Do you need silver points? Do you just like playing in tournaments without traveling any farther than your local club? If so, you can earn silver points by playing in the District 4 STaC during the week of August 18.

A STaC is a Sectional Tournament at Clubs. During a STaC, your local club is allowed to award silver points. In addition, the results are compared across all participating clubs in the area and the overall winners earn bonus silver points!

Check with your local club to be sure it is participating in the STaC. If so, grab a partner and play for silver.

When you open the August edition of The Bridge Bulletin, you will see two familiar Unit 141 players being lauded for an amazing accomplishment. Playing in the World Wide Bridge Contest on June 7, 2014, Unit 141 I/N Coordinator Bruce Lang and Corey Krantz scored first in the United States and second in the entire world with a 73.12% game. Their impressive play garnered praise from Philip Alder in a New York Times column, which you can read here.

The World Wide Bridge Contest is the world's largest simultaneous pairs game. Thousands of pairs around the world play the same boards and receive scores across an enormous field.

Krantz and Lang's result was no fluke. They followed it up shortly after with an open pairs win at the King of Prussia Regional, a feat which takes skill and persistence. Lang says, "I was thrilled with our success in the World Wide and I'm just as proud of the win in the Regional." Congratulations on both of their triumphs!

Last month's table tip reminded declarer about the importance of calling a card from dummy. In the July issue of the ACBL's Bridge Bulletin, coincidentally, National Tournament Director Mike Flader discusses this same issue from the dummy side of the table.

In his "Ruling the Game" column, Flader responds to a director who dealt with problems caused by a dummy with an itchy trigger finger. Here's what happened: Declarer led the 2 of hearts toward dummy that contained the AK63. Dummy reached for the ace and touched it so declarer said, "Play."  Since "play" designates the lowest card in the suit, dummy then played the three. Declarer, having seen dummy touch the ace, said, "I meant the ace." Can you see where the confusion set in?

You can go to page 51 of the July issue of the Bulletin to read the entire deal, situation, ruling, and explanation, but Flader makes several points well worth remembering. According to Law 43A1c, "dummy must not participate in the play, nor may he communicate anything about the play to the declarer." A procedural penalty can be assessed if that law is violated. In addition, the director can award an adjusted score if he thinks that dummy suggested a play to the declarer and the defenders were damaged. In short, Flader reminds the dummy of "the importance of keeping his fingers off the table until instructed to play a card by declarer."

This story also highlights another good habit to develop. As declarer, don't use the word "play" when calling for a card. Name the card you mean (ace, ten, two, etc.). If you want the lowest card and don't want to name it for simplicity, say "low" rather than "play." This word choice is clear and will reduce any confusion at the table.

Ami Bridge is featuring BOGO (buy one, get one free) for the Thursday Evening game at Middletown Country Club. For the month of August, if you come and play on Thursday evening, you can play the next Thursday evening on them. Thursday evenings are open games that begin at 6:30 PM and finish before 10 PM. Ami Bridge can also provide you with a partner. Visit the Ami Bridge website http://www.bridgewebs.com/newtown for more information.

Unit 141 (and District 4) manage an online partnership desk to facilitate finding partners and teammates for upcoming events. You can link directly to the partnership desk here or find the link under "Information" at the Unit 141 website.

The starting time of the Monday night game at Yorktown Bridge Club has moved to 6:45 PM. For more information about the club, visit their website: