IN THIS ISSUE:

• Ace's Rescue: Blackbeard's Booty
• 6.99 Mobile Release
• 2007 Hearts World Cup Winners
• Hearts: Left Passing Situations
• Answers to Last Month's Contest
• Pirate Trivia
• Meet a DQ All-Star

Ace's Rescue: Blackbeard's Booty!

We've got a surprise for you full of adventuresome pirates! Rescue Wes' fiancee from the evil clutches of Blackbeard the Pirate by playing Swords (pirate variation of Spades) with Blackbeard's crew. Secure all 8 pieces of his map to find her secret location!

Game Features:

• Interactive introductory tutorial and game coach
• Choose from 6 favorite game variations
• Playful pirate artwork and characters
• Authentic music and game sounds set the mood
• Windows Vista ready

Start your adventure now for only $19.99 $14.99!

Hurry! Offer ends on July 11th.

Question: Who was credited with this concise commencement address, known as one of the shortest commencement addresses in history?

“As you prepare to leave these hollowed halls of learning, these bastions of knowledge, these citadels of scholarship, I have just two words of advice:
Don’t go!"

1. Ellen DeGeneres
2. Bob Hope
3. Woody Allen
4. Robin Williams

• Éric Le Chasseur
• Eric S. Ebenroth
• Les Morganstein

Congratulations and thanks for playing.

6.99 Mobile Release

Now's your chance to explore Championship Pro games for mobile with our latest 6.99 release for Palm, Windows Mobile, and Pocket PC. Update your current Championship Pro games or try a new one! With our 3 game trial you can play test any one of our games; or if you're like us you'll want to play all nine: Rummy, Spades, Hearts, Euchre, Five Hundred, Gin, Cribbage, Chess and Checkers!

All games feature an interactive tutorial to help you get started, while 5 levels of gameplay let you choose a challenge that's right for you. You'll enjoy vivid graphics, game statistics and more!

Download the latest 6.99 release at http://dqsoft.com/download.html

Canada Wins the 2007 Hearts World Championship

Congratulations to Canada: Rip, Danny G, and Simona G for taking the title in the 2007 Hearts World Championship!

Since March players have competed in online tournament for their respective countries as part of a national team. Winners of the World Cup are calculated from the best of 19 games. Canada took home the world cup after a close final against Australia/New Zealand.

Thanks again to all who made the 2007 Hearts World Cup happen! For more information about the final 2007 Hearts World Cup results, visit http://www.heartschampionship.com/fixtures.htm.

Hearts: Left Passing Situations

Here we want to utilize certain card combinations in the Spade and Club suits. Let us look at two hands. It is the beginning of a game, or the pass is to the left during the course of a game. Assume in the latter case that the score is close:

Hand #1  A 10 3  K 10 2   K Q 6 5   A 5 2

Hand #2   K J 5   A Q 9 4 3   Q 9 4   A 10

Hand #3   A 5 3 2  K Q 7   K   A K J 3

Remember the pass is to the left here. In each of these hands, you hold a high spade, the Ace of Clubs, and no reasonable expectation for a Moon, barring poor defense or a ridiculous pass of high Hearts. Here is the best way to handle the pass for each hand.

Hand #1

You have a very flat hand here, that is, there are no distributional features. The impulse is to pass the Ace of spades and two other cards. Give yourself a better chance! Pass the Ace of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, and a high Diamond. Keep the big Spade! The idea is to induce West to take the Ace of Clubs on the first trick and to lead a Spade to your Ace. This strategy might backfire if West holds the Queen of Spades (a one out of three possibility). You have a really bad Diamond suit, and two rather chunky Hearts. Passing the Ten of Hearts will save four points, and will stop a possible Moon by West. Shortening the Diamond suit is an improvement. Unloading the high Club helps as well. Finally, if the Spade Queen is passed to you, the Ace is another backer.

Hand #2

This is a lot easier. Drop the two Clubs and the Nine of Hearts. I like keeping the Queen of Hearts here, in case the player on your right is greedy and passes the King of Hearts and the Jack of Hearts to you. Now, you have a void in clubs, and a possible place to unload the Spade King, if you don't receive a Spade lead from the left.

Hand #3

This hand gets mixed reviews. You do hold Ace - fourth of Spades, and I recommend that you always keep the Ace or King of Spades whenever you have at least three low supporting spades. The only kicker here is that accompanying Spades are really small and Spades leads from the right could be a problem. Drop the stiff Diamond, the Ace of Clubs, and the Queen of Hearts. Now you have a potential void in a minor suit, and the same chance of receiving a favorable Spade lead. If the Spade Queen is passed to you, she will fit in nicely with those four Spades. I would not object to the alternate pass of the Ace and King of Clubs and the Heart Queen.

Summary:When holding Ace or King of Spades and at least two other smaller Spades, as well as a side Ace of Clubs, keep the big Spade, and pass the Ace of Clubs, a middle (stopper) Heart, and another card of your choice. This technique will save you a lot of points.

The pirates we know are long gone, but did you know that piracy still exists today?

Question: Which waterway is notorious for the frequency of modern piracy?

Answer:

1. The Strait of Malacca
2. The Dardanelles
3. The Panama Canal
4. The Strait of Gibraltar

3 correct entries chosen at random will receive a deck of official DreamQuest playing cards!

Submit entries to contest@dqsoft.com by July 5th.

We have an exciting announcement to make about one of our long-time Guides! Gold (or GUIDEGold) has been hard at work learning the ins and outs of Case's Ladder, and he is now an official Ladder Operator for their company! Case's Ladder handles our online ladder and tournament games, so it's wonderful to have one of our Guides be so knowledgeable about their system.

We want to congratulate Gold on being voted in and completing his training with flying colors!