I had the great pleasure of acting as a monitor for Adam Kaplan as he and his partner Cameron Shunta qualified for the World Junior Championships to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in mid-August.

Congratulations to Adam Kaplan and his partner Cameron Shunta for qualifying for the World Junior Championships to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in mid-August.  As I eyed Adam’s play, I marveled at how far this 13-year-old has come since I first played bridge with him over six years ago.  I don’t know how much I have influenced him, but by all standards Adam is a force to be reckoned with.  For details on the qualifying session, go to usbf.org and follow Adam’s play.  Click on mtvesuvius, Adam’s moniker on Bridge Base Online (BBO).

I am an unabashed fan of excellent bridge players - no matter what their age. So, it’s no surprise that I hold Adam Kaplan in high esteem, much as I do for Jim Logan, Charlotte Kartsonis, Marion Ellingsen, Carol Hargrave, Judy Hofbauer, many others too numerous to mention. With Adam, it’s his sharp wit that always makes it a pleasure to play a round with him. Here are some of his sometimes barbed but accurate sayings.

There are three essential ingredients in contract bridge: bidding, defense, and declarer play. I rank the ingredients in that order because everything I have read or my own personal experience says that is the correct order of importance. Accurate bidding allows you to reach the optimal contract, and, just as important, accurate bidding gives you the opportunity to double opponents for excellent results. The following hands focus on declarer play.

As I said in my previous story about the Brooksville Sectional, I had two excellent partners (Adam Kaplan on Thursday and Richard Wan on Friday) and we scored very well as the result of the many gifts handed out by our opponents. Here are a couple more to chew on.

In the movie Braveheart, Scottish folk hero William Wallace (portrayed by Mel Gibson) is being executed for treason. In the 14th century, execution included being “hung, drawn, and quartered” before the English citizenry. As Gibson is suffering on the rack table, women in the crowd shout, “Mercy. Mercy.” None is forthcoming and the punishment continues. Please, fellow bridge players, have a little mercy on your partners.

Howard Coley says he loves computer-generated deals. Well, Howard must have been in his element in the open sessions of the Brooksville Sectional.

In response to one of my articles, a reader asked, “Are you ever nice to your partners?” The answer is a definite yes. I can be as engaging, talkative, and friendly as anyone. But my insides may be roiling after my partner isn’t very “nice” to me by totally disregarding our conventions, especially on defense. Without question, defense is the toughest part of duplicate bridge. In order to achieve good results, a partnership must be able to defeat what looks like a sure contract or at least hold declarer to the fewest tricks.

Jim sounds off on lame excuses.