November 2015 - 7

➺ InBox
Can do

Barbara Seagram's letter in the
September issue ("Do your part," pg. 7)
really struck a chord with me. Volunteering at your local bridge center can
make such a huge difference in its success or failure.
For many years, our club was on
the brink of bankruptcy and barely
survived week to week. Opening up
communication via email newsletters
was one big step in the right direction.
The appeal for volunteer assistance
from the membership worked. People
started pitching in, cleaning up, and
donating funds, time and energy. An
inspiring can-do spirit began to emerge
which replaced the apathy of the past.
New, more actively involved volunteers
offered to run for the board. The new
board rolled up its collective sleeves
and made some tough decisions in a serious attempt to turn the club around.
It worked!
That was six years ago. Now we have
a new facility, many more new members, a dedicated and hard-working
board, a variety of classes being offered
and a terrific new mentoring program.
Equally important is that we have
become a family of friends who care
not only about promoting the game of
bridge, but who also genuinely care
about each other. The challenges and
hard work continue as we grow together.
We are the Bridge Center of Greater
Lansing, and we welcome you to our
games!
SALLY SIMONE ANGELACOS
East Lansing MI

Grazie, no. Thank you, si.

The obituary of Omar Sharif
(September, pg. 23) reminded me of
my favorite Sharif story.
He told me that when he played with

Letters to the Editor

the members of the famous Italian
Blue Team - I think Pietro Forquet in
particular - he would face the dummy,
and they would scowl at him!
"My heart couldn't stand it!" he said,
patting his chest. So they agreed to a
secret code for high-level contracts.
On seeing dummy, if the contract was
laydown, declarer would say, "Thank
you." If a little bit of luck was needed,
then it was "merci," but if there was
no play, it was "grazie!" Soon after,
he and Forquet had a long, involved
bidding sequence to 7♣. Sharif spread
his dummy and, without thinking but
immediately lost in the cards, Forquet
said, "Grazie!" The pained response
from Omar was, "How can it be
grazie?" Needless to say, it should have
been, "Thank you!"
MAUREEN DENNISON
England

Fixed

Here's a deal played in a local Senior
duplicate game in Thousand Oaks CA:
Dlr: West ♠ 6 5 4 3
Vul: None ♥ 7 6 5 4
♦K4
♣985
♠-
♠AKJ92
♥AJ982
♥Q3
♦A96
♦ Q J 10 3
♣ A Q 10 4 2
♣KJ
♠ Q 10 8 7
♥ K 10
♦8752
♣763
West
1NT(!)
4♥
5♦
7♥

North
Pass
Pass
Pass
All Pass

East
2♦(!)
4NT
6NT

South
Pass
Pass
Pass

The bidding was ... eccentric. West

had his two low clubs separated in
his hand as spades, so he opened 1NT
(15-17). East meant to bid 2♥ as a
transfer to spades, but mistakenly
pulled out the 2♦ bid! West supersuper-accepted with 4♥, and East
tried to correct to 4NT. West, thinking
this was Roman Key Card Blackwood,
bid 5♦ (1430). East bid 6NT, and West
then bid an "oh, well" 7♥ to rectify his
earlier mistake.
I was North and led the ♣9. When
I saw the dummy, I expected that my
♦K would set the grand, as West must
have at least two diamonds for his 1NT
opening. However, the club was taken
in dummy, and declarer played the
♥Q, covered by the king and ace. The
♥J dropped the ♥10, the last trumps
were drawn (the final insult: the ♥8
dropped my 7!), and declarer claimed:
five clubs, one diamond, five hearts and
two spades for a top board.
We're still on speaking terms with
North-South ...
RON ADLER
Thousand Oaks CA

Let's live a little

In the August issue (pg. 55), August
Boehm advocates opening 1NT with
hands containing a singleton honor in
certain cases where opener would be
left with rebid problems by opening
in the five-card minor. It has been my
practice for a number of years now to
open 1NT with just the sort of hand
illustrated in his article.
As far as I understand, I am prohibited by ACBL regulations from having
any sort of agreement with my partner
that we may do this on rare occasions.
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. Send emails to editor@acbl.org.

November 2015 Bridge Bulletin

7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2015
