Inventors

[pclayton]

I am in the process of writing an article for the Bridge World concerning some of the topics that we have been discussing here; namely, continuations following auctions such as 1♣ - 1♥ - 2♣ and 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♦.

 

I am citing new minor forcing, 4th suit forcing and 2/1 as examples of conventions that utilize a low-level force for exploratory bidding. Does anyone know who invented these systems?

 

Thank in advance.

 

BTW, as soon as I have a workable draft, I will post it. I'm seeing Joe Kivel on 1/18 and I want him to review it first-hand.

[Guest Jlall]

walsh was the real inventor of 2/1, although hardy was the one who wrote the book.

[pclayton]

walsh was the real inventor of 2/1, although hardy was the one who wrote the book.

Yes, I knew about Richard Walsh; was more curious about NMF and 4SF.

[keylime]

I thought both treatments were part of the 5 card major - western style Mr. Walsh espoused in the late '60's?

 

If memory serves, NMF came about due to an acronym he and Rhoda used.

 

Maybe we should ask her? :-)

[MickyB]

According to Bridgeguys 4SF was introduced by Norman Squire. My impression was that it evolved from a semi-natural bid to a totally artificial one. There is a reasonably well known quote by a top player complaining about this change.

[pclayton]

I thought both treatments were part of the 5 card major - western style Mr. Walsh espoused in the late '60's?

 

If memory serves, NMF came about due to an acronym he and Rhoda used.

 

Maybe we should ask her? :-)

I dont know how much Rhoda had to do with the development of Walsh, in spite of her name.

 

My first reference to NMF was in an ancient Bridge World from the 1960's. The problem was the classic one: 11 count with a 5♠ and 4♥ and you had to rebid after 1♣ - 1♠ - 1N. A 2♦ call was referred to by one panelist as a "Petty Little Odious Bid". So, NMF's early nickname was "P.L.O.B.", as a matter of fact that is what was on one of my first cc's.

[geller]

IIRC, "PLOB" was the critical name ascribed to NMF by Sonny Moyse, the former editor (till 67) of TBW and then MSC moderator.

 

It's not really right to ascribe 2/1 solely to Walsh and his colleagues. It was a logical evolution from Al Roth's Roth-Stone and also Kaplan-Sheinwold, both of which used 1NT as a 1 round force and 2/1 as GF or almost FG. This was recognized by the fact this system was called "five card majors western style" in an early edition of Max Hardy's book. Of course it certainly is true that Walsh and his associates had a major influence on the evolution of 2/1. In my case I was an undergrad at Caltech in the late 60s (majoring in bridge, and occasionally studying geophysics) and Hal Kandler (who was part of the "Walsh crowd") helped me get started on 2/1. (I had already played K/S as a high school student in NYC.)

 

So I think any article on this stuff should make clear that these systems evolved in a natural way based on the contributions of many many people over a fairly long period of time.

[geller]

iirc (probably not, as it's over 30 yrs ago) the "PLOB" call of 2D being criticized by MSC moderator Moyse was a call made by panelist John Swanson. Can anyone either confirm or correct this?

[pclayton]

iirc (probably not, as it's over 30 yrs ago) the "PLOB" call of 2D being criticized by MSC moderator Moyse was a call made by panelist John Swanson. Can anyone either confirm or correct this?

I'll see John tonight; I'll ask him ;)

[han]

I believe there already have been articles about these auctions (Bourke Relay?). I assume you have already looked at those, but if you haven't, you should.

[pclayton]

Yes I've read about the Bourke relay; its OK, but I think my system is better :)

 

Swanson said it was Al Roth who developed NMF.