That Joni Mitchell song ran through my brain more than once Friday morning in the STaC (Sectional Tournament at the Clubs) Tournament game at the Airport Bridge Club. Partner Selina Volpatti and I committed grand larceny several times in the 6½ table session.
Victims of our first crime were Dave Donaldson and my Wednesday partner Celine Murray. I opened a weak 1 Heart after two passes, Dave bid 1 No Trump, Selina bumped it to 2 Hearts and there it stood. We had just seven Hearts between us and only one honor, the King, but I engineered a cross-ruff and we went down only one. It was good for 3 out of 4 game points. A couple hands later, with a 19-point hand, I let Dave play 4 Clubs doubled, not vulnerable, instead of pushing on to what would have been a 4 Hearts vulnerable game. He went down four. Top board!
On the next round, against Doug Dean and Ginny Panero, I overcalled Doug’s 1 No Trump opener with 2 Spades, a six-card suit to the Jack, and went down two, not vulnerable, on a hand where they should have made 3 NT. Another top board! We had three for the session. I told Selina it felt like a good game (we had only one bottom board) and it was – 60.36%, third overall, second in the B strat, 0.88 silver points with the potential for more on the district level.
Selina begged off on the second session (she was up to 3 a.m. in the Niagara Regional Council budget meeting), but fortunately Wednesday partner Celine Murray was available for Friday afternoon play. Nothing fancy, she admonished at the start, and there wasn’t, but we were just plainly on fire. In 21 hands, only four of the scores were on the opponents’ side.
When a partial score went up at the end of the game, we were at an astounding 71%. The final tally put us at 69.05%, first overall and the best I’ve done in a long, long time. The immediate reward was 1.42 silver points. I can’t wait to see what it does at the district level.
When a partial score went up at the end of the game, we were at an astounding 71%. The final tally put us at 69.05%, first overall and the best I’ve done in a long, long time. The immediate reward was 1.42 silver points. I can’t wait to see what it does at the district level.
Meanwhile, let’s go to the District 5 site and see if Thursday’s games rewarded us with some extra silver. No, not in the morning. Last B pair on the list to win a bonus had 57.9%. And not in the afternoon, either. The bar there was set even higher – 59.52%.
At the moment, Friday morning’s score tally is partial, but it looks like our 60.36% might mean something. With four of six clubs reporting (but not Airport), that figure would put us in seventh place overall. Top game, by the way, came from Jay Costello and Bud Seidenberg at the Bridge Center of Buffalo – an awesome 74.7%. As for Friday afternoon, no results at all yet.
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