December 2014 - 8

Letters to the Editor

businesses	and	didn't	have	time	for	
bridge.	About	five	years	ago,	I	persuaded	him	to	start	going	to	club	games	
in	Atlanta	with	me,	and	we	built	our	
partnership	and	accumulated	a	point	
here and there. We then traveled to
various	tournaments,	and	those	elusive	
points	gathered	weight.	I	always	had	
a	few	more	than	he	because	I	had	the	
time	to	play	more	often,	but	then	at	the	
Labor	Day	Regional	in	Atlanta,	we	had	
a	streak	of	good	cards	and	good	karma,	
and	both	of	us	passed	our	quota	for	
gold	points	for	our	Life	Master	on	the	
same	weekend.	My	husband	thought	
it	the	most	romantic	thing!	It	took	him	
50	years	and	30	years	of	marriage,	but	
boy	is	he	proud!	Thanks	for	the	fun!
SUSAN	ANTINORI
Atlanta GA

Kudos

My	partner	and	I	flew	to	Halifax	for	
this	year's	CAN-AT	Regional	and	were	
truly	delighted	by	the	venue	and	the	
hospitality.	One	key	to	a	great	trip	-	
and	one	which	I	wish	were	used	more	
widely	by	our	local	regionals	-	was	
that	the	organizers	created	a	website	
for	the	event.	This	included	not	only	
the	basics	such	as	schedule	and	venue,	
but	alternate	accommodations	(for	
the	budget	conscious),	local	entertainment	(we	didn't	travel	all	that	way	just
to	play	bridge),	immediate	posting	of	
results,	a	link	to	Facebook	(to	see	if	my	
friends	from	Michigan	were	coming),	
etc.	As	I	planned	and	experienced	my	
trip,	I	felt	valued.	And	on	the	last	day,	
they	persevered	through	a	power	failure!	Great	job!
MIKE	GIBSON
Sarasota FL

Long-distance apology

I	played	in	the	Nebraska	Regional	in	
August,	and	in	the	final	of	a	knockout	
match,	I	learned	some	lessons	the	hard	

8 Bridge Bulletin December 2014

way.	Lesson	1:	Follow	suit	if	you	can.	
Lesson	2:	Ask,	"No	(clubs),	partner?"	
Lesson	3:	Be	an	alert	dummy.
Defending	against	a	small	slam,	I	
revoked,	and	as	a	result,	the	opponents	
made	their	contract,	and	they	went	on	
to	win	the	match	by	4	IMPs.	Dummy	
(not	declarer)	noticed	that	I	failed	to	
follow	suit	and	correctly	waited	until	
the	end	of	play	to	point	it	out.	I	cost	our	
team	more	than	five	masterpoints.
My	wonderful	teammates	were	
understanding,	but	I	neglected	to	say	
I	was	sorry	before	they	departed.	So	to	
Carol	Konrad	of	Neshkoro	WI,	Polly	
Hoover	of	Prescott	AZ	and	Won	Yang	
of	Clermont	FL,	I	apologize.
MARGE	JONES
Wausau	WI

A goal within reach

Several readers applauded the idea
suggested by Claire Gardner (October,
pg. 8).

I	agree	with	the	member	who	suggests	more	stages	between	Silver	Life	
Master	and	Gold	Life	Master,	a	1500-	
masterpoint	difference.	No	more	regionals	for	my	wife	and	me	unless	the	
ACBL	should	decide	to	add	the	milestones	suggested.	I'm	84	and	my	wife	
is	83,	and	we	have	each	close	to	1700	
points. We could never	reach	gold,	but	
somewhere	in	between	would	encourage attendance.
GEORGE	S.	WILLIAMS
Key	Largo	FL
Ms. Gardner's letter suggests that
the	gap	between	Silver	and	Gold	LM	is	
so	great	that	players	of	advanced	age	
consider	the	Gold	rank	to	be	unattainable	and	stop	going	to	tournaments.	I	
am	one	of	those	players	and	have	many	
friends	who	agree.	It	took	us	so	long	
to	achieve	Silver	status	that	we	know	
we	can't	possibly	achieve	Gold	in	our	

lifetimes,	therefore	we	stopped	going	
to	tournaments	years	ago.
If	I	thought	there	was	another	
achievable	level	I	could	reach,	I	would	
be	going	to	tournaments	every	month,	
but	at	an	advanced	age	and	with	only	
1300	points,	it	seems	pointless.
CLARE	CHRISTIANSEN
Oak	Harbor	WA

More blasts from the past

In response to Bill Kiehnhoff's letter
(September, pg. 8), many readers
chimed in with their own remembrances of duplicate bridge from yesteryear.

Before	Goren	there	was	Vanderbilt
(Harold).
If	you	have	2	1/2	quick	tricks,	you
can open.
Opening	four-card	majors.
Blue	Team	Club.
Shenken	Club.
Only	one	version	of	1NT	with	no
Announcement.
Youngsters	playing!
EVE	POHLO
Northridge CA
Manual	scoring	by	the	directors.
Women's	pairs	games.
Men's	pairs	games.
Mixed	pairs	games.
Individual	games.
No	silver	or	gold	points	needed	for
Life	Master	status.
JOYCE	KLEIN
Tamarac	FL
As	chair	of	the	Motor	City	Regional,	
I	vividly	remember	watching	with	wild	
admiration	as	the	directors	manually	
tallied	recap	sheets	with	40	tops	and	
ne'er an error.
RONALD	HORWITZ
Farmington	Hills	MI
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2014
