July 4th, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 7 Comments 
I was about to finally address the issue of sponsorship/professionalism, when this timely subject arose and since the UNITED STATES BRIDGE FEDERATION SENIOR TRIALS is about to begin (at the Marriott in Las Vegas, on Monday, July 6th) — I thought it was MORE PRESSING to bring to your attention (for those of you who take international bridge seriously) what is about to happen:
THE USBF IS AT IT AGAIN.
1. Wasn’t the handling of the Shanghai Witches’ disgusting performance at the closing WBF ceremony last year not humiliating enough? As most know, the embarrassment of the United States Venice Cup winning Women’s team action went unpunished for their unauthorized display of an anti-Bush sign. Right or wrong, they had signed three documents forbidding them to get involved in any political issues. The USBF apologized to the WBF but the women (except for one) and their confederates stood firm and eventually the issue was put to rest by sweeping it under the carpet.
The reason: A wealthy sponsor was against these poor innocent damsels in distress offering an apology for their public behavior abroad and engaged a law firm who ended up threatening to sue the USBF as a group and individually. What happened? You can figure it out. MONEY TALKS and you know what they say about B.S. It WALKS and sure enough THE WOMEN WALKED OFF SCOT-FREE!
2. Two weeks ago at the UNITED STATES BRIDGE FEDERATION OPEN TRIALS in White Plains, NY, an issue arose with an ensuing terribly sad ending — with participant Dickie Freeman taking sick, leaving the site and dying a a week later. Before Dickie’s unexpected death, there was a lot of controversy about the eligibility of the Nickell Team at the world championship (since neither Freeman nor his partner Nickell played in the required final matches making them ineligible — a written condition of contest). However, the USBF Conditions of Contest (and shame on whomever wrote them and pushed them through) forbids the change of COC even though, of course, this was unpredictable. Thus, the Fleisher team was forced to play Meckstroth and Rodwell and Zia and Hamman, the big guns, without the appearance in the finals of the sponsor (Nickell) and Freeman and had no redress BECAUSE YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE CONDITIONS OF CONTEST. (THAT was LAST WEEK — but THIS IS THIS WEEK)! What will happen now is anyone’s guess — but the newest pending atrocity is in place and about to be witnessed in LV, starting Monday.
3. It was learned recently because one of the senior players became sick, that the team will probably be forced to withdraw from the event (dropping the number of teams from planned eight to the unexpected seven). THE CONDITIONS OF CONTESTS SPECIFICALLY PROVIDE A MOVEMENT TO HANDLE SEVEN TEAMS, but for some ulterior reasons (perhaps the inconvenience of changing already-made flight returns, or possibly the desire of some pros to play over the weekend at a regional or sectional and ending the event a day earlier — whatever…) it was decided to change the movement to some OUTRAGEOUS, INEQUITABLE, UNFAIR ONE WHICH ALSO AFFECTS THOSE WHO LOSE THE FIRST DAY — despite the fact a seven team movement is already in place in the present COC. LAST WEEK WE OBSERVED THE COC WITH THE OPEN TRIALS, BUT THIS WEEK THE SENIORS ARE BEING TREATED LIKE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS (and some teams will be getting screwed if they go through with this home-brew change of Conditions of Contest).
JAN MARTEL, PAST CHAIRMAN OF THE 2008 USBF AND NOW SERVING AS THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF THE USBF and my husband, Bobby Wolff, who has been involved in these types of issues for at least thirty years, have been at it for the last few days. Bobby tried to get her to re-think her plan (too involved for me to get into )– but apparently, she is determined, as usual, to do things her way.) Other issues seem to be involved –yet they are not being discussed by the USBF. If you are curious to know what is happening, pose your questions here and I promise you Bobby will be happy to give you the entire scenario!
(By the way — I know this isn’t baseball — but it seems appropriate here too, AFTER THREE STRIKES YOU SHOULD BE OUT!
July 2nd, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 5 Comments
My late husband Norman passed away four months after the 9/11 disaster. My dowry had been reduced in size substantially and since we decided that I would join Bobby In Texas after we married in 2003, three old fur coats weren’t going to be of much use. To my way of thinking — after the health and welfare of my family, my most treasured possessions and pride and joy were Norman’s vast collection of trophies, medals, awards, etc. Just what Bobby needed — more testimonials of success.
The good news was I had just redecorated my house In Penn Valley before the ‘crash’ and had a custom-built trophy case designed. Perfect! The only problem was ‘size’ because I now had at least double the amount to display. But since Norman and Bobby were such good buddies for three decades, I knew Bobby wouldn’t mind sharing the spotlight and splitting the shelving. I dare say, it’s hard to beat the number of Spingolds, Reisingers and Vanderbilts on display in our house– but believe it or not — that is not what this story is about.
Today, I buckled down to the much dreaded chore of dusting the shelves, polishing and shining the trophies and other related bridge collectibles. Suddenly, I broke out into hysteria and Bobby came rushing into the room. There — sitting on one of Norman’s glass shelves was something I had forgotten about. It was a sample of a napkin I had discovered in a gift card shop. Framed in a small standup plastic container was a clever novelty piece. Probably I purchased it in the 70s when Norman and I did a lot of entertaining. It was a red cocktail napkin with a white background — fringed in black and red stripes! The exact inscription was: ‘ My NEXT husband will play better bridge!’ Honest Injun!
I’ll say no more!
July 1st, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 4 Comments
I remember meeting a very cute couple in the early sixties .. Louise Robinson and Richard Freeman. They were friends of Norman, along with an enormous chain of Washington area bridge buddies which included Alvin Roth, Andy Gabrilovitch, Fred Karpin and Bobby Jordan (who later settled in Philadelphia and was Norman’s best friend and oft-time local bridge partner for over twenty-some years). Richard Freeman became known as “Dick” but he has been Dickie (Norman’s endearing pet name for him) to me for almost fifty years (even when I proudly sat beside him on the Hall of Fame Committee in 2004).
Amazingly, many of my late husband Norman’s friends married within a year or two of each other. The group included Louise and Dickie, Edgar and Betty Kaplan, Lenny and Marion Harmon, Ivar and Alice Stakgold (perhaps a few years later) and in August of 1963 — Norman and I tied the knot. In fact, even Jordan got into the act! After losing his beautiful, dynamic wife Polly (recognized as one of the best gin players in the country), Bobby re-married. In fact, I was the matchmaker, introducing him to Phyllis Friedman (a non-bridge player) with whom I worked, and Norman and I attended their wedding three months later. That period was reminiscent of the classic Bridge Mating Season.
What fascinated me about Dickie was not his bridge (which came along much later) — but I remembered him in the era before the boob tube where they used an electrical device you may recall as a radio and I savored Sunday afternoons listening to a program which featured some ultra-young geniuses called THE QUIZ KIDS. The two I envisioned most clearly were Joel Kupperman and Dickie Freeman. These youngsters (and the others on the program) presented a frightening phenomenon that such little children could have such highly developed brains — light years ahead of the rest of us. Decades letter, in 1963, I watched in amazement as Dickie, the visiting Bridge Director, whizzed through the matchpoints — giving the modern computers a run for their money.
Norman and I didn’t get to spend much personal time with the Freemans alone, but they frequently visited Philly for tournaments and many an evening we would all sit in Bobby Jordan’s apartment in Center City, playing quiz and word games. We were often joined by Peter Pender, a legendary master in his own right. Another couple who were sensational in the same ilk were Alan and Dorothy Truscott. They had a plethora of word games. My favorite: The only word in the English language where the letter ‘F’ is pronounced like a ‘V’ (“of”). However, in good conscience, I couldn’t overlook another bright bridge star who specialized in the puzzle field (mostly with anagrams — and sometimes two words to be unscrambled into one) — and that would be Bart Bramley together with his wife Judy Wadas. I believe one he posed to us was a combo of thirteen letters (Nearby Priests = Presbyterians). I always loved dinner with the Bart and Judy but came to the deflating realization when I gradually accepted the fact I should have stuck to word games not cards. However, playing bridge with Bobby is as much fun as the literal mind-breakers — and besides, I always love watching a magician in action — making tricks come out of thin air.
Forgive my rambling — but my friendship with Dickie encompasses almost fifty years and a lot of water passed under that bridge. Sadly, with Dickie’s death late Monday night (though ailing for some time now), it is like the end of a beautiful era in my life and I shall always be grateful for knowing such a modest, soft-spoken gentleman as Dickie Freeman. My heart goes out to Louise.
June 29th, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 4 Comments
There are countless opportunities by which individuals become indoctrinated to bridge. Many of us watched our parents play “kitchen bridge” (hardly the most advantageous learning process) or kibitzed games at college. Most began by reading books and syndicated columns. Unfortunately, I have never had much of a passion for reading, usually directing my energy toward creativity and originality. In fact, reading was at the bottom of my list and I well remember a vivid incident from 1947. I was thirteen years old and was hit by a car, fracturing my left leg and spending a hot summer in a hip cast. The only books I could remember reading voluntarily (and college requirements were not included) were The Lone Wolff (which absorbed five years of my life) and “God’s Little Acre” (a risque paperback by Erskine Caldwell) I stashed into my cast to pass that boring summer. So much for my illiterate past — and back to the bridge scene.
Other than gleaning much information from Silodor Says, The Complete Book of Duplicate Bridge (Silodor, Kay and Karpin), The Law of Total Tricks by Larry Cohen and some of Eddie Kantar’s best sellers, I was blessed by two wonderful Hall of Fame husbands whose incredible brains I picked at every opportunity. Both had enormous patience and I could discuss any subject that troubled me (too cumbersome to enumerate). Granted, I was in a unique and fortunate position — available to few others and I didn’t miss a beat. It has been a forty-five year fortuitous learning process and although their bidding styles were miles apart, I survived to tell the tale. ( Except — I swear — yesterday in a Regional team game, I forgot Wolff Sign-Off in a contested auction, which actually cost nothing, but I think I got charged three demerits anyway).
There are numerous ways to upgrade one’s bridge. Reading is just a starter, but improving to the point where you are invited to play by superior players is the beginning of your climbing the mountain which some days seems insurmountable. On occasions, you reach an impasse where you want to throw the towel in. Never!!! It is worth the frustration till you get back on track. All this gibberish is leading up to the pros and cons of sponsorship/professional relationships.
I have always admired and respected people who believed in taking private lessons and later swallowed their pride by making it known they were paying pros to play. Many years ago, it was a somewhat icky situation but soon everyone came to realize that it was unquestionably the most effective way to move your bridge career along by leaps and bounds, i.e., that is — if you had any talent whatsoever (and the money to back it up).
Do you remember Miriam from Bobby’s book? Absolutely adorable — but a lost cause! His best line was that she never had to worry about getting end played as she always cashed her aces and kings at her first opportunity! (In fact, no doubt illegal today, Bobby had a system to prevent her from becoming Declarer. He would open 1C and she had lots of choices of responses but restricted only to 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, etc. — each level indicating her range of points. He laughs in shame now, but it was one way of making sure he played the hand — except in the case where she had a strictly preemptive hand). Thank heavens, all that is history — but way back then it prevented DD (declarer-disasters)!
My intention today was to discuss the extremely controversial current sponsor/pro issue but I got sidetracked by my own memories above, so it’ll have to wait for the next blog. Promise!
June 28th, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 17 Comments
When first learning to count to thirteen — it was surreal playing with a foursome at home or attending a friendly neighborhood duplicate. In those days, at least for me in 1955, it was a school night out — socializing with the regulars and eventually moving on to the Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals. By some quirk of fate, I worked my way up to the world championships — courtesy of my late husband, Norman Kay, and presently as Mrs. Bobby Wolff (as a kibitzer, of course). What a thrill to watch your loved ones vie for the Gold! In the former years, traveling was exhilarating and I could not wait to pack for my next adventure — Deauville, London, Taipei, Montreal, Shanghai, Beijing, Verona, Monaco, Timbuktu — anywhere — just anywhere! But since 911 and the impending security risks and necessary body frisking, together with luggage and pocketbook searches, the fun has subsided and the nuisance replaced the joy of anticipation. It was just too violating to have them confiscate my nail polish and remover which I had intended to use to break up the marathon flight. I have come to believe there is really No Place Like Home (or near home) as I just returned from the local Riviera Sectional (20 minutes from my front door) and looking forward on July 6th for the USBF Senior Championships where Bobby is competing — at the Marriott — three miles from our house here in Vegas). Of course, at the end of the Senior Trials Rainbow is San Paulo, Brazil — but we’ll worry about that later.
Norman was in a rut (a good one at that). For about 20-25 years he was glued to Edgar, Eric Murray and Sammy Kehela and Bill Root and Rich Pavlicek. It was like our bridge family with never a bitter or unkind word exchanged. We would retire to Edgar’s suite after the evening session (surrounded by hors d’oeuvres and cocktails) and were lucky not to have to pay an amusement tax listening to raconteur Murray titillate us — sometimes till 2 and 3 a.m.
Back in the sixties sponsors were few and far between although not many knew that Goren shelled out quite a few shekels to his teammates. He was certainly a decent player but an even greater ‘promoter’ and it was important for him to remain in the limelight — so assuming the role of the invisible sponsor didn’t hurt his image. I learned this, believe it or not, as Bobby was one of the paid pros on his team. Stayman, a name familiar for the Stayman Convention also was another who surrounded himself with top players although, a pretty good player himself, needed to bring in the reinforcements to maintain his reputation.
Of course the first TOTALLY professionally sponsored team was The Dallas Aces (originally including Ira Corn, the money man, who soon became their non-playing captain) and was replaced by a top player. This sponsored team included Bobby (who helped organize the project with Ira and Dorothy Moore), Jim Jacoby, Mike Lawrence, Bobby Goldman, Billy Eisenberg and a bit later Bob Hamman — three great pairs playing with their regular partners and getting paid for the pure pleasure of playing the game they loved. In 1973 and 1974 Mark Blumenthal also played on the team vying to win world championship teams (but unfortunately the exalted Blue Team was in the litter as well).
Next came C. C. Wei who employed another great sextet who carried the American banner proudly. The other only other strictly professional group (minus a playing sponsor that I know of) which came much later was Madame LaVazza, the Italian coffee magnet, who rooted from the stands but the success of her Italian pro team gave her lots of advertising exposure. Professionalism actually surfaced about half a century ago but how the floodgates opened up in the last decade!!!!!
Enter the new team breed: five professionals and a wealthy sponsor (some of whom are quite talented and many others I’ve heard referred to as “bridge-challenged” (not my brainchild). There are dozens of different schools of thoughts on the issue — but playing pro sure beats a real job (as long as bridge continues to flourish and the economy doesn’t take a further hit). Except for the ‘C’ word — nothing makes a bigger impact on our game — but since it is so controversial, let us put it on hold until my next blog when we can devote the proper time to the subject — delving into all the pros (pardon the pun) and cons in greater length. Later!
June 26th, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 3 Comments
I have been reading with amazement the comments of the controversial handling of the Nickell-Freeman situation — not showing up for mandatory play in the finals — though for damn good reason. Nick and Dick are a popular, ethical pair in the bridge world — but that does not negate the issue that neither played in the finals. No one can challenge Dickie’s forced withdrawal for severe illness but it should have been an anticipated condition more equitably predicted and handled long before it became a reality which was going to eventually happen. I read some of the blogs which sound like broken records from those involved in the administration, protective of the lack of insight of the COC.
I became involved in this headline making event when “Juanita” wrote a belated June 1st remark on my “Earthquake” blog site — which I reopened and transferred to my June 16th article (USBF OPEN TRIALS 2009) which elicited dozens of remarks. For those of you who have access to the comments (positive and negative) on a habitual basis from members of the ITTC (International Teams Trials Committee) and the USBF (United States Bridge Federation) who made the final decision — be sure to read them. They’re a crock!
The only constructive suggestion is to examine and rewrite the COC — just a bit late! The USBF granted their blessing (upon advice of some inappropriate C&E COMMITTEE) that Dick and Nick are still eligible to play in Sao Paulo though neither one played in the mandatory final sessions. With Dick in transit to Atlanta for hospital care, Nick did not choose to play with Bob Hamman though they were an old partnership and not strangers to sitting across from each other. According to the questionable rules – COULD or SHOULD HAVE NICK ASSURED HIS ELIGIBILITY AS A SPONSOR by jumping in and playing with Bob — participating in the necessary last half. Of course, it would have sidelined Zia –no doubt a poor move not keeping the two great partnerships in tact. Also, as an expert (v. sponsor) Dickie would have been reinstated if he was recovered by Sao Paulo. Apparently, the switching of partnerships cannot be forced or controlled by anyone, but one must admit the Fleisher group was the only team in the entire event that never had the advantage of playing some of the final segment with the sponsor at the table. Rules — or no rules — there is a fly in the ointment to allow such nonsense to occur.
Now — here is the infuriating ridiculous quote on the USBF SITE originally (apparently from the Conditions of Contest), stating: “….The partner of a player who is unable to play for health reasons is also treated as being unable to play for health reasons ….” as well.
Would the brain surgeon/s responsible for such nonsensical rationale please stand up and be recognized. In a similar situation (when Larry Cohen’s mother died suddenly), David Berkowitz filled in and played with WHOMEVER it was necessary — so the team would be eligible when Larry returned. However, it was brutal (almost barbarous) to force the disadvantaged Fleisher team to keep playing against Meckwell (the best partnership in the world today as alleged by some) and against ZIA MAHMOOD and BOB HAMMAN (although a new partnership) — who were certainly not considered chopped liver!
By the way — in the annals of bridge history in 1981 (about which few may remember) — a somewhat analogous situation happened in Rye, New York at the world championship. The Reinhold team consisted of Bud Reinhold (sponsor) and John Solodar; Russ Arnold and upcoming star Bobby Levin; and Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth. Hall of Famer, Tommy Sanders, was the Captain. Reinhold started playing in the preliminaries, but apparently, not up to his best standards and Meckwell threatened to withdraw from the team if the sponsor played one board in the finals. Though Sanders was not in favor of the idea, the team succumbed to Meckwell’s ultimatum, Reinhold watched from the sidelines, the team reigned victorious but Reinhold never received credit from the WBF for being on the winning team. Sad but true.
My next blog revisits another alternative. Stay tuned.
June 22nd, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 2 Comments
One of the most mind boggling sagas I have witnessed in over five decades was the comical mishandling by my favorite group (the USBF) regarding the recent USA2 Nickell/Freeman Sao Paulo eligibility status.
The original announcement publicly surfaced on the USBF SITE “…… Under the USBF General Conditions of Contest, the partner of the player who is unable to play for health reasons is also treated as being unable to play for health reasons …”
To my way of thinking, the creator of that concept has dire mental health problems and belongs in a Psych Ward accompanied by his or her constituents.
June 16th, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 36 Comments
Early this morning I found Comment #25 on my blog of JUNE 1st (THE BRIDGE EARTHQUAKE) — and a few hours later Comment #26. Though they do not directly relate to the earlier blog, it tackles a new problem with an aura of discontentment with the direction bridge is moving. To relieve my readers from trudging through #1-24 (but be my guest if you have the time) — I have taken the liberty of carrying forward the commentary of Juanita.
Juanita June 16th, 2009 at 1:46 am {Comment #25}
Will some one please explain to me the point of the USBF team trials in White Plains. No disrespect to Nickell/Freeman (and I understand his health will be OK) — but how few boards does one have to play to represent the US in Brazil? Can someone a lot smarter than me explain all this? What is the point of the team trials — just come up with a mathematical formulae based on performance in Vanderbilt, etc.
Juanita June 16th, 2009 at 2:49 pm (Comment #26}
Below is from the USBF website. First, let me make this clear, I am not accusing anyone of doing anything unethical. What I am pointing out is that when a sponsor doesn’t play many boards — what is he doing on the team? And how can the USBF kick off a sponsor — the rest of the team wont get paid. This is just another reason why the ACBL should NOT subsidize the USBF — their team trials are just a subsidy to sponsors who may or may not be able to play bridge well.
The Nickell team came from behind in the second half of the USA2 Final match to defeat the Fleisher team, which had eliminated Nickell from the USA1 bracket four days earlier. Fleisher jumped off to an early lead in the USA2 Final match, but couldn’t hold off Nickell in the final 3 segments. The Nickell team was playing 4-handed in this match, after team member Richard Freeman, who had been ill throughout the tournament, became so ill he couldn’t play on Sunday. Freeman flew home and was admitted to the hospital where it was determined that he has pancreatitis, a painful but treatable condition. We all wish him a speedy recovery. Under the USBF General Conditions of Contest, the partner of a player who is unable to play for health reasons is also treated as being unable to play for health reasons, so Nickell was not required to play the match. In accordance with the Conditions of Contest, the pair will appear before a USBF Conduct & Ethics Committee to explain their failure to play. That committee will determine whether to recommend to the USBF Board that they be included on the USA2 team for Sao Paulo.
June 1st, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 26 Comments
I remember with enormous pride the days of Greenwich, Connecticut, when honorable gentlemen like Alvin Landy and Lee Hazen were overseeing the operation of the ACBL along with the help of Nat Cohen, Peggy Adams, Tommy Harris and a couple others — all bridge players who understood and loved the game. Incredibly competent senior directors (with great senses of humor) were on the scene — such as Uncle Al Sobel (his second claim to fame being the ex-husband of probably the greatest woman player ever, Helen Sobel Smith), Harry Goldwater, Jerry Machlin, Paul Marks and a warm (though very capable) group of directors who always handled difficult situations with good humor, honor and equity — rarely necessitating the assemblage of committees. Of course bridge was minuscule then, by comparison to today’s gigantic diversification into countless areas — most of which, by nature, create more and more controversies, unholy alliances, disagreements, political adversaries, duals for power and dominance and unending differences of opinions — depending upon which camp you live in and on which side of the fence you reside. Powerful and respected personages like Edgar Kaplan, Baron von Zedtwitz, Easley Blackwood, Sidney Silodor, Eric Murray and a few more I have overlooked were on the scene, doing their damnedest to have the game run on an even keel and keeping the confrontations at a minimum. Fractions of points were treasured acquisitions and the bridge dues and entry fees were a pittance of today’s inflated figures.
Bridge was so much more pleasant and simpler back then and every day now seems to present unending confrontations, disagreements, jockeying for positions, power ploys and a series of problems with strong views on both sides — making the overall scene unpleasant and antagonistic. This blog was provoked by the goings on in the areas of alerts, non-alerts, when to flash the blue card, when to speak up, when to remain silent, when to pre-alert, when to conceal your private understandings .. whatever your secret happens to be. That level playing field for which bridge was intended is no longer existent. It is unfortunate, in my opinion, that Jay Baum, whom Bobby and I have found to be one of the most honorable and forthright CEOs with which the ACBL has ever been blessed, is not granted more independent authority– because he suffers from the confinement of twenty-five pairs of handcuffs on a daily basis.
Since the BOD is the administering governing body (who are not expected to be well-educated in the area of bridge expertise, laws and rules), they should have a serious, conscientious responsibility to appoint honest, unbiased, top expert-class, dependable, trustworthy, non-political people without personal agendas who will see to the passage of the fairest bridge laws in the land and fight for the outlawing, reversal and revocation of any presently existing regulations unfair to the bridge world at large.
As most of you well recall, I embarked upon a rampage in my original blog of "All’s Fair in Love and War (but not Bridge)," dated February 26th and continued in its follow up on May 7th when Robb Gordon, a respected friend who serves on the Laws Commission) belatedly responded. The introduction of the original subject almost caused a revolution because of my resistance and blind disobedience to the ‘new alert laws’. There were countless blogs exchanged and the greatest defense seemed to do with the waste of time alerting and how it holds up the game. Toughies! If you like fast action, play in the Speedball Pairs or treat yourself to a weekend at a Nascar Event. In case anyone has had a memory lapse, bridge was a game originally designed to be played by ladies and gentleman and its primary goals were honor and ethics. I owned trotters for twenty years and the excitement of crossing the finish line (especially if my standardbred reached the wire first) was an incomparable thrill. However, this is not Santa Anita or Roosevelt Raceway. Bridge may be a timed event, but one cannot place stealth (under the guise of speeding up the process) before full disclosure.
To my way of thinking, THERE IS NOTHING THAT SUPERSEDES the MANDATORY SHARING WITH YOUR OPPONENTS OF YOUR TOTAL UNDERSTANDING WHEN A SPECIFIC SEQUENCE ARISES. Bobby and I want you to understand what we feel is playing honorably with your opponents.
Example #1. We play WEAK NT (NV 12-14) (V 15-17). In both instances, we play two way Stayman (2C intended as NF to game ) (2D as GF). There are times in one’s life when judgment must be exercised. YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO TELL YOUR OPPONENTS YOUR HAND. In most instances, when 2C is bid by the responder, it is intended as NF and the opener does not expect to reach a game. Let us examine a specialized situation where Responder holds KX AXXX XX AXXXX. You certainly do not want to miss a game opposite a strong NT and prefer to look for a 4/4 major fit — so you use Stayman. BUT, why should you bid a forcing 2D with such a weak diamond holding and set yourself up for a lead directing double? Thus, your Stayman call is Two Clubs and eventually bid either a major game or settle for 3NT. Because of this tendency, we do not just say ALERT. The partner of the 2C bidder says "It starts out as non-forcing Stayman (whereas 2D is 100% game forcing).
Example #2. Being septuagenarians (but in possession of all our marbles) we choose to employ antiquated bids over our own NTs. Do any of you remember the days before transfers came into existence??? There may still be a few of you around. TRANSFERS are the "IN THING" in the 21ST CENTURY — but not for the Wolves! Since we elect to play two-way Stayman, transfer bids are not an option at the two level. So, when the auction (in either vulnerability) proceeds 1NT P (2D),( 2H) or( 2S) — we simply DON’T SAY ALERT – as most people treat them as a transfer to hearts, spades or the minors) without bothering to inquire. AGAIN, probably contrary to the newfangled alert system, Bobby and/or I SAY: (2D) FORCING TO GAME STAYMAN; (2H) NATURAL — TO PLAY; (2S) NATURAL — TO PLAY.
THEREFORE, EVERYONE IS IN THE KNOW — AND THE FOURTH-SEATER HAS THE OPTION after the 2H CALL (WHICH IS NORMALLY TRANSFER TO SPADES) TO OVERCALL SPADES; OR AFTER A 2S CALL EMPLOY A DOUBLE FOR TAKEOUT.
THUS, BY TOTAL DISCLOSURE BOTH WE AND OUR OPPONENTS KNOW WHAT THE BIDS MEAN AND WE GO TO BED WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE. DAMN THE TORPEDOS AND THE SIMPLE RECOMMENDED ALERT BIDS WITH THE ONUS ON UNSUSPECTING OPPONENTS TO INQUIRE! Honesty is still the best policy but when I read about the recent innovations, it makes me shake in my boots when I think about what the game has become.
May 30th, 2009 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 6 Comments
BBO and the Women’s Trials were the subjects of chatter at one of the local duplicates today. My good friend, John Scibelli, who holds his own quite well, inspired me to share with you a titillating quotation he recently heard. Apparently, there are judged to be FIFTY TOP FLIGHT BRIDGE EXPERTS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD and 500 of them play on BBO. I mean no disrespect for BBO or Fred Gitelman as, in my opinion, both he and his company have done as much for our game as Charles Goren’s great promotions did to introduce bridge and stimulate interest among the public fifty or sixty years ago.
My first exposure to BBO was in China when Bobby’s room barred kibitzers and there was no vugraph. Thus — I hustled to my own room and rooted via BBO. I guess I was spoiled as I usually sat alongside of either Norman or Bobby in living color but I certainly understand the rules and restrictions. This week I became intrigued watching many of my female friends playing in the Trials. I usually zero in on the hands, plays, results and scores — paying little attention to the gibberish below as the initials and monikers meant nothing to me. It brought to mind the captivating commentary of the old vu-graph sessions with Bobby, Edgar, Ron Anderson — and probably (according to Bobby) the best of them all – Mike Ledeen (whom you will remember for his part in the Omar Sharif Bridge Circus).
By accident, not being adept at navigating around the BBO screen, my finger must have attacked something that presented hundreds of initials and partial names or nicknames with a blue background. I eventually figured out how to discover the identity of some of the live commentators. The gradations of expertise was almost better than the original telecast I was viewing. In fact, I think I spotted one country where every player was a world expert. Check it yourself sometime and you will be amazed to discover how many of the "500" above whose names you will be reading for the first time. They say Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It appears "expertise" fits into the same category.
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