Bridgework
Before computerized hands were used a team captained by Jerry Silverman was playing against one captained by Tobias Stone. When the teams compared scores both agreed that the Silverman team had narrowly won. As Stone’s team talked bout the hands they realized at one table the teams had played the same hads that had been played the quarter before. Naturally, the Stone team protested and wanted the quarter replayed.
A protest committee heard Stone’s team assert that the cards had not been shuffled at one table, and. the boards concerned to be replayed. It was up to the Silverman present its case. It admitted that the cards were identical in the two quarters, but they denied the cards had not been shuffled! The committee ruled in favor of the Silverman team letting the results stand.
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Mark — That’s a new one to me! Sometimes, when playing “Whisper Down the Lane,” the real facts become distorted. However, there is a simple way to verify its accuracy. I am on the road but when I return, I will speak with Tobias Stone, whom Norman, Bobby and I knew quite well. He has one of the most amazing memories of all time (even at 87). so we can get his version right from the ‘elephant’s’ trunk.
Incidentally, is this the same Jerry Silverman who was President of the ACBL in 1973?????
Mark — I just reached Stoney and he was reminded of a similar incident — but it does not sound like the same one. He made no mention of Jerry Silverman. He and partner, Alvin Roth, were playing in a team game and upon picking up his hand, Alvin began spouting off the other three players’ holdings — down to their exact spot cards. They reshuffled the board and continued. But it was probaby on a different occasion as only one board was involved, there was no protest or committee and he recalls winning the match.
On reflection — if you’ve played long enough — most people can cite similar incidents where a once-played board had not been reshuffled. I know I can!
There was an incident about ten years ago in the Canadian National team Championships involving computer deals. Part-way through one match, Fred Gitelman called over the director, and reported that he had played the deal before (I think at recent Nationals). The director was incredulous until Fred described every spot card in the opponents’ hands. Amazingly, Fred had played the deal previously sitting in the opposite direction, and still remembered all the cards. I think at around the same time something very similar happened at a Nationals, where deals used at a Regional showed up again in a Women’s event, and were again recognized by one top-flight player (at least by one who admitted it!). Supposedly, the ACBL fixed whatever computer bug had caused the problem, and it shouldn’t recur. I think the solution at the CNTC was simply to deal out the cards for that session, but I may be wrong about that.
The incident involving a Women’s pairs event involved the late Dorothy Truscott. She wrote an article about it, if I am not mistaken, for The Bridge World. They asked her, when she came to the directors after a board or two, to just go on playing as if she didn’t know the hands and she claimed it was so disconcerting that she simply had a poor game and could not profit by her knowledge even had she wanted to.