Hand 2. Such poor bidding systems. 3C forcing is simply a bad system. Yet here, it does block out the unusual NT since 3NT is pretty dangerous, but even so, 3NT is probably the right bid. The announces are clearly not good players because they did not understand that 5C was designed to dissuade slam. Clearly his partner knew this since this fine hand passed 5C. But is 5C the right bifd? In rubber bridge, it might be, though 3 losers in NT or clubs is certainly possible. Hand 3. Strong 2s.....? Yikes.
Hand 1. 4C is awful. In fact, failing to double 1NT is pretty bad. Here is a sane auction. P - P - 1C - 1NT - X - 2D - P - P 3C NS belong in a heart partial, but I see no way to get to that suit. The "old school" 4 card major works great here, but such bidding has a lot of flaws, which is why so few players still play that way.
In the first contract, Why didn't he play the clubs first?? It would be easier and also then they didn't have to lose those points?? Is this how the old ones used to play??
For a bridge player like me, these are great to watch. Rubber Bridge is mostly the luck of cards. Not necessarily great play. This was on TV on those days - no cell phones, no internet atc., must be a great passtime.
It's interesting how things have evolved since the 60s in terms of sexism. The announcer routinely describes how pretty the pretty players are. This has a jarring effect when viewed from today's perspective. You never hear him talk about how handsome the men players are.
17:50 If the Schenkens knew this was the last hand, and their only chance to win the match was by setting their opponents, then why not double? Then they win the match by putting them down two instead of three.
This show featured some excellent bridge players of the time, to be sure. However, one woman I would really have enjoyed watching is Agnes Gordon. She was a frequent partner of Eric Murray, who said of her: "Agnes never came close to touching a wrong card or making a questionable bid. Everyone who played with Agnes marveled at her perfection.".
On a laptop, Ive been able to follow in order by watching the fist episode in each season, with the next episode being on top of the menu to the right. After season one (ep1, Chico) it's D2ep*, D3ep* and D4ep*.
Grainy, black and white, but for a bridge player, probably every bit as interesting as it ever was, perhaps moreso because of the presence of names like Chico Marx, Gerber, and Goren.
