BRIAN GLUBOKBrian is a highly accomplished American bridge player hailing from New York City. Glubok, an alumnus of Amherst College, has consistently excelled in North American Bridge Championships, securing numerous titles, including wins in the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams, Reisinger, and Spingold events. In addition to his domestic success, Glubok came close to victory in the World Mixed Pairs Championship in 2010, finishing as the runner-up.. Archives
October 2024
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #358/31/2024 I'm numbering this blog #35 to leave room to make #33 into two columns. Naturally as a frustrated novelist I tend to write long, but for this medium - short is good. Let me get the bridge hand in early, before I start talking about my Up Against the Wall Advice Straight Outta Compton. Here was a hand I featured recently from that very ballroom: AQJT, A, KQxxx, Axx - facing K98xxxx, Qx, Ax, Jx - Walter and I reached 7 Spades quickly, with an invitational jump shift. Here's a link to the diagram - I was responder.  The hand in question is what we used to call a “baby grand slam” - or, for short, a baby grand. If you want to buy a baby grand piano from Aaron Silverstein’s in-laws, click here. If you want to look at a deal where the offense (Walter and I in this case) has a gazillion tricks - a baby grand in bridge terms - then check the diagram. Our respective hands were: K98xxxx, Qx, Ax, Jt facing AQJT, A, KQ9xx, Axx - I look at a pair of hands like this and I think: Seven spade tricks, four diamond tricks (assuming a 4-2 split - five tricks if the suit splits 3-3 - only three tricks if the suit splits 5-1) - then I add the heart trick (gotta count the ace) and then a second heart trick, in the form of a ruff in the AQJT hand, likely the dummy - that’s an eighth spade trick if you prefer to count that way - just don’t count it both as an eighth spade and a second heart - oh yeah, ace of clubs, too - so basically this is a fourteen or fifteen trick deal - ***** This pair of hands can be handled very easily, the point count is even adequate if both players use basic evaluation techniques. The opener can reason: This 20-count re-evaluates to 22 or 23 (all those aces, good five card suit, great trumps) - and the responders ten count re-evaluates to 15 on account of the three extra spades (one for the fifth, two for the sixth, two for the seventh) - so the straight-forward point-count approach gets you to 37 or 38 points - with all the aces, the long suit, and the singleton, that’s why there are fifteen likely tricks. Chalk Talk: After we bid, with the opponents silent, One Diamond - One Spade, Three Hearts by opener is what is known as an “Idle Sequence”. This is because the “natural” meaning for the bid - a good hand with primary diamonds and secondary hearts - has no utility. (This is not really true - you could play the bid to show a hand like x, AKJxx, AQJTxxx, void). With a normal excellent hand like Kx, AJ9x, AKTxxx, K, we simply bid 1D - 1S - 2H - this is known as a “‘reverse”, and is generally played as promising extra strength - the thinking being: Responder will have to go to the 3 level to return to opener’s primary suit (diamonds), so Opener needs substantial extra strength (17+) to justify his reverse bid. Many expert partnerships use this 3H bid as a “mini-splinter” - a hand like KJxx, x, AJxxx, AJx - others use it as a “Non-specific game splinter” - either AQxx, x, AKxxx, KJx or AQxx, KJx, AKxxx, x - then on the third round they use a relay ask/answer method to pin-point the singleton. I prefer a different meaning: I treat this 3H bid (and 3S, after 1D - 1H), as showing: “The biggest possible game raise; nearly a 2 Club bid in support” - hands like KQxx, Axx, AKxxxx, void, or AJxx, Ax, AKJxx, Ax - or the actual hand from my regional with Walter, AQJT, A, KQxxx, Axx) ***** So here’s a good auction for Standard Bidders using this gadget: 1D - 1S - 3H - 4NT - Answer showing three keys - 7 Spades. Here’s another good sequence, the one Walter and I relied upon: 1D - 2S (invitational jump-shift, shows 9-11 HCP and at least six spades) - RKC - Answer showing two - Seven Spades. Despite the apparent ease of reaching the grand slam (we do, after all, have a likely 15 tricks off the top), reaching 7 was worth over 90% of the matchpoints - even reaching six gets you an above average score. I’ll suggest to Walter and perhaps to WCN that we add an Optional Key Card bid to that sequence, specifically: 1D - 2S - 4C - then responder answers: 4S: Bad hand for slam 4D: Fair hand for slam - what do you think? 4H: Good hand for slam, I’m answering with the first step, showing that number of key-cards ***** Thought for the Day: 90% of life is just showing up. The other half is what you wear when you get there. Life: Be in it!
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #328/29/2024 Springfield, April 15 Thoughts on Gatlinburg March came in like a lion here on the great plain this year, and went out like a feisty lamb. The recent rains have made the local lawns lush. The birds have been chirping since early in the AM, and the weather is spring-perfect - it gives me solid satisfaction to zip across West Edwards to have a coffee and get some uplift, listen to the laughter and bask in the good fellowship of the congregants at the Discovery House where the Friends of Bill meet daily at 7 AM. I knocked out three of these "thirty-something columns" yesterday, starting early in the AM. A few of the other North American bridge pros may have been off at a tournament playing a Swiss Teams yesterday - no doubt there was a sectional somewhere - but I believe (too slack to check) that last week was the "off-week" (Bridge Pro Laundry Week?) in the five week stretch that began just after the Spring NABC. I will continue to call these NABC tournaments "Nationals", you probably do too. ***** Gatlinburg deserves a column of its own, or several - for many years it was the biggest (in terms of table count) regional on the annual calendar in North America. Joan Didion could have written an amazing article for Vanity Fair or Esquire about the whole bridge scene if she took a single visit to Gatlinburg to observe and study our quaint tribal customs first-hand. A writer on bridge for a general audience devoted a whole chapter to the Gatlinburg regional - he embedded himself among the caddies, which gave him an interesting point-of-view. Tournament Chairs in particular, and many members of our tribe in general, have had thousands of shop-talk conversations on the subject of "Why is Gatlinburg so successful?” There are clearly some intangibles at play, to explain why Gatlinburg draws so well, but here are some points from the consensus: 1) Easy to get to - the venue is within a few hundred highway miles for many thousands of bridge players 2) Tons of Cheap Rooms - This is a big plus for our rank-and-file - many of our members are on fixed incomes and the cost of attending Gatlinburg remains a fraction of the cost of attending a similar tournament in, say, Chicago. 3) Tons of Places to Eat Near the Venue - hot dogs and soda available at the convention center, and quite a few casual bars and restaurants nearby. 4) Tons of events, convenient starting times, a new KO every day: In this manner, Gatilnburg was able to leverage their own success. Once the annual attendance became reasonably substantial, decades ago, Gatlinburg always offered both pair events and team events daily. Not just at the standard (1 and 7?) starting times, but also in the mornings, and late nights, and even a "Dinner-bell KO" which was held "horizontally" across four afternoons, roughly 5 PM to 6:30. Contrast this to a small regional, like the one I attended in eastern Washington State a few years ago - there in Pasco, with well under a hundred tables in play each day, the organizers could only offer either a pair game or team game each day - not enough attendance to offer both. This capacity to "leverage their own success" is what lifted the Gatlinburg Regional from a medium size tournament in a small place into "The biggest regional in the country" (nowadays, Penticton and Palm Desert also compete for that title). Key to the Enormous Table Couunt in Gatlinburg: Bracketed KO’s. Bracketed KO's were, and probably still are, a big factor in the tournament’s success. Many readers will already know how bracketed KO's are conducted, for those who don’t: Hypothesize an entry of 200 teams that sign up for a KO - they are "bracketed" in groups of 16 - so, say you were the fiftieth "best team" (based on your teams' aggregate masterpoint collection) - that would put you in the "Fourth Bracket" - your masterpoint award would be based on all the teams below you in the event - essentially, as though you were playing in the top bracket of a 150 team event. The master point awards have changed over the years - a factor called "Strength of field" was introduced in the 90’s. Regardless, the Bracketed KO's in Gatlinburg were legendary. A reasonable player from anywhere nearby (or anywhere in the world, for that matter) could attend the Gatlinburg regional, often for a modest cost, and expect to come away with more masterpoints, on average, than they could expect from three or even five regionals in more competitive environments like Philadelphia or LA. And that's how Gatlinburg became such a huge regional. Try it sometime! ***** Initially I titled this column "Coral Springs Ballroom". I changed it to "Thoughts on Gatlinburg" when I realized that Gatlinburg starts today - my new bridge agency, WBS, has a pro there, even. But I anticipate that I'll always think of those tournaments together: South Florida, San Diego, Gatlinburg - for many years they were consecutive on the annual schedule every April, and a handful of pros and other bridge enthusiasts would embark on the long drive north and west to Tennessee. 840 miles, 1352 KM - https://www.travelmath.com/drive-distance/from/Fort+Lauderdale,+FL/to/Gatlinburg,+TN Either a short or long drive, depending on your point of view. This year in Gatlinburg, starting tomorrow, WBS Senior Executive Paulo Brum will be playing with new client Alex K. I hope to report later this week in a forthcoming blog entry on their success there. Here's a deal from Coral Springs, Board 22:  Consider the deal from my point of view: I held xx, xx, T9x, AQTxxx. Vulnerable against not, Partner Opened One Diamond, and my RHO passed. Using basic Wilsonovich, I would respond with a jump to 3C - this bid shows 7-9 HCP, and six card club length - the 1NT response here shows 8-10. A One Heart response shows four card length, though sometimes it’s the best option with only three. With our example hand, 3C is a stick-out, on a "least of evils" basis. Walter, my partner on this hand, plays only portions of the method - I asked him later what he thought of a 3C response. He was distinctly un-enamored with that bid, so I stipulated “What if the range ran as low as 6-9?” He didn't care what the range was, he hated the idea of bidding 3C. So I shelved that thought and responded 1NT, the bid Walter would want me to make. It looked for a moment like I might play there, but LHO, Sandra Rimstedt, the lovely and talented Swedish immigrant to these United States, overcalled Two Spades. This was a bold and winning action, with Sandra eventually landing as declarer in 3S after this auction: (P) 1D - (P) -1NT - (2S) - P - (P) - 3C - (P) - P - (3S) - P - (P) - P. Partner led a small club and this dummy was tabled: KJxx, KTx, Kxx, Kxx I won the club queen at Trick One. Sandra followed low, and I considered the defense. This was one of the few hands of the hundred (104) that I played with Walter over the two days which required much thought. Recently I had a reader request that I try to walk the reader through my thinking, let me try that here: 1: After winning the club queen at trick one, with declarer following small, I have to first think about the layout of the club suit - is there any chance that partner led a singleton? Answer: Since Sandra's Two Spade bid leaves partner with at most 2 spades, then the only way that partner could have a singleton club is if their pattern was 2=4=6=1 or similar, with six diamonds and four hearts. With that pattern partner would bid 3D over 2S, not Pass, so I quickly concluded: Effectively zero chance that partner has a singleton club. More likely that all the molecules in the room will go out for a smoke at the same time, creating a vacuum and causing the ballroom to cave in upon itself. Presumed Club Distribution: Partner has three clubs, declarer has a singleton. 2: What should I play now? Could it be right to play the ten of diamonds? Answer: Yes, it could clearly be right to play the Ten of diamonds, With dummy holding King-third, we need merely assign partner the hypothetical holding of Ace-jack-fourth - or, better still, Ace-queen fourth - give them a heart holding like Queen-jack fourth - and now we have a diagram that requires a diamond shift from our side at Trick Two, in order to develop the second diamond trick before declarer drives out partner's ace of hearts and establishes a heart winner for a discard of dummy's third diamond. Answer: It might be right to play the ten of diamonds, if partner has Qx, Axxx, AQxx, Jxx, to stop the overtrick when this is the layout - we might even defeat the contract with this play, if partner makes a trick with his queen of spades. 3: Can it be wrong to play the Ten of Diamonds? Initially, it appears that it can’t cost - but could there be another play that is even better. Answer: Yes. We may need to play a heart now. If partner has both major suit aces, we might have to play a heart, to establish a third round heart ruff while partner still has the ace of trump. Is it a good idea to shift to a heart into that tenuous holding in dummy? It might help declarer, if they have a two-way heart guess (Queen-nine fourth opposite dummy's king-ten third, say). Is it worth the risk to shift to a heart? If partner has both major suit aces and the defense has a slow or fast diamond trick (on this deal we had a slow one), then we need to play our heart here, to get our ruff. Which lay-out is more likely? There is one, highly specific lay-out where the ten of diamonds is the right play - and even then, all it does is stop the overtrick. There are myriad layouts where partner has both major suit aces and we also get a diamond trick, so the heart switch will sometimes stop an overtrick, and also will often defeat the contract. So I flipped back the eight of hearts - probably my biggest tank of the tournament, that one. ***** Before they moved the tournament to Coral Springs, there were many Aprils where the regional was hosted at the old Bahia Mar Resort, right opposite the beach on Highway AIA in Fort Lauderdale. The regional must have been held there for 20 years or more, until around 2015. I attended a handful of times, and was invariably pleased that I had - the bridge was fine, the money was fine, the weather was fine, the food was fine - and I always got at least one, usually several chances to remark that I thought of that area, South Florida, Dade / Broward County - as an extension of NYC, what I liked to call "The Sixth Borough". In case someone quizzes you, these are the other five: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Manhattan (Manhasbeen). Next Up, Blog #33: Wisdom from Compton, Up Against the Wall:
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #308/27/2024 Springfield, Illinois - April 14 The weather this week continues to cover a wide range - I notice, because I go everywhere by bike. Yesterday, Thursday, offered up a cold dawn, a chilly morning, a pleasant afternoon, a brief but severe rainstorm with high gusty winds, and then a glorious early evening featuring a sunset of majestic purple hues. I’d like to talk about Goethe, but I keep getting diverted by thoughts of this famous incident from 1985 where Bobby Knight, basketball coach for Indiana, got worked up and threw a chair: Like Bobby Knight, the same could be said of Glubok: "I can get a little intense sometimes." ***** I've learned a ton from this endeavor in the month since I began writing this blog.. For one thing, I never knew what a polymath was before. For those of you who can't or don't want to click on the link: The Definition of Polymath: An individual with a broad range of knowledge on a broad range of subjects - a Renaissance type. Yesterday I surprised myself when I managed both to attend the potluck dinner at the Discovery House across the street, and also to contribute a couple of pounds of coleslaw (doctors and nutritionists both recommend coleslaw) and one of cucumber salad from the Country Market on Second Street. I’m not a big “group activity guy” - at least I haven’t been, in the past. Potlucks are fun, though - you can’t go wrong in attending, really. I want to heartily recommend the institution to all and sundry, now that I've attended one.. Things Potlucks Have Going For Them: 1) Everybody has a good time 2) There is an absence of pretense 3) The range of food is so wide that you are sure to find something you like 4) The crowd is very likely to be a mix of people, some you already know and others too 5) Group activities in general are very worthwhile - we all need these more than ever, post-2020 - the need or desire for group activity is one of the reasons I'm glad to have resumed playing F2F bridge. Executive Summary: Group activities that feature food: Really good! ***** Speaking of eating with other people, I sojourned downtown yesterday to Sixth Street Cafe. There, I ate a late breakfast and had a marvelous experience discussing Catcher in the Rye with a young local who had just begun reading the book when I met him in that same spot a few weeks previous, and by yesterday had recently finished it. We spoke of the reclusive J. D. Salinger, and I recounted some macabre details of his short story, A Beautiful Day for Bananafish. Reading Catcher, my young friend was struck by just how angry Holden was - "Why was he so angry?" he wanted to know. I explained that he was angry at his mother for dying, and we both recalled that he was angry at his brother, the writer, for "selling out and going to Hollywood, with all the other phonies". Then he was angry at his roommate for having gross habits, and angry at a former teacher on Sutton Place for trying to get intimate with him. We talked about fancy prep schools like the one Holden attended, Pencey Prep - the Pencey campus, even though entirely fictional, likely resembled the one where I did my undergraduate studies: Amherst College, in western Massachusetts. Here's how Amherst is branding themselves today: https://www.amherst.edu/about When it comes to re-invention, we could all learn a lot from these guys. ***** Goethe, that pioneering polymath, is said to have said: "Beginnings have a magic within them. Begin something!" Last month I began this blog, and my bridge agency. My thoughts turn once more to bridge legend Alvin Roth: Roth, what have I wrought? Let's have a bridge hand. My recent trip to Florida offers many candidates, here's one from my two days there playing with Wall Street Walter.  Consider the deal from Walter's perspective: AT8x, AQxx, J, AKJ9 -The bidding proceeds One Diamond on your left, pass by partner (Your side vulnerable, they're not), one spade on your right - naturally you double. After (1D) - P - (1S) - ?, a take-out double with this hand is totally auto - you have the requisite four-four in the unbid suits, and an ace-and-a-half more than a minimum - Your RHO passes, denying as many as three spades in the modern game (so tending to show precisely two) - your partner calls 2 Clubs, your RHO competes with Two Diamonds - You have four clubs and a stiff diamond, so you have more than you need to offer a competitive raise to 3C, so you do. Opener competes to 3 Diamonds, and this is passed back to you. The bidding to date: (1D) - P - (1S) - Double (You) - (Pass) - Two Clubs (Partner) - (2D) - 3C - (3D) - P - P - ? ***** I'm going to assert here that you have to bid either Four Clubs or double - Walter elected to pass - in my partnership with Walter, in competitive auctions, our side has often suffered from this sort of error (under-competing). In case you’re curious, here are the home pages for the institutions of higher education which Walter attended, Cornell and Colubmia: Cornell University https://www.cornell.edu/ Columbia University https://www.columbia.edu/ ***** My years at Amherst (1978-82) marked a transitional period in American higher education, especially in what was then sometimes known as instruction in the liberal arts, or alternatively as simply, "The Humanities". While most academies, and the majority of larger state institutions of higher learning, concentrated on instruction in the "hard sciences" (engineering and the like), places like Amherst and a handful of others were known as being "Strong in the Humanities" - they took great institutional pride in their departments of English and Sociology, sometimes known as "The Social Sciences". By the time I attended, less pride was taken - it was the early 1980’s, and we were at the beginning of a sullen era, the tail end of a hopeful one. The country, and my college, were transitioning from Aquarian to Reptilian, one might argue, but perhaps that’s applying too fine a point. By the time I arrived, I already had aspirations as a writer. When I returned for my junior yeyar, after a leave of absence, I switched majors from History to English. This led to my having a new Academic Adviser, one G. Armour Craig. I didn’t appreciate G. Armour at the time - scion to the slaughterhouse family, he had matriculated at Amherst in the 30’s - he loved the place, and spent his working years there, then in his seventies, when I was assigned as his charge, he remained on the faculty, even taught a course or two. Campus legend held that for most of his career there he waived his salary and simply collected $1 a year. He loved literature, and learning. but he was from an era way previous to my own. I mean, this guy was older than Kaplan (b. 1925), maybe as old or older than Roth (b. 1914) - our generation gap wasn't a crevice, it was a chasm. I do recall my one encounter with him, where he discussed with me my academic progress. He was genuinely interested in my education and my progress, and supportive of my desire to write. He was old school but not a stuffed shirt, and I feel I was remiss not to make way more use of all he had to offer to me in terms of sage counsel. I felt at the time that I had no time on my hands - I could point out here that during that period I was managing to win the NY GNT's every year (1981-84) and I think it’s fair to say that I was far from diligent about my studies. So it doesn't surprise me now to recall that I didn't make use of the office appointments with him which I was entitled to - I was probably relieved to be able to postpone and dodge them altogether, with this one exception. It was a sunny spring afternoon. "So, what do you think of Goethe?" G. Armour asked of me as we sat in his large, shared office in Johnson Chapel. Clearly he lived the literary life, which I had some interest in - but at the time I had way more interest in City Life, and in the card-players life, and bridge. "I'm not sure I'm familiar with him," I must have acknowledged - I recall vaguely that I might have been assigned one of his books, in one of my courses, but I also recall that I hadn't even cracked the cover open - possibly I never even bought the thing, much less read it. "Good God, man!” G. Armour exclaimed to me, appalled. “You mean to tell me that you've
never read Goethe?"
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #318/19/2024 Springfield, April 14, 2024 On Being Tethered Thirty blogs deep into this project launched in Louisville. I guess that's a little less than the rate of one per day. That I've been producing these. Usually I'll complete one of these columns the same day I start it. Generally I'll start in the morning. This is the hottest day of the year so far, 84 degrees by the site on the internet that one gets this information from in this year of our Lord 2024. When we titled this blog "Diary of a Bridge Pro" - well, I guess we all understood - that that meant, "Diary of this Bridge Pro". And this bridge pro suddenly finds himself living a wildly interesting life. ***** I determined, on reaching Blog #30, that I could open things up a little bit, metaphorically speaking, and explore areas far from hand evaluation or really anything to do with bridge at all - although,of course, ultimately, and through the magic of distant causal connections, there is of course always a connection to bridge. One of the reasons I launched these ventures (the WBS Agency and these DBP blogs) was to become better "tethered". The subject of being tethered merits a full column, not this one. Maybe something later in the thirties, I'm thinking that "the thirties" is a good place to introduce more of these abstract principles, less about bridge and more about life. But first let's do some more bridge. We return to the recent regional I played in Florida - so much fun to zip in there and play two days of pair games! Last column we discussed the legendary polymath Goethe, and the greatness latent in beginnings. Today we raise the notion that we all benefit by being better "tethered" - connected to others, or at least connected to a pet, a card game, a bridge club, a religious congregation, a theater group, a Tuesday Night Darts Group - the human being is a social animal, and I expect that I'm speaking the obvious when I say we all need to interact with other human beings to remain healthy. I mean, duh. ***** Let's go to Louisville instead, here's a hand Ellie and I had to bid together in the national pair game, Board 23:  Axxx, QJTx, xx, Axx - opposite Kx, Ax, KQJ9xx, Kxx -
Naturally I opened the great 11 count with four-four in the majors, not vulnerable. Worth noting the importance of the 14-16 (as opposed to 15-17) range, at least NV. Ellie responded One Diamond, and I kept things simple for him by rebidding One No Trump (I think a One Heart rebid is fine). There are a hundred ways to bid these hands to a normal contract like 3NT, or 4NT. You have to make a solid effort to find a way to a terrible contract, like 6 Diamonds. For Ellie and me that solid effort was no strain whatsoever, and we breezed into the train-wreck Six Diamond contract with an auction which had essentially nothing to recommend it: 1C - 1D - 1NT - 4C (?) - 4S - 6D I had the temerity, on the day, to suggest that Ellie might have wanted to employ classic point count technique, i.e.: 1) Use the Milton Work / Chuck Goren 4-3-2-1 Ace-King-Quee-Jack count to establish the Core HPC 2) Add points for length (five for the fifth card in a suit, two more points for each additional card) 3) Downgrade or don't downgrade your holdings in your shorter suit, depending on your mood 4) Add the revised total to Partner's stated range. Counting extra for length, you want to have a minimum of 31/32 combined points to even investigate slam, and since you are already inflating your count by adding length, you must then be rigorously disciplined. In this case Ellis had 16 in raw high card points, and another three for length. You might want to take off a point for the short honors in the other three suits, but you don't have to. Add your 19 to partner's 11 to 13 (14) range, and determine: 30 to 32 points is not enough for slam. So, you raise One No Trump to Three. Pro Tip: If you want to improve your performance at either matchpoints or IMP's, stop playing in ridiculous slams. Just eliminate those contracts from your scorecard, even if it means missing some good slams as well. ***** The topic of tethering is timely, for this year's Bridge Hall of Fame Inductees have just been announced, and they include these three, in the Open Category: Steve Garner, Janice Seamon-Molson, and Justin Lall. Earlier today I posted the requisite congratulations on Bridge Winners, my comments about tethering are especially apt in this context. I had never heard the term before, I don't think, but certainly I was familiar with the case of Justin Lall. Justin and I had what felt sike a somewhat cosmic connection - correlations in our birth dates, the fact we were born almost exactly 27 years apart. Certainly it wasn't "from nowhere" when in his twenty-seventh year, seeing him at a bridge club in New York, I urged him not to "Join the 27 Club". For those unfamiliar with that club, it is composed of all the rock stars who died tragically at the age of 27. It's a surprising long list, and includes not only Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, but Jim Morrison as well. And that's just a few of the J's! I felt I "had standing" to make the comment to "J-Lall" for we both were aware of our strong bond, and we both recalled that I had visited him in Bellevue after his stunning suicide attempt - one afternoon, around 2011, Justin had taken the 4 Train south from Honors Bridge Club south to the City Hall stop. From there he strolled to the Brooklyn Bridge, walked partway across the East River, and jumped into the icy waters below. By an odd miracle of fate (and perhaps because he was a superb athlete, and may have shifted the angle of his feet during his descent), Justin survived the plunge into the river. A police boat hurried to his aid. When I visited him at Bellevue, he was still in an upper-body cast, but otherwise in relatively good spirits, under the circumstances. At the time he wasn't very well tethered, that's part of why he jumped. Ten years later, living in Texas, having left New York, those closest to him had him get a pet - a small dog, I lelieve. They hoped that would help him stay "tethered", I'm told. Probably it did, for awhile, The dog outlived Justin, which is a great loss for all of us. He was an amazing and gifted player, one of the real elite. He was extremely well-liked, and his ethics were of the absolute highest caliber. A star poker player, a champion of the underdog, he was the big brother you would want if you were getting picked on at the playground. He died young, somewhere in his thirties. He was a big drinker, I believe his liver gave out. The thought among some of those close to him was simply that he couldn't stay tethered indefinitely, the dog could only do so much for him. So today we applaud the ACBL for inducting Justin, and we honor his memory, and I quote Joe Grue's comments on this subject, when I was with him shortly after Justin expired. :"Some people say you shouldn't talk smack of the dead," Joe said, "But I disagree. I think it's better to talk smack about someone deceased rather than to say nothing at all - at least that way they're remembered." Key Takeaway / Thought for the Day: Do all you can to stay tethered. Talk to your friends, visit your duplicate club, daven shakris, attend midnight mass. Go to a fetish party, join a theater group, visit your local bridge club, play ukelele at an open mic at your local tavern. Whatever floats your boat. If you want longevity, and a better quality of life as you go along: Do stuff! Stay tethered! And congratulations to 2024 Open Inductees Justin Lall, Janice Seamon-Molson, and Steve Carner, soon to be the newest members of the American Contract Bridge League Hall of Fame. - BG / DW
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #298/19/2024 Springfield, Illinois - April 12 Warning: Long blog ahead! Yesterday, the weather here in this midwestern city was all over the map - chilly in the morning when I zipped across Edwards Street to visit with the Friends of Bill - normal in the afternoon when I visited the poker game - like the recovery meetings (and like bridge tournaments too), these poker games help keep me “tethered”. Then the climate was turbulent in the late afternoon when I rode to Stevenson Parkway on the west side, windy and rainy. Finally, sunny and glorious with mild temperatures in the late afternoon and early evening. Back at the Frost Library on-campus in Massachusetts, I learned the venerable aphorism, as apt here as it was there: “If you don’t like New England (Midwestern) weather - wait an hour.” ***** Now I want to present some bridge hands or bidding/lead problems from tournaments I've played recently. Writing this blog, I paused minutes ago to renew the old ACBL membership. Three more years. I have a phobia (perhaps it can abate one day) about electronic transactions - I'm always pleased and relieved when one clears. Like the old-school CEO’s who needed the help of their Executive Secretary to open their email, Some of us feel we are challenged in that area, dontcha know. ***** Board #3 from my second session with Wall Street Walter serves to illuminate several themes:  Let's start with Walter's opening bid problem, he was South on the hand above: QTx, x, AKJx,
Kxxxx: Fans of the "Prepared Rebid School" prefer to start with One Diamond - they figure they can then rebid Two Clubs, if partner responds with the feared One Heart. After 1C - 1H we might be in an awkward spot: Can’t bid One Spade (only 3), can’t bid 1NT (only one heart, we’re supposed to have two or three), can’t rebid the clubs (only five, and they aren’t very good), can’t reverse into diamonds (that takes 17 or at least 16 points, with 13 we’re way short of that). I am not a fan of the prepared rebid school. I like to dismiss these concerns by pointing out, “You know, if you open every hand with 7 No Trump, you’ll never have a rebid problem....” This generally goes over like a lead balloon, I’ve noticed. But let us look at this problem in greater depth - do we have re-bid problems on other auctions as well? How would we bid at our second turn if we open One Club and partner responds, say: One Diamond: Raise to Two Diamonds - or raise to Three Diamonds, if you’re feeling frisky. One Heart: I’m a fan of 1NT, Two Clubs is an option - reversing is out of the question - One Spade with three, well - you might get away with it. Whichever rebid you choose, select it before you open the bidding - then make that bid in tempo. Thought for the Day: Play honest! Other possible responses from partner, and your case-by-case re-bid: One Spade: Raise to Two Spades - only three trump, but 13 HCP and a side singleton - think of this as a happy raise to Two Spades. One No Trump: Partner denies as many as four hearts with this bid, and we only have one, so - I recommend you “take back” to Two Clubs. My hand, as you may have seen in the diagram, was AKx, KQT8x, QTxx, x - While Walter’s style suggests a One Diamond Opening, with his awkward 3=1=4=5 pattern, and this is a better penalty pass opposite One Club Opening than it is opposite One Diamond, it’s a pretty good one in either case. You can hardly blame my RHO for overcalling One Heart with JT, AJxxx, xx, AQ97. Had partner Opened the bidding with One Club, I would have an automatic penalty pass (poor fit for partner, big stack in the opponent's suit, excellent hand - after One Diamond, I considered it almost as clear-cut, since the opponents were vulnerable and we weren’t - whatever we collected was likely to be more than the value of our (NV) game. While any of the four suits might be a reasonable lead, I believe I started with a low diamond. I think Walter should push his singleton trump through at Trick Two - that’s usually the best defense on these hands. Regardless of the defense, we eventually tallied 800 points, for 93% of the matchpoints. I have no idea, but: How did the rest of the players with our cards fail to achieve this same score? ***** As I’d hoped from the outset, I find that writing a blog is an exercise in personal growth. If any of our readers are considering taking one on, I'd like to encourage you to do so. Note: Personal growth can be painful! ***** I'm working hard to develop my new agency (hard for me, not hard compared to someone who truly works hard), and progress continues. Paulo has pointed out to me that soon we will celebrate our one month anniversary, one month since we began in Louisville in March. We have a handful of nascent achievements to celebrate: This blog, the WBS website, multiple strong affiliations with top pros - all in all, a pretty good first month. Also, number this among our achievements: I began to circulate our bidding method (WBS) for responding to One No Trump openings: Since it's likely there are tons of students of bidding systems among our readership, let me recount that system here: Responses to One No Trump: 2C: Stayman 2D/2H: Transfers 2S: Range Ask / Clubs 2NT: Both Minors 3C: Diamonds 3D: Diamonds, To Play, 6-7 HCP 3H/3S: Singletons, both minors 3NT: To Play 4C: Ace-Asking 4D: Transfer to Hearts 4H:Transfer to Spades 4S: To play 4NT: Idle bid We'll look at the follow-up auctions in a future blog. This really represents a better mousetrap, I do believe. Paulo has been doing a great job working with a couple of new clients that have emerged. I phoned a young banker in New York yesterday. He had told me that he wants bridge lessons (mostly so he can use bridge to advance his banking career and extend his social circle). Ethan Wood wrote in with a great long letter, outlining how he'd like to help me build the organization. Lots of friends are coming around and offering to help - this is, naturally, hugely thrilling for me. Walter, my partner defending 1H doubled in Florida on today's deal, wrote back to say that he's good to play the first two days at the Fairfield regional in July. So I've got that booking to look forward to. Not too much more to say right now - let me close with some Pro Tips, inspired by Today's Deal: 1) Prefer the best bid, in your longest suit, at your first turn. Making an inferior bid to avoid a potential rebid problem is what I call "Wrong Thinking". 2) If the opponents overcall in your five card suit, pass, and consider playing for penalties. 3) When defending deals like today's, play your trump through declarer early - this will reduce the chance that partner will later suffer a “trump endplay”. Also, if you don't play it when you’re on lead at Trick Two, then partner in entitled to assume you don't have one. Closing Thought: I heard it said (well, written) elsewhere, not too long ago, that: Matchpoints is about making max tricks and collecting numbers. IMP's is about bidding your games and reaching good slams (and staying out of bad ones). Next Up: Blog #24 - More hands from South Florida
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #288/8/2024 Springfield, Il, April 10, 2024 I rose early in our American Midwest to put down some thoughts for today's column. It is a stabilizing factor in my unstable life, writing these blogs. Half past six, already there is traffic noise outside on West Edwards Street. The state capitol, with its towering dome, is only a couple blocks away. Discovery House is even closer - perhaps I’ll post myself near the 7 AM Meeting with friends of Bill, across the street. Like writing this blog, the fellowship I find in the company of those recovering addicts buoys me, keeps me near the surface of the sea. I’m not a recovering alcoholic, but I’ve been drinking way less - down from “Not very much at all” to almost nothing. Not that you asked, but I intend for these blogs to have elements of a diary - personal thoughts, recorded for the writer’s benefit, partly to aid his recollection. The life of a bridge pro can be lonely and isolating. I need to do all, write the blog, attend the Meetings, and do all I can to stay connected. You know what they say - It’s a dog eat dog world out there…. ***** Let's look at some bridge deals, here are some from my recent regional in Florida.  As opener, Walter held a balanced 17 point hand: Ax, Axx, AQTx, K762. I may have written elsewhere on the importance of using the 14 to 16 range for the non-vulnerable no trump range, as opposed to 15 to 17. Certainly I’ll confront that issue in time. For now, I just want to mention that it was in that very same Coral Springs Conference Center, back in 2018, when Chris Compton made me aware of the importance of this range one point or half-point reduction in the strength required for a not vulnerable no trump opening, down to 14 to 16 Not Vulnerable, in first through third seats. "It's really important to play 14 to 16 not vulnerable in the first three positions, instead of 15 to 17," Compton told me then, "It's a big improvement." Chris spoke with such conviction that I took his advice to heart, and I immediately lowered my not vulnerable no trump range. That simple change has led to a substantial improvement in my scores on deals where this change has an impact - deals where we either open One No Trump and wouldn’t have before the change, or don’t open One No Trump and would have previously (like Board 2 here). That’s not even counting the multiple collateral benefits. After Walter’s One Diamond opening, the next player, with 5-5 in the majors (KJTxx, KTxxx, K, xx) chose to overcall One Spade. Most would bid Michaels, but this guy bid a spade. Just the Facts: Sergeant Joe Friday in Dragnet Swing around to my seat - I had a rather typical hand for this situation, 5-3-3-2 with 8 points: Specifically, Q9xxx, Qxx, Jx, QJT. I'm going to zip across the street, I'll return and complete this entry. ***** Back. I'd like to see our bridge world provide a lot more of this type of group support - that's not really what we do, but perhaps we should. I’d welcome a grass-roots movement to create a similar group to meet at bridge tournaments. Defeating addiction is a good theme, but so is “wanting to be better at bridge” - the theme is less important, in my view, than the act of gathering in a group for ritual prayer or similar. Back to the bridge deal: In present tense, I hold Q97xx, Qxx, Jx, QJT: The bidding to me: 1D - (1S) - ? I’m guessing the field will bid One No Trump with this hand. It turns out that RHO had 5-5 in the majors, a hand that most will Michaels with, so I’m in a spot that won’t be duplicated often. But even before the bidding gets to my RHO, our adjustment of our NV NT range has had its impact - Walter has 17 (HCP), and most will open One No with that. At tables where the auction begins with a One Club or One Diamond opening from East, most Souths will bid Michaels rather than One Spade. A few will bid One Heart or pass - factor all that together and there may have been only a few other tables in the entire event where the bidding began as it did at my table (1C - (1S) - ?) Thought for the Day: On most bidding problems at matchpoints, it's not you against the other players who hold your cards and face the same sequence: It's you against the mountain. You against par. Rookie Error to Avoid: Don't assume that players with your cards at other tables will face the same problems. They won't. Leaving my specific hand out of it, in your favorite partnership, what does 1NT show after 1C (1S) - ?. Basic Intermediate textbooks, if they still exist, may have taught that this bid shows 7 to 10, even 6 to 10, with a spade stopper. Pioneering theorist Al Roth took a much different view - he considered this a “Free Bid” and had very high requirements for it. More like 9 to 11, and always a double spade stopper. So to me, there are two things wrong with the 1NT bid with this hand: 1) Our hand isn’t good enough 2) We have too many spades (I almost never bid 1NT with a five card holding in their suit. For the sake of this exercise, I'll imagine that I board my ten-speed bike and head up to Bridge World Headquarters (and Edgar's home) on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Obviously this is an imaginary conversation, since: A) Kaplan has been deceased since 1997, and B) in the late 1980's, when I'm setting this imaginary incident: It was quite unlikely that I'd be out on my bike in the morning hours, and if I was, I’d be unlikely to be visiting Edgar. Let’s imagine that I come up upon Edgar in front of his brownstone on West 94th Street, watering the sidewalk. I never saw Edgar water his own sidewalk, but we can pretend. I wheel my bike over to his curb, and greet him, then ask: “Say Edgar, I wanted to ask you, What are the requirements for a free No Trump response after partner opens and RHO overcalls?” “Your subtext deals with ‘Free Bids’”, he says. “‘Free Bird?’” I echo. “Don’t tell me your a Lynyrd Skynrd fan!” Naturally my reference is lost on him but he plows ahead.
“A One Spade bid by responder after a One Heart overcall shouldn't promise a huge hand - it’s a playable method, but inferior. Better to just let responder bid One Spade if he feels like it. I was wrong about this in the first K-S book, and Al was wrong about it when he presented "The Roth Stone System of Bidding". “Personal Growth Opportunity,” I remark. Kaplan continues: But I haven’t changed my thinking about a free One No Trump bid, like after 1D by partner, One Spade by RHO - Al was right about that. I thought so then (in the 1950’s when Al’s book was published), and I think so now. Typically 9 or 10 HCP, even 11, and always a double stopper in the opponent's suit, spades in this case. “That's a lot of hand to require - that’s just not how people play nowadays. Yesterday I played against a guy who had Kxx, Qxx, Qxxxx, xx, his partner opened a club, I overcalled a spade, he bid a vulnerable One No Trump with that hand, seven high and a single spade stopper. EK: How did it work out for him? BG: He went minus 200, we would probably have gone down in Two Diamonds if he passed. EK: So there you go. ****** Echoes of that imaginary conversation were reverberating in my mind when I faced this problem in Florida last week. “I could bid 1NT, sure,” I thought, “But why should I?” Reasons to Bid: It's fun to bid / We might have a game / I do have 8 HCP and it might be hard to catch up later if I don't act now. Reasons Not to Bid: I don't have much hand - no length in other suits, only a poor 8 HCP, at most 1 1/4 spade stoppers and I have to count the nine. Best Reason not to bid: I have five of their suit!." If I bid 1NT, partner would raise to two, or more likely three, no trump, and RHO would be done bidding. After I passed, partner re-opened with a double. I didn't have to decide whether or not to pass for penalties (I might bid 1NT on the second round instead), for RHO continued with 2H. I doubled 2H. My reasoning ran: Partner doubled One Spade for take-out - he's supposed to have solid opening bid values for this re-opening, and also at least three, frequently four, card length in hearts. Quick Conclusion: We have more than half the points, and at least six, possibly seven hearts. So I have an easy double. I doubled - they stayed there - I led the queen of clubs, though a trump lead, or even the jack of diamonds, would also have been fine. They floated down 800, against our possible 120 or 150, or even 400 or 430. Even down 500 would have been close to a top for us. Pro Tip: When they overcall in your five card suit, try this countermeasure: Pass!
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #278/8/2024 Springfield, April 8, 2024 6:58 AM, the weather is mild this morning here in Springfield, the temperature in the low fifties (Fahrenheit). I get it in my head that I should attend the 7 AM Friends of Bill gathering at the Discovery Center, across Edwards Street from my house, so I zip across the street for the fellowship and uplift available from the group, and from the reading of the daily statement and serenity prayer. Five years ago when I first visited this midwestern burg there was still a duplicate club here. Attendance was down to four or five tables in each of just a few sessions each week - maybe one evening game, the others in the afternoon. Covid restrictions marked the end for that club, and the end of regularly scheduled open duplicate bridge games in Springfield - I’ll speculate that they’d been conducted for close to 50 years, but attendance had probably been in steady decline since the nineties. From my one visit to the club, I recall it as not an especially happy place. Internal rivalries, petty resentments, processed orange cheese on Ritz crackers - you know the scene. Lots of unresolved anger in the air. . ***** Back in 2024, I’ve spent the morning working on securing players for a match in the Internet KO / Reynolds Team. I recruited a perky seventy year old former dance studio operator turned country club bridge coach to join us for some matches. This morning I also wrote some new instructional material - around eight hundred words for a piece titled: Do You or Don't You? (Open the Bidding)? I spent the balance of the morning being this new guy - the one with the bridge agency - the one triggered by a pair of events in Springfield - really a trio of events. I stopped playing in these internet KO’s around two years ago - just too hard to herd enough cats to have four for every match. But I’m resuming the practice. I'm puttin' the band back together.... That’s super important to me, what drives me here - the notion that I am part of a group, that we’re all doing this together.
***** This afternoon, I called long-time client Walter in Florida - he gave me his take on the blog and the website: He thinks it sometimes skews "cutesy". Walter is a Wall Street Guy, and what used to be called "a straight arrow". Performance art, conceptual art - not his long suit. Here’s a reconstruction of our exchange: "All this stuff about the Flying Wallendas," he griped, "Is that really necessary?" "Look, Walter, it's a character," I explained, "This Denis Wilsonovich is a character I created, from a bridge-playing family in Russia." "I get to meet this character?" "Of course, I would love for you to meet this character." "He has an accent?" Walter persisted. I sensed this was a trap question on some level, but it’s been ten years since I invented this cat, so I was unfazed by Walter’s wariness. "He has accent," I assured him. "Naturally he has accent, he is Russian guy. This is bad for you, he has accent? He talks like cross between Lev and Irina Levitina, why you ask me this?" "Why would I want to play with this guy?" "He is much more fun, and ten percent cheaper than Glubok. Plus you score much higher!" For once Walter had no counter. Game, set, match. Just one thing I didn't tell him, I guess I'll tell him right here: "You forget to give Wilsonovich ruff like you did last week in Florida, he will yell very hard on you!" - DW
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #268/8/2024 7 April, 2024 As recounted in Blog #22, five days ago, down in Florida, I was back at the hotel after dinner, doing not much of anything in the lobby, when I saw two top American pros talking, Chris and Korbel. I always liked this venue, the Coral Springs Conference Center and Country Club - you can sit on the balmy patio behind the hotel or visit the playing area. The night time side game was in play, four tables out of 100 active. I had already done all that, looked over the recap sheets, checked my score, visited the lobby, the patio which adjoins the golf course, the barely populated playing area. I’m a reflective sort, so being in that setting, I inevitably recalled my epic week there in 2018, partnering Compton on a Mahaffey Team. Also I recall that my longest conversation with Korbel took place when I ran him to the airport from this tournament in Harry’s van after the second session Sunday, I’m pretty sure it was that same year. That kind of reminiscence is of little consequence to either of these guys - touring pros like Chris and Dan are generally preoccupied with the present, today's game and the one tomorrow - maybe the tournament next week. Long-term thinking might extend as far as the next nationals, but probably no further. When I join the duo in the lobby, Chris is telling Dan how some hotels gouge tournament tenants with high fees to rent equipment or use hotel staff for technical support. "Now you're stuck hearing a Harry Goldwater story," I tell them. Chris has been around since the eighties, the seventies, actually, so I figure he may have heard of Senior Tournament Director Harry Goldwater. Dan, probably not - Harry was long retired by the time Dan appeared on the scene in the 90’s. The incident I described was already 15 or 20 years in the past by the time I made LM in '75. "You've probably heard of Goldwater's Law," I tell Korbel, and I remind them both Chris and Dan that Goldwater's Law holds that "If you get a lead out of turn, you should accept it." Goldwater's Rationale: If the miscreant is so out of touch that he doesn't know whose lead it is, then he probably doesn't know what the right lead is, either. Key Bridge Point: While often ignored, adherence to Goldwater's Law (Accept the Lead) will generally show better results, in the long run, than trying to choose among the other four options. Continuing to recount my recounting: "So this one time back in New York Goldwater's directing at a big hotel tournament, just like you're describing, and they need to move the microphone from one end of the other, so they do - but then the Hotel's Union Electrician and head of Maintenance comes to tell them that they can't do that themselves, they have to use hotel staff. 'But we didn't move the microphone!' Harry insists. "We kept the microphone where it was, we just flipped the room 180 degrees!'" Visualizing the incident in my mind, I assume that Harry illustrated this flipping of the room with a twist of one of his large hands, somehow I think of him as always wearing a rumpled suit and having very large hands. Not too many directors like that anymore, no? But I could imagine Mackenzie Myers or Sol Weinstein coming up with that sort of thing. But while Mackenzie might think it, he probably wouldn’t say it, and Sollie - well, he was a protege of Harry’s, he might even have been present when the incident took place. I’ll have to ask him next time I see him. ***** Here's a bidding problem from the first session of the tournament, Board 25:  First Seat, Favorable Vulnerability (white versus red), you hold: Q87432, 92. Jx, 9xx:
In the old days, back when Goldwater was directing at the New York Hilton and Eisenhower (an avid bridge player, you should know) was in the White House, this was considered a reasonable candidate for a psychic One Spade opening. Nowadays that isn't recommended. To consider all the other possibilities: Pass is the obvious choice. A light weak two bid might work. Four Spades is wildly reckless, very likely to either suffer a huge penalty, or goad partner into a misadventure at the five level or higher (partners are so gullible). Three Spades has a lot to recommend it - being NV versus V, there’s not that much chance of something bad happening - like being doubled in Three Spades and going down more than the value of their game. My Thinking holds that Three Spades may be the right bid, but I’d still probably pass - partners get too annoyed if you open Three Spades with such a weak hand, so it isn’t worth it. Let’s allow Bob Hamman (TGB) the last word on the subject: First Seat Favorable? Queen-ten sixth of clubs and jack fourth of diamonds, that's a minimum for a three club opening. So now we know: This hand is close to a three spade opening, but not quite good enough (you have the queen and the jack, but you lack the six-four pattern). - BG
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #258/8/2024 Springfield, April 7, 2024 I’ve been back a few days from the regional in Florida, today's the last day of play there. Most pros insist on being booked for a full week in order to travel to a tournament. I take a different approach. Many of my clients want to play only for a day or two - three, max. In Coral Springs I played only two days. Those two days featured almost 100 hands of tournament bridge, some of which you'll read about here. ***** Opening leads will likely prove to be an ongoing subject of conversation in these columns. We’ve already discussed this one:: Q, KJxxxx, Axx, T8x - 2H (Double) - P - (2S) - P - 4S - I found the club lead, we found the club ruff - tons at stake on that lead, any other lead and they get a near-top for +420. I’m familiar with the Bird - Anthias simulation books on the subject of opening leads, so I considered the club lead automatic - thanks, guys! ***** Consider Board 15 from this Set, the very first session at the 2024 Southeastern States Regional. Another opening lead problem.  You hold Jxxx, 9x, KQJxxx, A - In third position, you open One Diamond, and the bidding continues, with the two initial passes included: P - (P) - 1D - (Double) - P - (1H) - P - (3H) - P - (4H) -
***** Tuesday night Walter and I had dinner at the "go-to" restaurant in the shopping mall which adjoins the hotel complex. It’s called “The Latin Place”, favored by staff at the hotel and guests seeking a bite at a mid-range restaurant, convenient and unpretentious. Back at the hotel, touring pros Dan Korbel and Chris Compton were chatting by the front desk. The protocols among pros and players in these situations are established by custom. I judged from their body language that their conversation wasn't too personal. Chris had driven to the beach (he’d invited me along, a couple of hours previous) and it’s a pretty safe bet, though not a full-on lead-pipe cinch, that Dan had had dinner with his teammates - I think I saw them all leave together around the type Chris left for the sunny sand of Fort Lauderdale. I joined the pair of them and Inevitably Chris and Dan were engaged in some shoptalk. This day that shoptalk concerned the high cost of hiring hotel workers, often unionized, for audio/video support. If the tournament committee wants to hire local vendors, Chris explained, sometimes hotels insist on approving the specific workers or firm. This triggered a series of thoughts for me, so I jumped right in: "You're going to get stuck hearing a Harry Goldwater story now," I warned them. ***** Louisville ended eight days previous, and in between the spring San Diego regional had been conducted. I was conscious that these Florida and San Diego regionals seem connected to me, because around 2018 Chris and I had teamed up for both: As partners, on a Mahaffey Team in Florida, then as teammates, with our respective clients Steve and Walter, in San Diego one day later. This year Chris and Dan were the only two players at the tournament to attend all three congresses: 10 to 12 days at the Louisville nationals, a week in San Diego, now here in Florida, beginning play around 15 hours after finishing the Swiss in SoCal. Those two are a pair of serious Road Warriors, right? After I played in 2018 in those two consecutive regionals with Chris (back then there were held later in April), I got it in my head that I should sponsor a three week program, for players who wanted to compete not only in Florida and San Diego, but also in the ginormous regional held every year in Tennessee. I even came up with a slogan: "Take the Compton Challenge:" 1st Week: Southeastern States, Miami 2nd Week: Southern California Regional, San Diego 3rd Week: Annual April Regional, Gatlinburg, TN ***** The tournament calendar is different now, perhaps we’ll have to go with something like this: Take the Korbel-Compton Challenge First Week: Spring Nationals Second Week: San Diego Regional Third Week: South Florida Regional, Southeastern States Fourth Week: Laundry Week - Go home, visit Cuba, or stay in south Florida and play duplicate. Your call. Fifth Week: Gatlinburg Bridge Jamboree ***** I’ll open Blog #26 with the Harry Goldwater story, and end this one with a declarer play problem, based on Board 15, which we cited above. ***** Let's conclude this column with a play problem: How would you declare 4H on these cards? Tx, Qxxx, A9x, Qxxx opposite AKQx, AJxx, Tx, KTx - LHO opens One Diamond and against Four Hearts he leads the Ace of Clubs and shifts to the King of Diamonds at Trick Two. There is a winning play - I didn't find it - the defense erred as well (lucky for me). The winning play is to win the ace of diamonds - ducking the first round of diamonds may be best, so RHO can’t be reached for the club ruff with the hypothetical diamond jack - and after winning the diamond Ace, play Ace of Hearts, Jack of Hearts. With this line of play, the opening leader is out of trumps by the time his partner wins the king of hearts. With this line of play, rather than the simple trump finesse, there’s no club ruff for the defense when RHO wins the king of hearts, at that point the opening leader will be out of trump - he only started with two.
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #248/8/2024 Whole lotta convergence going on - Elvis in Hawaii: Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On: Amazing days, one after another. Let me try to share my sense of wonder at events with you. I find myself reminded of Johann von Goethe, the noted elite thinker / polymath, prominent in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Recent events remind me of a Goethe quote I had printed on a business card for quite some time: "Beginnings have a magic to them. Begin something!" ***** Goethe wrote in the late 1700’s and into the early 1800’s. I definitely love what he had to say about beginnings! ***** They call Goethe a polymath - I had to look that up, maybe you’re not familiar with that word either: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polymath A person of encyclopedic learning - what a fine thing to be! Or, if it sounds like too much work to become that learned: What a fine thing to be known as! ***** Morning in this small midwestern city - a day of short group meetings. Very early, I caught some of the gathering of Friends of Bill across the street from my place. Later this morning I got a few minutes uplift at the morning shabbos prayer at the synagogue across the street from the cafe where I'm typing this for you, I interpret that as something of a “trigger” - I've resolved to be more receptive to signs and "triggers" in life - let's hear from Chris Hynde of The Pretenders. ***** The Pretenders, Hey-Ho, Ohio: I intended to embed that great Pretenders song and then in looking for the lyrics I learned: That song was originally the B-side(!) of an even bigger hit for the band, "Back on the Chain Gang". In the last several columns I’ve relied upon "Putting the band back together" (think Jake and Elwood) as an ongoing theme. I think of Chryssie Hynde in that context, for while management and many fans wanted her to be simply supported by anonymous musicians, she insisted instead that she wanted to be “part of a band”. Some of us crave a tribe or similar to belong to, I guess that’s what I’m getting at here. Original lyrics plus video clip:. https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/16535/ I’ve been taking it for granted that readers will know what a “B-side” is. And on the “Diary” front, there’s great live music playing as I write this to you, Rich himself on guitar at Stella's cafe this morning. ***** Chain Gang, Official Video: I'm inspired by Chryssie's music to the point of thinking: "I ought to write at more length on the theme of belonging." ***** Her music inspires me deeply, like that of several other female singer-songwriters among her contemporaries - Joni Mitchell, Carole King. Regardless, let's hear from Chryssie again: Lyrics, video clip, Don't Get Me Wrong https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pretenders/dontgetmewrong.html YouTube Video Clip of Don't Get Me Wrong Thought for the Day: Cross the Diamond with the Pearl
Closing Thought: I notice there was no bridge hand in this blog - I’ll put double in a future column, to compensate!
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