December 2010 - 8

Letters to the Editor

bidding is adequate to compete.
My wife and I have played to‑
gether for more than 45 years and
experimented with a number of
conventions. Our favorite and most
useful on defense is the Rosenkranz
double, which allows the partner of
an overcaller to double to show a
raise of the overcalled suit with at
least the ace, king or queen of that
suit.
It is very helpful when partner be‑
comes the opening leader to know
that you hold one or more of the top
honors in the suit. A simple raise de‑
nies a top honor.
HAL SPIEGEL
Delray Beach FL
You didn't mention it, but it
is part of the Rosenkranz double
scheme to employ a redouble over
third hand's negative double to show
the honor holding partner's suit.

Preferences
To the Editor:
Facebook has a feature that recom‑
mends things based on what people
"like you" also do. My Facebook page
lists contract bridge as an activity,
and Facebook's automated algorithm
crunched its database and made the
discovery: "Many who like contract
bridge also like grandchildren." The
statistics do not lie! I fell out of my
chair laughing. Seriously, though, this
illustrates the need for ACBL to con‑
tinue its outreach to younger folks.
VALLIAPPA LAKSHMANAN
Norman OK

Go natural
To the Editor:
American domination of world
team competition ended with the loss
to a British team in 1955. The losses
continued until the (temporary) re‑
tirement of the famous Italian Blue
Team in 1970-71. During that losing
streak, a flood of new systems began
to appear in ACBL clubs and tourna‑
ments. In response to that flood, the
ACBL announced that no new sys‑
8 Bridge Bulletin December 2010

tems would be approved, but it would
consider approval of an unlimited
number of new conventions. Obvi‑
ously, the intent was to preserve what
they considered the Golden Era of
American bidding.
During that period, S. Garton
Churchill had remarkable success
playing a natural system using ab‑
solutely no conventions, not even
Stayman, transfers or Blackwood.
Edgar Kaplan, in his introduction
to Churchill's 1981 book, stated that
Churchill was the best slam bidder of
the post‑World War II era. Kaplan was
the most prominent proponent of the
Golden Era bidding systems, so his
opinion of the usefulness of natural
bidding suggests that Churchill's natu‑
ral bidding system could be effective
if augmented by strictly limited set of
conventions (Stayman, transfers and
RKC Blackwood). Surely, many club
players would welcome the opportu‑
nity to test such a system.
KEN LINDSAY
Laie HI

Different skills
To the Editor:
The July issue includes an article by
Jerry Helms in which he claims that
IMP scoring is a "better test of bridge
than pairs." Nonsense! Matchpoints
tests your ability to take tricks be‑
cause every trick matters.
At IMP scoring, it is easy to get into
a situation where extra tricks are
nearly irrelevant. If you find a beau‑
tiful squeeze for an overtrick, your
score will reflect your skill only at
MPs. It is sufficient to say that the dif‑
ferent forms of scoring test different
bridge abilities.
MICHAEL SHUSTER
Collegeville PA

Disclosure
To the Editor:
On Bridge Base Online, you are
asked to state your system and card‑
ing for the opponents, otherwise it is
assumed you are playing the Standard
American Yellow Card. I would like to

see players adopt this practice at all
games.
You could greet the opponents with,
"We play 2/1, 15-17 1NT, standard
carding except for odd‑even discards
and Cappelletti versus your 1NT
opener." How hard is that?
Players are supposed to have con‑
vention cards on the table, but more
than half don't do so - or what they
put on the table is not filled out.
When you have to ask, you might be
giving information to your partner or
the opponents.
This greeting, formality or whatever
you want to call it takes a few sec‑
onds, but it allows your opponents to
discuss what they might want to use
against unusual systems or conven‑
tions. I wonder how other members
feel about this.
MONA HUBBLE
Vancouver WA

Save some trees
In years past, there was only one
way for ACBL members to know
their membership was about to
lapse - by snail mail (U.S. Postal
Service). As many as three separate
statements were sent, some
crossing in the mail after members
renewed.
It's different now. As computers
grow in usage, it makes sense to
use the power of e-mail to keep
up with your membership. Surveys
among ACBL members show that
the majority want to be notified of
renewals by e-mail.
To opt into this method, go to
MyACBL and click on electronic
renewal of your membership. The
first notice goes out 10 weeks
before your membership expires,
with one more e-mail to follow if you
don't renew immediately. You can
renew by credit card. ACBL accepts
MasterCard, Visa and Discover.
Visit www.acbl.org
http://www.acbl.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2010
