July 2019 - 8

Letters to the Editor
(South), I opened 3♦ white against
red. West doubled, and Steve was looking at this interesting hand:
♠x ♥A K x x x ♦x x x x x ♣x x.
Steve knew we needed to create
some action, so he made a trap pass,
intending to later bid diamonds like a
madman until we were doubled. The
doubler's partner, Mr. East, jumped to
4♠, and I passed. Ms. West bid 4NT
confidently, and Steve bid 5♦. East
passed, as did I, and West went to 5♠.
Steve, of course, bid 6♦, no doubt
thinking his brilliant trap pass would
work out fine. East passed, I did the
same, and West bid 6♠. Undaunted,
Steve went to7♦ and then ... East
thought for a while and came back to
life with 7♠, which was passed out.
I took a close look at my hand:
♠x x ♥x x ♦K Q J x x x x ♣x x.
It certainly appeared Steve held the
♦A and that he just might be able to
cash it. I put my ♦K on the table, only
to see a singleton ♦A appear in the
dummy. Even worse, declarer pitched a
heart on dummy's ace, drew trumps in
two rounds, and pitched another heart
on a long club in dummy. Minus 2210
meant our IMP total for the qualifying session would be minuscule. We
knew we would be playing in a regional
pairs game our second and final day in
Memphis.
That evening, we enjoyed some
mighty fine ribs at Central BBQ and
debated whether or not I should have
led something other than a diamond.
Eventually we realized Steve should
have bid 3♥ (lead-directing) instead
of trap passing. With 12 diamonds between us, it was impossible for us to get
a diamond trick. I told Steve not to feel
bad because I would have trap passed
as well.
Forty years earlier, Steve and I were
students in a great bidding course
taught by the great Harold Feldheim.

8 Bridge Bulletin July 2019

Harold taught us how important it was
to create action, but at the right time
and with the right hand. We had the
right time; Steve just had the wrong
hand. His trap pass actually set a trap
door for me.
Fortunately, our wives, non-bridge
players both, were with us. They demanded we stop talking about bridge
and started reflecting on the unforgettable Civil Rights Museum we had all
visited that morning. Naturally, we
complied immediately.
The next day, Steve and I finished
second in both Flights B and C in the
regional pairs game. Although we were
only 14th in a field of 112, we received
14 gold points, and I became a Silver
Life Master. Even if we had received
no masterpoints over the two days,
the trip to Memphis would have been
well worthwhile. We all loved the food,
the museums, the hospitality, and the
opportunity to participate in a very
well-run tournament.
BURT SAXON
Milford CT

The 10 is dead! Long live the T!

Please consider getting rid of using
"10" in showing hands. Why not use
"T"? A, K, Q and J are honor cards. So is
a 10, that is, a T! Bridge writers always
point out that the 10 is undervalued in
hand evaluation. Might showing it as
an honor, as T, remind players of that?
It will save a lot of ink. After all,
print media did away with the Oxford
comma simply to save ink. Using T
will save a lot more ink versus using
10! This is also true for hand records at
tournaments.
It's even distracting
online. Look at this
hand from BBO:
It is easy, especially
for newer players, to
think - at first glance - that they have
four hearts (thus, 14 cards)!

I'm campaigning to enroll BBO in
making this change. If the ACBL does
it too, than it will become the standard.
I appreciate that it says 10 on the
playing card. Is that a compelling reason to use it everywhere else?
Keep up the good work!
BOB CHAMPION
Carmel CA

NLM is the way to go

The attendance at our sectional
tournament in Bella Vista AR was declining each year until we added a non-
Life Master (NLM) regional to our
sectional four years ago. Since then, we
have set new attendance records every
year.
The advantages for holding an NLM
regional and sectional together are
self-evident. They include providing
NLM players with more incentives
to participate, as well as giving NLM
players a chance to win gold points
while competing against players with
skills similar to theirs and doing it at
a three- to four-day event. Additionally, we appeal to a wider audience.
We advertise our event as "two tournaments in one." Using the words
"Non-Life Master" in our ad headlines
is a tremendous advantage. Of course,
all tournaments hold NLM events,
but they are not advertised as such.
Lastly, we can give greater silver-point
awards for sectional players because
both NLM and sectional tables can be
included in the formula, resulting in a
larger pool of masterpoints.
These are just some of the reasons
why running an NLM regional and sectional tournament concurrently makes
so much sense.
I hope other tournament committees
will seriously consider my suggestion.
I believe it is a winner for all of us.
BOB GROMATKA
Bella Vista AR
July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2019
