Congratulations to Louis Gooding

Every now and then, a bridge player has a miraculous hand, and does not know any method or treatment or convention which covers the information, which needs to be transmitted to the partner. Louise Gooding had such a hand, but the bidding was quite obvious. What was definitely unique about her holding were also the holding of the other players at the table. The following hand was dealt, and sent to us on January 31, 1999, and we have enclosed the correspondence with her.

 

From: Louise Gooding <wreath1@wt.net>
To: Raymond3@home.com
Subject: Grand Slam
Date: Sun, Jan 31, 1999

Dear Bridge Guys,

I found your page by accident. I sent you email in December. I also wrote my story on a chat line. I never received an answer. No one believes me that I play in 2 Bridge Clubs. This hand was unbelievable. I was visiting, the cards were cut, and I started the deal. When I picked up my hand I fanned them out and all I saw was 13 Hearts. I very slowly got up and showed the hand to our Director and to my Bridge Buddy. I then sat down and bid 7 Hearts. Everyone had an astonished look. I then repeated my bid. Finally everyone passed. The first card was played and I then laid my hand down. Now this is the wildest of the story.

The man to my left had 13 Clubs.
My Partner had 12 Spades, 1 Diamond.
Naturally, the other hand had 12 Diamonds and 1 Spade.

No one believes this story.

Now my Bridge Partner is a retired Math Professor Dr. Dominic Edelan. He is well known in his field. He retired from Lehigh University. He was an early pioneer in the space program. He witnessed these hands. I asked him to figure the probabilities of this hand. Well, he gave me 4 pages of figures. I looked and said: "Get real."

"What does these mean in layman terms?"

He said: "if you could count the stars in the Milky Way, multiply them by 100,000, you might come close."

So here is my story. I love Bridge. I am 70 years old and would love to chat about cards. Let me hear from you. I just started with the PC. My son sent me one for Christmas. I am taking a course at the College.

Sincerely,

Louise Gooding

 

 

 

Jackpot - Jackpot

 

Bridge Guys:

Well, Louise Gooding, we believe you.
Here is the Famous Deal.

Louise Gooding - South and Dealer

	AKQJ109876543 2
AKQJ1098765432		2 AKQJ9876543
	AK1J1098765432

 

The mathematical probability has already been determined for one player holding all 13 cards of one particular suit in one hand. If you refer to The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, turn to page 277, you will discover that the probability is 0.0000000002%. The probability that one player holds 12 cards of one suit and 1 card of another suit is 0.00000003%.

 

 

Claus and Raymond	Conventions	Bridge Sites

 

Home Page I	Glossary	Home Page II