1. The Deadliest Game
In 1929, John and
Myrtle Bennett of Kansas City invited their neighbours Charles and Myrna
Hofman over for a friendly game of bridge. For the first couple of
hours the Bennetts had the distinct upper hand. However, the Hofmans
managed to catch up and were leading by a small margin when the fatal
hand occurred. Mr Bennett overbid a 4 Spade contract, failed by two
tricks and had the audacity to criticize his wife's bidding. This pushed
Mrs Bennett over the edge and she subsequently shot her husband dead.
The
jury chose to ignore the physical evidence of one dead husband, a
pistol with her prints and multiple bullet holes and acquitted her
(there were rumours that the presiding judge was a keen bridge player).
She even managed to collect a sizeable insurance payment, but had
trouble thereafter finding a bridge partner.
2. How a stick of Gum won a Bridge Tournament
In
the final round of the 1934 Men's Pair New York Championship, Ely
Culbertson partnered with Ted Lightner against Oswald Jacoby and David
Burnstine. To win the championship, Lightner risked bidding 6 Spades
with Culbertson to be dummy. Burnstine, knowing Culbertson's reluctance
to wait, decided to take his time. He deliberately paused to take a
stick of gum from his pocket, took it out of its wrapper and chewed it
for a moment.
At this stage, Culbertson was in a heightened state
of anticipation and was actually writhing in his seat. Burnstine hadn't
decided what to lead and eventually threw the chewing-gum wrapper on the
table. Quick as lightening, Culbertson threw his dummy on the table,
realized his error and scooped them up. But it was too late - Burnstine
had seen the cards, realized what was needed for a killer lead and
defeated the contract.
3. The Alcatraz Coup
Alcatraz
or "The Rock" is an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay that was a
Federal prison until 1963. Supposedly contract bridge was very popular
there and the term "Alcatraz coup" was coined. The "coup" is declarer's
intentional and unethical attempt to locate a finessable card by
revoking.
For example, South is declarer and holding the Ace,
Jack, 10, 8 and 5 of Hearts in Dummy and the King, 9, 7 and 6 in his
hand. He can't locate the Queen and doesn't want to risk a Finesse.
Since he had no other losers he claims the remaining tricks, pretending
that he has "forgotten" about the Queen. The Alcatraz Coup has just
occurred.
Poor old West pipes up that declarer must play on, thus
revealing that he must have the Queen. Treacherous. Everyone now knows
that finessing West is a sure winner. In the outside world, a furious
West would call for the tournament director. However, there were no such
directors on the Rock, but you would imaging the guards would be called
to calm the ensuing riot.
4. The Bermuda Foot-Tapping Scandal
The
Bermuda Bowl is a biennial world championship contract bridge
tournament for national teams. The best known controversy occurred in
1975 when it was held at home in Bermuda. While watching one of the
Italian pairs, journalist Keidan reported that partners Gianfranco
Facchini and Sergio Zucchelli were touching each other's shoes under the
table in an apparent attempt to relay information about their hands.
This
sinister discovery, which was confirmed by several witnesses, was
presented to the presiding authorities of the event, who "severely
reprimanded" Facchini and Zucchelli for their activity but allowed the
players to continue competing in the event. However, to prevent any
future temptation to foot-signal, the Bermuda Bowl authorities placed
blocks underneath the tables.
5. The Buenos Aires Affair
In
1965, Britain's Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro were accused of
cheating at the world championships in Buenos Aires. At a hearing held
at the tournament, the World Bridge Federation found them guilty of
transmitting finger signals to each other indicting how many hearts each
held. Both players were banned for the remainder of the tournament.
British captain Ralph Swimer forfeited all his team's matches and
withdrew Great Britain from the competition.
This accusation,
however, was mired in doubt. After many months of analysis the "Foster
Enquiry" concluded that Reese and Schapiro had not been proved guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore acquitted them. The British
Bridge League eventually found Reese and Schapiro innocent of cheating;
however, the World Bridge Federation found them guilty and banned them
from WBF events for three years.
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