March 2020 - 7

➺ InBox
Travesty

When I read Beth Palmer's obituary in the December issue, I noticed
with a mixture of regret and anger
that there was an applicable phrase
notable by its absence: ACBL Hall of
Fame member. How is it possible that a
player with Ms. Palmer's demonstrated
level of success is not already in the
Hall of Fame? Are 29 NABC titles not
enough? Are eight international gold
medals, including two in the same year,
not enough? If these questions sound
ludicrous, that is because they are, and
the answers are self-evident. For several years now, Ms. Palmer's record of
winning earned her the right to receive
induction into the Hall of Fame in person. Now, she will never receive this
honor during her lifetime, an honor
which her accomplishments so clearly
warranted.
The Hall of Fame selection process
is broken when it permits this kind of
travesty.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON
Arvada CO

Jacobs encourages this stuff

Though I have often found Mr.
Jacobs' columns entertaining, I have
been leery about the editors allowing
him any extra space for his column. But
now I have been swayed! Thanks to his
stringent efforts to save space - using
T instead of 10 - I think the time has
come to reward him with three more
spaces.
I suggest he use them for a secret decoder club which members could join.
For example, PTN for "pull trumps
now," JXX for "just redouble" or QBD
for "partner, do something intelligent."
Ciao!
MARK LASOFF
Minneapolis MN

Letters to the Editor

Spiderman

If, as I believe, the web movement
is superior to the Mitchell movement
for a pairs event with 14-plus tables,
why isn't it used more often at club
games and sectional tournaments?
Two reasons come to mind. First, it
requires two sets of boards for an even
number of tables and three sets for an
odd number of tables. Second, some
directors lack experience with using
the movement.
The ACBL can incentivize club
directors to use the movement by
increasing the masterpoints awarded
for games using this setup. Also, the
same movement could be used for 10 to
12 tables by playing nine three-board
rounds where every pair plays every
board. It's easy, so let's do it.
FRANK CHRISTOPHER
Oak Brook IL

Worse than we thought

The probability of a rare event occurring twice in one session is less
than half the probability of that event
occurring in two consecutive sessions,
so there must be something wrong
with the calculation of the probability
of being dealt two yarboroughs in the
letter by Steven Moore in the January
2020 issue, and that error appears to
be a misplaced decimal point.
The formula for an event of probability "p" occurring twice in 24 boards is
(24 x 23/2) x p^2 x (1 - p)^22 . With
p = 1/1828 (the probability of being
dealt a yarborough), this comes to
0.0000816 or 0.00816%, or 1 in 12,254.
Please assure Joe Kivel that his receiving two yarboroughs in one session is
indeed extremely rare.
ROBERT J. HOLT
Scotch Plains NJ

Melodious

Your article on Melody Euler mentions what a great director she is. But
it did not mention what a great teacher
she is, too.
I took the ACBL Bridge Director
course from her in Houston TX in
January 2018. Melody is great at answering questions. Rarely, but sometimes, her answer is, "I don't know."
But Melody is such a convincing
authority that when she says she does
not know something, your first thought
is that, well, if Melody does not know
that, then there is no real need to know
that. She is that good.
DAN EGNER
Houston TX

Inconsistent

When my husband and I played in
the Fall 2019 NABC in San Francisco,
we were dismayed at the inconsistent
application of the ACBL Slow Play
policy. On the second day of the Super
Senior Pairs, we sat behind a wellknown pair of national champions
when we were North-South in the first
session, and then followed them when
we were East-West in the second
session. Astonishingly, this pair was
allowed two late plays in the same day,
one in each session. When they were
allowed the first late play at the end
of the afternoon session, we assumed
something unusual had happened for
the directors to permit it (although
the pair had been slow all afternoon).
However, when the same pair had a
late play after the second session, the
only conclusion we could come to is
that some directors are either too
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.

March 2020 Bridge Bulletin

March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2020