Bridge Blog 913: Buffalo Regional Wrap-up

Answers to lingering questions:

How much did I pay per master point?

I won 15.66 points (97th overall). I entered three events Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the equivalent of two events Friday, Saturday and Sunday. $12 per event. That’s $180. Roughly $11.60 per point.

The bulk of them came from only $90 in expenditures – the Tuesday knock-outs (6.28), the Wednesday-Thursday evening compact knock-outs (4.85) and the Sunday Swiss teams (2.65).

Was this really my most successful Buffalo regional?

I earned more points in Rochester in 2015 (16.44 for winning Bracket 2 knock-outs with Judie Bailey). But Buffalo? Let’s check the ACBL archives.

2015 – 5.38

2014 – 9.77

2013 – 4.59

2012 – 12.12 (9.37 from second-place finish in Bracket 3 knock-outs with Usha Khurana and Alison Burkett from Kitchener, Ont.).

2011 – 6.97

2010 – 7.59

2009 – 4.15

2008 – 12.70 (My year with “Fast” Eddie Koval of Rochester, who played achingly slow. Eddie died in 2011.)

2007 – 5.44

2006 – 1.94

2005 – 2.73

So … yes!

For a change, a Buffalo player was the top master point winner at the Buffalo Regional. How did Chris Urbanek amass her 71.09 points?

Second in Tuesday open pairs with Meg Klamp: 56.93%, 9.85 master points.

First in Wednesday open Swiss teams with Buffalo’s Bud Seidenberg and Jay Levy and Toronto’s Joan Eaton: 140 victory points, 25.43 master points.

First in Saturday open pairs with Joan Easton: 70.79%, 24.94 master points.

Fourth in Sunday Swiss teams with Bud Seidenberg, David Hemmer and Saleh Fetouh, 139 VPs, 7.83 master points.

That’s only 68.05. Looks like she picked up some scatterings in other games, too.

Was this really a bigger tournament than the one in 2015?

In 2015, there were 699 tables, with 487 players earning a total of 4,518.34 master points. Top Buffalo player was Saleh Fetouh, who was 20th with 46.13 points.

This time, there were 718 tables, with 522 players earning a total of 4,800.85 master points. 

Last tournament at the Grand Island Holiday Inn in June 2013 was considerably bigger, though. There were 886 tables, 563 players earning 5,303.99 points.

October 2012 on Grand Island topped that by a lot – 1,092 tables.

Follow-up question: Was the Sunday Swiss team game bigger this year?

It was. 2015 Swiss had 41 tables. 2016 Swiss had 43. However, Sunday Swiss in 2012 had 67 tables.