Bridge Articles
A defensive problem inspired by a deal from the 2001 Cap Gemini.
A game-theoretical analysis of a position where the defender must assess the risk of trying to present declarer with a guess. This article appeared in the April, 1989 Bridge World.
If you have ever suspected that deals "reported on" in bridge columns never really happened, this deal should remove all doubt.
An unpublished article. This deal would make a good addition to an article I did publish, "Studies in Perspective," that I haven't gotten around to putting on this site yet.
A defensive problem followed by an inferential problem in the format of a bridge movie. This article appeared in the October, 1992 Bridge World.
Countering Notrump Interference
A set of agreements for handling auctions where your side opens one notrump and the opponents compete. The agreements are designed to be both effective and robust, so that they can be applied even if you have never encountered your opponents' methods before. This article first appeared in the September, 1996 Bridge World.
I'd like to think this is the worst play I ever made. Sadly, it probably isn't. It's just the worst play I can remember. I'm publishing it here in the vain hope of finding someone who will do the same thing I did. If you do, please let me know.
On Kit Woolsey's "Taking Control"
A rebuttal of a defense suggested by Kit in his article "Taking Control" from the August, 2000, issue of the Bridge World. The suggested defense involves an ad hoc use of the suit-preference signal, a pet peeve of mine.
The Post Mortem, a publication of the Greater New York Bridge Association, asked me to write an article about John after he died. The article was too long for publication, so they printed an abridged version. This is the complete article. I only wish my memory were better or that I had kept better records. Playing with John was always an adventure, and I'm sure I could find a deal worthy of recording from every session we ever played.
We've all seen pseudo-squeezes. But have you ever seen a pseudo-defense to a squeeze? This defense, perpetrated by Debbie Zuckerberg, would easily make my list of the top ten most creative plays I've ever seen.
A discussion of the tactics of handling overcalls of partner's opening bid by employing the Law of Total Tricks. This article appeared in the September, 2007 Bridge World.
From the September, 2003 issue of the Bridge World. A declarer-play problem and my own personal record for most time spent pondering a single play.
A rule for evaluating the effect of unusual breaks in one suit on the proper play of another suit. This article appeared in the January, 1985 issue of the Bridge World.
"Here, the trap is easy to spot." This is how I described the Monty Hall Problem in this 1989 article in Bridge Today. Not one of my more prescient statements. A year later, Marilyn vos Savant published the problem in Parade magazine and received over 10,000 letters, many of them from Ph.D.s, criticising her (correct) solution. I guess bridge players are smarter than Ph.D.s. I didn't get any letters after my article appeared.