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Clothes make the man.Naked people have little or no influence on society. -Mark Twain

History lessons Now that the 7th edition of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge is at the printer, I am focused on matters relating to the 75th anniversary of the found- Honor Horne, ing of the ACBL, to be celebrated early next year. To the Editor: We have been tossing around ideas for coverage in this magazine, starting We notice thar me next month and leading up to the observance in 2012. One of the ideas I like a Super Senior PaITs.. a. lot is a Top 52 list of influential bridge people over the past 75 years. be played at this year's ?: The plan is to list them, 13 at a time, starting with the January issue - i.e., Seattle, does not yet: '-- we will lead off with No. 52 and go through 40, then highlight 39 through 27 in nected to it, as do me i: February, ending with 13 through 1 in April. Blue Ribbon Pairs and ~ ozners, The list we envision will of necessity be subjective, although we may include We would like to sugg.:s: some objective measurements of tournament success in separate articles. I Super Senior event be named ~ compiled such a list in 1996 that put Bob Hamman at the top of the heap, fol- honor of Homer Shoop. 0 lowed by Howard Schenken, B. Jay Becker, Bobby Wolff and George Rapee, occasional partners and le;i:; ~:;5 Fifteen years later, Bob may still be the leader, but we haven't done the num- It was Homer's dream thar S(V"'~.: bers yet. there would be such an evenr, L: - In the meantime,I'm hoping that you will pitch in with your opinions. tunately, he is no longer with us to I have been involved with bridge for more than 40 years. I discovered dupli- his dream fulfilled, cate and the ACBL about five years after becoming hooked on the game. Homer, who died in 1991, was a I'm sure many of you have opinions about the influential people from times player with more than 10,000 mas long before I got involved. points and many wins, some of -m-.v.",,1 Take a minute or two and email your opinions about the people in our world we were privileged to share, He ..~ you consider to be giants of the game or influential in any way. High-level play also be remembered as the founder is not a requirement for inclusion. of the King/Queen of Bridge nearly ~ I would also be interested to know what you consider to be the most signifi- years ago and the Homer Shoop Pre- cant events in the 75-year history of ACBL. The idea of awarding Teen Scholarship Award. and creation of a masterpoint plan, for example, would have to be on the list. HELENE and GEORGE DR.:' Similarly, the advent of bracketed knockout teams must be credited with a Phoenix - surge in tournament activity. There must be many other events worth mentioning. An opportunity You are invited to submit any thoughts on noteworthy people, ideas, events To the Editor: and benchmarks. Because our list will be subjective, we want to tap as many Considering the ac.tnmc±::g~'2 resources as possible in making our choices. age of the ACBL me~ I know there are many of you out there who have been around long enough following message' to understand what we are looking for. Significant contributors will be thanked relevance for many TI'•• ,:. pr<;; in print. Your thoughts are important. Please share them. 0 Heart pacemakers r ~ 2!"'.G tend the quality © 2011 by American League. All rights reserved.Contents of this magazine may not be reproduced in any manner WIThoutwritten consent from the publisher.Mention of any product does not constitute endorsement by the Bridge Bulletin. Bridge Bulletin assumes no responsibilITy many folks aro for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photos, art, or cartoons, and reserves the right to reject any editorial or advertising materials. Unsolicited materials should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Bridge Bulletin is a registered trademark of American Contract Bridge League. happens to these --riG'-" ~ It is Bridge Bulletin policy not to accept advertising from persons or organizations believed to be unreliable or financially irresponsible. We are not resporrsible, however, for the performance of advertisers, the delivery or quality of their merchandise or services, or the legalITyof any particular progr2IIl. though, in the~ .• £__,...:;...! On cruise ads, we suggest you check to make sure doplicate bridge will be offered on the cruise you desire. Regarding investment ads, we recommend that you check with your financial adviser before acting,ACBL Management reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to refuse any advertissmait us are familiar ~

6 BRIDGE BULLETIN November 2011 I .!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR and the miraculous opportunity it may to a 2/1 system are contained in the improper claim.Silence is indeed provide. Now there is a program in book The Synergy of Concepts in golden, but it is often wrong. Mark development to recycle pacemakers Bidding at Bridge. told us, then our opponents, and we in a humanitarian manner that brings ROBERT COHEN took our 11-IMP loss. Phil Clayton opportunity to individuals who had no Houston TX was on our team, captained by previous possibility. Weishu Wu. His comment, 'I would Project My Heart-Your Heart is a Change regulations expect nothing less,' made me realize program of the University of Michigan To the Editor: I was on a winning team. " Cardiovascular Center. It is headed by I would like to send a message to Dr. Kim Eagle (Clinical Director of the whoever in the ACBL is responsible Instant adjustment Cardiovascular Center of the Univer- for updating regulations and Alert To the Editor: sity of Michigan) who is working on procedures. Instant matchpoint games can in- it with Dr. Thomas Crawford. It has a The vast majority of players use a volve a tricky issue in determining the simple, but powerful, focus: recycle range of 15-17 high-card points for overall winners. used pacemakers to individuals in de- a INT opener, so why not make this Seeding is very important, and it is veloping nations or to others in need. the standard and require Announce- possible for a director to game the Nations without strong health care ments only for other ranges? Most . system to help local players score in programs cannot offer such wonder- players do not Announce their range the overalls. fullife-extending devices to most for 15-17 anyway, and a change in the If all the best players are put in the of their residents. We can ... as one procedure would further highlight same direction, their scores will tend individual to another. According to when a pair plays something different. to be high because they never face the Project My Heart-Your Heart web In addition, weak jump shifts not in each other head to head. Unlike the site, "Each year, one to two million competition are also becoming stan- usual games, where each direction individuals worldwide die because dard, and my partner and I have never will average 50%, instant matchpoint of a lack of access to pacemakers. had an opponent Alert this when game results at other tables do not Meanwhile, almost 900Aofl individuals they play it. Making this use standard affect your score on any board. with pacemakers would donate their makes more sense. It turned out, for example, in the device to others in need if given the CANDY SHEDDEN Sept. 141M event, 50%was first place chance." What helps one person, and Boca Raton FL North-South in one of the Gainesville one nation, helps the world. sections. If you or a loved one has a pace- Honest man To determine an overall winner, it maker, please reflect on whether you To the Editor: might be a good idea to take the ratio would like to donate it, eventually, After comparing the scores after the of the pair's percentage and divide to this program. Become an "Ace" of fourth round of Sunday Swiss Teams this by the average percentage of all hearts! and agreeing on all the results, one of the other players in the same direc- More information at www.med. our opponents, Mark Leonard, re- tion in that section. For example, umich.edulmyheartyourheartJ turned to our table to tell us his claim if the average score of the section SANDRA L. ARUNGHAUS on one of the boards was inaccurate is 42%, the pair with 50% would be AnnArborMI because he could not get to the board scored as 50142, or 1.19. This makes from his hand. Instead of 5. making the average score of all sections 1.00. More on LTC five, the correct result on the board JON SHUSTER To the Editor: was down two for an ll-IMP swing. Gainesville FL In his letter to the editor (October, We still would have won the round, ~ page 7), W.D. Wallis is right on the but not by the same margin. Hats off mark regarding losing trick count. His to Mark for his honesty. comment about Jerry Helms writing FRAN SCHWARTZ ~ Letters to the editor are welcome for less-experienced players also ap- Laguna Woods CA by regular mail, email editor@acbl. plies to other Bridge Bulletin colum- org or fax 662-253-3187. Brevity is con- nists. Leonard's partner, Mark Teaford, sidered a virtue, as is subject matter with Ron Klinger's 1987 book, The Mod- also wrote about the incident, which relevance to a majority of ACBL members. ern Losing Trick Count, gives a de- occurred at the Orange County Re- Unsigned letters are not considered for tailed treatment of LTC concepts and gional. Teaford said his team thought publication, so please include your name and hometown. Letters may be edited. updates Courtenay's 1934 treatment. the board in question was a push, All letters will receive a response. Detailed application of LTC concepts "but Mark realized he had made an

November 2011 BRIDGE BULLETIN 7