Cheating at Cards ACBL Cracks Down As an Old Vice Finds a New Outlet Online
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BRIDGE ACBL.ORG BulletinJULY 2020 Cheating at Cards ACBL cracks down as an old vice finds a new outlet online BRIDGE BulletinVolume 86, Number 7 • July 2020 • acbl.org Cover: “The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs” by Georges de La Tour (c. 1630–34) Features 10 Good as Gold First online regional is a hit 14 Zoom to Learn Teachers draw crowds with online lessons 16 Zoom to Play Innovation brings social element to online bridge 20 Houston Solution Charity Foundation president honored 22 Cue Confusion Colchamiro untangles the many meanings of cuebids 25 ‘A Hand’ Revealed Reconstructing short opera’s bridge deal 10 14 16 4 Bridge Bulletin July 2020 COLUMNS INTERACTIVE FEATURES CONTRIBUTORS IN FIRST SEAT THE BIDDING BOX PHILLIP ALDER Card Play 101 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT IT’S YOUR CALL ADAM PARRISH RULING THE GAME , WEST, EAST HANDS FOR Parrish the Thought THE BIDDING BOX FOR THE RECORD ROBERT TODD CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH Reasoning with Robert DEPARTMENTS CROSSWORD PUZZLE LYNN BERG LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Startup Bridge ED FOUNDATION NEWS MASTERPOINTS JERRY HELMS NEW LIFE MASTERS Ask Jerry DEFENSIVE MANUEVERS LIFE MASTER MILESTONES , LARRY COHEN Bidding Basics, The Real Deal CALENDARS PERSONAL MP PROFILE MICHAEL BERKOWITZ , TEACHER, DIRECTOR COURSES Lessons Learned PASSINGS TOURNAMENT DIRECTORY , MIKE LAWRENCE , , OBITS Mike’s Bridge Lesson, Mike’s Advice SCHEDULE OF EVENTS IN MEMORIAM , EDDIE KANTAR Chalk Talk, Test Your Play NOTICES AUGUST BOEHM , , NOMINATIONS Boehm on Bridge MARTY BERGEN Better Bridge with Bergen KAREN WALKER 20 Bidding Matters FRANK STEWART My Bridge and Yours BILLY MILLER 25 Dear Billy DAVID BIRD Bridge with the Abbot GEORGE JACOBS George’s World 22 July 2020 Bridge Bulletin 5 IN FIRST SEAT Member Services: 800–264–2743 (U.S. ) 662–253–3191 (Others) Dirty rotten cheaters Call and speak to a member The pandemic has altered the course of bridge services representative to: history and changed the way that tens of thou- • Join the ACBL sands of bridge enthusiasts enjoy their favorite • Renew your membership pastime. Cut off from traditional face-to-face • Change your mailing address bridge, players have now taken to their computers, tablets and smart- • Get questions about MPs answered phones to get their fix online. • Report Bridge Bulletin not received The fact that the ACBL and BBO were able to offer a wide variety of contests – from club-level games to tournaments – in a very short space Available Monday–Friday of time as the pandemic unfolded was greatly appreciated by players. 8 a.m.– 4:30 p.m. CST The letters and emails have been positively glowing; ACBL members were deeply impressed by the quick response. Email Customer Service: Those same emails, however, typically express a note of concern [email protected] about the threat of collusive cheating. For the ethically impaired, it’s easy to do online. Although players universally recognize that online More contact information on pg. 74. play is the only option to enjoy bridge for the short term, they still want to know what the ACBL and BBO are doing about cheating. A few years before his death in 2014, I met Allan Cokin at an NABC. For those unfamiliar with the name, Cokin had been convicted of col- BRIDGE lusive cheating with partner Steve Sion in 1977, and the expert pair was suspended for five years, forbidden from playing with each other Bulletin ever again. Although Sion was later expelled for yet another cheating Editor: Paul Linxwiler violation, Cokin worked actively to make amends for his sin, coach- Managing Editor: Sue Munday ing Junior teams pro bono for many years. He became a citizen in good Associate Editor: Chip Dombrowski standing and rehabilitated his reputation, though it took decades to Graphic Design/¡Layout: Cindy Hill do so. He approached me because he wanted to write a book about his career, a memoir with the cheating incident as the fulcrum for the story. BRIDGE BULLETIN (ISSN –) is published monthly by the Amer i can Contract Bridge League, Inc., Although he never got around to beginning the book in earnest, he had Windchase Blvd., Horn Lake MS –¤, already selected a title for the piece: “It’s Not Worth It.” ¤–¤–. ¥ per copy, ¥¦ annually. Yearly sub- scrip tion paid with annual dues. Periodicals postage paid The ACBL and BBO have a message for players who cheat online: It’s at Horn Lake MS and at additional mail ing offices (USPS not worth it. The bid and play records make it extraordinarily easy to ¦–¦). Printed in the USA. corroborate cheating allegations, and BBO investigators work with the Canadian Publication rate paid at Windsor ON, Permit «¦¦. CANADIAN return address: c/o ACBL National Recorder to catch and prosecute offenders. If we catch Amer i can Contract Bridge League, P.®O. Box , Stn A, you, you will be disciplined. BBO is a private company and will sum- Windsor ON, Canada NA P¤. marily ban you from their site. The ACBL will then have its turn, and its POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BRIDGE BULLETIN, P.°O. Box ¤, Horn Lake MS -¤ punishments include lengthy suspensions, barring partners from play- ing together, loss of most or all of your masterpoints, and, for extreme cases, expulsion. American Contract Bridge League For more on this, see “A Message from the President on pg. 9, “Ruling 6575 Windchase Blvd. the Game” on pg. 26 and “For the Record” on pg. 27. Horn Lake MS 38637–1523 Paul Linxwiler, [email protected] acbl.org 6 Bridge Bulletin July 2020 »InBox Letters to the Editor Prophetic advice I’m spending my COVID-19 down- Not Alerting 2♦ seems to be in di- to a bridge community with all of the time rereading back issues of the rect contradiction to the ACBL’s Alert support (and foibles) that entails. One Bridge Bulletin. Procedures, which use the term “highly of the most insidious effects of this I thank Marisa Silverman, Aspen CO, unusual and unexpected.” To me, us- pandemic is the disruption of our com- for penning her Letter to the Editor ing a 2♦ response to a strong 2♣ as munity. Kudos to the ACBL for doing that appeared in the March 2013 edi- a transfer to hearts is highly unusual. its best to keep us in touch with each tion. The fact that an Alert of 2♦ might other as we deal with the impact that She tells the sad tale of her and her wake up responder can be adjudicated this virus has had on our lives. partner getting a bad cold while play- by the existing laws. The Alerting side KEN LEOPOLD ing at a sectional tournament because is not allowed to use unauthorized Avon CT an uncouth player coughed without information. covering her mouth. When confronted, If the goal is full disclosure, then not Role model the offender had the audacity to reply, Alerting “highly unusual and unex- I was pleased to see that Larry Cohen “If you want to protect yourself from pected” bids is contrary to the spirit of was chosen for induction into the me, you should play at the other table.” the laws. And the argument of awaken- ACBL Hall of Fame. I have not met Marisa asks us to consider, “What ing partner with an Alert is specious Larry. His books, articles and online could be worse than a contagious considering that all Alerts run the risk sites are always my go-to places for person playing cards with hundreds of waking up partner. answers to my bridge questions (which of other people in an enclosed space Yes, I know that Alert Procedures are many). ♦ and expecting opponents to deal with specifically exempt 2 from being I knew of his fine reputation as a it? There are also many elderly players Alerted. I am saying that this is wrong. teacher. There was indication of his and folks with compromised health. RICHARD COMSTOCK kindness and sense of humor in his It’s the nature of our demographics.” Centerburg OH style of answering questions and Seven years later, in the midst of the explaining some of the gray areas of coronavirus pandemic, follow Marisa’s Community bridge. advice: “Let’s spread the news, not the When my son was stationed at Fort When I lived in the Boston area, my flu.” It’s so simple, yet life-saving. “Stay Carson, he lived in Colorado Springs. partner and I played in many tourna- home!” He checked out the Colorado Springs ments. I love bridge and decided to BRIAN R. GRAY Bridge Center shortly after he got attempt to teach the game to friends Mississauga ON there. They were extremely nice to who were beginners. Many of them him and he started going on a fairly joined duplicate clubs. I relied heav- Woke regularly basis when he could. One of ily on Cohen’s teaching methods. I did I find the “Ruling the Game” column the players who was particularly kind not charge anything for the classes, in the November 2019 issue (regard- to him was Joe Luk. Joe is an excel- just enough to cover snacks and some ing the non-Alert of 2♦ bid to a strong lent bridge player with a fascinating teaching tools. I really just wanted to 2♣) to be contrary to the spirit of the background, which includes years in share the game of bridge with as many Alert process. The excuse given is that the restaurant business. Joe took my people as I could. the Alert could awaken partner. Yet the son under his wings, taught him a lot of Congratulations, Larry, on a well- advice given is to ask what 2♦ means, bridge, and treated him to many gour- deserved honor.