I used to fight on the BoD clarity and conciseness. A couple of Board Members at the time made Motions and COC's so complex, and so full of exceptions and decision trees, that the US Supreme Court would have had trouble interpreting . . .

Is it still April 1?

Phil Leon, RIP, was both a marvelous lifelong friend, and highly competitive player, but was also the best Committee Chair in the history of the ACBL.

Nash was awesome, and even he was unaware of the magnitude of his Princeton Grad School paper:


“He proved his genius within two years (of entering Princeton) by publishing what is surely the shortest paper ever to win its author a Nobel prize. Called Equilibrium Points in N-Person Games, it was less than a page long and contained just 317 words”.


The question here, is the value of N. Is it only South and West, or is North a third data point. Another unknown is the propensity of each to “stand their ground”. In my case, I've doubled 3NT's without 5 sure tricks, because I knew they had gotten to a fabulous spot, and in all cases, one of the opponents ran to 4m, which I passed with alacrity.


So David, there isn't an answer IMHO, unless you can quantify precisely David's, Anne's and your own risk tolerances, along with the nebulous emotional factor of “angering the client”.

I smell something pH - oney here :)

Yes, Donald, exactly as I've pointed out in the other F-N article.


I would guess that any Italian Court would strike the “Invitation Only” unless for cause, and here the Court has already declared that there is no “cause”,

Thanks, Paul, but you seem adroitly to have evaded the likely matter of an Italian Court issuing an Order that they be granted participation, the main thrust of my comment . . .

Shocking, and similar to the well-known Doomsday Clock (estimating how close we are to a nuclear holocaust), which is now set at 2 minutes to midnight.


Though no longer from the Midwest, I read the tournament results there, and was shocked that the main events at the Toledo Regional shared two characteristics:

1. Almost no participants outside the greater Toledo area (the player names resembled those at a typical Toledo Sectional).

2. The “major event” sizes ran from about 9 tables to a max 15 tables. I didn't check, but they couldn't have gotten more than about 200 tables for 6 1/2 days.

And Paul if they sue the WBF in an Italian Court, demanding admission and/or an open admission process, wondering how that would play out?

Wonderful News - NOT!!


Apparently, one non-bridge players forum's opinion on “lack of sufficient evidence” means that there is no conviction possible, no matter what the previous proceedings.


Thankfully, the ACBL will stand firm in not allowing this miscreants to defile our tournaments.


For those going to Orlando in September, enjoy playing against these c*eaters.

@Bill March-


I don't play “fast arrival” at a high level opposite an unlimited hand, perhaps I'm again under a misapprehension?

Bid 3♥ without interest, cue bid with interest, unless I've been under a misapprehension for a half-century, Richard.

Barry Crane: “If you need specific cards from me to make slam, I DON'T HAVE THEM!”


South signed off in 3♥, and North has a 6-loser hand, enough said . . .

I'm not at all sure this was Kit's mistake (I don't think he'd do this). When the ♠Queen was cashed, my thought was OMG and my interest ended.


In this weekly column, Kit has never revealed who held what hands, and it could well have been an observation on his part of an opponent's holding that he found interesting.

Perhaps, then, appropriately, The Day of Death (November 1, followed All Hallowed's Eve), should also be declared “Death of Plafond Day” :)

“The BoD heavy work load . . . ”


Was this meant to be a joke, David, or did it just come out that way :)

I fear that the “world” would be recognizing and memorializing massive physical structures to take cars over impassable areas, or small and intricate dental assist insertions . . . perhaps 1/10 of 1% would even think of playing cards . . .

An example received in my spam folder minutes ago:


DropBox informed me that my account would be closed and all files lost unless I updated my information by tomorrow (July 13).


Hint #1: I don't have a DropBox account!


Hint #2: The sending E-mails was <tjj8144@aim.com>; Somehow, this didn't seem to be an address that the real DropBox would use!

Mr. Levin, methinks you have some skin in that game :)