August 2014 - 8

Letters to the Editor
some. ACBL friends took him to the
Rendezvous for some wonderful
pork ribs. My wife also granted his
wish. Albert tried everything - fried
chicken, fresh and boiled okra, blackeyed peas, turnip greens, cornbread,
fried eggplant, cantaloupe and mashed
potatoes with gravy.
Old-timers probably remember
that Albert once was an ACBL Bridge
Bulletin editor and a major contributor
to the first Encyclopedia of Bridge.
HENRY FRANCIS
Memphis TN

Gone too soon

Henry Cukoff was a dear, dear friend
for many years and one of the best
directors in the business. I had the
privilege of working with him and for
him at many tournaments in New England and around the country at various
NABCs. We had dinner together when
he was here in Arizona for spring training in 2013. Little did I suspect that
would be our last meeting.
I will never forget Henry's best
advice, given to me many years ago: "If
you don't know the answer, just say, 'I
don't know.'"
I certainly do not know the answer as
to why he was taken from us so much
before his time.
SUSAN PATRICELLI
Surprise AZ

Start times

Over the past couple of decades,
there has been a lot of debate on preferred event starting times. With some
variations, the two approaches generally are the "10 and 3" and "1 and 7."
The debate has mostly centered
around the biorhythms of the night
owls versus the early risers, who apparently tire earlier. I can comfortably
play in either configuration, but there
are additional factors to evaluate.
I recognize that tournament organiz-

8 Bridge Bulletin August 2014

ers must consider many factors when
deciding on their schedules, and I don't
know how many other people share the
perspectives I outline below.
I wanted, however, to mention two
factors I hope organizers will weigh,
among many others, when setting
schedules.
First, for those of us who are still
"wage slaves," how much bridge we
play is influenced in part by how many
vacation days we can allocate to bridge.
I'm fortunate to live in the New York
City metro area, where there are lots
of tournaments within an hour's drive.
I would play in a lot more mid-week
events if I could "spend" only a half day
of vacation. This works when the first
session starts at 1 p.m. or later, but not
for the 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. starts.
My personal rule of thumb is that I
will consider a regional tournament
within four hours' drive. Historically,
regardless of whether I'm planning
to play for two, three or four days, I
always started by driving to the tournament on the morning of the first day
I intended to play. Again, this works
when the start is at 1 p.m. or later, but
not for the early starts, which might
require me to rise at 4:30 or 5 in the
morning or to drive in the night before.
The travel-timing issue also sometimes matters in the case of NABCs,
although I don't limit myself to the
"four hours' drive" parameter in those
cases.
STEVE HUHMAN
Larchmont NY

completely reverses the order of the
cards if they have been sorted. Even
if they count them 3-3-4 or 4-4-4-1,
the order is disturbed. Order is maintained only if you slide them partially
off the rest of the hand. I can't see any
valuable saving of time by sorting them
after play.
STANLEY TENCH
Ottawa ON

Friendly folks

Last July, I was transferred to Fort
Smith AR for work, after living nearly
all of my life in Ohio. I had been a member of Unit 136 in Dayton for 25 years.
Stefanie had been a member for over
30 years. We didn't know if we would
ever find a bridge club that was as good
as the one we left in Dayton.
Well, we were both 100% wrong. We
were welcomed with open arms. We
found the bridge to be good and the
members of the club to be even better.
We can't believe we are lucky enough
to have found two fantastic bridge
clubs.
Last month, I was transferred again,
this time back to the Cleveland area.
We are hoping that the Cleveland move
matches the move to Fort Smith.
If you find yourself in the Fort Smith
area, we would highly recommend that
you stop at the Fort Smith DBC Association and play. We will miss these
players and people tremendously.
BOB STITT
Brunswick OH

No time saving

It would appear that people do not
realize that the ACBL general conditions say you must shuffle the cards
after play and that the laws require you
to count your cards face down when
you take them from the board.
Most people count their cards one
by one face down onto the table. This

Correction

The email address listed in the review
of "Bridge Addiction - Becoming a Life
Master," by Polly Schoning (July, page 14)
was incorrect. To order the book, email
pschonin@ksu.edu.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2014
