TIPS FOR TEACHING ABOARD CRUISE SHIPS (PART II)
This is a continuation of my article posted October 21, 2008.
LESSON 2
Defence against notrump
First hand is Eddie and Marty Bergen's. They love this one
Rule of eleven
| North | ||
| ♠K53 | ||
| ♥QJ9 | ||
| ♦Q32 | ||
| ♣K543 | ||
| West |  | East |
| ♠Q1087 | ♠AJ92 | |
| ♥52 | ♥A643 | |
| ♦764 | ♦J98 | |
| ♣10862 | ♣J7 | |
| South | ||
| ♠64 | ||
| ♥K1087 | ||
| ♦AK105 | ||
| ♣AQ9 |
The contract is 3NT. Declarer is South.
West leads the seven of spades
You have to MAKE declarer NOT play the king from dummy at trick one. Then let play proceed (having always checked bidding and lead after they have had a chance to try to do it right themselves)
East must play the two of spades at trick one (teach them rule of eleven). Important (to make the hand a real success) that you teach them first that declarer MUST attack hearts when they get the lead (or declarer ends up going down even though she has been GIVEN the contract by being allowed to win a trick with the king of spades.)
A follow up hand for declarer to use rule of eleven is:
| North | ||
| ♠AKJ2 | ||
| ♥K63 | ||
| ♦762 | ||
| ♣532 | ||
| West | | East |
| ♠Q10873 | ♠5 | |
| ♥10542 | ♥QJ7 | |
| ♦J10 | ♦Q943 | |
| ♣104 | ♣KQJ98 | |
| South | ||
| ♠964 | ||
| ♥A98 | ||
| ♦AK85 | ||
| ♣A76 |
| South | North |
| 1NT | 3NT |
They all want to use Stayman so first off, teach them to NOT use Stayman with 4-3-3-3 hands. The seven of spades led. They have to duck this to the nine of spades in their hand. Rule of eleven is all about winning a trick economically.
How to print your results aboard ship without carrying a printer with you
Using ACBL Score program:
Having scored it all up:
- Open the game
- Main page, hit F8
- Screen > Printer > Text Files
- Arrow down to text file
- Hit Enter
Put in a 3 1/2" floppy disk.
You will now see FILE LOCATION: xxxxxx?????
In that spot, put in A:
File name is ok. Leave that as is. (it is yr month day, e.g. 060227A)
Hit Enter twice
You will see:
By pair number
by rank
rankers only
DO BY Pair number so that the last ones don't notice they were last. Hit
Enter. Close ACBL Score
Take disk to computer room supervisor. He puts in disk. He goes to MY COMPUTER and chooses 3 1/2" Floppy A. Then files on disk are displayed. Tell him which file yours is. Double click on this file. It comes up in Notepad format. Go to FILE > Print
Done. He will print you two copies (ask for this) One for the bulletin board and one for your files.
Note that before doing your game, your will need to have set up the games for the ship. Define the game. You will need to know that shipboard games are session 22. This is not written anywhere else and believe me you need this info.
You need to get sanction # for ship before you go. You can get this from ACBL by writing to Carol Robertson. carol.robertson@acbl.org.
Prizes Aboard Ship
Always a problem. Lousy prizes supplied aboard ship. I go to the dollar store and get pens beforehand and hand out as section top prizes. I also take extra supplies with me, travellers, pencils etc. and ALWAYS a recap sheet in case I need to score by hand. I take bridge books aboard as prizes, decks of cards and T-shirts. Then I get a few small prizes from ship. ALSO TAKE dollar store pencil sharpeners so you won?t have dull pencils. They hate those!
Behavior Aboard Ship
You may think you are going on vacation. In my opinion, this is really not a vacation. But you are getting away from home and it is all very exciting. You will be fed well, have great entertainment in the evenings and travel the world, seeing interesting places.
You must make an effort to socialize with many guests, wear your name tags at all times (varies with Cruise directors and ship policies) and be part of making this an amazing trip for each and every passenger, bridge students and others alike. You never discuss with a passenger how much you pay or any terms and conditions of your "employment". On some cruise ships, the better ones, you will have to host dining room tables. You will always have to dress well and appear professional at all times, on all cruise ships.
You may encounter a "problem person" or two. I do believe that it is right to take them aside and tell them gently that they are out of line. But you sure have to be careful how you do this.
I start off my entire program on Day # 1 by telling them that this is "HAPPY BRIDGE" and "DUPLICATE WITH A DIFFERENCE" and that no grouches are allowed aboard this ship. Tell them that if they have a problem, please to let you know and you will deal with it. Suggest that all lessons are to be given by the bridge instructor aboard ship and thus you do not want to hear any private lessons going on around the room, to partner or opponents. One negative grouch will kill your program and can cause bad ratings so deal with this gently and wisely. I tell them that we have a Zero Tolerance program in place and any unpleasantness will result in them being taken out to walk the gangplank. (This is silly enough that it always gets a laugh and they get the message that you won?t put up with nonsense.
Partnering people up can be a challenge. Ask them what they play first and have a little conversation with them before the game. If they play duplicate already, ask them how many master points they have. The commonest answer to that is: "I don?t keep those." You can ask things like: "Do you play Weak Two's or Strong Two's?" If they look at you like you have rocks in your head, you know you have an inexperienced player. "Do you play Transfers?" also will give you an impression of the level of experience.
Lecturing
Lecturing to different levels of players can be a challenge. I try to get down to the level of the pretty inexperienced ones, but not to the very bottom. I am always happy to take someone aside and give them an extra free lesson privately if they would like some extra help. Teaching Defense and Play of the Hand means you can teach a little of everything to all levels quite comfortably. If someone wants something as fancy as Roman Key Card Blackwood taught, wait till you see the level of the group. You may have to teach this quietly sometime just to a few.
In Port
It is important to note that more and more cruise lines are asking Bridge Instructors to teach on days in port as well. You can ask for certain special days in special ports to be off. Check with the Cruise Director to see what the ship's policies are.
In Air
Some Cruise Lines pay for one air, some for both air for you and your companion. Both is rare. No one pays air if you only do one leg of a sailing. Often they will pay if you do 30 days or more. There are different Terms and Conditions for all cruise lines. Some give free drinks, some give 50% off. Some allow you to gamble in the casino, some do not. No Bingo for Bridge Teachers aboard ship.
Gratuities
Some cover gratuitues, some do not.
Shore Excursions
Many cruise ships allow you to sign up and offer to be a shore excursion escort. Sign up very early on if you wish to do this. You are then responsible for head counting; maybe some first aid and helping anyone who needs help. It is a good way to go on free tours as these get pricey. Once again, you are on stage and are being watched so behave impeccably and go out of your way to impress people.
Arrange Your Own Groups
Another suggestion that I would make is that you suggest to a group of students that they may like to do a cruise, in which case, you would be happy to escort them. You could approach a travel agent to do this through. Most of the time, if you gather up 16 people, you can have a free cruise. In some cases: ten is all that is needed to get a free trip. Now the pressure is way less. No cruise line ratings. You do have to arrange for your own space aboard ship to teach and run games.
Happy Sailing!
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