BRIDGE BulletinNOVEMBER FLEISHER GRABS SPINGOLD TROPHY Conventional Wisdom Lite Filling out your 2/1 card – the next installment ACBL’s WEBSITE What you don't know might surprise you Handling Bergen - Cohen Interference Coping with opponents’ interference when your TOGETHER side opens NT AGAIN BRIDGE BulletinVolume 82, Number 11 • November 2016 • acbl.org Cover photos by David Scarola and Crystal Cruises Features 11 The Long Game Fleisher team survives Spingold slugfest. 16 Reunited Bergen and Cohen back in action. 20 #TopSecret Fake news columnist Cocheme spills the gossip. 25 Keeping Transfers A system for handling notrump interference. 27 Untangling the Web New series on navigating the ACBL website. 31 Summer Sizzle Hampton Parks & Rec makes bridge hot. 16 11 4 Bridge Bulletin November 2016 They’re Back Bergen–Cohen reunite for the Orlando NABC BY SUE MUNDAY wenty-five years after their last weighed a lot more in those days.” To NABC win, Larry Cohen and amp up, Bergen would put on his head- TMarty Bergen are returning to phones and listen to “Pressure” by Billy their once-familiar seats across the Joel before the game. table from each other. The kibitzer buzz has it that fans are making travel Coming Up arrangements to Orlando just to be Eleven years separate Bergen tableside for the pair’s comeback and Cohen, who are both Florida appearance. transplants from New York. Cohen Between 1983 and 1991, Bergen and moved in 1996 “mostly for the golf,” Cohen were one of the most formidable and Bergen relocated in 1998. pairs to face. During that time, they “Marty was already famous when I won eight North American titles and was a teenager,” says Larry. “When I chalked up a half dozen second-place was 16, I kibitzed him at a local sec- showings. tional. At the end of the event, we chat- ted and became friends.” Pressure As they got to know each other, “it The Bergen–Cohen key to success was obvious to me that Larry was a was a super-aggressive edge, backed player,” Marty says. by excellent decision-making and card In 1982, five years after they met, the play. Their hallmark was lighter-than- two started playing together. “We had air preempts, which they Alerted. good success right away,” Larry says. “What we were doing 30 years ago Each had two North American is much more common today,” Larry Championships under his belt when, at says. “Back then, auctions were kinder the 1983 Fall NABC in Bal Harbour FL, and gentler: You could have a 1♥–2♥ they won the Life Master Men’s Pairs auction and play it there. People didn’t (now the Nail Life Master Pairs). get into your face competing for the They then won the next NABC partscore.” event in that same tournament – the The Law of Total Tricks guided their three-day Blue Ribbon Pairs – setting competitive bidding structure. Marty a record as the first pair ever to win was an advocate of Jean Rene Vernes’s both the Life Master Men’s Pairs and Law long before it became fashionable, the Blue Ribbon Pairs in the same year. and the entire Bergen raise system was Larry set a record of his own as he built on it. Larry’s 1992 “To Bid or Not became the first player to win the Blue to Bid” brought the Law into main- Ribbon Pairs twice (he previously won stream usage. it in 1981). Bergen–Cohen also brought a certain In the Bal Harbour Daily Bulletin, physical presence to the table. Marty Larry credited their astounding results describes their persona: “There was to the close friendship he and Marty Larry, who’s shy as opposed to me …” shared. “We’re good friends away from Marty backtracks to emphasize, “Well, the table, and we never argue. We shy as opposed to most everyone … And might talk about sex or sports at the then there was me. I wore all black on bridge table – but never bridge!” championship Sunday and carried This deal from the Blue Ribbon a big stein of water to the table. I shows their aggressive style and defen- sive prowess. 16 Bridge Bulletin November 2016 Dlr: North ♠ Q 6 plus they scored was the only East– Vul: N–S ♥ Q J 4 3 West plus, and they racked up 25 ♦ Q 6 3 matchpoints. ♣ A 10 9 2 ♠ K J 8 5 3 ♠ 10 9 2 Cruel Summer ♥ ♥ 9 7 6 2 A K 10 8 Bergen–Cohen took their winning ♦ ♦ A 7 10 5 2 streak into 1984, picking up their first ♣ ♣ 6 5 J 7 4 NABC team title as members of George ♠ A 7 4 Rosenkranz’s squad, who ran away with ♥ 5 the Men’s Board-a-Match Teams at the ♦ K J 9 8 4 Spring tournament in San Antonio TX, ♣ K Q 8 3 finishing four boards ahead of the field. Their teamates were Eddie Wold, Eric West North East South Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth. Cohen Bergen That summer in Washington DC, the ♦ Pass Pass 1 Rosenkranz team continued its win- ♠ ♥ 2 Dbl 3 Pass ning ways, and Marty and Larry picked ♠ ♣ 3 Pass Pass 4 up their first major team title, the All Pass Spingold. As memorable as winning it was, however, the championship took a ♥ Bergen’s 3 was a fit bid, showing distant back seat to bigger tournament spade support while suggesting a heart happenings. lead if they ended up on defense. “We played a tough West Coast team ♣ The opponents competed to 4 and one evening,” Marty recalls. “Around Cohen obediently led a heart. Dummy’s midnight, after comparing scores, we queen lost to the king. Bergen returned learned we had won by the smallest of ♠ the 10, ducked by declarer to the margins. It was then that we heard the king. Cohen led another heart to the kind of terrible news that puts every- 10, ruffed by declarer. South was able thing in perspective.” to draw two rounds of trumps with the Edith Rosenkranz, their sponsor’s king and queen, but he couldn’t draw wife, had been abducted at gunpoint the last trump because the defense while walking a friend to her car in the would then be able to cash two heart garage. tricks. So he led a spade to the queen “The following day was like nothing I and followed with a diamond. Cohen could ever have imagined,” Marty says. ducked. Now declarer made a subtle “There were reporters everywhere, ♠ but fatal mistake: He cashed the A, as well as swarms of photographers.” throwing a heart from dummy. When The members of the Rosenkranz he then led a second diamond, Cohen team were questioned by the FBI. “No won with the ace and led a spade, bridge players were discussing slams promoting Bergen’s trump jack. The or leads,” Marty says. “They were speculating about guns, ransoms and motives.” Bergen and Cohen Bring it Home Two days later came the news that Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams (1985, 1991) Edith had been rescued and was safe and unharmed, and that the kidnap- Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs (1983, 1988) pers had been apprehended. George Rosenkranz and Wold did not von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (1988) play again that week. The tournament Mitchell Open Board-a-Match Teams (1984) did not stop, however, and Meckstroth, Rodwell, Bergen and Cohen went on to Spingold Master Knockout Teams (1984) claim the trophy. Nail Life Master Pairs (1983) “When we saw Mrs. Rosenkranz on Monday, she was amazingly com- November 2016 Bridge Bulletin 17 record show that even though we won this battle, the end result of our match was that we lost the war by a miserable 5 IMPs. If only Marty had been dealt more decrepit hands!” Separate Ways Contrast Bergen, who is known for his convention inventions, and Cohen, who calls himself a 2 or a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Cohen says the disparity even- tually led to the split in their partner- ship. “Marty wanted to add science every session, and I’d have to say, ‘No, I’m not going to remember that.’” Team captain George Rosenkranz got the chemistry right! Bergen says that much of “21 Rules of Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Larry Cohen, Marty Bergen, Eddie Wold and Rosenkranz Being a Good Partner” – chapter three in his blockbuster “Points Schmoints” – derives from playing with Cohen. posed,” Marty says. “Incredibly, she was Syndicated bridge columnist Alfred “Even though Larry is 11 years more concerned with the outcome of Sheinwold picks up the action. younger, he is my big brother in many our matches than her own nightmare!” “The most deceptive bid may be a respects.” pass,” he wrote in “The Magnificent Says Cohen, “I was very fortunate to Hungry Like the Wolf Trap,” which appeared in his Aug. 30, have long-term regular bridge partners who I learned from. Marty helped me “Here is a deal I will never forget,” 1985, syndicated column: immensely in understanding competi- says Cohen of this board from the East and West were Marty Bergen tive bidding decisions. I believe he’s 1985 North American team selection. and Larry Cohen, youthful New York the best in the game when it comes to “I suspect that our opponents haven’t experts, who have distinguished competitive bidding knowledge.” forgotten it either. On my right was themselves in recent years by bold bidding and skillful play. Lew Stansby and on my left was Chip Bergen’s opening bid was de- (Just Like) Starting Over Martel, world champions both.” scribed to his opponents as a sort of weak two-bid in spades.