January 2013 - 7

Letters to the Editor

ties needed a director call. Especially
in the case of a revoke (discovered
before completion of the trick), I
would say that it is common practice
to leave the penalty card on the table
and continue play.
The director may be called if the
partner of the player who made the
revoke ends up on lead, maybe not.
Leads out of turn and bids out of
turn are at times overlooked, and the
player making the irregularity is told
to put the card back in his hand or
the bidding box. I am not sure when
this is deemed appropriate and when
it isn't. Perhaps it is judged on the apparent skill level of the opponents.
Is it a problem? Absolutely! We have
players and bullies running the games
and enforcing their own versions of
the laws.
The problem is two-fold. First of
all, we have directors, particularly
at the club level, who would benefit
from more training, as well as those
who have the belief that if there is
enforcement of laws that may "cast
doubt" on a player's character (UI, MI,
hesitations), the players won't come
back if they get an unfavorable ruling.
The effect of this is that players never
learn that a comment, mannerism or
hesitation may suggest something to
partner, may be in violation of the
laws or could restrict partner.
Penalties and even warnings are
unheard of in club games and rare in
local tournaments. I often see recommendations for procedural penalties
on bridge forums, but that is so far
from reality here, we may as well be
using different regulations.
Second, there are the players who
should know better but who do not
call for the director, instead making
their own rulings. Then we have the
bullies who have learned that they can
use the laws - or the lack of enforcement of them - to their advantage.
Unfortunately, this situation hasn't
developed overnight. At this point, to
change it will be pushing against the
tide. There will be players who become upset and may not come back.

Correcting the situation will involve
reeducating all involved: players,
directors and club managers. The alternative is the gradual erosion of the
game, with the players with the most
authority or table presence ruling the
game, and the newcomers learning (in
some cases improper actions) from
these players.
KATHRYN SHANNON
Vancouver BC

different numbers of times is not a
reason to short-change some pairs.
If this situation exists, the game can
be scored by converting the scores to
percentages, so that a top, whether a
board is played 10 or 11 times, is still
100 and a bottom is still 0. After all,
every one talks about having a 70%
game, not a 218.
JIM MASSON
Mooresville NC

Take your pick

Calculations

To the Editor:
At the Southwest Florida Regional
in Naples, I encountered one of the
most unusual deals I have ever seen,
a view shared by many other players.
Check it out:

To the Editor:
In the October letter "Luck versus
skill," the writer suggests that Pair
A getting a top on a board played 12
times has an advantage over Pair B
getting a top on a board played 11
times. Actually, it is Pair B who has
the advantage.
Suppose A gets the best score on
the board played 12 times and B gets
the second-best score, and suppose
B gets the best score on the board
played 11 times and A gets the second-best score. The two-board total
for A is 11 + 9.86 (20.86) versus the
total for B of 10 + 10.95 (20.95), an
advantage of .09 for pair B.
Stated differently, pair B gets 1.09
match points for beating pair A,
whereas A gets only 1 match point for
beating B.
Richard Stearns
Slingerlands NY

Dlr: East  A 9 8 3
Vul: Both  J 6 3
K63
K84
 K Q 10
J74
K97
Q84
 10 8 5
AQJ2
 Q J 10 5
A96
652
 A 10 5 2
974
732
East-West, with 25 high-card points
and 3=3=4=3 opposite 3=3=3=4, can
make game in every suit and 10 tricks
in notrump. This includes game in
both 3-3 major fits (careful play is required in 4). Deep Finesse confirms
the makeable contracts, but nothing
overly complicated is required. They
actually play out in a pretty normal
way.
LEON LYDAY
Clearwater FL

Conversions
To the Editor:
I agree completely with the thesis in
the letter of Robert Shuster (October,
page 8). The definition of matchpoints
is that you get one for each pair your
direction that you beat and a half for
each pair that you tie. The fact that in
certain movements boards are played

More gold, please
To the Editor:
I recently played in the ACBL Instant Matchpoint game where a gold
point is awarded to the section tops in
each direction. First let me say
➤
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.
January 2013 Bridge Bulletin

7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2013
