November 2011 - 7

Letters to the Editor

and the miraculous opportunity it may
provide. Now there is a program in
development to recycle pacemakers
in a humanitarian manner that brings
opportunity to individuals who had no
previous possibility.
Project My Heart-Your Heart is a
program of the University of Michigan
Cardiovascular Center. It is headed by
Dr. Kim Eagle (Clinical Director of the
Cardiovascular Center of the University of Michigan) who is working on
it with Dr. Thomas Crawford. It has a
simple, but powerful, focus: recycle
used pacemakers to individuals in developing nations or to others in need.
Nations without strong health care
programs cannot offer such wonderful life-extending devices to most
of their residents. We can ... as one
individual to another. According to
the Project My Heart-Your Heart web
site, "Each year, one to two million
individuals worldwide die because
of a lack of access to pacemakers.
Meanwhile, almost 90% of individuals
with pacemakers would donate their
device to others in need if given the
chance." What helps one person, and
one nation, helps the world.
If you or a loved one has a pacemaker, please reflect on whether you
would like to donate it, eventually,
to this program. Become an "Ace" of
hearts!
More information at www.med.
umich.edu/myheartyourheart/
SANDRA L. ARLINGHAUS
Ann Arbor MI

More on LTC
To the Editor:
In his letter to the editor (October,
page 7), W.D. Wallis is right on the
mark regarding losing trick count. His
comment about Jerry Helms writing
for less-experienced players also applies to other Bridge Bulletin columnists.
Ron Klinger's 1987 book, The Modern Losing Trick Count, gives a detailed treatment of LTC concepts and
updates Courtenay's 1934 treatment.
Detailed application of LTC concepts

to a 2/1 system are contained in the
book The Synergy of Concepts in
Bidding at Bridge.
ROBERT COHEN
Houston TX

Change regulations
To the Editor:
I would like to send a message to
whoever in the ACBL is responsible
for updating regulations and Alert
procedures.
The vast majority of players use a
range of 15-17 high-card points for
a 1NT opener, so why not make this
the standard and require Announcements only for other ranges? Most
players do not Announce their range
for 15-17 anyway, and a change in the
procedure would further highlight
when a pair plays something different.
In addition, weak jump shifts not in
competition are also becoming standard, and my partner and I have never
had an opponent Alert this when
they play it. Making this use standard
makes more sense.
CANDY SHEDDEN
Boca Raton FL

Honest man
To the Editor:
After comparing the scores after the
fourth round of Sunday Swiss Teams
and agreeing on all the results, one of
our opponents, Mark Leonard, returned to our table to tell us his claim
on one of the boards was inaccurate
because he could not get to the board
from his hand. Instead of 5 making
five, the correct result on the board
was down two for an 11-IMP swing.
We still would have won the round,
but not by the same margin. Hats off
to Mark for his honesty.
FRAN SCHWARTZ
Laguna Woods CA
Leonard's partner, Mark Teaford,
also wrote about the incident, which
occurred at the Orange County Regional. Teaford said his team thought
the board in question was a push,
"but Mark realized he had made an

improper claim. Silence is indeed
golden, but it is often wrong. Mark
told us, then our opponents, and we
took our 11-IMP loss. Phil Clayton
was on our team, captained by
Weishu Wu. His comment, 'I would
expect nothing less,' made me realize
I was on a winning team."

Instant adjustment
To the Editor:
Instant matchpoint games can involve a tricky issue in determining the
overall winners.
Seeding is very important, and it is
possible for a director to game the
system to help local players score in
the overalls.
If all the best players are put in the
same direction, their scores will tend
to be high because they never face
each other head to head. Unlike the
usual games, where each direction
will average 50%, instant matchpoint
game results at other tables do not
affect your score on any board.
It turned out, for example, in the
Sept. 14 IM event, 50% was first place
North-South in one of the Gainesville
sections.
To determine an overall winner, it
might be a good idea to take the ratio
of the pair's percentage and divide
this by the average percentage of all
the other players in the same direction in that section. For example,
if the average score of the section
is 42%, the pair with 50% would be
scored as 50/42, or 1.19. This makes
the average score of all sections 1.00.
JON SHUSTER
Gainesville FL

➤
Letters to the editor are welcome
by regular mail, email 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.
November 2011 Bridge Bulletin

http://www.med http://www.umich.edu/myheartyourheart/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2011