Bridge Blog 702-A: Elusive

    A couple weeks ago, back before the Buffalo Garden Walk, I felt like a baseball player looking to extend a hitting streak. There were five chances to hit 20 master points for the month in July. Could I do it?

    Not on Thursday the 25th. Walking in without a partner (forgetting that Dianne Bloom was otherwise engaged), I had a pleasant but subpar 45.83% game with Ron Henrikson, which placed us 10th out of 15 pairs. No points.

    Returning from the weekend off for a game with an elegant-looking Usha Khurana on Monday the 29th, I played too cautiously and twice didn’t bid game when I should have. Even if we had corrected our mistakes, it’s unlikely we would have scratched, but at least we wouldn’t have been dead last with 39.39%.

    I vowed to do better Tuesday with Marietta Kalman and I noted only three disasters on my score sheet. Still, that only gave us 46.96%. Again no points.

    Down to my last two at-bats, I whiffed Wednesday morning with Celine Murray, coming in at 43.33%. Fortunately, there also was an afternoon session, which proved to be my salvation – fourth overall, first in B and C North-South, with 54.63%. That was good for 0.87 of a red point, 0.87 of a black point.