July 2010 - 7

Letters to the Editor

Different strokes

partner, holding:

To the Editor:
In the January issue (page 8),
Richard Sandhusen asks about Mike
Lawrence's September 2009 column,
in which Lawrence recommends not
opening the bidding with:

Q J 10 7 8 A Q 8 3 Q 8 4 3,

2 A J 7 6 5 K J 10 7 6 5 8
and:
3 A Q 7 6 5 3 K 9 8 7 3 10.
In Universal Bridge magazine (1995,
volume 1 page 63), Eric Kokish also
recommends passing with a similar
hand:
- A 8 7 6 5 A J 10 6 5 4 Q 5.
Kokish notes that there are serious flaws with both 1 and 1. The
theory is that you will have a better
chance to describe your length and
strength accurately if you let the bidding develop around you.
When The Bridge World (March
2001, page 44) asked for opinions on:
6 K Q 10 9 6 4 2 K J 10 6 4,
10 expert panelists opted for 1, nine
for 2 and nine for 4.
Ah, difference of opinion! It's what
makes horse racing and bridge.
HENRY JACOBSON
Mt. Laurel NJ

Fond memories
To the Editor:
In 1980, I was stationed at Castle
Air Force Base in Merced CA, just
60 miles north of Fresno. As a newcomer, I was excited when I heard
that the Spring NABC that year was
scheduled for Fresno. I have fond
memories of the tournament, including the gift of a bottle of wine for
every attendee and my first opportunity to enjoy a Peter Rank production
- "Annie Bid Your Slam."
Thirty years later, those memories
all came back at a local club game
when I picked up:
A 8 6 A K Q J 6 4 K A K 5.
After my partner opened 1, I
thought a moment and bid 7NT. My

gasped audibly.
The opening lead was a low diamond. Fortunately, the Q provided
an entry to the dummy, and the play
was uneventful.
In the Peter Rank production, Annie
is playing in a major bridge competition and her auction is 1 - Pass
- 7NT. At the other table, in a spoof
of Alerts and sophisticated systems,
the "expert" male players start with
1 and make every single bid (35 in
all), each accompanied by an Alert, to
reach 7NT. There is also a trick to the
play, and Annie makes her contract
while the experts go down.
What fond memories our wonderful
game creates!
STEVE KAESSNER
Yuba City CA

Catnipped
To the Editor:
Not long ago I was playing on
Bridge Base with one of my regular partners. My left-hand opponent
opened 1. After my partner passed,
RHO bid 1NT. LHO then reversed by
bidding 2, which was passed by my
partner and RHO.
My usual policy is to pass with
busted auctions like that, but as I was
reaching for the mouse to click on
Pass, my cat Tyler chose that moment
to nudge my mouse hand for a pat.
This caused me to click accidentally
on the Double button. Oops!
The bidding continued to 3, then
3, which went one down. Tyler now
wants credit for the masterpoints I
won in this IMP pairs game.
CHRIS APITZ
Waltham MA

Ambassadors
To the Editor:
Recently I had the good fortune
to play with Ed Faichuk. Ed and his
wife, Carol Lee, serve the Calgary
bridge community in many ways.
Ed is a quiet, patient man, and I

was impressed with the time he freely
gave after the session to explain how
top- and-bottom Michaels works (it
came up in the play). The best part
was that Ed didn't presume I was interested - he asked.
The next morning I realized how
much his investment meant to me.
The total time was about 10 minutes,
but the goodwill and communitybuilding benefits are huge. The
challenge I take up, and hope all
members will consider, is to enjoy the
players who grace my tables at every
session I play, and to invest in small
but meaningful ways in some of them.
Let's be realistic. We all have ups
and downs with misbids, misplays
and sometimes just being under the
weather. If we each made it our goal
to invest a kindness in two or three
people or pairs each time we play,
is it possible that ACBL's ratings for
friendliness might grow?
I sent Ed and Carol Lee an e-mail
thanking them for being friends, ambassadors and mentors. We should all
aspire to be like them.
GORDON VANCE
Calgary AB

Pet peeve
To the Editor:
After playing duplicate bridge for
nearly 10 years, I am still stunned at
the impatient responses I get from
players when I ask them nicely to
please lead or table the dummy before they do their bookkeeping, which
sometimes includes writing a "story"
at the end of each deal. This is especially irksome when the person
doing all the writing is dealer on
➤

Letters to the editor are welcome
by regular mail, e-mail editor@acbl.
org or fax 662-253-3187. Brevity is considered a virtue, as is subject matter with
relevance to a majority of ACBL members.
Unsigned letters are not considered for
publication, so please include your name
and hometown. Letters may be edited.
All letters will receive a response.
July 2010 Bridge Bulletin

7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2010
