July 2021 - 8

IN Box
the elimination of many of those
common offenses has been a welcome
feature.
We are all hoping that very soon we
will no longer be restricted to playing
only online. Won't it be an exceptional
joy to be able to experience in person
the excitement of America's newest
one-million-plus city, Austin TX, for
the Fall 2021 NABC?
That brings me to the heart of my
letter as I reflect on the last time we
all gathered in person at a national.
The San Francisco NABC in the fall of
2019 feels like ancient history, doesn't
it? I want to share this personal anecdote
from that wonderful tournament
held in a marvelous city.
I got called to a table and was
advised that there was a discrepancy
in the number of cards in the players'
hands. One player was three cards
short. This was usually no big problem,
as we had hand records or we
could recreate or reshuffle the cards in
a team game. But when did these players
discover this discrepancy? During
the play, at trick 10(!), when declarer
ran out of cards and his left-hand
opponent still had six cards remaining.
Ouch! (I cringed and placed the
palms of my hands over my face.)
So, my friends, as we ease back
to in-person bridge, let's not forget
those good habits that accompany a
smoothly-run in-person game. My
fondest hope is that I never get called
to a table at trick nine, when declarer
runs out of cards and LHO has eight
cards remaining. I'm sure none of you
would ever want such an embarrassment
from not having counted your
cards before the bidding begins.
Be that as it may, I have a feeling
our tournament directors will be
quite busy during the first months of
returning to in-person play.
STEVE KAESSNER
Chico CA
Whist-ful remembrances
Charles Dickens never played
bridge. But he certainly played its
predecessor, whist, as shown by this
almost 200-year-old description of a
demanding partner that we can easily
recognize (and sympathize with)
today.
" Poor Mr. Pickwick! If he played a
wrong card, Miss Bolo looked a small
armoury of daggers. Then, at the
end of every hand, Miss Bolo would
inquire with a dismal countenance and
reproachful sigh, why Mr. Pickwick
had not returned that diamond, or led
the club, or ruffed the spade, or finessed
the heart, or led through the honour, or
brought out the ace, or played up to the
king, or some such thing. "
Poor Mr. Pickwick indeed!
Dickens noted how seriously whist
was played in " The Pickwick Papers "
from 1837:
" The rubber was conducted with
all that gravity of deportment and
sedateness of demeanour which befit
the pursuit entitled 'whist' - a solemn
observance, to which, as it appears
to us, the title of 'game' has been very
irreverently and ignominiously
applied. "
In another book, Dickens describes
his own experience on shipboard
heading to America (American Notes,
1842):
" [After dinner] the doctor comes
down, by special nightly invitation, to
join our evening rubber: immediately
on whose arrival we make a party at
whist, and as it is a rough night and the
cards will not lie on the cloth, we put the
tricks in our pockets as we take them. "
LARRY CUSTEAD
Saskatoon SK
Cover kudos
The April cover for the Bridge Bulletin
is a welcome change. It's professional
and informative, and it has a nice
design and color. May I suggest we
continue to use this format going
forward?
Keep up the good work. I look
forward to my magazine every month!
JIM MIKEL
Spring Lake MI
Sounds fishy
I read Bob Levey's article on commuter
bridge in the March issue.
About the time he was playing
commuter bridge, I was occasionally
filling in in a game of " fish house "
bridge.
I have lived all my life in central
Minnesota where our lakes freeze
over for months. Minnesotans take to
the ice in droves to fish through holes
chopped in the frozen surface. My dad
and three of his buddies were avid ice
fishermen who had been dragged into
bridge by their wives. The guys soon
realized the four-person fish house
was an ideal place to play bridge; fish
house bridge was born.
No score sheet was needed, only
game contracts were played, and it
was deemed cowardly to let a deal
pass out short of game. (It was also
very poor form to not open a 13-point
hand in an effort to " sandbag " the
other side.) At the end of each hand,
a quarter was slid from a loser to a
continued on page 61
Letters to the editor are welcome
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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
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editor@acbl.org.
8 | Bridge Bulletin | July 2021
July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2021
