Bridge Blog 983: Buffalo Regional Day 1

I could've been in Las Vegas on Tuesday to see Sabres battle the Golden Knights expansion team on the only ice in town that isn't cooling cocktails. That was the plan until a couple months ago. (Note after midnight, they battle back to send the game into overtime, then lose 5-4.)

Then I could've been on cat caretaking duty. Fortunately, our kitty Boris is recovering well from the amputation of his back leg and the cat oncologist says he seems to be cancer free, at least for the next few months. Thank goodness!

So I show up at the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo without a partner, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I'm paired with one of the partnership chairmen, Jim Gullo, a seasoned player who has about 1,000 more master points than I do, enough to put us in the top stratification in the open pairs game.

In the morning session, I have trouble picking up Jim's bidding and discarding cues. Plus I throw in a few boneheaded moves for good measure, like one against major master Joel Wooldridge. His 3 No Trump contract on Board 16 should have gone down, but I didn't hold back my Ace of Spades on this deal:

West (dealer/me)

Spades: A-8-2; Hearts: 10-9-8-2; Diamonds: J-8; Clubs: K-10-8-2.

North (Joel)

Spades: J; Hearts: A-K-7-4; Diamonds: A-K-7-5-2; Clubs: Q-J-4.

East (Jim)

Spades: 10-9-7-4; Hearts: Q-J; Diamonds: Q-10-9-3; Clubs: 9-7-5.

South (Junko Hemus)

Spades: K-Q-6-5-3; Hearts: 8-6-5; Diamonds: 6-4; Clubs: A-6-3.

Since Joel had been bidding Diamonds, Jim leads a Club, which my King takes. I return a Club, taken by Joel, leaving the Ace as an entry to the dummy. At some point after this, Joel leads his singleton Jack of Spades, which is where I fail to hold back on playing the Ace. 

I know I've blown it as soon as I consider what to lead next. Diamond? Whatever. The entry to the dummy is still good and the Spades bring home the 3 NT contract. Joel suggests that Junko should have put the contract in Hearts – it makes 3 Hearts for sure.

The post-game summary gives them 16.5 out of a possible 22 match points. All but three of the 23 tables play it in No Trump. A few North-Souths even take 10 tricks, but half of them make fewer than nine.  

At any rate, that's one of the reasons why Jim and I wind up with a 44.41% game. I'm more attuned to him in the afternoon and we're rewarded with 55.58% finish, fifth overall, but not enough carryover from the morning to win gold points. We get only 0.90 of a red point.

Big daytime winners are Chris Urbanek and Joan Rose, as might be expected. They collect 13.56 gold points. Surprise is the second-place pair, who also win the B and C stratifactions – relative novices Marilyn Wortzman and Amita Arora. They have a 68.27% game in the afternoon and earn 10.17 points. Bravo!

I stick around for the evening session and get paired with the woman from the Cleveland area who runs the table selling bridge books, Rose Cassman. In a 6½ table game, we're the bumping pair, hopping around as everyone takes a two-board sit-out. Our 41.37% ties us for 11th among 13 pairs. Rose is willing to pair up again Wednesday night. Well, I tell her, we've got plenty of room for improvement.