Bridge Blog 897-A: Midpoint

With the year half over, I can’t complain about my master point production. So far, it’s 89.30, with 71.78 club points. The belated May total was 17.03. June, fattened by 11+ points during STaC Week, registered 21.24.

Among Ruby Life Masters (1,500 to 2,500 points) in Western New York Unit 116, I’m third in the Ace of Clubs race, which just measures points earned in club play, behind David Millward with 89.15 and Mike Silverman with 77.73. The rest of the Top 10 – Ken Meier, 69.32; Gene Finton, 59.78; Vince Pesce, 50.44; Fred Yellen, 49.97; Allen Beroza, 49.37; Bill Finkelstein, 45.11; Carolyn Siracuse, 30.99; and a very close 11th, Chuck Schorr, 30.98.

          In the Ace of Clubs unit-wide, David Millward is second, Mike Silverman is fifth, I’m seventh and Ken Meier is eighth. Jerry Geiger is tops with a whopping 108.99. Liz Clark is third with 88.37, Meg Klamp is fourth with 81.73, Ron Henrikson (!) is sixth with 76.98, Mike Ryan is ninth with 68.90 and Judi Marshall is tenth with 68.81. Holding down 11th is John Ziemer with 66.94 (how strange to have more club points than him) and 12th is everybody’s favorite sub, Tom Koralewski, with 66.53.

          Moving along to the Mini-McKenney, which includes all points earned everywhere, the Unit 116 Ruby Life Masters line up like this – David Hemmer, 123.56 (eighth overall in the unit); Ken Meier, 110.16 (15th overall); David Millward, 104.41 (18th overall); me, 89.30 (22nd); Fred Yellen, 88.41 (23rd); Mike Silverman, 84.76 (27th); Gene Finton, 62.74 (34th); Allen Beroza, 62.09 (35th); Vince Pesce, 54.10 (41st); and Bill Finkelstein, 46.16 (52nd).

          The Mini-McKenney leader for the entire unit, far ahead of the rest of the pack, is Saleh Fetouh with 313.01. Then there’s Mike Ryan, 147.58; John Welte, 144.69; Jerry Geiger, 143.82; Martha Welte, 143.74; Tom Koralewski, 131.44; Jay Levy, 124.72; David Hemmer, 123.56; Ron Henrikson, 122.65; and Davis Heussler, 121.12. Meg Klamp is 11th with 120.39. Eighteen players in the unit have finished the first half of the year with more than 100 points.

          Moving up to the District 5 level, which includes Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, on the Ace of Clubs list we Buffalo players hold the top four positions among Ruby Life Masters and five of the first seven.

Overall Ace of Clubs district leader is Patricia Katz of Pittsburgh with 119.48, followed by Jerry Geiger, 108.99; and Arlene Port of Pittsburgh with 104.09. David Millward is seventh, Liz Clark is eighth, I’m 24th, right behind former Buffalo player Bev Cohen.

Three Buffalo Ruby Life Masters show up in the Top 10 on the District 5 Mini-McKenney list. David Hemmer is fourth. Ken Meier is seventh. David Millward is ninth. I’m a distant 16th, 111th among all players in the district. Leaders once again are Ohio players – Sue Lan Ma from Kirtland Hills with 222.71 (just 11th among all players in the district), Charles Ladiha from Vermilion with 147.88 and Peter Merker from Mentor with 127.49.  

And who’s the biggest District 5 point winner at the year’s halfpoint? Good old Reanette Frobouck from Pittsburgh. She’s got 463.20. Second is Philip Becker of Beachwood, Ohio, with 329.06. Saleh Fetouh is third. Ohio players fill up the rest of the district-wide Top 10.

Nationwide, the top three are Chris Compton of Dallas with 1,494.72; Ken Dwyer of Melbourne, Fla., with 1,459.96; and the legendary Jeff Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach, Fla., with 1,435.78. Overall, 16 players have more than 1,000 points this year.