February 2022 - 8

IN Box
F2F membership and would force
the mega-clubs to stop their online
poaching of the bridge world. In addition,
it would prevent online-only
clubs from being created.
The next couple of months are going
to be critical and it really is going
to depend on how ACBL addresses
these issues. Right now, the brickand-mortar
clubs are like mom-andpop
stores trying to compete with
Amazon. If the ACBL doesn't intervene,
there may not be clubs left to
play F2F games in a lot of areas once
the world is back to normal.
JOE MORGAN
Unit 452 President
Vancouver WA
I am afraid many bridge clubs are
going out of business because players
have gotten used to playing online. I
believe the ACBL needs to get players
back to their clubs as soon as it is safe
to do so ... most likely now.
Clubs are where many players take
advanced lessons, where players meet
new partners, and where friendships
are formed. Also, there is too much
cheating online. Clubs put on and
promote tournaments; they also provide
the manpower for tournaments.
Clubs sponsor activities like Learn
Bridge in a Day? and The Longest
Day, as well as outreach to school
children who want to learn bridge,
holiday parties, monthly birthday
parties and new Life Master parties.
All of these in-person activities mean
that more bridge is played.
Here is my suggestion about how
to get people playing in person again:
Games played in person at clubs
should earn more points than similar
games played online; maybe twice as
many points.
This would make it worthwhile to
get dressed and go to your local club
rather than playing at home in your
pajamas. It would also keep those
who cheat online in check.
VICKI BUCHANAN
Sarasota FL
Masks, maybe?
ACBL members have different
comfort levels with masks. I feel that
we can accommodate more players
effectively by allowing any player at
a table to demand that all players at
the table mask up. Otherwise, masks
would be optional.
A simple printed sign at the table
would provide sufficient notice.
Meanwhile, for players who are
comfortable being unmasked in the
presence of other unmasked players,
there is little additional risk; these
players tend to socialize together unmasked
between sessions regardless.
Players going out of their way to
honor the wishes of their competitors
is a two-way street.
MICHAEL SHUSTER
Collegeville PA
DOPI duo
Larry Cohen's comments about the
infrequency of DOPI in his November
" Bidding Basics " column made me
Letters to the editor are welcome
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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
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emails to editor@acbl.org.
8 | Bridge Bulletin | February 2022
smile. It was 1970. My not-yet-wife
Susan and I were heading to the
Boston Chess Club for her second
venture into duplicate, and we were
discussing convention card items. We
decided to add DOPI to ours. Wouldja
believe? It happened that very evening,
and we both used it correctly. In
the next 50 years, it has come up no
more than three other times - Larry's
right (of course)!
RICHARD MOUGALIAN
Venice FL
More to the story
As a postscript to the December
feature about Dr. Reza Khatib, I
wanted to mention the medical centers
- including Johns Hopkins, Case
Western Reserve, Cleveland Clinic,
Downstate Medical School and others
- that have established professorships
and chairs for GBM research,
thanks to the perpetual endowments
that the good doctor provides.
AL PETERS
Palm City FL
Unlucky
In the November issue of the Bridge
Bulletin, the authors of the " Lucky
Thirteen " article missed a fun fact
about Friday the 13th. The 13th
of the month falls on Friday more
often than any other day of the week.
You might think that this should be
random, but because the cycle of leap
years repeats every 400 years, and
the number of days in this period is
evenly divisible by 7, the pattern is
stable for the foreseeable future. I
maintain that this constitutes statistical
proof that Murphy was right.
DAVID BARBOUR
Albuquerque NM
February 2022

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