August 2014 - 7

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Greatest session

My father, Irving Bloom, passed
away earlier this year after a long battle
with prostate cancer. He taught me
to play bridge following my stint as a
caddy at the 1970 Summer NABC in
Boston. We adopted the Italian Blue
Team system and played at Massachusetts North Shore clubs as a father-son
pair, with some success, at a time when
such a thing was rare.
This past winter, with failing health,
he spoke to me on the phone from Florida. He brought to my attention that his
masterpoint total was 2499.26. I verified this on the ACBL website. Indeed,
he	was	0.74	short	of	attaining	Gold	Life	
Master status. I thought about all those
misplaced rating slips from when we
played together in the 1970s. Surely
there were a few lost points for both of
us in those days.
I went down to Florida for a visit in
late February. His health had declined
further, and he was rarely getting out of
bed. I did not think he would be able to
play. On the day before I was to return
to Massachusetts, he awoke with some
extra energy. He said he wanted to
try to play a session. He got himself
together and, with the wheelchair, we
headed over to the St. Catherine Duplicate Bridge Club in West Palm Beach
for the 12:30 p.m. game.
It was amazing that his stamina and
skill level were at or near the usual
levels. As the session wore on, I knew
we were not going to win our direction,
but there was a chance we could finish
high enough for him to win the fraction
he needed. On the last round, he picked
up:
♠10 3 ♥Q J 8 7 6 ♦A 6 ♣Q 10 5 4.
I opened 1NT (15-17). He took the
aggressive view and bid 3NT after
transferring to 2♥. I held:
♠K 7 2 ♥A K ♦7 5 4 3 ♣A J 9 7.
I received a diamond lead. Fortu-

Letters to the Editor

nately, the ♣K was onside and the suit
split 3-2. This allowed me to unblock
the hearts and get back to dummy.
We earned 8 of 11 matchpoints on the
board. Nice bid, Dad.
I checked the scores posted on the
wall, which were not final. We were in
fourth place in our direction, which
was worth 0.54. This left him 0.20
short of his goal. Dad needed to get
home right away. After getting him
settled in, I went online to check the
final scoring. Somehow, we moved up
into third place with an award of 0.77.
I believe his 3NT bid in the last round
was what got us there.
Dad started playing duplicate in
the 1940s. He finished with 2500.03
masterpoints. He lived long enough to
hold	his	Gold	LM	certificate	and	to	see	
his name in the April Bridge Bulletin.
What a dramatic finish to a bridge
career that spanned eight decades. You
can't make this stuff up. His last session was the greatest session he ever
played in our 44-year partnership.
KEN BLOOM
Acton MA

Respect for others

In his May CEO column, Robert
Hartman urges players to "be scentsitive" about wearing perfume and
cologne. He asks the reader to be
respectful of those who have problems
with scents.
There is another issue that should
be addressed: card snapping. Along
with many other aging members of
the bridge community, I wear hearing
aids. When players snap their cards, it
really hurts my ears. After playing for
an hour or so with card snappers, my
head is pounding! The medical term for
it is misophonia. Even those who don't
wear hearing aids find card snapping to
be offensive.
I cannot think of a logical or benefi-

cial reason why people do this. After
all, it takes less effort to simply drop a
card on the table.
Having addressed this issue with
limited success, I have become discouraged and don't play as often as I
would like. Members of the local clubs
are usually very nice and accommodating, but at tournaments there almost
always are rude scenes about this.
The snapping of cards is unnecessary, disrespectful and painful to the
hearing impaired. I'll stop wearing
scents (which I love to do) and would
very much appreciate it if others would
be more considerate and stop snapping
cards.
PATTY MONCUS
Boerne TX

Friend and teacher

The late Albert Dormer (see May
Bulletin, page 29) was a friend and a
teacher. When I first edited the World
Bridge Championship books and the
WBF Daily Bulletins, he was a frequent
contributor and was always there
when I needed help.
All the bridge writers thought Albert
wouldn't have a chance in a friendly
weight competition. Some of us were
overweight, and we all bet $100 that we
could lose 10% of our weight in a year.
Dormer was thin as a rail at 6-foot-4
and 156 pounds, but he was one of
the winners - he weighed in at 140!
The man who weighed more than 300
pounds had to pay his $100 - he actually put on a few pounds.
Once, when Albert visited Memphis,
he said he had heard a lot about
Southern food and he wanted to try
Letters to the editor are welcome by regular mail and email.
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. Email editor@acbl.org.

August 2014 Bridge Bulletin

7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2014
