1702 tables at the end of Day Six (Saturday), 58.1% of the 2019 total.
In 2023, there were 1613 tables to this point.
In 2019, there were 2926 tables to this point.
For full details, check out the Table Counts page!

Bridge clubs and tournaments throughout the ACBL are struggling with returning to live play, so comparing this tournament's attendance to one before the pandemic is not really fair. We'll hope to get a little more than last year, around 60% of the 2019 attendance, making the target number 1930 tables this time — but perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised!

Daily Deal

The deal below and the commentary was created with the free Bridge Base Handviewer program. It should be viewable on any browser or tablet but you may need to take some action:

• If you have disabled JavaScript in your browser settings, it's time to rethink that decision and join the 21st century, where it is the key to interactive web pages.
• Safari, the Apple browser included in iPhone and iPad software, must be tweaked in order to display Handviewer deal diagrams properly. The route to do so (on each of your iOS devices) is: Settings, Safari, Preferences, Privacy and then uncheck "Prevent cross-site tracking." An alternative is to download a different browser (Chrome for iOS works fine.)

A Unique Opportunity

Except, maybe not

Many, many years ago, I was playing in a Swiss Teams match against a fairly strong local pair, a seven board match, and I noticed after five boards that the opponents agreed, at least in their comments to one another, that the first five boards were not very swingy and might end up as pushes. Then on the penultimate board my partner failed to alert a forcing notrump, some ruling, the details of I don't remember today, but at the time felt a bit dubious, was made after some very overblown protests, and I went for a number. And on the final deal I picked up a huge hand after RHO opened 1♠ as dealer:

♠ A Q   ♥ void   ♦ A K Q   ♣ A K T 9 7 6 5 2  

We clearly needed a swing and I chose to overcall 7♣. LHO led a spade and partner turned up with the Q♣ and two more! The swing won the match for us, and the first five boards were, in fact, pushes. As the opponents left I overheard the player who had led partner's suit against 7♣ say "he would never have done that if we hadn't insisted on the ruling on the previous board." I stayed calm and silent but had one thought:

Ya think?

Here is a recent deal that recalled that incident so many years later. It was a 12-board match against the Bridge app on my cellphone where the other table and the three other players at my table are all computer bridge players. Scores are checked after every board and I knew I was ten IMPs back going into the last board. Click the Next button below repeated to watch the bidding and play and read the story below the diagram.

One even more ancient story on the same theme, one I heard as I was learning the game all those years ago. Two rival student pairs at the UBC Bridge Club in Vancouver decided to stop comparing their scores at duplicate and decided to stage an all-out, head-to-head, total points, Chicago-style four-deal-rubber bridge marathon, with the losers after 20 rubbers, whatever the final margin, each paying the winners the princely sum (in those days, based on student economics) of $20! They began at 1pm and played through to the evening and it all came down to the final hand with one side needing a slam to prevail.

Dealer passed and the player in second chair, aware that his side needed a slam, looked at

    ♠ A J 3   ♥ A Q 7   ♦ A J 5 4   ♣ Q T 2  

... and chose to ... PASS. He reasoned that if partner could not open the bidding, passing the hand out and getting a redeal was a better shot in the circumstances. Bidding might catch partner with nothing much and give up on the chance of a match-winning slam. Passing kept the redeal option, unless partner could open, in which case a slam was quite a good bet.

The player in third chair also passed and the final player, also aware that his side needed a slam, looked at

    ♠ K Q 7 6   ♥ J T   ♦ K Q 8   ♣ A K 5 4  

Not visualizing a passed hand with partner that could offer a shot at slam, he too decided to PASS and gamble on the redeal!!

The story at this point has no doubt been repeatedly enhanced in the forty years since it happened, but my version is that the cards were dealt for the next hand and while this was done the player who had passed it out mentioned that he didn't have enough for a slam opposite a passed hand. His partner asked "uh, how many points did you have?" and when the answer was eighteen and the shocked response was "I also had eighteen and thought pretty much as you did," the winners began laughing so hard that they ended up on the floor, from which the dealer opened 1♣ without even looking at his cards, "to keep that passout option off the table!" Soon the final hand was dealt and the $20 bills were sheepishly coughed up before the end of the cardplay.

Masterpoints for all players are updated nightly here first, with everyone's current red and gold point total listed alphabetically below the leaders, before a shorter leaderboard is added to this page.