Bridge Blog 1058:
Rolling Roctober
Other people
certainly had better months than I did in October (after all, I was 176th among
all players in the Buffalo Regional), but what counted was keeping on pace to
reach Gold Life Master by Christmas.
I had 11.61 club
points to add to those 7.92 from the tournament, which advanced my lifetime
total to 2,472.91. Two more 15-point months and I’m there. So let’s open up the ACBL races and see how
everyone stands as the year approaches the end .
Unit 116 (Buffalo only), Ace of Clubs (club play
only), Ruby Life Masters (players with 1,500 to 2,500 points).
Yes, I
earned 11.61 club points in September, bringing my Ace of Clubs total to 120.94,
enough to keep me in fifth place with hopes for advancement. I also move up from 17th to 14th among all
players in the unit. Here's the top 10:
Mike Silverman keeps
first place with 156.20. Falling back a couple points further behind is
runner-up Allen Beroza, who has 146.24. Martin Pieterese, with 127.79,
overtakes previous leader David Millward, who stand pat for the month with 122.62.
In fifth place with
120.94, I seem poised to pass him, too, but if he starts hitting the tables
again when he gets to Florida
for the winter, he’ll leave me in the dust.
Then it’s Ken Meier with
107.89; Fred Yellen joining the century circle with 100.77; Dorothy May with 93.90;
Davis Heussler with 80.69 and Gene Finton with 70.97.
Unit 116, Ace of Clubs overall.
Once again, Alan
Greer. 378.80 points, thanks to a 31.38 point month. He’s now more than 140
ahead of his sometime partner Nancy Wolstoncroft, who’s still second with 236.04.
Then it’s John Ziemer,
with 201.01. Mike Silverman (156.20) trades places with Liz Clark (154.92) and
Barbara Libby (151.49) trades places with Allen Beroza (146.32) in fourth with
142.55 and Mike Silverman with 140.32. The Weltes, Martha and John, tied for
tenth a month ago, are tied for eighth with 137.83. They jump ahead of Mike
Ryan, now tenth with 134.77. Rounding out the top ten is
Then it’s Martin Pieterse with 127.79; Bob
Linn, 126.52; David Millward, 122.62; me, 120.94; Gay Simpson, 120.53; ailing Ron Henrikson, 116.41;
Bud Seidenberg, 115.38; Denise Slattery, 112.94; Judi Marshall, 111.28; Ken
Meier, 107.89; Judy Graf, 102.56; and Fred Yellen, 100.77.
Moving on to the Mini-McKenney races, which count all points earned everywhere, I’m still
sixth among the Rubies, moving past the inactive David Millward.
Still far ahead is
Davis Heussler, who had a 60-point month to arrive at 368.10. Nevertheless,
he’s still third among all Unit 116 players. Second place continues to belong
to Ken Meier with 215.43, also holding steady at 13th in the entire unit.
Third-place Allen
Beroza reaches the double-century mark with 200.47 and remains 16th overall in
the unit. Mike Silverman has a 30-point month to reach 180.33, advancing from
20th to 19th overall.
Martin Pieterse
vaults from eighth to fifth place with 154.51, and up from 29th to 25th
overall. I’m next with 151.59, still 27th overall, followed by Fred Yellen with
149.38 (29th).
David Millward,
148.96, drops from 22nd to 30th. Then comes Gene Finton, 106.55 (48th); and
Dorothy May, 99 even (50th).
Among
all players in Unit 116, it’s Alan Greer, with 422.58. Saleh Fetouh continues
second, with 376.75, after a 54.33-point month. Then comes Ruby leader Davis
Heussler with his 368.10.
Jay Levy, who had a
61-point month, squeezes into fourth with 305.32, displacing John Ziemer with 301.31.
Then it’s Dian
Petrov, 298.97; the Weltes, 295.75; Linda Burroughsford, 295.23; and Nancy
Wolstoncroft with 290.74. In all, 16 players now have 200 points or more.
Now let’s widen our
horizons.
District 5 (Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh)
Ace of Clubs, Ruby Life Masters.
Here Unit 116
players six of the top 10 places, but we still haven’t reclaimed the No. 1 spot.
Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa.,
adds a point to his margin over Unit 116’s Mike Silverman, 160.49 to 146.20.
Continuing to follow Silverman is Allen Beroza with 146.24. Then it’s Martin
Pieterse, 127.79.
James Wheeler of Edinburg, Pa.,
jumps from eighth to fifth with 126.03, thanks to a 23-point month. Then it’s
David Millward, 122.62; moi, down from sixth to seventh with my 120.94; Garnet
Depner of Jeannette, Pa., with 120.32; Marvin Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, with
117.41 and Unit 116’s Ken Meier with 107.89.
Also topping the
century mark are Wayne Heritage of North Olmsted,
Ohio, 107.07; Chantal Whitney of Bratenahl, Ohio, 103.63; William Feeny of Latrobe, Pa.,
102.85; and Unit 116’s Fred Yellen, 100.77.
Philip Goulding slips
from 10th to 11th district-wide. Buffalo’s
top four are ranked 13, 17, 28 and 32. I’m 34th, up from 35th.
Overall Ace of Clubbers in District 5 look like this:
Buffalonians hold
three of the top four spots. It’s Alan Greer with 378.80 and Nancy Wolstoncroft
with 236.04, with Arlene Port of Pittsburgh, with 211.75, stepping ahead of our
John Ziemer, who has 201.02.
Then it’s Richard
Katz of North Versailles, Pa., 185.64. Barbara Belardi of Pittsburgh continues to advance, this time taking sixth
place away from Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh,
184.01.
Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, with
169.10, switches places with Asim Ulke of Monroeville, Pa.,
164.35. Stephanie Alexander, also of Mentor,
has 162.89, to move ahead of Ruby leader Philip Goulding’s 160.49.
Now for the District 5 Mini-McKenney, Ruby Life Masters.
Philip
Goulding of Wexford, Pa., still is outdistancing everyone with 465.83.
Unit 116’s Davis Heussler reclaims second with 368.10, stepping back ahead of Craig Biddle of Pittsburgh, with 339.50. They’re eighth, 16th
and 19th overall in the district.
Then it’s a big step down to our Ken Meier, 215.43 (53rd); our Allen
Beroza, 200.47 (59th); Leroy Hackenberg of Pittsburgh,
181.27 (68th); our Mike Silverman, 180.33 (70th); Wayne Heritage of North Olmsted, Ohio,
176.06 (73rd); Martin Kumer of Monroeville, Pa., 170.41 (83rd); and Marvin Shapiro of Akron, Ohio,
169.65 (84th). 148.96. I slip from 15th to
16th among Rubies with my 151.59, and hold steady at 112th overall.
Mini-McKenney leader among all District 5 players is, of course, Sue Lan Ma of Kirtland Hills, Ohio, who
added 87.55 points to reach 823.44.
Reanette Frobouck of
Pittsburgh, who
had a 98-point month, retains second place with 614.89. She’s followed by Bernie
Greenspan of Beachwood Ohio, with 549.29;
Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio,
with 530.44; and Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg,
Ohio, who got no points at all in
October and remains at 516.42.
Slipping to seventh
without gaining a point at all for the second month in a row is Don Sulgrove
of Twinsburg, Ohio, still with 469.78.
Then it’s Ruby
leader Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., with 465.83; Fred Schenker of Pittsburgh
with 438.92; and Richard Katz of North
Versailles, Pa., with
433.90.
Alan Greer with 422.58,
slips out of the Top 10 to eleventh place. Next Unit 116 players on the list are
Saleh Fetouh, 14th with 376.75; and Davis Heussler, 16th with 368.10.
Ace of Clubs, Ruby Life Masters, nationwide.
Paul
Hassett of The Villages, Fla., increases
his lead by 10 more points over Anna Maxcine Thacker of Palm Coast, Fla.,
327.12 to 281.51.
Brian Breckenridge
of Corvallis, Ore., with a 37-point month, leapfrogs from
fifth to third with 275.65. Also
leapfrogging is Aivars Lapins of Cambria, Calif., who goes from sixth to fourth
with 261.79. Bruce Ladin of Harwood
Heights, Ill., fourth
two months ago and eighth last month, rebounds to fifth with 256.72.
Then it’s Richard
Seidman of Orlando, Fla.,
demoted from fourth to sixth with 256.47; Mason Barge of Atlanta
with 255 even; Jonathan Williams of The Villages, Fla.,
with 248.99; and Joanne Matchette of Vero
Beach, Fla., dropping
from third to ninth as she stands pat point-wise with 248.92. Jim Loffree of Naples, Fla.,
rounds out the Top 10 with 238.03.
Then Brian
Breckenridge of Corvallis, Ore.,
with 237.86; Aivars Lapins of Cambria, Calif., with 229.80; and Mason Barge of Atlanta with 228.94. Bruce Ladin of Harwood Heights, Ill.,
who appeared out of nowhere last month to take fourth place, slips to eighth
with 224.67.
Unit 116 leader Mike
Silverman slips 100th to 105th. Allen Beroza slips from 116th to 150th. But now
he’s ahead of David Millward, who’s down from 139th to 212th. Other local
notables include Martin Pieterse, down from 242nd to 279th; David Millward,
down from 212th to 337th, and me, down from 328th to 355th. The list cuts off
at 111.06.
Ace of Clubs, all players, nationwide.
Bill Kulbersh
of Atlanta is
still on top, up exactly 94 points in October to reach 707.19. Repeating in
second place is Irva Neyhart of Corvallis, Ore., with an almost 67-point month at 500.15.
Still third is Harry
Kaufmann of North Redington Beach, Fla., with 458.90, followed again by En Xie of St. Louis,
with 450.86, and Bella Ionis-Sorren of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
with 441.21.
The rest of the Top
10 also maintain their places – Sheila
Gabay of Newton, Mass., 432.85; Diane Hurt and Edgar Hurt Jr. of Laguna Woods, Calif.,
both with 429.68; Robert Epstein of Atlanta, 428.29; and Kay Schulle of
Purchase, N.Y., 421.02.
Alan Greer keeps his
hold on 14th; Nancy Wolstoncroft slips from 156th to 184th. John Ziemer drops from
274th to 400th. The list stops at 191.19.
Onward
to Mini-McKenney, Ruby Life Masters, nationwide.
Robert L. McClendon
of Ponte Vedra, Fla., added another 269 points to reach
1,816.33. Soon he will triple the totals for Alex Khrakovsky of Columbus, Ohio,
still second despite just a 23-point month with 647.19.
Sabrina Miles of Mansfield, Mass.,
with a 68-point month and a total of 640.86, tightens her hold on third place.
Then there’s Mary Ose of Sacramento, Calif, who earned just 9 points and has 568.28.
Darryl Legassie of Milton, N.H., remains fifth with 506 even.
Then it’s
District 5’s Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., staying in sixth with 465.83; Murali Nair of Phoenix, debuting in the Top 10 with 461.27; Mark
Henderson of Wilmington, Del.,
with 452.13; Mason Barge of Atlanta, with
449.91; and Ann Buchholz of Ponte
Vedra Beach, Fla., who
keeps her foot on the bottom rung of the Top 10 with 446.06.
Still off the list
is the only Top Tenner we know, Junko Hemus of San Clemente, Calif.,
who had just 3 points for the month and has fallen from 15th to 35th with 368.77.
Unit 116’s Davis
Heussler is up to 37th from 63rd with his 368.10. Ken Meier is down to 287th to
263rd. Allen Beroza moves up to 362nd from 415th. The list ends at 178.30.
And
now for the really heavy hitters, the Mini-McKenney leaders overall.
A month ago there
were three players who surpassed the 2,000 mark. Now there are five. And
there’s still sort of a horse race at the top.
Joe Grue of New York City, first for the ninth straight month with
2,873.52, has added 50 points to his lead over Mark Itabashi of Murrieta, Calif.,
who has 2,799.82.
Kevin Dwyer of Melbourne, Fla., is
next with 2,456.13, comfortably ahead of Brad Moss of Denver, with 2,132.21. Shan Huang of
Melbourne, Fla., is fifth, rounding out the double-century club with 2,089.53.
The legendary Jeff
Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach, Fla., has 1,975.88. His longtime partner
Eric Rodwell is next with 1,951.92.
January leader Geoff
Hampson of Las Vegas
continues eighth with 1,888.71. Ruby Life Master leader Robert L. McClendon of Ponte Vedra, Fla.,
moves up a notch to ninth with 1,816.33. John Hurd of New York City is tenth with 1,807.22.
Familiar names: Former Buffalonian Joel Wooldridge slips from 27th to 28th,
despite a 161 point month which brought him to 1,292.47. District 5 leader Sue
Lan Ma steps ahead from 92nd to 91st with her 823.44.
Unit 116’s
representative on this list, Alan Greer, slips to 496th from last month’s 444th
with 391.20. The list cuts off at 421.01.
