Wednesday, May 4, 2011
They recently held a sectional at Triangle Bridge Club and had 63 tables at one session. How many bridge clubs can hold 63 tables? Jay and Darleen Bates own the club and direct games. Jay is a part-time TD with the ACBL. Everyone brought food and they had 17 tables. Sigrid Olin, Unit 191 President, spoke glowingly about the unit and the activities. The Unit has been growing, and no wonder with the programs available for teaching new players and games (0-20 0-100 0-199 and 0-500 are offered once a week at Triangle).
I played with Jay Bates and we agreed to play 2/1, Bergen, support doubles and standard carding. The first hand of the night I pick up ♠-KQx ♥-x ♦-AQxx ♣-AKxxx. I opened 1♣ planning to get into a reverse bidding auction and see how we handle that. After a pass Jay bids 1♠ and in comes 2♥ by my RHO, so I tried a support double and now for the complete auction:
1♣ P 1♠ 2♥
X* P 3♣ P *support
3♦ P 3♥ P
4♥ P 5♣ P Now what? Partner had the perfect 8 count ♣-A10xx ♥-xx ♦-Kx ♣-Jxxxx
Pretty complex auction for two who have never played before. How would have you bid it?
Triangle Club in Durham, NC
Craig with Jay and Darleen Bates
-Craig
ACBL President Craig Robinson
100 Clubs in 100 Days 
Craig, that first hand of the night you mentioned, was that board 23 or 29???? 🙂 We enjoyedbeing your hosts from the evening. Thanks for joining us.
Nice to see the 100 clubs in 100 days … Darlene Bates started bridge at our club many years ago … Jay and Darlene have been here for a visit, and Darlene’s sister (Brenda) and Jim are regular players at our club. If you make it to St. John’s, NL Canada on your eastern swing of the country, we would love to be part of the 1oo clubs you visit.
Best Regards, Marilyn and Randy Bennett
I’m trying to find the home page for Triangle Bridge Club, Durham, NC. I want to come and play. I need directions, times, dates of games etc. Thanks, Karen Carpenter Carpenterkrn@sc.rr.com
If you go to http://www.acbl.org/play/findClub.html and search for Durham, you will find the club’s website, playing times, and a map.