May 2020 - 7

➺ InBox
A Howell howl

I second Frank Christopher's call for
more use of the web movement (InBox,
March issue). His suggestion of awarding more masterpoints, however, is
insufficient to accomplish this. Exactly
the same arguments show that Howell
movements are superior to Mitchell
movements for any game with fewer
than nine tables, and the ACBL already
awards Howell games more points than
Mitchell games with the same table
count. A Howell movement also allows
small games to be better stratified,
further benefitting Flight C players.
But even this has proved insufficient to
encourage wider use of Howell movements. When I suggest this to directors, their response is often, "Too much
trouble," implying that directors and
players are simply looking for the easiest format, not the best, as Mr. Christopher and I would prefer.
No, I believe the only realistic solution is to modify ACBLscore to require
web and Howell movements where
they are superior. Exceptions to the
web would be appropriate for small
clubs lacking duplicating machines
(though a Howell has no such issue),
but not for tournaments. Mitchell
movements make sense only for table
counts of nine and 13 when the full
27 or 26 boards are being played. Any
movement where all players do not
play every board (excepting "sit outs")
is inferior and should not be used.
TOM TERWILLIGER
Cincinnati OH

Car talk

Wow! I was really excited to see in
the March issue that Jeff Meckstroth
has crossed the 90,000-masterpoint
plateau, which means that sometime in
the next few years, the ACBL is likely
to have its first-ever six-figure masterpoint holder.

Letters to the Editor

And then I recalled that winter's
day in 1972 when my '64 Chevy and I
were crossing the Delaware - no, not
George Washington style - and as we
headed toward Philadelphia on the
Ben Franklin Bridge, I slowed my car
to a crawl to observe my odometer as
all the digits slowly rolled over from
99999.9 to 00000.0 I'm sure many of
us remember how the old odometers
used to work.
I began to wonder: Are ACBL's computers and other gadgets prepared to
handle all six figures when Jeff reaches
the 100K milestone, or will his masterpoint total merely roll back to 0.00 and
he'll be forced to start all over?
No matter what happens, good luck,
Jeff!
BRUCE SCHWAIDELSON
Doylestown PA

Good times

Upon retirement, my husband and I
returned to duplicate bridge. We had
dabbled in it as newlyweds, mostly
at the local Anaheim Club, where my
husband played more than me and had
played against some of the bridge "big
dogs." One day, he had the bright idea
that we and our friends, also new to the
bridge world, should play in something
called a Swiss teams in the regional
played at the Disneyland Hotel in 1975.
At the time, our combined masterpoint total was probably about 10 or
20. It was an unbracketed 330-team
field, but we didn't know enough to be
intimidated!
We lost our first two matches, won
five, and started the final match. Our
partners and I had no idea our final
match was against the team led by
Marshall Miles, who was playing with
his wife, Betty. My husband thought it
best not to tell us.
On one hand in that last match, I
opened 1♦, and my husband bid 2♦,

inverted. I thought 6♣ would be a good
bid because my diamonds were solid, I
had an outside singleton ace and a void,
but I was missing the ♣A. My husband
had the ♣A, and so he raised to 7♣.
After the match, we anxiously asked
our partner, Jimmy, if their opponents
bid the grand slam. "I'm really sorry,"
he replied. "They bid 5♣ and I doubled.
They redoubled and they made seven!"
The 9-IMP difference on the grand
slam won the last match for us. Six
wins was a tie for fifth place, allowing us to get our first gold points and
a story only bridge players would appreciate.
KAREN EDDY
Fallbrook CA

Well-deserved honor, part 1

We would like to voice our support
for National Tournament Director
Matt Smith receiving the ACBL Hall
of Fame Blackwood Award, which is
given to individuals who have made
major contributions to the game of
bridge outside of expertise at the table.
As club owners who have struggled
with rulings on numerous occasions,
Matt proved to be an invaluable resource over these many years. Matt's
routine was always the same. No matter how busy, Matt would always send
an immediate "short version" email response to our query. Then, when time
permitted, he would send an extended
response with citations and references
for the appropriate rule or rules. Matt
took the time not to just provide an answer, but he tried to help us with how
to think about a particular problem
or situation.
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.

May 2020 Bridge Bulletin

May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2020