March 2014 - 8

Letters to the Editor

Great idea

I like the idea of a national event
in which competitors are restricted
to Standard American Yellow Card
conventions. It could be televised, and
there would be great interest. Years
ago, bridge was on television. Nowadays, it's too complicated to explain the
bidding.
Do it.
EWING WALKER
Alexandria VA

Keep it simple

The letter about using a simple card
in a national event brings up an interesting idea: Have a new national event
where everyone uses the same card. It
doesn't have to be SAYC. Completely
natural (no conventions, not even Stayman or Blackwood) would be much
better and more fun! This could work
well for an individual, a form of the
game that needs a national event and a
simpler bidding system.
BILL SHARP
Timberville VA

A little knowledge

The conversation about displaying
percentage results as boards are played
misses a subtle but crucial point. The
specified disadvantages - marginally
slower games or occasional unauthorized information - can be mitigated
by a director. What cannot be mitigated is the inherent danger of taking
unusual actions because prior results
are known. I see no remedy to this
problem.
Although not an issue early in a game
when a board has been played only
a few times, after a certain juncture
such knowledge can adversely impact
future boards. If I estimate a result to
be 60% and the electronic scorer shows

8 Bridge Bulletin March 2014

the result as 40%, I have information
that I would not usually have. I might
use this information strategically -
preempt more wildly, sacrifice more
often, bid marginal games or slams,
psych or make anti-percentage plays -
in order to offset known poor results.
Such actions might just get me back in
the game. If not, there is little to lose
between a 40% and a 45% overall score.
Barometer games also make scores
available, but everyone playing gets the
same results at the same time rather
than piecemeal.
In both cases, players might take
actions that skew results in unanticipated ways. My actions to "catch up"
affect more than just my scores. The
same goes for other pairs, and it takes
only a few thinking this way to produce
undesirable results.
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
LARRY WYNER
Santa Rosa CA

Goal oriented

My father, John M. Grandine of
Hartford WI, died on Jan. 13. He was a
Gold Life Master.
I was introduced to bridge by my
parents when I was in college, about
1980. I was hanging out at home one
Saturday evening when my parents
asked me if I wanted to go to the bridge
club with them that evening. I didn't
know the game at all, but my mother
(Dorothy Grandine) suggested that I go
with them, kibitz a little and read my
book - a novel by James Michener, I
think.
Once I got there, I never did open
the book. I was completely entranced
by the mechanics of duplicate, and I
vowed to learn the game just as soon as

I could. With the aid of various partners
that my mother and father arranged for
me throughout graduate school, I did
learn. Once I finished graduate school, I
didn't play so much, preferring instead
to spend time with my own family and
growing children.
Meanwhile, with their children
grown and out of the house, my parents played lots of bridge, mostly with
each other, but occasionally with other
partners. Mom was able to establish
an edge over Dad in the intra-family
masterpoint race, a topic of much
conversation and good-natured ribbing
over the years. Both became Gold Life
Masters, and my mother likely will be
playing well into the future.
For many years, my parents had encouraged me to attend the Gatlinburg
Regional, an annual event that they
enjoyed a lot. As Dad's cancer grew
worse, I began to realize that opportunities for enjoying this event with
them might be limited, so I made the
trip from Seattle to Gatlinburg in 2011.
Although I hadn't been playing in many
organized events, I had been playing
in a daily informal lunchtime game for
many years, so I was ready to go when I
got there.
That week in Gatlinburg, I earned
more than 50 masterpoints playing
with my parents and their friends.
Buoyed by that success, Dad encouraged me to collect the rest of my silver
points, and we went back to Gatlinburg
in 2013 with the goal of meeting our respective milestones, Gold LM for Dad,
Life Master for me. We accomplished
it playing on the same team in the same
event that week. It was a very special
moment for me, one that brought tears
and hugs.
TOM GRANDINE
Issaquah WA
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2014
