Bridge Blog 687: Pennies from heaven

When Dianne Bloom said she couldn’t play Thursday because of other commitments, I figured, OK, I’ll get another partner. But I hadn’t. And then the reminder call came from my dentist’s office about an appointment at 11 a.m. Thursday. That sealed it. Thursday would be a day away from the tables.

But I also told Airport Bridge Club manager Bill Finkelstein that I would be out by noon and available by 12:20 or so if he really needed me to fill in. The call came just as I was arriving at the dentist. Don Grant’s lost his partner. Come as soon as you can. Half an hour and two quick fillings later, I was on my way.

When I arrived, Don had played one full round, taken average-pluses for two missed hands on another round and had a three-board sit-out. Sitting East-West, the hands were mostly dismal. Of our 21 boards together, we were declarers on eight of them.

I played three – an ill-considered down 3 at 3 Diamonds for a bottom score on a hand where I should have done a negative double and thereby uncovered our fit in Clubs; an overtrick at 2 Diamonds for an average board; and a top board for making 4 Spades doubled vulnerable.

Overall, it didn’t shape up well, but the results were respectable – 50.97%, third in B East-West, fifth in B overall, for 0.76 points, half of them red. Now I’m only six shy of my goal of 27 for the month.

Bill Finkelstein, meanwhile, said I was beneficiary of his play with Don (and those unplayed hands, scored at average-plus) before I got there. Let’s look at the summary sheet and see if he’s right. On the four boards he played, they earned 16 out of a possible 32 match points. 50% even.

Beyond that, the two average plusses were 60%, of course. My hands were 12.5 out of 24, or 52.8%. And when Don was declarer, he kicked butt with two top boards and a near top. Of a possible 40 match points, he notched 33.5.