July 1995: Barry & Harry make their first appearance in Dutch magazine 'BRIDGE'. Quickly the twins become known to Dutch bridge players. The format of the column is simple: Barry & Harry learn to play (better) bridge from their Granddad, who explains to them how they could have done better. He does so in a calm, understanding and non-confrontational way.
Many years later Ed Hoogenkamp, their spiritual father, claims to understand how they think, feel and what moves them: 'Barry quickly turned out to be a tearaway, unhesitatingly blurting out his opinion. Harry showed more restraint, he developed into the thoughtful, quiet half of the twins.'
Readers looked upon Barry & Harry — and Granddad too — as real, living people, as can be seen from numerous e-mails and their figuring in a newsgroup on the internet. Once Ed was even welcomed in his Spanish language class in Barcelona with a cheerful: 'All the best from Barry & Harry'. Yep: fellow Dutchman...
In December 2005 the twins made their last appearance. But since then requests have been pouring in for their return. Therefore Bridgevaria.nl (our Dutch sister site) started publishing their adventures in December 2009. And now, March 2010, Bridgevaria.com follows suit.

Upon reading this introduction Ed Hoogenkamp reacted with laughter: 'Don't think the return of the twins is a consequence of all these requests. I'm missing them, I want them back myself!'
Whatever, we hope you will enjoy the adventures of the twins and Granddad. Below you will find the first one.

Barry & Harry (1) No loser, still...

'One down, good bridge', Barry laughs while they walk into the garden. Harry doesn't laugh.
'That was one fantastic opening lead, that lead of mine, right?' Barry continues.
'Yeah, sure, if you say so Barry, brilliant lead', Harry says crabbily.

'Hello boys'. Granddad is enjoying the fine weather. 'Did you play bridge at school?'
'Yes, I went down in 4♠, playing against Barry and he is going on and on about it. I couldn't avoid going down, though. I drew trumps at first opportunity; still his partner scored a ruff.'
'And he could only do so thanks to my...'
'Yeah, sure, Barry, all thanks to your brilliant lead.'
Granddad cannot but smile hearing the boys bickering.
'Can you reproduce the deal', he says, 'you've made me curious.'
After some more squabbling the twins succeed in jotting down the deal:

S/All		♠	9 8
		♥	K 10 7 6
		♦	A K J 2
		♣	4 3 2
♠	A			♠	5 4 2
♥	J 9 8 2			♥	A 4 3
♦	5 4 3			♦	Q 10 9 8 7
♣	10 9 8 7 6			♣	A 5
		♠	K Q J 10 7 6 3
		♥	Q 5
		♦	6
		♣	K Q J

'Barry led the ♣9 to Bas' ♣A', Harry exclaimed 'and of course Bas played his other club back. I counted three losers and tried to remove the EW-trumps as quickly as possible. So I played a spade. Barry won 'brilliantly' with the ace and played another club, Bas ruffing.'
'YES, YES, YES!' Barry roars, while somersaulting on the lawn, 'and the ♥A was the setting trick.'

'Mmm', Granddad mumbles, while noting another deal, 'your deal resembles one from a rubber some time ago. 1953 it was, I think, with Howard Schinkel as my partner. Or was it Oswald Jacobs?'
He shows the deal. In three suits it is identical to the twins'; only in clubs is the layout different.

S/All		♠	9 8
		♥	K 10 7 6
		♦	A K J 2
		♣	4 3 2
♠	A			♠	5 4 2
♥	J 9 8 2			♥	A 4 3
♦	5 4 3			♦	Q 10 9 8 7
♣	K Q J 10 9			♣	8 5
		♠	K Q J 10 7 6 3
		♥	Q 5
		♦	6
		♣	A 7 6

Halfway through the second half Harry suddenly freezes, thus missing an open goal.
'Hey, clumsy oaf...', Barry begins, but then he catches the expression in his brother's eyes.
'Of course!' Harry says and starts laughing, 'that's what Granddad meant! That's why he showed the other deal. I should simply have pitched the ♣K on the ♦K. Exactly the same idea, but since the ♣K was good, it never crossed my mind.'

* For our American visitors: football — the #1 ball game in the world except for the USA — is what Americans call soccer.