Proving his point
Years ago, David Berkowitz and Ron Andersen were
partners in the Life Master Pairs. They were cruising along with a
pretty good game in the first session when Andersen
picked up this hand as dealer:
S
---
H AQJT987652
D KJ
C 8
Deciding to be sneaky, Andersen passed. The next
player passed, as did Berkowitz, holding
S
86543
H
43
D
A62
C
A97
The player in fourth seat considered his hand, thought
things over briefly -- and passed.
The post mortem began.
"I
had 11," said one of the opponents.
"I
had 10," said the other.
They looked at Berkowitz.
"I had eight," he said.
"So," said one of the opponents
to Andersen, "you had 11."
"I had 10," said the man who came
to be known as The Hog.
"You couldn't have," the
opponents said.
"I had 10," insisted The Hog.
"You can't even count your
points," one of the opponents chided.
"Okay,"
said Andersen with a glare as he turned his hearts face up on the table one by
one. "One, two, three, four,
five, six,
seven, eight, nine, TEN!"
Andersen and Berkowitz, frigid for 13 tricks in
hearts, had conspired to pass out the deal.
The one positive aspect of the comedy is that
Berkowitz and Andersen made a bet with another player that, without going
minus on a board, they had earned themselves an
absolute zero on the board. They were right -- they were the only pair of the
300 or so who played the deal who failed to get a plus.
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