Never to early to plan. You don’t rate to win anything. Neither do I. But it’s about the journey, right? What else do we have going on in late December, anyway.
Edgar Kaplan was one of the old-time all-time luminaries of my bridge career. He was invariably polite, gentle, and yet very opinionated ( he was involved in both The Bridge World magazine as well as whoever/whatever crafts the laws of bridge ).
Here’s my Edgar story. Over a decade ago, I was kibitzing my two friends Lapt C. and David F playing against Edgar and someone of equally lofty stature in a Von Zedwidtz KO ( this is now gone, but we’re talking about restarting it in a way that makes it easier to participate. Maybe we’ll put up some free entries as a micro-reward. ) .
Lapt had some sort of 5-5 and bid 2N over Edgar’s 1S to show Diamonds and Clubs, but due to a slip of the wrist/mind, happened to actually hold Hearts and Diamonds. I’ve been there.
David, being a good pard, bid only 3C. Not vulnerable, Lapt tried to improve the contract over Edgar’s minor squirm by bidding 3D. David retreated to some number of clubs, and Edgar squirmed again. Confident in his luck, Lapt went to the well one more time, and even Edgar wasn’t enough of a gentleman to pretend he didn’t have a red card, so my boys went for a number after all.
Lapt being who he was, was annoyed at David. David of course was amused, as was Edgar.
Just typing this makes me nostalgic for the days when we could attend regionals and find great players playing with each other at your table. One of Edgar’s teammates, Richie Pavlicek is still active in tournament bridge. I run into him at the table once in a while. Just like Edgar, he’s invariably polite, pretending to not notice anyone’s misbids and misplays, teaching comportment by example. His website is a great timesuck with lots of resources for a wide range of players.
