Page 24 - ABF Newsletter April 2025

Letters to the editor
ONLINE EVENTS
The Australian Bridge Federation Management Committee could save a heap of money, save players thousands of dollars each and attract greater atten- dances by holding some or most of the major events online. Take the Spring Nationals for example:
The first enquiry elicited that an eight-high Yarbor- ough containing a six-card suit was “about 100 mil- lion to one” so I thought I’d write it up.
Today, Google has offered two completely different answers, depending upon the exact wording of the question namely:
“The odds of being dealt an eight-high Yarborough with a six-card suit are extremely low, approximately one in 2,200,000 (or 0.000045%) which is calculated by taking the probability of a standard Yarborough (around one in 1,828) and then further multiplying by the odds of having a six-card suit within that hand, making it a very rare occurrence in bridge.”
That is an AI generated response, and seems to be taking the position that the Yarborough is nine-high (which is 1,828 to one) which is about ten times more likely than eight-high.
And the other suggesting ‘only’ about a million to one – I haven’t been able to retrieve it. It seems low to me.
Are there any maths wizards out there who can tell me the real answer? Though I have seen a number of eight-high hands, the previous ones have all been flat for obvious reasons.
For those who are interested, this was the deal:
Board 15. Dealer South. North-South vulnerable.
]K9
[ J 10 3
} A 10 9 7 {KJ93
]AQJ3 ]876542 [AK765 [84 }KQJ }83
{4 {752
] 10 [Q92 }6542
{ A Q 10 8 6
Fred Whitaker
Year Format 2020 Cancelled
2021 Online 2022 F2F 2023 F2F 2024 F2F
Total tables in Teams Open Mixed
--
52 40
40 24
50 22
54 14
Unfortunately the Spring Nationals clashed with the world championships in 2024, but even if you in- cluded the number of Mixed Pairs from our National Teams’ personnel who would have played in the Spring Mixed, you would be struggling to reach 20 teams in total. You would not lose significant num- bers in the Open Teams by holding that online. And instead of cancelling the fantastic Gold Coast Con- gress, why not hold that online until the possible local venues become available at a reasonable cost?
With so many more Australian interstate players (and overseas players, too) likely compete in our online national events, there must be a good case not only financially to have all our ABF events online except for the National Teams Playoffs. The ABF bal- ance sheet would show a much greater profit line.
Ron Klinger
THE WEAK FREAK
The other day at our Monday club session partner picked up
]876542 [84 }83 {752
and heard me open 1[ in second seat . RHO passed and because she had a weak jump toy in the play- room it was employed. One may well ask ‘why’?
Pard was clearly shocked when raised to four spades but dummy was a rockcrusher and the contract was cold.
Interested in the odds about holding a six-card suit in an eight-high Yarborough, Google was consulted, as the maths involved is several levels above my pay grade.
Page: 24
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: April 2025