Law of Conservation of Energy

PITBULLS:

Today’s e-mail is going to be a mini-sermon . My CNTC team is made up of a bunch of middle-aged men ( grumpy old men ? ) . The national finals is a grueling event where you have to keep your gray cells in working order . My theory is that the human brain is like a dry cell battery . It gets worn down and drained from constant use . It needs to be re-charged by rest and away you go again . Younger dry cells last longer than the older variety so recharging is more frequent with the older models .O.K. what is my point . The laws of probability dictate that since there are 4 bridge players at a table and everything else being equal you will declare a hand ¼ of the time . This is not true if you are Klimo or Peter Jones . They also play the hand as dummy . They watch every card intently and Peter Jones even counts my points as dummy . He says you only had 11 points eh ! ( I had overbid this particular hand ) . Klimo is just as bad. He watches Tom play the hand so intently that after the hand is played he notices that Tom took a 64 % line of play instead of an alternate line of play that comes in at 65.3 % . O.K. Gentleman stop your engines !! By playing 50 % of the hands you are wasting “dry cell energy” . This will result in a loss of stamina later on . Being the dummy is not a hard job . Tom says play a trump , you play a trump – not a hard job or taxing on the brain cells . Tom & I fall into that trap sometimes also . We follow the play to see if our “masterfully bid” 4 spades makes . Actually if we just snooze as dummy the 620 or –100 scored will tell the tale. Anyway , at our age , being the dummy should be re-charge the battery time . I know old habits are hard to break but …

Not to upset anybody but the PITBULLS are no longer pups . If any of you play the hands as dummy , I think it is time to take a newspaper to your snout . Being the dummy should be a time for a “cat nap” to pardon the expression . Also if you snooze as dummy it is harder to notice if partner took an inferior line of play . That is a good thing also …

Bob Crosby