June 2021 - 8

IN Box
confession of Schapiro which had been
given to Swimer. It is likely my father
gave more credence to the captain than
to the accused. Why would Swimer lie
and cause himself huge problems for
the rest of his life? Additionally, David
Rex Taylor, a close friend of Reese,
wrote in 2005 that Reese had told him
that he and Schapiro were signaling in
the heart suit in order to write about
it later, but not to use the signals for
their benefit. Taylor was to make
this known to the bridge world after
Reese's death, which he did. It would
be fair to say that the majority did not
accept Taylor's story, but this version
would also corroborate the story of the
confession given to Swimer.
The Bridge Bulletin article was
naturally limited by space. I will be
writing a fuller account in a book
of stories to be published, which
will include the entire report of the
inquiry led by Sir John Foster QC and
the WBF minutes. I know that Boris
told me that he was the only person
alive (at that time) that knew the truth
of what happened in Buenos Aires. He
did not say they did not cheat.
BARNET SHENKIN
Hallandale Beach FL
Brian Pauls has a faulty memory.
There was documented photographic
evidence of finger signaling on at least
four hands from Buenos Aires (see
Alan Truscott's " The Great Bridge
Scandal, " p. 208).
And B.J. Becker not only joined in
the allegations and testified at the
Foster hearing, it was he who first
noticed what he felt were irregularities
and notified Dorothy Hayden of
his suspicions. Finally, Hayden and
Alan Truscott may or may not have
been a couple at the time of the
accusations, but to raise this as a
possibility is to suggest a conspiracy
that is akin to posthumous libel.
RON GERARD
White Plains NY
8 | Bridge Bulletin | June 2021
Keep sanctioned online games
I'm 83 years old and have played
bridge for more than 75 years and
duplicate for more than 60 years. I
live in a retirement community. I still
play a decent hand of bridge, but have
an occasional senior moment when I
say, " Why in the world did I do that? "
This has caused many partners to
drop me; even my friend and neighbor
who is 101 and learned to play BBO
virtual bridge just last year looks at
me suspiciously! I now have five loyal
friends and regular partners who are
scattered across North America.
However, this is not a pity party.
Rather, it's a strong plea for the ACBL
to continue to sanction virtual bridge
through BBO - games that award
ACBL masterpoints - after face-toface
play resumes. I still have hopes of
achieving Sapphire Life Master status
before I'm too old to play. Perhaps
ACBL could add virtual Super Senior
events restricted to participants 80
years of age or older.
HARRY POLLITT
Chapel Hill NC
Commuter tales
Bob Levey's article on commuter
bridge in the March issue started with
the line " It began, if you must know,
with a woman. " He then continued
with a description of playing bridge
on a Long Island NY commuter train.
The author called that game " goulash. "
In the late 1950s, I played " goulie " on
the New York-New Haven commuter
train, which, for a woman, was most
unusual at that time. I regularly rode
from Grand Central Station in NYC to
Stamford CT. I was " staked " in these
games by three very wealthy men.
One was met by his chauffeur in Old
Greenwich, one was a top executive at
CBS, and one owned the largest advertising
agency in NYC. I have no idea
how much money changed hands. I
expect it was quite a lot. We dealt and
played just as Levey described. The
point was to play as many hands as we
could within the time we had.
I am now a Gold Life Master and
bridge teacher. I have never played
bridge for money, just for fun and
masterpoints, although I do know
there are still high-stakes bridge
games out there.
PHYLLIS PRAGER
Sarasota FL
Inventor wanted
This is a call for an inventor! Like
most of us, when the clubs closed,
I was hesitant about trying online
bridge. And I do miss in-person bridge
and look forward to the reopening of
clubs. But now I have gotten used to
one huge advantage of online bridge
and will greatly miss it: It is the fact
that the complete bidding and play is
recorded for every hand and can be
reviewed alone or with your partner
after the game. Wow, what a fantastic
learning opportunity for me, an
intermediate player!
I am calling for somebody with the
right expertise to make use of available
technologies to produce the ability
for club play to also record all the
bidding and card play for review after
the game. Of course it would have to
be done inexpensively for clubs to
afford to install this technology. Please
come through with something!
TOM CONLON
Redmond WA
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.
June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2021
