Blum on Bridge Family Feuding
	At the 1994 Fall Nationals held in Albuquerque, N.M., the late Ron Anderson emceed an informative question-and-answer session among bridge experts. He called it "A Family Feud." Before the session began, Anderson invited the hundreds of tournament participants to send in answers to the questions he planned to ask. For those who haven't seen them before, I thought you might be interested in reviewing the 15 questions and the majority results. Remember, it was a feud - disagreements and arguments are expected. * 1. Name the best male bridge player in the world today - Far ahead of the field was Bob Hamman of Dallas. With numerous World Championships under his belt, he has been the highest-ranked player in the world since 1985. * 2. Name the best female bridge player in the world today - Kerri Sanborn (formerly Shuman) was the champ, followed fairly closely by Sabine Zenkel of Germany. Today, Kerri is actively involved in thoroughbred breeding and racing. When she was most active she was one of the few women to win the McKenney trophy for the most masterpoints in one year. Sabine, a young woman, represents Germany in international events. She also co-authored "Preempts from A to Z" with Ron Anderson. * 3. To the nearest 25, how many days a year do you play bridge - 100 days, 23 percent; 75 days, 21 percent; 150 days, 19 percent; 200 days, 18 percent, 50 days, 15 percent; 25 days, 4 percent. * 4. What quality or characteristic is most important in becoming a bridge champion - Exceptional concentration, 32 percent; killer instinct, 23 percent; logical mind, 19 percent; discipline, 18 percent; being a good partner, 8 percent. * 5. Name your favorite bridge author, living or dead - Victor Mollo, 38 percent; Terence Reese, 27 percent; others prominently mentioned were Hugh Kelsey, Eddie Kantar and Mike Lawrence. * 6. Name your favorite bridge book - "Bridge in the Menagerie," 29 percent; "Adventures in Card Play," 18 percent; "Law of Total Tricks," 17 percent; not far behind were "Master Play," "Encyclopedia of Bridge," and "Killing Defense." * 7. Other than bridge, what is your favorite game, sport or hobby - Golf, 33 percent; tennis, 21 percent; computer games, 15 percent; backgammon, 14 percent; six, 12 percent; and chess, 8 percent. * 8. Name your favorite use of a two-diamond opening - 41 percent chose what is called a "Multi two-diamonds"; this is a call that shows a weak 2 bid showing either major suit. To confuse you a little more, some partnerships tag on certain strong hands such as those with 4-4-4-1 distribution. Twenty-five percent use two diamonds as a standard weak bid while the rest employ various conventional bids. * 9. If all the World Championships had to be held in one city, which city would you select - Las Vegas, 34 percent; London, 22 percent; Paris, 21 percent; New York, 11 percent; Geneva, 9 percent. * 10. Name your favorite bridge journalist or columnist. Alan Truscott, 29 percent, and Edgar Kaplan, with 21 percent, led the parade. (The survey must have been skewed, as yours truly didn't even get a sniff). * 11. What is the most frequent cause of losing IMPS (points) in team games - Partnership misunderstandings, 34 percent; game/slam decisions, 18 percent; poor/good defense, 13 percent; overbidding or underbidding, 11 percent; errors by partner, 6 percent. * 12. In duplicate, what is the most frequent reason for calling the tournament director - Hesitation problems, 41 percent; lead out of turn, 25 percent; bid out of turn, 14 percent; problems with alerts (informing the opponents about certain unusual conventions), 12 percent; revokes, 8 percent. * 13. Name your favorite bridge convention - Negative Double, 29 percent (my all-must-use column last week); transfers, 21 percent; Key Card Blackwood, 20 percent; Stayman, 9 percent. * 14. What "animal" best describes you as a bridge player - Tiger, 95 percent; fox, 18 percent; cat, 16 percent; hog, 15 percent; lion, 11 percent; bull, 7 percent; rabbit, 4 percent. * 15. What I do most often after the evening session of a bridge tournament - Drink, 36 percent (did my partner cause this?); sleep, 27 percent; postmortem of game, 15 percent; eat, 13 percent; sex, 8 percent; watch TV, 4 percent. Remember, folks, this is a family feud so disagreements abound. You may have different opinions about some of the answers; I know I do.