August 2022 - 7

IN Box
More about " Ike "
My husband, Charlie Wolpert (Life
Master No. 777), enjoyed telling the
story about Ike's grand entrance at
the 1961 national championships in
Washington DC. All eyes turned to
Ike and his entourage as they strode
in. Walking through, he asked a lady
declarer what the contract was. She
said it was 4k. Much later, as he was
leaving, he again stopped at her table
and asked if she had made 4k. Now
that's charisma!
JOAN VIGDOR WOLPERT
Boynton Beach FL
Strawberry fields forever
I recently attended the Camarillo
Strawberry Sectional in California.
To say it was impressive doesn't begin
to do it justice. Every facet of this
event had been well planned and executed.
We were originally given a nice
sticker with, of course, strawberries
on it to prove we had been vaccinated.
So much more comfortable than arm
bracelets.
They thought of everything. The
food buffet was so appealing, it was
difficult not to overeat. I was so impressed
with how the work had been
so well-delegated that everything
went like clockwork.
One of the magic pieces of the tournament's
success was encouraging us
to pre-register, as space was limited.
We had a full house! Every table was
spoken for. It was such a treat to see
old friends again and be able to enjoy
the day together. When it came time
to clean up, it wasn't left to a few local
worker bees. They had a crew that
had everything packed up quickly, so
everyone could go home at a reasonable
time.
Huge kudos to all of those who
worked, planned and achieved one
of the nicest sectionals I have ever
attended.
JAN WICKERSHAM
Sierra Madre CA
Upsides, downsides
In David Schroeder's letter in the
June issue ( " Make them unequal " ),
he talked about many ways players
can cheat in online bridge and, probably
inadvertently, gave some ideas
about how to do so.
My partners and I would not dream
of cheating. We play assuming that
the vast majority of players are not
cheating, and we believe that is a
valid assumption. So despite what
Schroeder suggests, memory is a key
aspect of online bridge as well as F2F
bridge.
We love online play for its convenience,
safety and learning, as many
have noted. We go over the hands
after the game to see how we could
have played better. That's our main
objective: to learn and improve.
It's hard to beat online play for its
educational value. And learning and
improving is fun!
Players have discussed endlessly
the benefits of online play, including
no revokes and no insufficient bids,
but few have mentioned some of the
downsides. One is forgetting your and
your partner's positions. Recently my
partner opened 1NT and, for some
reason, I thought my RHO had bid
1NT instead. It was a disaster! One of
my friends did the same thing, only
worse: Her partner opened 2', and
she thought it was her RHO. Another
disadvantage in online bridge is the
awful misclick; we've all done that.
These disasters do not happen in F2F
bridge. Family members interrupting
you, mail carriers needing your
signature and workmen requesting
guidance - these do not happen in
F2F bridge, but do in online bridge.
So there are advantages and disadvantages
of both F2F and online play.
ELIZABETH WINSLOW
Dallas TX
Getting serious about
cheating
I strenuously object to ACBL Board
member A.J. Stephani's statement in
the April issue (pg. 30) that " we don't
know the true extent of the [cheating]
problem, " a dodge perhaps intended
to minimize the ACBL's responsibility
for acting so slowly to address the
problem. Nicolas Hammond, whose
work on detecting cheating through
statistical methods was discussed in
the November 2021 issue, has had a
good handle on the extent of the problem
of almost two years and has been
willing to share information with the
ACBL. I have presented an independent
crude analysis to the ACBL
Board as well as the public Bridge
Winners forum, noting a large shift
in performance for cohabiting partnerships
as opposed to non-couples.
Even this rough analysis implicates
more pairs than have been convicted
since the start of the pandemic.
I am delighted that Frank Stewart
was allowed to speak his mind in
the March issue ( " Road to Ruin " ).
The ACBL needed this shot of moral
courage.
I was thrilled by the announcement
of EDGAR, the ACBL's statistical
analyzer of results, on Bridge Winners.
The final piece is processing
the cases indicated by EDGAR in a
timely manner. I think this is going to
require changes to the League's Code
of Disciplinary Regulations. We need
a way to quarantine the almost-certainly
guilty players before the
humans have finished reviewing the
case. This might entail limiting quarantined
players to special quarantine
games online or subjecting them to
significantly higher entry fees, say
$20 per online game, to be refunded if
they are found not guilty.
Online bridge is going to have a
significant role going forward. Even
six months into the pandemic, I didn't
August 2022 | Bridge Bulletin |
7
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August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2022
