Many clubs take time off some time in the year, not so with our duplicate group. We play every week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, at the Mower County Senior Center in Austin starting at 11:30 a.m. both days.

Players come from neighboring cities Mason City and Northwood, Iowa, Rose Creek, Austin and Albert Lea.

Nine teams played on Tuesday, winners were:

First place, Jim Fisher and Dave Ring

Second place, Barb and Orrin Roisen

Third place, Edna Knobbe and  Gail Schmidt

Fourth place (tie), Theresa Baldus and Harriet Oldenberg and Vandy Newman and Ron Peters

Eleven teams played on Wednesday:

First place, Barb Rofshus and Paul Hanson

Second place, Dave Ring and Gail Schmidt

Third place, Barb and Orrin Roisen

Fourth place, Millie Siever and Joyce Crowe

Fifth place, Tom Flaherty and Stan Schultz

Let’s pretend we are reading Bridge 101. One of the first things we learn is acronyms such as LOTT which is short for ‘Law of Total Tricks.’ Partner preempts, you have a big fit, so you need to raise indicating he should consider extending the preempt. Also, inhibiting opponents with a bidding thought about coming into the bidding at the two or three level. Evaluating your holding at each level is often practiced by our experts. Counting losers and winners is also a ploy, to determine part score or game bids.

Win some and lose some is part of the game. There is always the possibility of getting a high score, simply by going set.