Bridge Blog 1050: Whatever happened to August? (Finally complete)

          Unit 116 (Buffalo only), Ace of Clubs (club play only), Ruby Life Masters (players with 1,500 to 2,500 points). 

    I earned only 10.52 club points in August, bringing my Ace of Clubs total to 94.24, enough of a slump to allow Ken Meier to bump me from fifth place down to sixth among the Rubies and drop me from 15th to 19th among all players in the unit. Here's the top 10:

Mike Silverman leapfrogs to first place with 128.67, hopping past last month’s runner-up, Allen Beroza, who has 124.41. Previous leader David Millward, with 119.79, is third. Martin Pieterse continues in fourth place with 109.55.

Ken Meier advances to fifth with 98.97. Then there’s my 94.24. Rounding out the list are Fred Yellen with 80.87, still keeping five points ahead of Dorothy May, who has 75.74.  Gene Finton continues ninth with 63.12; and Davis Heussler continues in 10th place with 61.42.      

             Unit 116, Ace of Clubs overall. Alan Greer. Another 50-point month lifts him to 310.51 club points, now more than 100 ahead of his sometime partner Nancy Wolstoncroft, who’s still second with 201.98.
Then it’s John Ziemer, with a 36-point month, has 185.59; Liz Clark inching up to fifth with 130.70 and Mike Silverman with 128.67.
After that it’s Allen Beroza, 124.41; David Millward, 119.79; Barbara Libby, 118.57; Mike Ryan, 115.27; Martin Pieterse, 109.55; and the Weltes, Martha and John, both with 108.33. Also over the century mark, Bob Linn with 106.64.

      Moving on to the Mini-McKenney races, which count all points earned everywhere, I’ve slipped a notch here, too, from sixth to seventh with 114.24 overall for the year, up by those 10.52 club points since July.

Still far ahead is Davis Heussler at 267.26, though he’s declined from second to third among all Unit 116 players. Still holding second place is Ken Meier with 182.80, down from 11th to 12th in the entire unit.  

Allen Beroza moves up to third place with 154.57 (14th overall in the unit). David Millward drops to fourth with 146.13; and he’s down from 13th overall to 16th. Mike Silverman is closing in at fifth with 139.11, (up four notches overall to 23rd).

 Martin Pieterse has displaced me from sixth position. He has 119.27 (26th overall), while I’m 114.24 (30th overall, down from 24th).

Then we get Fred Yellen, 113.91 (31st); and a big drop to Dorothy May, 79.01 (47th); and Elaine Kurasiewicz, 78.16 (49th).  

     Among all players in Unit 116, it’s Alan Greer, with 354.29. Saleh Fetouh takes a major jump from eighth to second, thanks to a 130-point month, and sits with 295.60. Then comes Davis Heussler with his 267.26; John Ziemer with 263.49; and Dian Petrov, up from 19th, thanks to a 118-point month, has 239.62.

All this drops Nancy Wolstoncroft from fourth down to sixth with 227.74; followed by the Weltes, 219.78; Jay Levy, 214.46; and Linda Burroughsford, 203.67.

Now let’s widen our horizons.

District 5 (Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh) Ace of Clubs, Ruby Life Masters. 

     Here Unit 116 players hold five of the top six  places, and six of the top 10.

Leader now is Buffalo’s Mike Silverman with 128.67, followed by Allen Beroza with 125.41. The leader back in April, Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., moves up to third with 121.92, while Millward descends to fourth with 119.79. Then it’s Martin Pieterse, 109.55; Ken Meier, 98.97; Marvin Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, 97.48; James Wheeler of Edinburg, Pa., 95.08; moi, 94.24; and Chantal Whitney of Bratenahl, Ohio, 92.55. 

None of us Rubies are in the top 10 district-wide. Our top five are ranked 13, 14, 15, 17 and 24. I’m 41st, down from 36th.

Overall Ace of Clubbers in District 5 look like this:
Still three Buffalonians on top – Alan Greer with 310.51, Nancy Wolstoncroft with 201.98 and John Ziemer with 185.59. Then it’s Arlene Port of Pittsburgh, 178.10; Richard Katz of North Versailles, Pa., 177.53; Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh, 159.78, slipping from fourth to sixth; Asim Ulke of Monroeville, Pa., 141.60; Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, 139.33; Barbara Belardi of Pittsburgh, 137.18; and Patricia Katz of Pittsburgh, 136.42. Buffalo’s Liz Clark is 12th with 130.70.

    Now for the District 5 Mini-McKenney, Ruby Life Masters. 

    Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., had a 110.25-point month, outdistancing everyone. Craig Biddle of Pittsburgh, with 319.13, has taken over second position. Unit 116’s David Heussler, first two months ago, now is third with 267.26. They’re eighth, 14th and 22nd overall in the district.

     The other leaders include: Ken Meier, 182.80 (46th); Leroy Hackenberg of Pittsburgh, 169.90 (53rd); our Allen Beroza, 154.57 (61st); Martin Kumer of Monroeville, Pa., 147.04 (69th) Marvin Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, 146.98 (70th); then two Buffalonians, David Millward, 146.13 (72nd); and Mike Silverman, 139.11 (82nd). I’m down from 13th to 19th among Rubies with my 114.24, and down from 101st overall to 125th.

   Mini-McKenney leader among all District 5 players is, of course, Sue Lan Ma of Kirtland Hills, Ohio, who added 130 points in August to reach 722.82. Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio,  reclaims second place thanks to a 144-point month with 510.66, displacing Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh who slips to third with 501.75 after a 109-point month.

     Maintaining fourth is Don Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, with 469.78. Bernie Greenspan of Beachwood, Ohio, reclaims fifth with 463.34, followed by Robert and Stephanie Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, with 436.94 and 418.55, respectively.

Then it’s Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., with 413.90; Richard Katz of North Versailles, Pa., 404.63; and Fred Schenker, 360.62. He knocks Buffalo’s Alan Greer, with 354.29, down to 11th. Next Unit 116 player on the list is Saleh Fetouh with 295.60. 

    Ace of Clubs, Ruby Life Masters, nationwide.

    Paul Hassett of The Villages, Fla., increases his lead by four points over Anna Maxcine Thacker of Palm Coast, Fla., 241.34 to 225.59. Joanne Matchette of Vero Beach, Fla., stays third with 225.82. Bruce Ladin of Harwood Heights, Ill., appears out of nowhere to take fourth place with 207.43, bumping Richard Seidman of Orlando, Fla., down to fifth with 206.74. 

Barry Nish of Little Neck, L.I., has a 34-point month and moves up to sixth with 206.42. Then it’s Brian Breckenridge of Corvallis, Ore., 202.78; Jonathan Williams of The Villages, Fla., 194.11; another new entry, Aivars Lapins of Cambria, Calif., with 192.59; and Mason Barge of Atlanta with 191.85. April's leader, Russ Pearly, also of The Villages, drops from seventh to 12th with 184.03.

   Unit 116 leader Mike Silverman breaks into the Top 100, up from 157th to 95th. Allen Beroza slips slightly from 109th to 111th. But now he’s ahead of David Millward, who’s down from 84th to 139th. Other local notables Martin Pieterse, up from 239th to 214th; Ken Meier, up to 315th from 408th; and me, down to 393rd from 356th. The list cuts off at 88.95.

Ace of Clubs, all players, nationwide. 

Bill Kulbersh of Atlanta is still on top, up 89 points in August to reach 541.86. Repeating in second place is Irva Neyhart of Corvallis, Ore., with a near-50-point month at 389.55. The woman she displaced a month ago, Bella Ionis-Sorren of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., holds on in third with 369.87. Coming up fast and breathing down her neck, it’s Harry Kaufmann of North Reddington Beach, Fla., with 369.58. Sheila Gabay of Newton, Mass., picks up 50 points to move up to fifth with 350.09. Last month’s fourth-place guy, Robert Epstein of Atlanta, has 345.56.

     Then it’s Kay Schulle of Purchase, N.Y., 341.47; up from a tie for ninth to a tie for eighth, thanks to a 55-point month, it’s Diane Hurt and Edgar Hurt Jr., both of Laguna Woods., Calif., both with 340.29. Tenth is En Xie of St. Louis with 337.27.

Alan Greer is up from 20th to 14th; Nancy Wolstoncroft is up from 170th to 133rd. John Ziemer is up from 257th to 209th. The list stops at 153.41.

    Onward to Mini-McKenney, Ruby Life Masters, nationwide.

Robert L. McClendon of Ponte Vedra, Fla., added another 225 points to reach 1,373.35. Soon he will triple the totals for Alex Khrakovsky of Columbus, Ohio, who jumped to second with a 97-point month to reach 594.76; passing Mary Ose of Sacramento, Calif, who has 559.24.

Steady in fourth is Sabrina Miles of Mansfield, Mass., with 554.37. Darryl Legassie of Milton, N.H., remains fifth with 489.01.

     Then it’s District 5’s Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., moving up from ninth to sixth with 413.90, thanks to a 110-point month. Kim Brinkman of Highland Village, Texas, advances a notch with a 74-point month to 379.40. Ann Buchholz of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., debuts in the Top 10 with 373.32.

Mason Barge, who accumulated only 33 points in August, drops from sixth to ninth with 369.24. Joanne Matchette of Vero Beach, Fla., holds tenth with 362.31. Off the list is the only Top Tenner we know, Junko Hemus of San Clemente, Calif., who had just 27 points for the month and now sits 11th with 355.68.

Unit 116’s Davis Heussler, is down from 44th to 62nd with his 267.26. David Millward drops from 292nd to 334th. Ken Meier is up from 301st to 240th. Allen Beroza, who joined the list a month ago, moves up from 451st to 430th. The list ends at 146.34, eclipsing David Millward, who has 146.13.

     And now for the really heavy hitters, the Mini-McKenney leaders overall.

A month ago there were 15 players in four figures. Now there are 34. Three of them have surpassed 2,000. And there’s a horse race at the top.

Joe Grue of New York City clings to first for the seventh straight month with 2,379.42. Right behind him is Mark Itabashi of Murrieta, Calif., who had a 539-point month and now has 2,376.51.

Kevin Dwyer of Melbourne, Fla., moved ahead of Brad Moss of Denver, a month ago and has increased his margin. A month ago it was 1,667.12 to Moss’s 1,612.07. Now it’s 2,055.42 to 1,898.43.

The legendary Jeff Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach, Fla., moves up from sixth to fifth with a 543-point month to reach 1,846.16. Longtime partner Eric Rodwell is next with 1,813.48. 

Shan Huang from Melbourne, Fla., up from seventh to fifth place a month ago, is back in seventh with 1,688.82. January leader Geoff Hampson of Las Vegas breaks his decline by moving from ninth to eighth with 1,632.27, displacing John Hurd of New York City who has 1,571.60.  Steve Weinstein of Montclair, N.J., rounds out the Top Ten with 1,373.35, bumping Ruby Life Master leader Robert L. McClendon of Ponte Vedra, Fla., who has 1,373.35.

     Familiar names: Former Buffalonian Joel Wooldridge slips from 24th to 26th with 1,111.02. District 5 leader Sue Lan Ma goes from 74th to 81st with her 722.82.

Unit 116’s representative on this list, Alan Greer, was 419th when he debuted a month ago. Now he’s 477th with 354.29. The list cuts off at 349.01.

Bridge Blog 1049: Buffalo Fall Sectional

Director Alex Bealles (purple shirt) brings boards to the tables to start the Saturday morning game. 

I come to the Social Hall at the Main Transit Fire Hall in a slump on Friday – a week of 40% games – and I have high hopes that pairing with a good player like Art Matthies will lift my fortunes.

Art has a strategy for the sectionals – stay away from the big two-session games each day, which are dominated by the top-level players, and hang out in the single-session side games. The way he sees it, the point rewards aren’t as big, but they’re easier to tap into because the competition isn’t as strong.

Nevertheless, you need games well above 50% to succeed in the side games. The Friday morning winners, Unit 116 leader Betty Metz and Tova Reinhorn, have a fabulous 66.67% game and collect 2.93 silver points. To collect any points at all, it takes at least 55%. We have 47.08%. In terms of match points, however, we’re only 10 short. Turn around three of our bad hands and we’re in the winners’ circle.

Well, there’s always the afternoon, but it doesn’t show much improvement. We’re fifth in an eight-pair Howell game with 48.61%. The winners, Amita Amora and Sharon Chang, have 57.64% and earn 2.57 points.

Losing makes Art grumpy. Saturday morning, however, our score lifts and so does his mood. The side game is big – 10 tables – and we finish with a respectable 58.33%. But that only gives us fourth place North-South. 0.87 of a silver point.

Art’s aspect darkens again in the afternoon as our game reverts to Friday’s level. This time it’s a five-table Mitchell movement and we’re fourth East-West with 46.63%.

As I’m settling in Saturday night to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my arrival at The Buffalo News back on Sept. 23, 1968, with a big gathering of friends at the 100 Acres restaurant, there’s a call from Art. He’s not feeling well. He’s supposed to play with me in the Swiss team game on Sunday, but he can’t. Perhaps Bill Finkelstein was right when he texted me Saturday morning to say, “I’m sure you’re breaking him of the interest in playing with you.”

Well, I’d thought he was overdosing on me when he signed up for three days. Nevertheless, this leaves me with a dilemma. After an unsuccessful early morning attempt to line up Paula Salamone and then her ex, Thom Burnett, I go to Main-Transit and throw myself upon the good graces of partnership chairman Dian Petrov.

Happily, Gay Simpson and Denise Slattery have not lined up teammates for the Swiss game. I get to play with Denise. Dian already lined our teammate Margaret Zhou with promising newcomer Raj Roy. This arrangement has promise.

We hit a bump in the road in the opening round, though, against Sue Neubecker and Gay Simpson, who whop us 25-5 victory points. We come back by winning the next two rounds, then lose the one before the lunch break. I tell the team that we need to win two of the remaining three rounds to collect a point bonus, but alas, we win only one and fall six VPs short. For our three wins, we earn 0.78 of a point.

Total for the Sectional: 1.65 points. Last year I won 1.98.

Bridge Blog 1049-A: So far, so good?

And how do I stand for the month so far? 2.92 last week at the Airport Bridge Club, added to the 8.86 I had previously. Then there are the tournament returns – 1.08 in St. Catharines, 1.65 this weekend. OK, grand total is 14.51. What I need is a big final week of September.

Bridge Blog 1048: M.I.A.

All partner June Feuerstein wants to do is make a quick trip to the ladies’ room before the final round in Wednesday’s game at the Airport Bridge Club. But she’s late coming back.

A guy I always see smoking outside the building comes in and talks with director Bill Finkelstein. He summons Bob Kaprove, who’s a doctor. Brian Block, also a doctor, leaves his table and goes, too.

June doesn’t come back. Bob says later she fell, maybe tripped, and broke her nose. Poor June. She’s taken to a hospital. The game goes on, with Bill sitting opposite me for the final four hands.

They turn out to be very good hands. Out of a possible 24 match points, we get 17. That raises the final score to 54.52%, third overall, yielding 1.40 points. Total for the month at the club now stands at 8.86, second only to the unstoppable Alan Greer.

Bridge Blog 1047: Home Sweet Home

Gee, it feels good to go back to everyday play Monday at the Airport Bridge Club, even though it seems like we get a humdrum bunch of hands.

Even though early in the game I misunderstand partner Judie Bailey’s 2 No Trump overcall on an opponent’s 1 NT opener (she wants me to bid my better minor suit), we do better than survive. We thrive. 59.57%. Fourth overall in a 15-pair game. 1.11 points. That’s as much as I earned in four days at the St. Catharines Regional.

Bridge Blog 1046: St. Catharines Regional, Part IV

The team, from left, Dave Dalton, Denise Slattery and Jed Drew.

I'm haunted by the thought of a second straight master point shutout at a Canadian regional tournament, a successor to my resounding lack of success at the Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional last November.

To my great relief, that vision vanishes with our first round in Sunday’s Swiss team event. Allied with an agreeable couple of guys from Tillsonburg, Ont. – Jed Drew and Dave Dalton – we nail our first opponents, a D-rated bunch, by 23 International Match Points. No shutout now. Whatever it’s worth to win a round, we got it.

After the second round, the fantasy begins to involve gold points. We take this one from another bunch of Ds by a mere 6 IMPs, but it’s a second win. Even a narrow third-round loss to the team that eventually wins B/C/D section of the Swiss game doesn’t discourage us. A 21 IMP drubbing in the fourth round does, though. Jed and Dave, so stellar in the beginning, have some shortcomings after all. So do we.  

Following the lunch break, when we learn that the Buffalo Bills are on their way to an epic defeat in their season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, we roar back with a 32 IMP victory, fueled by a hand that won’t soon be forgotten.

My hand is a flat 13 or 14 high-card points and I open a Club. Denise responds with a Heart. I bid a Spade and our opponent doubles. I redouble, expecting that it will prompt the other side to make a bad bid. But the redouble stands and I proceed to take 10 tricks. Plus 1120. 14 IMPs. Once that’s translated into victory points, however, it doesn’t make much of a difference, only 3 of those.

We get our comeuppance in the sixth round, though. We’re shut out, 43-0 IMPs. Bad mistake on our part comes when Denise pushes to 6 Spades, a  slam attempt, then goes down two. That costs us 11 IMPs, but no matter. It’s just piled onto what happened, mostly to Jed and Dave, on the other hands.

Chastened, we rally for a modest 10 IMP victory in the seventh and final round. Our victory point total is 117, which sometimes is enough to grab gold points.

This is not one of those times. To win gold, we’d need 127 VPs. We’re the highest scoring C team not to go gold. Instead, we take home only our reward for winning four rounds – 4 x 0.27 = 1.08 red points.

             Meanwhile, I see that Chris Urbanek tied for third in the A strat game, collecting another 11.20 gold. That brings her and Canadian women’s champ Joan Eaton to 70.69. Only two other players do better.

Next-best Buffalo players are way down the list. The Weltes, John and Martha, are tied for 77th with 16.55, while Kamil Bishara and Gene Finton are tied for 81st with 16 even. Further down are Saleh Fetouh, 14.03; John Ziemer, 13.14; Jay Levy, 12.09; Mike Ryan, 11.96; and Jim Easton and Marilyn Wortzman with 10.65, primarily from their big 74.57% win in the afternoon Gold Rush Pairs on Wednesday.

Among the St. Catharines players I see regularly, Amir Fasoud is 41st with 26.59, Lorna Johnson is 48th with 23.95, George Morrissey is 53rd with 22.13, Percy Harcourt, driver of that snappy red Porsche Carrera, is tied for 54th with 22.07, and Joyce Reger, who sometimes directs the Friday game at the St. Catharines club, is 56th with 21.31.

With my precious 1.08, I’m in a tie for 525th.

             Note on the hotel: The Holiday Inn and Parkway Conference Centre is getting downright shabby. The chairs in the ballroom are faded and their seats are showing foam padding. One of the men’s room towel dispensers jams repeatedly and one of the faucets feels like it will come off in your hand. Out-of-town players say that the $130 rate for bridge players doesn’t include breakfast. And woe to anyone who books at the last minute. The players say that rate is nearly $300 a night, two-night minimum.

Bridge Blog 1045: St. Catharines Regional, Part III

The less said about Saturday, the better.

I could shrug off our 42.46% morning performance in the B/C/D pairs. As we play, it feels like we're doing better, but us B/C/D folks are thrown together with the experts from the A/X game. So we’re 13th out of 17 pairs. We do fractionally better than Shakeel Ahmad and Manju Ceylony, who are far better than me and Denise Slattery.

But experience does not make us better against the same players in the afternoon. 37.58% would be last overall, except for a pair that's even more unfortunate than we are. As for Shakeel and Manju, they rally to 52.39% in the p.m. and collect half a red point.

Best part is lunch. We go back to The Diner House 29. (See Blog 1044)

Note on a pre-game mishap: In the lobby of the Scotiabank branch attached to the hotel/conference center, I pause to count the $500 I get from the ATM machine because the wad of bills seems too thin. I also leave my M&T Bank debit card in the card slot while I do that. Bad move. The machine eats it. The branch is otherwise closed on Saturday. M&T says my new card should show up in the mail by the end of the week.

Lucie’s Fav Son-in-Law 
Spicy Thai Rice bowl with 2 Fried-Poached Eggs, Tamarind Sauce, Crispy Onions, Cashews, Peppers, Scallions & Cilantro.

Bridge Blog 1044: St. Catharines Regional, Part II

You never know what kind of day you’re going to have. Denise Slattery and I have 60% days and we have 30% days. Friday morning is on the low side of in-between – 42.27% with the B/C pairs. But do the sensible thing on just three hands and we get 50%. Here’s how.

Board 3. Denise jumps to 5 Clubs on this hand after an opening pass, a 1 No Trump opener by me and a 2 Heart overcall by East.

Dealer is South (Denise):

Spades: 6; Hearts: J 10 6; Diamonds: J 7; Clubs:  A J 9 8 7 6 5.

 West: Spades: 10 8 7 5 4 2; Hearts: 3 2; Diamonds: 10 9 5 4 2.

North (me):

Spades: A K J 9; Hearts: 9 8 7; Diamonds: A 8 4; Clubs: K 10 3.

East:

Spades: Q 3; Hearts: A K Q 5 4; Diamonds: K Q 6 3 2: Clubs: Q.

First of all, after the 2 Heart overcall, with systems on, Denise should relay me to 3 Clubs. Or with systems off, she should just bid 3 Clubs.

That aside, it goes down one if Denise doesn’t try a finesse the first time she leads Spades. Four other pairs do that. But she saw a shot a making the impossible games, so she finesses and loses and it’s down three for a bottom board. At 3 Clubs, we get 5 match points. At 5 Clubs down one, we get 3.

Board 20. If I spot the Diamond hiding behind my clubs, I don’t revoke and our opponents are down one at 3 No Trump instead of making the contract. Our 0.5 match point would have been 6.5.

Board 26. If I don’t have a mental lapse and trump that losing trick instead of tossing a Diamond, I make the 4 Spade contract I bid and collect 7 match points instead of 1.

Add those 17 match points to our total and we’re just over 50%, collecting 0.75 of a red master point for coming in sixth in the C strat.

In the afternoon, our 46.53% is still next-to-last East-West. And it doesn’t lift us up in the two-session overall score.

Would it be better if I don’t take a spectacular minus 1,700 by going down six vulnerable on a 4 Heart sacrifice bid on Board 23 against what looks like a certain 3 No Trump vulnerable? Let’s just see. Well, they’ll make 4 or 5 NT, so despite the fireworks, we only give up 2 or 3 match points.

Actually, throwing away the wrong card on the next-to-last trick on the previous hand is more costly. It gives those same opponents, Joyce Reger and Janet Glazebrook, an 8 match-point top board instead of a 4-point middle board. Add those to our total and we finish fifth instead of eighth out of nine, but no master points.

Can you get serious master points in the B/C pairs? You bet. The top four pairs won 18.38, 13.79, 10.34 and 7.75 gold points, respectively.

Random notes: Stars in the crowd. 

Sue Lan Ma from Cleveland, the leading overall point collector in District 5, is playing in the knock-outs. She doesn’t recognize me.

And Chris Urbanek introduces me to her partner in the A/X pairs, Joan Eaton from Toronto, who’s a multiple winner of Canadian Women’s Team Championships. They’re second overall Friday, collecting 22.64 points. For the entire tournament, they’ve got 53.04.

Consult my new smartphone for a lunch recommendation and pick a place 10 minutes away from the tournament on Welland Avenue called The Diner House 29. Formica tables, reasonable prices. It’s run by a trained chef and his wife and the menu is inventive.

I have the Lamb Kefta, with Lebanese spiced lamb and basmati rice in a bowl, topped with two deep-fried poached eggs enhanced by the lightest of breadings. If you ever see deep-fried poached eggs on a menu, get ‘em. They’re fabulous.

At the bottom of the menu on The Diner House 29 website is this note: “Dave likens the menu to Ween's 'Pure Guava' album. An eclectic mix of foods and flavours he has picked up from working with great folks around the country and travels in China. Like Ween, food can't be pigeon-holed.”  

Bridge Blog 1043: St. Catharines Regional, Part I

Swiss teams all day. Six rounds, eight boards per round. Even if we don't earn gobs of gold points, we'll take home a few fractional red points, just for winning a round or two or three. 

My team – Canadian partner Selina Volpatti plus Buffalonians Gay Simpson and Denise Slattery. 

Our first opponents are friendly and familiar Canadians – Lorna Johnson and Kathy Morrison from the Bridge Centre of Niagara. They’re also good players and show us no mercy. They thoroughly trounce us – 54-0 International Match Points – shutting us out in the very first round on their way to a fifth-place finish overall.

For us, it gets no better. It’s so bad, in fact, that we spend the three afternoon rounds in the round-robin match reserved for the bottom-most teams. 

We’re surprised to run into another creditable St. Catharines pair – Dorothy Duchnicki and the director of the club’s Friday games, Diane Kunselman – but they show us no mercy either. 

Of all the teams playing Friday, we’re the only ones to go without getting at least 0.31  of a point for winning a round.

Other observations: Adult caddies in the morning are slow to respond and seem a bit overwhelmed. Kids show up to do the chore in the afternoon and have a much easier time slipping between the chairs and tables. They’re fast.

Glancing through the doors of the Merlot Ballroom, where the Swiss team game is taking place, I see that familiar blank white wall of the industrial warehouse building next door and automatically look for snowflakes. Wait, this is summer! First time I’ve ever been here for something other than the St. Catharines Sectional in early February, when the temperature is always hovering around freezing and I'm wondering how treacherous the drive home is going to be. 

Bridge Blog 1042: Dijon Vu All Over Again

It can’t happen Wednesday, not with June Feuerstein. We always have fun together, but for the past couple weeks our enjoyment is stuck in the 40% range and, as we play, there’s little to give us hope that we’ll improve.

So when Airport Bridge Club manager Bill Finkelstein reveals the winners, we’re incredulous. We're the first names he announces. Tops overall in this six-table game with 60.04%. 2.33 points for the day, 6.25 for the month.

Now I’m truly primed for the weekend – four days over in Canada at the St. Catharines Regional Tournament, going for those gold points.  

Bridge Blog 1041: Dijon Vu

That’s what I’m hoping for, a repeat of Monday’s 64.58% performance when I reunite Tuesday with Eva Schmidt at the Airport Bridge Club.

But the magic is gone. We register what seems like an endless succession of middle boards. When the preliminary results are posted, we expect to find ourselves hovering around 50%.

Surprise! We’re second North-South. When all the boards are tallied, we have a totally satisfactory 58.04%, still second in our direction, fourth overall. Another 1.07 points.

Bridge Blog 1040: Mustard round

         That’s what the late Bill Rieker, who ran the B&P Duplicate Bridge Club in the Zion Church in the Town of Tonawanda, would declare somewhere toward the end a session when play was starting to run late. Why do you call it the mustard round, I asked him once. That’s when we all ketchup, he explained.

        With August leaving me well shy of my goal of 15, it’s time for a whole mustard month. Otherwise, goodbye to those hopes of reaching Gold Life Master by the end of the year. Which means that September had better not start the way August did, with a week of bad luck and no points at all.

Well, so far, so good.

With Denise Slattery on Saturday, there’s an even 50% game, which rewards us with 0.98 of a point for being third in the B strat.

        On Labor Day, there’s two sessions at the Airport Bridge Club, but as a Labor Day night shift laborer, I only get to play the morning half with Eva Schmidt.

When Eva is sharp, she’s very, very sharp and this is one of those days. 64.58%. First North-South. One of my best games all year. 1.97 points. More mustard, please.