October 2018 - 7

➺ InBox
Platinum? No, thanks!

The letter from Theo Lichtenstein
(June, pg. 7), suggesting that members
should be required to earn one platinum point to become a Life Master, is
ridiculous for several reasons, but for
me, the chief one is financial.
I started playing bridge five years
ago, and I eke my way up the masterpoint ladder earning fractions of a
point - or a whole point if I'm lucky - at
most games. The payout at non-Life
Master events is paltry at best. But let's
say I get a half point every time I play a
session. That means playing a minimum of 1000 sessions to get to 500
black points. The card fees at the local
Tucson clubs are about $8 per session,
so that means I would spend about
$8000 to do so. My annual income,
however, is $24,000, and I haven't even
factored in the cost of red, silver, gold
(or platinum!) points with expenses for
travel, lodging and restaurants.
Should I be satisfied getting my pittance of black points from local club
play, never to make Life Master status?
Is this game only for the wealthy? I can
barely afford to play now: Should I have
to agree with people who think the
existing requirements are too easy?
CLAUDETTE PERIER
Tucson AZ
The majority of bridge players value
politeness, respectful remarks and
just plain decency. I recall when my
husband and I - each with a few black
points - attended our first NABC. A
gentleman of great skill (as I was later
told by a director) gave me a compliment on a nice play I had made. It was
probably the only one of the day, but I
was thrilled and inspired!
There is a reason for Law 74 (Conduct and Etiquette). There is a reason
we look forward to Bill Buttle's monthly cartoon in the magazine, and it has
to do with enhancing mental health,

Letters to the Editor

another good reason for playing bridge.
All this fuss about making it tougher
to achieve a Life Master will only turn
players, especially seniors, away from
the ACBL. There are plenty of local
non-ACBL bridge clubs. A lot cheaper,
too! People are more important than a
platinum point.
ALICE THOMAS
Langley BC

Bridge teaching method

I am a Sapphire Life Master and a
longtime member of the ACBL. A number of club members encouraged me to
document and send to you the bridge
teaching method I devised. We are
using it at our club with great success.
It was intended for use by intermediate students, but it works for everyone.
We use a one-hour time frame which
is flexible. The first thing we did was
to find enough advanced players that
were willing to coach. Then we posted
sign-up sheets to determine the number of coaches needed for each class.
We assign one coach to each table of
three or more students.
We shuffle and deal out hands which
are placed face up and covered with
a sheet of paper. We cover the hands
to prevent the students from being
influenced when they see and bid the
other hands. We then uncover the
dealer's hand and discuss what bid to
make. The hand is then re-covered. We
uncover the next hand and do the same
thing. We continue until a final contract is reached. Then we uncover the
hand on lead and discuss the opening
lead. After re-covering that hand, we
uncover both the dummy's and declarer's hands. We make a plan and play out
the hand, uncovering and re-covering
all hands except dummy. During this
entire process, all students are encouraged to contribute ideas and questions.
With this system, all students are
discussing each of the four hands in a

board. Doing four deals in an hour has
each student playing 16 hands total.
This process works well, and the students and coaches love it. Try it, you'll
like it.
JOSEPH BROWAN
Maplewood MN

Longtime player

I started playing bridge on a troop
train from California to Boston on the
way to Europe in the fall of 1944. Three
buddies offered to teach me the game
at a penny a point. By the time we got
to Boston, I owed them three months'
salary.
After VE Day, I was sent to the
Philippines to take part in the planned
invasion of Japan. The invasion didn't
happen after the bombs dropped, so
we played bridge for hours every day
waiting to come home. While there, I
developed my own bidding system, and
we had a lot of fun.
I played intermittently while in
college, and I started playing more
regularly after retirement in 1981. I
still play social bridge several days per
week. I'm 93, and I can't ski or bicycle
anymore, so bring on the cards.
DONALD R. WHITAKER
Elm Grove WI

Fixing stratification

The stratifying or handicapping that
is used by the ACBL is fundamentally
flawed. Using total masterpoints to
stratify players does not take into account things like age, gold/silver versus
black points, and a way to measure a
player's current skill level.
I'll give you a couple examples in
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.

October 2018 Bridge Bulletin

7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2018
