June 2002 Column

San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. Unit

Our next Unit Game is on June 9th with hors d’oeuvres and conversation at 5:15. Dinner is set for 5:30 and stratified pairs for 6:15 PM. Our Summer Sectional will be held at the San Mateo County Fair Grounds on July 13th and 14th. Get yourself a compatible partner and score a bunch. Chair Fran Ball can always use help with preparations, setting up or closing down. Call her to advise if you can help. Because of conflict with the Sectional, there will be no Unit Game in July.

Welcome to our new members: Barbara and James Curry, Lolly Donovan, Adeline Thomas and Beatrice Trinkner. We wish you enjoyment and success at the tables. Congratulations to Bernice Russell. She has become a Golden Age Master. We’ll miss Linda Kistler, who died recently. She was a lovely lady who graced our games. Our condolences to Ray.

Results are in for the April 14th Unit Game. Overall winners in A were the teams of Daisy Straus - Gary Porter followed by Ralph Levin - Beryl Geller, Brian Reis - Tom Reis, Stan Chow - Lois Low Tan, Hanan Deeby - Perry Seal and James Dean - Rosemary Dean. Overall B winners were Brian Reis - Tom Reis, then Joanne Allen - Dean Wangsvick, Ed Burns - Maria Ramirez, Roy Nordman - Matthew Kaufman, and Pauline Berkow - Ronald Kauffman. Overall C winners were Ed Burns - Maria Ramirez then Roy Nordman - Matthew Kaufman, Albert Malouf - Leonor Frankel and Jane Lane - Patty Frederick.

I was telling Geoff Bromfield how I would play a hand I mangled if I faced it again. We speculated on how likely it would be to see the same setup again. Lo and behold, three days later, Geoff presented the odds as prepared by Arnold "Eric" Erickson- 53.6 octillion to 1. To understand those odds a little better, if one billion people (70% of the population of China) played twelve hands per hour, twelve hours a day, 365 days per year, it likely would take more than one quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeroes) years to have the same deal occur. Eric also revealed that the odds against a Yarborough are 1827 to 1. I had a 9-high today and feel that it hasn’t been so long since the last one. I know lots of bridge players who feel similarly victimized.

John Green, our unit librarian, asks members to return borrowed books after a reasonable time so that other members may check them out. Margaret Hale told of asking Toshi Kurokawa, a visitor from Japan, who played one Monday evening late in April if he had ever heard of Akio Kurokawa. Mr. Kurokawa replied, "All Japanese know him. He’s the top player in Asia." Margaret was shocked. Over 40 years ago, when Akio was a student in the Bay Area, she coached him in the rudiments of the game. Support is developing for Gary Schweitzer and Ted Richmond in the beautiful legs contest. Steve Jones and Jerry Edelstein complain about unfair competition from Ted’s surgically enhanced legs. And, where are the female entries?

If you are running late, need a partner or want to reserve a table call the club at (650) 344-4919. For other information about our club, Andrew Binstock keeps our web site current (www.meckwell.com/unit498). The material in this column depends on you, the membership. E-mail, Fax or drop off material in the club suggestion box. Please include your name and phone number in case I have any questions.

—Paul Levine pblevine@juno.com, Fax: (650) 593-2572