Bridge Blog 851: Are we there yet?

        I knew that the 1,900 master point milestone was getting closer, but I wasn’t sure if I’d know when it happened. There’s no master point odometer. And progress has been hard to follow.

        First of all, the Airport Bridge Club didn’t report its point winners to the ACBL on time at the beginning of September, so the 16.91 points I earned during August weren’t included in the month-end totals. So the number stood at July’s level – 1,869.93. But in actuality, it was 1,886.84.

        And then, to complicate matters, I’ve collected points at five different venues this month. In addition to the Airport Club, there’s been Lockport Duplicate, the Bridge Center of Buffalo, Bridge Centre of Niagara and the Buffalo Fall Sectional Tournament.

        So let’s total them as best we can. As of Sept. 23, the last date for which totals are posted at the Airport Club, I had 8.24 points there. But then there were the other places. In Lockport, I earned 1.86. At the BCB, it was 1.10. And the sectional yielded 1.80. Add those all up and what have you got? 1,899.84.

        I could have crossed the threshold last Friday after I crossed the Peace Bridge to play in St. Catharines, Ont., with Selina Volpatti, but our 52.05% left us in tenth place North-South. With four other pairs between 52% and 53%, we missed earning points by a fraction.

Or so it appeared when the results first were posted. A check with the club’s website Monday night revealed that the point gods somehow found a way to smile on us. Now we were sitting fourth in the B strat. 0.29 of a point! Belated and misbegotten, but just enough to put me over the top.