November 2008 - 8

Letters to the Editor

the directors were great, but they
couldn't do anything about no coffee
maker in our hotel room.
VAN HERRIDGE
Charleston SC

Keep them happy
To the Editor:
The Bridge Bulletin has numerous
good articles every month. It's interesting to read the letters to the editor,
Viewpoint, and hands from competitions. However, I grab the Bridge
Bulletin to read George Jacobs. I
have even asked him to write a book.
I also enjoy Zeke Jabbour. Please
keep these guys happy so they won't
go away!
DIANNA GITTELMAN
Houston TX
Special efforts were made this
month to keep Zeke smiling (see page
61). Note that he has a bit of extra
space in this issue.

Also leaving early
To the Editor:
I strongly agree with the opinions
of the author of "Early exodus" (July,
page 7). My bridge partner and I each
have 2000 masterpoints. We love
team games, but we rarely play teams
any more because we do not feel the
conditions of contest are fair.
We played in the knockout teams
at a regional recently and found
ourselves in bracket one. At the next
table, a rich player, his wife and four
hired pros were playing a team with
an average of 500 points each.
Now we play team events only if
we are lucky enough to have a pair of
very good players ask us to play. Usually we just play fast pairs on Sunday,
or skip the event entirely. In my
opinion, these events are like sending
your local high school football team
out to play against a professional
football team.
I have entreated our local officials
to change these conditions, perhaps
by putting an upper limit on team
members' masterpoints, handicapping the top bracket or not starting
knockouts every day.
None of my suggestions has interested the tournament organizers, so
8

there are no team events for players
of my level unless I want to compete
against rich players who are able to
hire four or five pro players to support their team. Neither my partner
nor I can afford to hire even one pro
to play with us. Please bring back
team games for players with fewer
than 5000 MPs,
I enjoy a competitive team event.
I miss playing teams, but I really do
not care to compete against teams
composed primarily of hired professional players.
NANCY GUNN
Santa Rosa CA

Playing up
To the Editor:
The biggest reason to play the 2/1
game force bidding system was not
mentioned in the July article by Lynn
Berg (page 44). New players who
want to learn bridge quickly must
play with top players, and most top
players play 2/1. They will help with
that system, as well as other conventions, thought processes, defense,
carding, rules, declaring, etc.
Playing with good players does not
require you to end existing partnerships. Take a day off, learn several
principles, then discuss what you
both learned and decide what to add.
You learn faster, get to know more
people, have contacts for inevitable
future questions, earn more successes
and have more people to celebrate it
with you.
LEE CARYER
Columbus OH

Pairs fan
To the Editor:
Some recent letters in the Bulletin
suggest that it's fine for knockout
events to dominate tournaments
because organizers are just giving
players what they want. That makes
sense, but please bear in mind that
some players want good pairs events
with strong fields. Tournament organizers should give us what we want,
too!
Here's a suggestion: Most tournaments have one day focused on Swiss
teams play. Couldn't there be one

similar day focused on pairs? Have
knockouts on all the other days, but
let's have one day per tournament
devoted to matchpoint play.
JON SIEGEL
Washington DC

Doing the wave
To the Editor:
At an NABC earlier this year, I discovered a new, previously unreported
psychological syndrome. I have
given it the formal name of "cardus
interruptus." The condition is readily
apparent when a person is declaring
or defending, but not when playing
the dummy.
Card wavers are incapable of
removing a card from their hand and
smoothly placing same on the table.
They seem compelled to suspend the
card in front of them, often moving it
around as if performing some ritual,
perhaps seeking divine guidance.
The problem with this malady goes
beyond mere irritation, because the
card in question is often exposed
to the opposition, and sometimes
replaced in hand to be substituted by
yet another waved card. As would be
expected, the most seriously affected
wavers tend to be the slow-play specialists.
I would like to see a rule that any
card removed from the hand must
be placed on the table within one
second. That would be more sensible
than the 10-second pause, uniformly
ignored, that is supposed to follow
the appearance of the Stop card.
GEORGE KALIS
Brooklyn MI

In the December issue:
❖ News from the world
championships in
Beijing.
❖ A recap of the Buffet
Cup Match.
❖ Winners of the ACBLwide Instant Matchpoint Game.
Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2008
