April 2021 - 8

IN Box
was no photographic evidence as
to the supposed finger-signaling
whatsoever. The allegations were
primarily based upon kibitzer
observations, essentially by the two
accusers. I believe that Mr. Truscott
was then already employed by The
New York Times and, therefore, would
have held the requisite credentials
to sit alongside the players at the
table, that Ms. Hayden was a playing
member of the U.S. team, and that she
and Mr. Truscott were a couple at the
time, although that only was generally
revealed much later. Additionally, Ms.
Hayden had been partnered by B. Jay
Becker during the competition, and
he was never known to have joined in
the allegations.
BRIAN PAULS
Winnipeg MB

Congrats, Uday
I read with great pleasure your article
in the February issue about Uday
Ivatury's 2021 Honorary Member of
the Year award. As it happens, he and
I were partners for a very short time
while at IBM in Poughkeepsie NY in
the '80s. Without fail, Uday was the
nicest partner you could ever ask for,
never getting upset, always thoughtful, always treating everyone at the
table with respect.
I remember just one hand playing
with Uday, although it ended badly for
us! We were playing in a team-of-four
regional in NYC. As the last match
started, we were well out of the running for anything. I didn't recognize
the opponents at our table. On this
particular deal, we had an auction
where I opened, LHO overcalled with
a two-suited bid, Uday bid a new suit
at the three level, and RHO jumped
to five of the lower of LHO's suits. I
had a great fit with Uday and thought
my hand was worth slam, except for
three low cards in the suit RHO just
jumped to. Assuming partner was

8 | Bridge Bulletin | April 2021

short, I jumped to six of his suit, only
to see him get doubled and go down
off the top. It turns out my RHO was
Hall of Famer Victor Mitchell, and he
had jumped to the suit where he held
a singleton (ready to correct to the
higher suit if doubled). We lost handily to the other team - ouch! But Uday
took it all in stride, ever gracious.
Congratulations, Uday, on your
award!
JON ENTWISTLE
Las Vegas NV

Online is fine
I would like to take issue with David
Zatzman's contention ( " InBox, "
February issue) that masterpoints
won online are less worthy of
recognition than those awarded in
live competition. While it is true that
playing live requires a greater amount
of effort and financial resources, it
does not demonstrate a higher level of
skill as a player. Online competition
is open to a far wider range of players,
some of whom may be restricted in
attending in-person tournaments
by the amount of leisure time they
have and the financial resources that
they can afford to allocate to bridge.
It would seem axiomatic that online
games have a higher percentage of
quality bridge players than most, if
not all, games which require physical
attendance.
If we want masterpoints to reflect
the amount of time and money a
person is prepared to devote to
bridge, then in-person tournaments
are clearly the way to go. If we want
them to be a purer reflection of playing skill, I believe online games give a
more accurate indication. Sure, I can
hire an expert partner to play with me
online and mask my deficiencies as a
player, but I can do the same thing at a
live event.
JOE JANY

Oakville ON

Tempo tantrum
Directors must be placed in an impossible situation when forced to rule on
tempo breaks in online bridge. For
example, all vulnerable, my left-hand
opponent (an " expert " ) opened 2.
Pard overcalled 3, RHO competed
with 3, Pass, Pass, 4 from pard.
So far, a relatively smooth auction.
RHO tanked for 45 seconds and
emerged with a double. I passed, and
LHO bailed by his partner holding:
K 10 x x x x  x x  10 x x x  Q.
Of course 4 is cold . . . but so was
4. RHO held:
J x x  A Q x  A Q J x  x x x.
As a director, I would have no
problem overturning this result in a
regular club game where no distractions or computer glitches could
affect RHO's tempo. At the end of the
set, I called the director, who said he
would look into it. End of story.
Playing ethically, we must all
remind ourselves to bid in tempo,
especially after preempts, to keep the
game respectable. I don't view actions
based on hesitations as outright
cheating; however, they can spark
rancor. And directors hold no real
power to enforce the rules.
So please, although duplicate bridge
is a timed event, take care to bid in
tempo.
BRIAN THOMAS
North Bay ON

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April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021
