February 2015 - 8

Letters to the Editor

or question. And she has the skill of
adding a touch of humor with a "smile"
in her voice when she speaks.
Congratulations and thank you,
Terry. I hope others emulate your style
and grace in the bridge world!
NANCY SENGER
Windsor NY

Provincial thinking

A Canadian member gave us a geography lesson after reading the story in
the December issue about the annual
sectional in remote Flin Flon:
I'm sure that I won't be the only one
to point out that Flin Flon is in Manitoba, not Saskatchewan.
BROCK SHORT
Abbotsford BC

A heart-to-heart talk

My wife just returned from a bridge
weekend at a resort, and she described
this hand to me, which I thought might
belong on a list of unusual occurrences.
My wife held:
♠A 7 3 ♥A K Q J 10 9 ♦9 ♣A 5 4.
A nice hand, but guess what? Her
partner opened 1♥! After collecting
herself, she and her pard made it to
6♥, which just made. Her partner held:
♠K Q 8 ♥8 5 4 3 2 ♦A Q ♣Q J 10.
How often does it happen that partner opens one of a suit (especially a
major) when you hold the top six cards
in the same suit?
DOUG GORDON
Stouffville ON

Technology can be fun

I just returned from the Fall NABC
in Providence, and I could not wait to
compliment the ACBL for the outstanding automation of scores, results
and hand records provided to me via
ACBL Live! The email notifications

8 Bridge Bulletin February 2015

letting me know about my results
and also providing me with a link to
the Daily Bulletin is a welcome step
forward, and I am thrilled. Thank you,
ACBL!
BETTY SCHULER
Alexandria VA

It's not easy being green

A number of years ago, I suggested
that the ACBL should print two-sided
personal score sheets for pair games,
just like they do for team games. I'm
still waiting for that to happen. The
world is going incredibly green - why is
the ACBL still wasting so much paper?
BARRY MARGOLIN
Arlington MA

Strata data

Members frequently write to make
suggestions about ways to improve
tournaments.
I would like to suggest that the ACBL
add a "Super A" flight in team and KO
events at regionals. I am a Gold Life
Master and enjoy playing at regionals,
but the last few I have attended have
not been very much fun. My team of
Gold and Silver Life Masters is always
the bottom team in Flight A. The problem is that almost every team we play
includes one or two professional players. So our team has about 10,000 masterpoints, but we play against teams
with 60,000 or more masterpoints.
This becomes very discouraging for
us after a while and makes us rethink
going to these tournaments. I enjoy
playing against good competition, but
this is over the top.
MARGERY GOULD
Los Angeles CA
Gold Rush Pairs have become a very
popular event for players with 0-750

masterpoints, but they have had a very
negative effect on the attendance of
the two-session stratified open pairs
events. This is especially true at some
of the smaller regionals such as in
Oklahoma City and Amarillo, where
the open event struggled to get seven
tables but the Gold Rush Pairs had
more than 20 tables.
A possible solution toward balancing event attendance would be to lower
the upper limit of the Gold Rush events
to 500 or 600 points. It seems to me
that players with 700 points have too
great an advantage over those with, say,
50 points. Perhaps players with 700
points should seek stronger competition in order to improve their play.
PAUL HIRSCH
Garland TX
The 299er games were established
so that newer bridge players could
compete against players of similar ability and not have to face Life
Masters. Since the ACBL Life Master
requirement is now 500 masterpoints,
shouldn't there be 499er games?
FRED SPITZZERI
Dixon IL
The organizers of sectional and
regional tournaments should recognize
that the preferred schedule for Seniors
- the vast majority of ACBL members
- is something like 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.,
i.e., morning and afternoon games.
The biggest advantages are the avoidance of night-time driving and having
the evening free for a leisurely dinner
or other activities. Given the meager
attendance when three sessions are
held each day, the evening sessions are
a costly way to conduct a tournament
while actually reducing the enjoyment
of the attendees.
LARRY RABIDEAU
Marana AZ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2015