 with ♥K ♥J (basically as a bluff) and Ivey moved all in.

Veldhuis folded, of course, and was disappointed when he watched it on TV later and saw that Ivey had 5-2!

"Who knows what Phil Ivey sees that we don't see?" asks Adam Schoenfeld. "He might actually have one of those 'Terminator' cameras in his head that sees everything."

Blackwood invented a convention

Playing bridge online with Xwing last night, we held the North-South hands (deal rotated):

                ♠ K 5
                ♥ 7 6 4 3
                ♦ A K Q 3
                ♣ A Q 6
♠ 9 7 6                        ♠ A J 8 3
♥ A 9 2                        ♥ 8
♦ 9 8 2                        ♦ J 7 6 5
♣ 9 8 7 2                      ♣ J 10 5 4
                ♠ Q 10 4 2
                ♥ K Q J 10 5
                ♦ 10 4
                ♣ K 3

        North     South
                  1♥ 
       2♦        2♠
       3♥        4♥
       5♣        5♥
       Pass

Xwing was South and I was North. Our auction isn't the greatest -- you hate to bid freely to five of a major. Nevertheless, the contract made, and we earned 2.86 IMPs for plus 650.

When I checked the scores later, I was surprised to see that at 15 out of the 67 tables, North-South bid slam on these cards. They bid all kinds of crazy slams online, but seldom off two aces.

I checked the auctions and many North players leapt to slam. Some used Blackwood first, however, and still got to slam -- amazing. One pair bid 7♥ and were doubled by the hand holding the ♥A -- what a sport.

My favorite contract: At one table, South declared 6NT. West led the ♠9, East put in the jack and South won the queen. When West won the ♥A at trick two, he shifted to a club. On the run of South's winners, East was caught in a squeeze between spades and diamonds -- making six for a gain of 13.91 IMPs.

You can see all the results if you click here.

There's no crying in baseball (or poker either)

Above: The sign at the airport says it all.

Event #34 at the WSOP was the same event (Seniors, aged 50 or older) I played in last year. I did lousy the first time, and was determined to do better this time. There were 3142 runners.

Gadzooks came by and gave me a hug for good luck and railed me for a while -- thanks! Four of us limped to see a flop: 10-5-5. Two players checked and I made a pot-sized bet and everyone folded. Zooks gave a "Woot" as I took my first pot -- my hand: ♥3 ♦3.

It wasn't long before a player busted out. He took it well: "Rebuy!" he yelled across the room, and everyone laughed. We laughed, but T3000 in chips isn't very much, even if the blinds do start at 25/25.

We played one hour per level. After each two hours, we had a 20 minute break (and the bathroom lines were l-o-o-o-n-g). I tweeted this joke: Reg players play 2 hours and get a 20 min break. Seniors play 2 hours and get a 20 min nap. So, maybe it wasn't so funny. Don't worry - I'm keeping my day job.

I found there was a big disparity in skill level. Many of the seniors were bad players who had no clue. Some were medium players who had a slight clue (some of those were aggressive and some passive). And then there were a few who knew how to play. Because of this, it was very important to figure out early which players were of which type. I call it profiling, lol, and I think I did a good job of this.

Here's a deal that was fun. I limped in with ♠Q ♠10 and only the two blinds stayed in. The flop was Q-6-2. The small blind bet 300, the big blind folded and SB turned over ♥Q ♦3. The dealer said "Whoa, there's another player left." I could see I had him beat (better kicker), but wasn't sure how to procede. Finally, I raised another 300 to 600 and he called. The turn was a rag, and the SB bet 300 and I raised to 600 - he called. The river was another rag and the SB again bet 300, and I raised to 600 -- he folded. That was strange, but I guess he could tell my raise was a suck bet. If I wanted to bluff him out of the hand, I would make a bigger raise.

I continued to mostly fold, but won pots when I played and worked my stack up to around 11,600. It was near the end of Level 6, and the blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante. (The next day, I thought it was something different, but I checked my tweets to verify that this is correct.) There were 1450 players left, so the average stack size was around 6515. That figure is the mean, but the median size is less because of the so-called "big stack factor." The Poker Grump has blogged about this, but I don't remember exactly where. Maybe if he reads this, he'll leave a comment.

From middle position, I raised to 1200 with ♦9 ♥9 and two players called. The first caller was a loose, terrible player and the other was new at the table, so I had no profile on him.

The flop was delicious: ♣Q ♠9 ♥4 and the pot had 4400 (counting the bets and the blinds and antes). There are different ways to play a set, but because I was the original raiser, I decided to lead out for 2200 and hope it looked like a weak continuation bet.

The first limper called, but the second re-raised to 6800, leaving him 2100 behind. I called and the first limper folded. The pot was now 19,300, if my math is correct. At this point, neither of us are folding. The turn was a 10, making the board Q-10-9-4. Yes, K-J would make a straight, but we both knew from the betting that neither of us had that. In fact, the villain has A-A and had gotten cute pre-flop (by not re-raising). When I called his huge re-raise, I guess he got scared and when I checked the turn, he checked, too.

The river was the ♥A, giving him set over set. He hit his two-outer to win this giant pot. He bet his last 2100 and I made a crying call, as it were. By now, I was pretty sure he had three aces, but I couldn't find the fold button.

That left me with 1500 in chips and I busted out shortly after that -- GG me.

Yes, I could have put him all in on the flop or fourth street, but that wouldn't have changed anything. I guarantee he would have called, so the end result would have been the same.

I checked here, and the winner took home $487,994. What is it they say? Wait 'til next year!

Odds and Ends:
Lightning36 arranged a breakfast for bloggers to meet. It was set for 9:30 a.m. Apparently that's too early for degernerate poker bloggers as only three of us showed up. Nevertheless, it was great to see lightning again and to meet Shabazz Jenkins who turned out to be a very cool guy.

The latest "thing" for poker bloggers seems to be to come during the WSOP, but not play in the WSOP. Instead, they play cash games, and take the $1000 or $1500 or whatever they had budgeted for tournament play and play in maybe three $350-type tournaments. The Venetian seemed to be the most popular tournament venue. That makes sense, I suppose, but it's still hard for me not to take one shot at a bracelet. I can get lucky with the best of them, and if lightning strikes, I want to be there.

My trip included pickup from and return to the airport. The shuttle driver asked for the booking number for all the passengers. The guy to my left whipped out his iPad, tapped it twice and handed it to the driver for him to copy the number. That was pretty cool, and gave me a case of gadget envy. Do any of you have an iPad and how do you like it.

I did some high tech of my own. Instead of printing out my boarding pass (that is so 2000), I had it sent to my phone. When you board the plane, you stick the phone face up and the scanner reads it. Save a tree and all that.

There were no doubt others, but I saw two bridge players: Bob White of Raleigh NC and Rob Crawford of Henderson NV. Crawford cashed 154th.

Players in Event #34 with me who I had heard of: Barry Shulman, David Sklansky, Dewey Tomko, Surindar Sunar, Tom McEvoy, TJ Cloutier, Al Krux, Barry Johnston, Sam Grizzle, Tom Schneider, Daniel Shak, Chau Giang.


The WSOP was held at the Rio, shown above.


Above: my $1000 souvenir.

The two photos are by me, MOJO, and taken with my iPhone camera.

Heading west

Last March, I got the above flyer in the mail. I played last year and was on their list -- I guess those WSOP people know dead money when they see it.

Nevertheless, I'm going again, and will be in Las Vegas tonight. GL to me.

Lightning36 has arranged a breakfast -- just a chance to meet fellow bloggers.

How many points for slam?

Conventional wisdom says that it takes around 33-34 points to make a small slam. Of course, distribution and plenty of trumps can make a difference. Playing online last night, Kate and I bid to 6♠ with a combined 22 high-card points:

                ♠ Q 10 9 7 6 2
                ♥ 4
                ♦ A 10
                ♣ Q 10 6 3
♠ J 3                          ♠ ---
♥ K 8 7 5                      ♥ A Q J 10 9 3
♦ K 9 7 6 3 2                  ♦ Q J 8 5
♣ 9                            ♣ J 4 2
                ♠ A K 8 5 4
                ♥ 6 2
                ♦ 4
                ♣ A K 8 7 5

       West   MOJO    East   Kate 
                             1♠
       Pass   4♥     Dbl    4NT
       Pass   5♦     Pass   6♠
       All Pass

I suppose the auction could have been improved if Kate had bid 5♥, asking for the queen of trumps.

West led a heart to the ace. After that, there was nothing to the play.

Making plus 980 was worth 8.74 IMPs. The board was played 67 times and 10 pairs bid slam. One pair was doubled in 5♠, making six, and a score of plus 750 for (only) a 4.47-IMP pickup. Can you say striped-tail ape double? *

You can see all the results, if you click here.

* Striped-tail ape double is a double of a laydown contract made in hope of dissuading the opponents from successfully bidding to a higher, more rewarding contract. The doubler must be prepared to run (like the cowardly ape) to an escape suit if the opponents redouble.

Tonight's the night

I'm signed up, are you?

Handling it just right

Can you take 12 tricks in 6♥ on this layout?

                ♠ A K 9 8 6 2
                ♥ A J 5
                ♦ K 3 2
                ♣ 5
♠ J 4                          ♠ Q 10 7 5
♥ 10 9 4                       ♥ 8 6
♦ Q 9 8 6                      ♦ J 4
♣ A K J 2                       ♣ Q 10 9 8 4
                ♠ 3
                ♥ K Q 7 3 2
                ♦ A 10 7 5
                ♣ 7 6 3

West leads the ♥10. How would you play?

You can make the contract, but you have to handle it jus right. You must win the lead in the dummy. You need to set up the spade suit, but they are likely 4-2. If so, you can win four spades (after two ruffs), five hearts and two diamonds -- not enough. At trick two, you lead a club to set up a ruff in dummy for trick 12. East or West can win and lead another trump. Again, you must win in dummy.

You play ♠A and another, ruffing in hand (you could also lead a diamond to the ace, then do this). You ruff your club in dummy, ruff a spade with the ♥Q and draw the last trump. The ♦K is an entry to the good spades.

So, you can always make 6♥, right? Not so fast. A low diamond opening lead sets the contract. When you lead a club, East can win and lead another diamond to kill dummy's entry.

Nobody wanted to win

My boss got tickets to go to the St. Jude Golf Classic today at the TPC Southwind course here in Memphis. The tournament supports St. Jude Hospital, a place where children with catastrophic illnesses can go.

Notice I said ticketS, as in plural. His wife wasn't interested, but MOJO was.

The high was 97F, ouch. I guess that will help me warm up (ahem) for the WSOP in Las Vegas in a few days, lol.

I left before it was over and watched the ending on TV. The guy with a three-shot lead blew up on the 18th hole. The sudden death wasn't high-level golf, either.

(Click to enlarge.)




Photos by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

I work with animals

A riverboat ride on the Mississippi, a trip to Shelby Farms -- each year the ACBL (the company I work for) has an employee appreciation day and we do fun things.

This year we met today at the Memphis Zoo, and yes I had my camera. Click to enlarge.






Photos by MOJO. Nos. 1 and 4 taken with my Canon and Nos. 2 and 3 shot with my P&S.

Open your jaws

South was the declarer in 6♥ with an apparent loser in spades and diamonds. Can you see how to overcome this?

                ♠ K 9 5 3
                ♥ A Q J 9
                ♦ Q 6 2
                ♣ J 5
♠ Q 10 8 7                    ♠ J 4
♥ 10 8 6 4                    ♥ ---
♦ ---                         ♦ K J 10 9 8 7 4 3
♣ 10 9 8 7 2                  ♣ 6 4 3
                ♠ A 6 2
                ♥ K 7 5 3 2
                ♦ A 5
                ♣ A K Q

       West   North   East   South
              1♦     3♦     3♥
       Pass   3NT     Pass   5NT    
       Pass   6♥      All Pass

Declarer won the trump lead with dummy's 9. He drew trumps, continued with the ♣A K Q, then played the ♠A and another spade. West followed low and when South played the ♠9, East won the jack and was endplayed. He had to return a diamond, taken in dummy with the queen. Now declarer could draw trumps and claim.

After the ♠A and another, West can play the queen, a crocodile coup. This fails, however, as declarer can duck, win the return, come to his hand and lead a spade to the ♠9 for his 12th trick.

Everyone's invited

What if you found out your child was very sick? What if you had to travel a long way and face treatment for your loved one in a strange city?

Blogger lightning36 and his family traveled from Champaign IL to Minneapolis -- this was the situation he found himself in. The Ronald McDonald House helped ease the trauma for him. "Keeping families together when they need it most" is their awesome slogan.

Blogger Oh Captain lives in Minneapolis and was there to help lightning. He saw firsthand how amazing the Ronald McDonald House is. Along with some help from Al Can't Hang, he's organized a special tournament on Full Tilt Poker on Wednesday, July 16, for bloggers to have some fun for a good cause. (This will replace the Mookie for one week.)

"Everyone's Invited," says OhCaptain. "(It's) time to spread the word and give back."

The entry fee is $10 with $5 going into the prize pool and $5 going to the Ronald McDonald House charities.

They say the best money (to win) is bloggers' money. That needs to be corrected. The best money is blogger money when you are helping a good cause. Plan to play. If you can't play, you can still help by pimping it.

================================================
Date: Wednesday, June 16
Time: 10 P.M. EDT (Same time as The Mookie)
Buddy Dank Radio will be broadcasting it
Charity: Ronald McDonald House
Fee: $5 + $5 (Tournament, charity)
Password: vegas1
Tournament #: 164273435 (on Full Tilt Poker)

Playing on autopilot

Here's another excellent deal from the International Bridge Press Association newsletter:

                ♠ 7 6
                ♥ 10 6 5
                ♦ A J 10 8 7
                ♣ A J 7
==
                ♠ A K 8 4
                ♥ A K Q
                ♦ K 5 2
                ♣ K Q 5

South was the declarer in 6NT. West led the ♠Q. South won with the ace and played the ♦K -- the contract could no longer be made. Here are all four hands:

                ♠ 7 6
                ♥ 10 6 5
                ♦ A J 10 8 7
                ♣ A J 7
♠ Q J 10 2                     ♠ 9 5 3
♥ J 9 8 4                      ♥ 7 3 2
♦ ---                          ♦ Q 9 6 4 3
♣ 10 9 6 4 3                   ♣ 8 2
                ♠ A K 8 4
                ♥ A K Q
                ♦ K 5 2
                ♣ K Q 5

Playing the ♦K seems automatic, doesn't it?

Declarer has eight tricks outside the diamond suit. To ensure the contract, he needs to score four diamond tricks. To do that, South should play a low diamond at trick two. If West follows, declarer can insert the ♦J. If, as is the case here, West shows out, declarer again plays the ♦J.

If East takes the queen, declarer wins the return, crosses to the ♣J and advances the ♦7. Whether East covers or not, South has four diamond tricks and claims his slam.

That's righteous

I played in the Blogger Battle Royale today and had fun, but didn't do any good. First place was a $2000 WSOP package and there were other cash prizes equaling another $2000. Thanks to Al and to Full Tilt.

My stack drifted down as I had crummy cards. Also, I folded to aggression several times. Finally I picked up ♥K ♦K and got it all in against KimLovo on a flop of ♠6 ♦7 ♠J. The villain showed ♠A ♠8. I dodged fourth street, but the river was the ♠3.

Smokee's comment in the chat box said it all: "I knew it was coming." Stuff happens. If you go out with crap, you always think: "What was I doing?" When you go out with K-K, well, that's righteous.

I'm among royalty

I read about the step tournament concept on the VeryJosie blog, so decided to give it a try. The first one I played I won another ticket to Step 1. In the replay, I advanced to Step 2, where the above hand was played. So sweet.

Have you ever had a Royal flush? I had one in a NL hold 'em live game (casino). There were two other players who were both all in for a $700 pot.

Just play out the cards

The World Wide Bridge Contest was held Friday night and Saturday afternoon around our planet. The boards are pre-dealt and participants get a booklet with all the hand records and an analysis by Canadian Eric Kokish.

I played at the Lightman Bridge Club in Memphis Friday evening. A Platinum Life Master was North and declarer in 4♠ on Board No. 6:

                 ♠ A K Q 8 5 3
                 ♥ ---
                 ♦ A 8 5
                 ♣ A 10 7 3
♠ 9 7                           ♠ 10 6 4
♥ J 6 4 2                       ♥ A K 8 5 3
♦ Q 10                          ♦ J 9 7 6 2
♣ J 8 6 5 2                     ♣ ---
                 ♠ J 2
                 ♥ Q 10 9 7
                 ♦ K 4 3
                 ♣ K Q 9 4

East led the ♥K. North ruffed and drew trumps. Then she played a high club from South, noting that East showed out.

"I can pick up clubs now," she said. "I have to give you a diamond."

What's wrong with this picture?

If you merely play out your cards, East is squeezed in the red suits. He has to save his ♥A, so with three cards left, he can only keep two diamonds. If she is careful, declarer can win trick 13 with her ♦5 (instead of the ♦8) for maximum style points.

You can see all the results for this board here.

Poker pearl #48

Above: The latest issue of All In magazine with Vanessa Rousso on the cover.

I'm just MOJO. I know I'll never be a top poker player, but that's okay -- I love to play the game and I do okay on my level. In the latest issue of All In magazine, columnist Jeremiah Smith (no relation) has a piece about Jean-Robert Bellande. If you play poker, you likely know who he is. He's been on TV ("Bad Boys of Poker") and the final table of a WSOP Circuit event. He was on the CBS TV show: Survivor, China.

You probably think a player who's at the top of his game would be rolling in money, but that's not so. Bellande was broke last October when he borrowed $2000 from a friend and ran it up to $100,000. The sad truth is that he's now broke again, according to this article.

At least Bellande is honest. Smith writes that (a certain player) sells pieces of himself in an event, then blows it at the craps table. Bellande does nothing like that, and Smith says he likes him and finds his honesty refreshing.

Smith writes:

I asked Bellande if he has ever tried to practice bankroll management. Has he thought about dialing things down a bit? Maybe avoid the intense highs because they are inevitable followed by a depressing low? He answered with a question of his own.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Poker baby!

We had another fun Very Josie tournament Wednesday. I was down early, but got some good hands later on to come back, and then held on for second. Congrats to DDionysus (hey, his name is Dave, so he must be a pretty cool guy, ya?) who won and also to our hostess with the mostess, Very Josie, who was third.

The tournament is mostly bloggers and held the first Wednesday of each month, so give it a try next time. It's on Full Tilt at 9 Eastern, $11 buy in with $8 for the prize pool and $2 bounty for each player you knock out. Password: pokerbaby which just about sums it uP.

You can e-mail anything, even gems

Besides being a bridge player, Australian Tim Bourke is a well-known author of books and a contributor to various publications. He is thought to own the largest collection of bridge books in the world.

When a co-worker here in the office received an e-mail from Tim, it included this jewel:

                ♠ A J 7 5 4
                ♥ A Q J 4
                ♦ A 2
                ♣ J 9
♠ K Q 10 9 6 2                  ♠ 3
♥ 6                             ♥ 10 9 5
♦ Q 8 4                         ♦ J 9 7 6 3
♣ Q 3 2                         ♣ 10 7 5 4
                ♠ 8
                ♥ K 8 7 3 2
                ♦ K 10 5
                ♣ A K 8 6

Against 7♥, West led the ♥6. Declarer cashed the ♣A K and played a spade to the ace. Declarer continued with a low spade from dummy.

If East ruffs, South can overruff and play for a traditional double squeeze.

If East discards a club, South can ruff a club, ruff a diamond, cash dummy's remaining high trump, ruff a spade, draw trumps and claim.

So, East does best to discard a diamond. Declarer ruffs a club, ruffs a spade and plays a trump to the queen to leave:

                ♠ J 7
                ♥ J
                ♦ A 2
                ♣ ---
♠ K 10                      ♠ ---
♥ ---                       ♥ 10
♦ Q 8 4                     ♦ J 9 7
♣ ---                       ♣ 10
                ♠ ---
                ♥ K
                ♦ K 10 5
                ♣ 8

A spade from dummy squeezes East in three suits, including trumps. On a diamond discard, West is subsequently squeezed in the pointed suits. A club discard sets up the ♣8, so the best play is the ♥10.

Declarer overruffs, crosses to the ♦A and the ♥J executes a standard double squeeze.

Advanced readers probably know about a material squeeze and a non-material squeeze that you can read about here. Tim has a sense of humor. He says perhaps this one is an Immaterial Squeeze!

Poker pearl #47

Maybe I didn't get the memo, but this (reported in the June issue of Poker Pro magazine) was news to me: There's talk that this may be the last year the WSOP is held at the Rio.

Harrah's owns the WSOP -- they acquired it in 2004 through the purchase of Binion's Horseshoe. They are asking for bids on the Rio, thought to be around $500 million. There are no confirmed buyers at this time. If they sell it, obviously they'll have to find a new home for the world's biggest and most famous poker tournament.

Because of how much convention space it would require to host the WSOP, the speculation is that Caesars Palace is the most likely venue to do so.