January 2013 - 6

Viewpoint
By Brent Manley, editor@acbl.org

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise
in time.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Letters to
the Editor

Self preservation
I learned to play bridge while I was in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Bliss
in El Paso TX. I played a lot in my off time while I was in Vietnam for a year. I
thought I knew how to play. I was wrong.
When I was discharged in 1972, I returned to New Orleans for a couple of
years before moving to Memphis to join the staff of the afternoon newspaper.
One of the copy editors there discovered that I liked bridge, and he told me
about duplicate. I was immediately hooked on the concept. My wife and I went
to ACBL Headquarters one day and joined on the spot.
I don't remember the first time we played, but it was in a newcomer game.
We still had no idea what we were doing.
Eventually, we moved up to the open game and were dead last the first several times we played. I don't remember anyone being less than friendly. In fact,
they were probably happy to see us coming. I was never intimidated or made to
feel stupid by another player (I figured out my shortcomings on my own).
Back then, Zero Tolerance had not entered anyone's mind. At the bridge club
in Memphis, there was a lot of behavior that wouldn't be tolerated today. For
whatever reason, it didn't bother me. I was focused on trying to improve.
I bring all this up because lately I have received more than the usual number
of emails and letters complaining about unfriendly, rude and/or condescending
behavior towards beginners.
Although the atmosphere at games when I started did not keep me from
jumping in with both feet, a lot has changed since I sat down to play duplicate
for the first time nearly 40 years ago.
When I started, the crowd was a lot younger - we didn't have all the distractions and options young people have today - and the only way to advance was
to get in there with the big guys and take your lumps. No one seemed to object
to that formula for improving.
In today's game, less-experienced players more or less keep to themselves.
Bracketed knockouts are now the staple of successful regionals. Purists don't
like it, but to me it's smart to give the customers what they want.
At the club level, it's important to make sure new players have fun, especially
the first time they show up. A bad experience will turn the first time into the
last. Do you want our game to survive and prosper? If your answer is yes, make
it your New Year's resolution to get with the program: Be nice. At all times. r
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6 Bridge Bulletin January 2013

Disappearing laws
To the Editor:
It is likely that I had a very uncommon start to my bridge addiction. I
first learned to play at a community
night school and then played on BBO,
but soon I found myself enthralled
with the laws of the game. I ran some
games on BBO and ultimately studied
the laws and took the ACBL's club
director course.
All of this was before I had played
much club bridge at all. I dabbled
with directing online for a while, but
then I had an opportunity to work
on my game with a local mentor. I
stopped running games on BBO and
focused on my game, although I still
read the laws forums.
As a new player at the club, I would
not hesitate to call the director when I
thought there had been an irregularity.
When my opponents pointed out one
of my irregularities (e.g., hesitations
in bidding), I would squirm, tell them
I was "allowed to think" and that they
should call the director. The typical
reply would be, "Oh, no, we wouldn't
do that, this is a friendly game."
I soon learned that it was "not
nice" to call the director for this type
of irregularity. On the other hand, it
appeared to be acceptable to call the
director for the mechanical irregularities, such as bids out of turn, leads
out of turn, revokes, etc.
As my playing skills improved and
I was playing against better players, I
learned that not all of these irregulari-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2013