I&8217;m John Randall of the Shelby County Bridge Club.

My wife Linda and I started our club a year ago with the objective of combining the social aspects of &8220;party&8221; bridge with the competition of duplicate bridge.

We use the fellowship halls of Christ the King Lutheran and Riverchase Presbyterian, both Riverchase-area churches, for our games.

For times and dates of games, call 451-5997 or visit www.riverchasebridge.com.

About 20 minutes before the start of a game, I go out to the parking lot and greet folks as they arrive.

This past Friday evening, it was raining!

I can&8217;t remember the last time it rained. Having extra umbrellas, it was fun to slosh out to a car and escort friends inside. More than once I heard, &8220;We should just stay out here and play in the rain.&8221;

Winners this week:

Monday: Winners were Arlene Owens and her sister, Nadene Hilton; second were Charlotte Lusco and Jo Weatherly; third were Boots Jennings and Shirley Woodruff; fourth were Judie Fair and Judy Hasseld; fifth were Jerrie Friar and Liz Milko.

Wednesday:

We had the closest match I&8217;ve seen in awhile at Riverchase Presbyterian; the top four places separated by the score on a single hand of the 27 hands played. First place went to Susy Philhours and Linda Block; second to Judy Hasseld and Jerrie Friar; third to Marion Henry and Hazel Haas; fourth to Linda Floyd and Rosann Dufek.

Thursday:

Winning his first fraction of a masterpoint was Rick Atkerson, pastor of Riverchase Presbyterian and recent beginning bridge graduate in our January series, along with partner George Varghese.

Friday: North-South winners were Frances Hensley and Bernie Lieberman, followed by Sarah Smith and Ellen Thomas. On the EW side Pete Partin and partner Jim Rabb finished first, followed by our globe-trotting Indian Springs teachers John Lusco and Mac Lacasse.

John and Mac drove directly to the game from the airport after flying all day. Welcome back.

This pair really enjoys the game.

Saturday: After our morning pairs game (Frances Ubben and Arlene Owens, John Lusco and Mac Lacasse, Charlotte Lusco and Jo Weatherly, Jill Salmon and Sarah Horn) we had Round 1 of the North American Open Pairs competition.

Bridge Tip of the Week:

We saw several situations this week where a minor suit opening was jumped by partner without success.

We suggest you use Inverted Minors, which inverts the use of a 1-2, 1-3 bidding sequence; that is, 1-2 is strong, 1-3 is weak.

In both cases responder must have 6 cards in the minor suit.

Upcoming events:

Fourth of July doubleheader at Riverchase Presbyterian Church; 9:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.

Our on-going 10-week Bridge 201 class; Tuesdays at 9:30; call for details.

451-5997.

Hand of the week: Not much on scientific Standard American bridge but a great whack-whack-rewhack bidding sequence.

South&8217;s failure to jump to three hearts on her first bid allowed West to enter spades into the fray.

Seven hearts down two doubled would have been a good sacrifice! North&8217;s ace of hearts is trumped. West starts to get a little pumped. &8220;I can make this,&8221; he said.

What started out as sacrifice now is real. Trumps are quickly drawn, back in hand for the new sport Running the Ten of Diamonds.

The king is quickly captured and the doubled slam brought home.

Well done