Bridge Blog 1009: Buffalo Winter Sectional Day 1

Where are the Canadians? Aside from Vera Carpenter and Rashid Khan, who have come down from Toronto, the only other player from the Land of the Maple Leaf is Linda Burroughsford. Although she lives in Fort Erie, Ont., she always plays on our side of the bridge so we tend to think of her as one of our own.

On the other hand, several Rochesterians found their way to the Main-Transit Fire Hall. Partner Ron Henrikson and I encountered at least three pairs as we played East-West in the big two-session pairs game in the morning and a couple more when we were North-South in the afternoon.

No matter where they came from, the double session game had more than its share of heavy hitters and they did well. Saleh Fetouh and David Hemmer had 65.47% and won 3.55 silver points. Dian Petrov and Kamil Bishara were third with 52.78%. Shakeel Ahmad and Manju Ceylony were fourth overall, second in the B strat, with 60.15%.

Go down the list far enough and you find me and Ron – 14th overall, seventh in B with 53.14%, winning 0.93 of a point. Not a bad start at all. In our section, we’re sixth overall, third in B.

The afternoon doesn’t feel as good. In fact, it’s kind of dull. This time we’re third in B North-South in our section with 51.96% and our overall score for morning and afternoon boosts our point total to 1.90. We’re 13th overall, but didn’t get our points there. We made them from being sixth in B.

Satisfying, but hardly overwhelming. Dian Petrov and Kamil Bishara, who finished second overall, won 9.54 points. Shakeel Ahmad and Manju Ceylony, who were ahead of them, won 12.72.