Relegated to playing
pairs again, Joe Miranda and I flame out in the final rounds Thursday morning
(against Selina Volpatti, yet – we make her a point winner)
and again Thursday afternoon. Our record couldn’t be more dismal – 47.09% in
the morning, 42% after lunch.
Evening reunites me with
newfound partner Terri Downey from New Jersey and Canadian teammates Alison
Burkett and Jed Drew for the second installment of compact knock outs. Jed
confesses to a terrible mistake on a sure 6 Club contract, which costs us 14
International Match Points and a shot at the final round. We lose to the Martin team –
four women from Cleveland – 34 to 18. Take away those 14 IMPs from them and add
in our 5½ point handicap and we’d be winners.
After a brief
discussion of forfeiting the consolation round and going home early, we decide
to take on the Petrov team again, even though they beat us Wednesday night.
This time we play Petrov’s teammates, Alex Khrakovsky and Junko Hemus.
Junko, who wears
glittery makeup and has a Versace scarf across her lap, berates Alex throughout
the 12 hands we play. And for good reason. He takes seven bids to one of hers.
And he hands us two outrageous gifts.
First he doubles me in
a 5 Diamond contract and allows me to make it (16 IMPs). On the very next hand,
he jumps in with a 4 Heart bid to take away a vulnerable 3 No Trump contract
from me. Since I’m holding a 20-point hand (with A-K-Q-J-8 in Hearts) opposite
my partner’s weak 2 Diamond opening bid, I pounce on him with a double. He’s
not vulnerable, but he wins only four tricks. That’s a minus 1,400 and another
14 IMPs.
Although the Petrov
team beats us 33-31 overall, we get 2.81 IMPs for a handicap, and that makes us
victorious in the consolation match. 4.85 gold points! We’re elated. Especially
Terri. She now needs only half a gold point for Life Master.
No comments:
Post a Comment