Bridge Blog 1100-A: School Daze I

I was woefully short on sleep when I sat down for Bill Finkelstein’s Wednesday morning lesson at the Airport Bridge Club on Aug. 28. Two of his demonstration deals, however, woke me right up. Each of them required an astute turn of the cards. Fortunately, my lesson partner, Gay Simpson, and I were alert enough to make the correct plays on each of them and the opponents were not.

Hand #10. West is dealer.

West

Spades: A-K-Q-J-10-9; Hearts: 9-4-2; Diamonds: K-5-4; Clubs, A.

North

Spades: 7; Hearts: A-K-J-8-7-5; Diamonds: Q-7-6-2; Clubs: K-8.

East

Spades: 6-3-2; Hearts: Q-6; Diamonds: A-9-3; Clubs: Q-10-7-4-3.

South

Spades: 8-5-4; Hearts: 10-3; Diamonds: J-10-8; Clubs: J-9-6-5-2.

West opens 1 Spade, North bids 2 Hearts, East bids 2 Spades, West bids 4 Spades and all pass.

This one gets decided early. North leads the A-K of Hearts,
South plays 10-3, signaling that he has only two of them. East also has two of them, as evident from the Queen on the second trick. North leads the Jack of Hearts. Declarer could ruff, but dummy’s Spades are all woefully low. South will win the trick and later on North-South will capture a Diamond. Down one.

However, declarer doesn’t ruff. A losing Diamond is tossed. At our table, South pitched a Club. Bad move by South. Pitching a Diamond would beat the contract. But now declarer can win whatever North leads, ruff West’s third Diamond, draw trump and take all the rest. Headline on Bill’s commentary on the hand: “Refusing a Ruff, Loser on Loser Play, Defensive Discard.”

Bridge Blog 1100-B: School Daze II

Hand #6, which came next, tested us on the defense. Here we had to take advantage of two opportunities to beat the North-South slam, but we had to seize them right away.

East is dealer.

North

Spades: A-K-Q-J-9-8-5-3; Hearts: K-J; Diamonds: None; Clubs: A-K-Q.

East

Spades: 7-4; Hearts: Q; Diamonds: K-8-6-5-4-3; Clubs: 7-6-4-3.

South

Spades: 10-6; Hearts: 4-3; Diamonds: Q-J-7-2; Clubs: J-10-9-8-5.

West

Spades: 2; Hearts: A-10-9-8-7-6-5-2; Diamonds: A-10-9; Clubs: 2.

East passes, South passes, West bids 4 Hearts, North bids 6 Spades and then everybody passes.

What to lead? One of those long Diamonds? Or the singleton Queen of Hearts? The Queen it is. West comes up with the Ace. North plays the Jack. That’s the tip-off.

North should have done a quick count of the cards before playing that Jack. The dummy has two Hearts, the 4 Heart pre-emptive bid should tell North that West has eight of them, which leaves only one Heart in East’s hand.

North’s only hope, then, is to discard the King, thereby casting doubt in West’s mind as to whether that Queen really was a singleton, since East could easily have led the Queen from a Queen-Jack doubleton. A doubting West then might want to shift to the Ace of Diamonds in hopes of grabbing the setting trick. North will ruff and Bingo! Slam! At our table, no doubt was raised. North played the Jack. West led another Heart. East ruffed. Down one.

Headline on this hand: “Preemptive Opening Bid, Deception.”

Bridge Blog 1100-C: School Daze III

I warned my Wednesday playing partner, June Feuerstein, that I probably would take an impromptu nap in the middle of the afternoon, so she rose to the occasion. Not only did she bring me an excellent chicken salad sandwich, her play was generally brilliant and so, occasionally, was mine.

This, my last game of the month before heading off to an out-of-town wedding, turned out to be a 57.44% effort – third North-South in the A strat, 1.07 master points. That gave a little kick to my sagging fortunes in August. I doubt that I reached my monthly goal of 15 points, but I should be close.  

Bridge Blog 1099: Happy Return

I didn’t realize how much I missed my Canadian partner, Selina Volpatti, and her fearless bidding, until I sat down across from her Friday afternoon, Aug. 16, at the Bridge Center of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont.

This was my Canadian birthday game, where I pay everyone’s entry fee in gratitude for another trip around the sun, and a much belated birthday celebration it was. It had been postponed until Selina returned from Brazil, where she had been for most of a month visiting friends of the family. She was tan. She was chipper. She looked great.

We hadn’t played together since July 17, my American birthday game at the Airport Bridge Club, where we managed a 50.42% game to come in third North-South. Would we be rusty? Out of sync? After all, she hadn’t played in weeks.

Not to worry. It didn’t take long to find the groove – 58.63%. Third North-South in an 11-table game, 0.55 of a point.

That was quickly overshadowed when Selina came to the Airport Bridge Club on Saturday. This was only a four-table game (Saturdays have been sparse) and we dominated our opponents, even the estimable pair of Nancy Wolstoncroft and Alan Greer. I had visions of my first 70% game since …. Maybe ever.

In fact, we came into the final round with an amazing 72.91%. But our last opponents, the Weltes, Martha and John, snuffed us. Our high-flying percentage deflated to 66.67%. Still first overall, though. And, thanks to the Airport Club’s extra point awards, 2.04 points.

Bridge Blog 1098: Reheating July (fully)

This time I won't be a laggard when it comes to checking into the ACBL master point races. Plus I have something to look forward to, thanks to a strong few games at the end of July. Let’s see if they had a salutary effect.

My Ace of Clubs total now stands at 82.83, up 17.13 points since June. And the Mini-McKenney total, all points earned everywhere, has reached 90.02, also up 17.13. Yes, all my July points are club points. So how does that stack up against everyone else? 

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

Despite my good work, I’ve slipped from fourth to fifth place. Fred Yellen had a 36.71-point month. Meanwhile, Martin Pieterse, who took first place in June, has widened his lead over David Millward. Here’s the list:

Martin Pieterse, 119.03 (still #3 overall among all players in Unit 116); David Millward, 111.93 (still #4 overall); Linda Burroughsford, 109.65 (up to #5 overall from #7); Fred Yellen, 95.34 (up to #11 overall from #23); moi, 82.83 (up to #18 overall from #20); Ken Meier moving from seventh to sixth with 81.75 (#19 overall); Davis Heussler dropping to seventh from fifth with 70.64 (#26); Gene Finton, still eighth with 67.97 (#28); John Sinclair, 66.10 (#30); and Dorothy May, 62.81 (#33).

Ace of Clubs. Unit 116. All players.

Alan Greer has a 51.74-point month. He now stands at 259.89. Then it’s Nancy Wolstoncroft with a 32.54-point month to reach 152.35. After that, it’s Martin Pieterse, 119.03; David Millward, 111.93; Linda Burroughsford, 109.65; John Welte, 107.28; Gay Simpson, 106.32; Mike Silverman, 105.58; Bud Seidenberg, 101.68; and John Ziemer, 99.68.

Mini-McKenney (all points earned everywhere). Unit 116. Ruby Life Masters.

Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler now have surpassed the triple-century mark. After a 76.58-point month, Linda’s reign continues with 327.08. She also remains first in the entire unit. Davis, who had an 89.85-point month, has 319.47 and has returned to second place overall in the unit.

The rest of the top 10 remains pretty much in the places they occupied a month ago: Ken Meier, 157.36 (still #13 overall); Martin Pieterse, 131.79 (#18, down from #15); David Millward, 124.72 (#21, down from #16); Fred Yellen, 124.37 (#22, up from #24); John Sinclair, 103.21 (#27, up from #34); moi, 90.02 (#33, up from #35); Gene Finton, 76.86 (#43, down from #38) and Art Matthies, 71.15 (#47) displacing Dorothy May, 70.52 (#48) in tenth place.

Mini-McKenney. Unit 116. All players.

Same players in the Top 10, but a little jockeying for places. Still on top is Linda Burroughsford with 327.08. David Heussler regains second with 319.47, vaulting past Alan Greer, 286.36.

Holding steady are John Welte, 280.22; Martha Welte, 266.46; and Mike Ryan, 251.53. Then Glenn Milgrim advances one rung to seventh with 234.17. Saleh Fetouh climbs to eighth from tenth with 211.45; John Ziemer slides from seventh to ninth with 194.35; and Chris Urbanek slips from ninth to tenth with 169.90.

Ace of Clubs. District 5 (Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh). Ruby Life Masters. Five Buffalo players lead the list, with seven of us in the Top 10 and 10 in the Top 20.

Top five are Martin Pieterse, 119.03 (still #5 among all players in the district); David Millward, 111.93 (down to #9 from #6); and Linda Burroughford, 109.65 (up to #10 from #13).

Fred Yellen moves up from 12th to fourth with 95.34 (up to #23 from #64 overall). I stay in fifth with my 82.83 (#42 overall, up from #46).

I just edge out Judith Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, who returns from fourth place to sixth place with 82.62 (down to #43 from #32 overall).

Then Ken Meier, up from 13th to seventh with 81.75 (and #45 overall, up from #68); Kenneth Eichler of Murrysville, Pa., 63.80 (#48); James Wheeler of Edinburg, Pa., 75.91 (#57, up from #59) and slipping from eighth to tenth is Davis Heussler, 70.64 (#68, down from #50).

Ace of Clubs. District 5. All players.

Buffalonians hold eight of the Top 15 places, led by Alan Greer with 259.89. He’s followed by perennial Pittsburgh champ Reanette Frobouck, 171.41; Nancy Wolstoncroft, 152.35; Arlene Port of Pittsburgh, 120.07; Martin Pieterse, 119.03; Constance Hoechstetter of Moon Township, Pa., 116.85; Kenneth Bergman of Wexford, Pa., 116.69; Allen Selling of Erie, Pa., 114.02; David Millward, 111.93; and Linda Burroughsford, 109.85.

Then it’s Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, 109.08 and 108.50, respectively; John Welte, 107.28; Gay Simpson, 106.32; and Mike Silverman, 105.58.

Mini-McKenney. District 5. Ruby Life Masters.

Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler continue one-two – Linda with 327.08; Davis with 319.47. And they moved up slightly among all District 5 players. Linda improved to #13 from #14. Davis went to #14 from #16.

The others on the leaderboard trail far behind: Robert Zimmerman of Pittsburgh, 174.75 (#38); James Fox of Canonsburg, Pa., 167.98 (#44); Ken Meier, 157.36 (#52, up from #60); Doug Snyder of Shaker Heights, Ohio, 148.90 (#59); Judith Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, 139.06 (#65); Martin Pieterse, 131.79 (down to #77 from #72); David Millward, 124.72 (#83, down from #73) and Fred Yellen, 124.37 (#84). Where am I with my 90.02? #20 among the Rubies and #149 among all players in the district.

Mini-McKenney. District 5. All players.

Perennial leader Sue Lan Ma of Kirtland Hills, Ohio, widens her lead over another Ohioan, Bernie Greenspan of Beachwood. Here’s the Top 10:

Sue Lan Ma, 531.59; Bernie Greenspan, 450.94;  Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., up to third from fifth with a 105.15-point month for 432.99; Craig Biddle of Pittsburgh, 368.04; Phillip Becker of Beachwood, Ohio, 367.60; Fred Schenker of Pittsburgh, 360.92; Kenneth Kranyak of Parma, Ohio, 353.74; Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, 340.69; Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh, 334.70; and Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, 334.21 and 333.63, respectively. Seven Buffalonians occupy places between #13 and #21. 
And finally, here on Aug. 18, the national leaders:  

Ace of Clubs. Nationwide. Top 500 Ruby Life Masters.

Russ Pearly of The Villages, Fla., remains on top with 245.38, improved only 10.80 in July, while last month’s third place player, Jay Lucas of Little Rock, Ark., had a nearly 60-point month and moves up to second with 242.68.

Lucas displaces Mason Barge of Atlanta, now third with 214.79. Right behind him, but staying in fourth, is Jim Loffree of Naples, Fla., leader in May, second in June, with 214.38. Despite a 40-point month, Sidney Pertuz of Dallas remains fifth with 165.72.

The rest of the Top 10: Bruce Ladin of Harwood Heights, Ill., 184.70; Christopher Smith of Vero Beach, Fla., 182.46; Jo England of Dallas, new to the Top 10 with179.45; Eileen Boal of Albany, Ore., 178.77; and Christine Converse of Highland Beach, Fla., 173.24.

More shuffling in the bottom half of the Top 10. Mark Haberman of Boca Raton, Fla., sixth a month ago, is now #10.

Unit 116 leader Martin Pieterse, #69 a month ago, is now #73 with 119.03. David Millward is #100 with 111.93, down from #72 a month ago. Linda Burroughford advances to #116 from #146 with 109.65. Fred Yellen debuts at #219. I’m #392, up from #477, with 82.83. And Ken Meier arrives at #417 with his 81.75. The list stops at 77.11.

Ace of Clubs. Nationwide. Top 500 players.

Another big month for Bill Kulbersh of Atlanta! 96.14 club points. 406.67 total. He must play morning, noon and night.

April leader Neil Silverman of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who had an 82.38 point month in June, manages only 47.30. With 354.08 now, he’s still second.

April-May Barbara Sartorius of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., third last month, drops to fifth with 297.37, after a mere 20.93-point month. Moving ahead are En Xie of St. Louis with 309.15 (a 44.87-point month) and Francine Feldman of Boca Raton, Fla., with 307.76 (a 70.01-point month).

After that, Harry Kaufmann of North Redington Beach, Fla., debuts in the Top 10 with 293.66. Then it’s Shiv Arora of Boca Raton, 290.48; David Hudson of The Villages, Fla., 283.72; Shiv Arora of Boca Raton, 239.48; Jack Borenstein of Dallas, 282.08; and Bella Ionis-Sorren of Fort Lauderdale, 276.31. Ruby leader Russ Pearly, #10 last month, plunges to #23 with 245.38.

He’s behind Unit 116 and District 5 leader Alan Greer, who’s #17 with 259.89, up from #19. Nancy Wolstoncroft moves up nearly 100 places to #287, from #385, with here 152.35. And that’s it for Buffalonians. The list cuts off at 131.79.

Mini-McKenney. Nationwide. Top 500 Ruby Life Masters.

A month ago, nobody had topped 400 points. Now two players have reached the half-century mark.

One of them is last month’s leader, Thomas Rush of Houston, who had a 133.90-point month to reach 522.62. The other is Jay Lucas of Little Rock, Ark., with 514.48 after a 163.47-point month.

Displaced to third is Harrison Luba of Lynnfield, Mass., with 499.05 (a 141.22-point month). 357.83. Dolores Aquino of Houston slips to fourth with 421.25 (a 66.19-point month).

Then it’s Christopher Smith of Vero Beach, Fla., 405.65; Amy Casanova of Portland, Ore., 397.56; Murali Nair of Phoenix, 379.51; Russ Pearly of The Villages, Fla., 374.29; Bill Cook of Louisville, Ky., 359.48; and Samuel Amer of simply Ny, N.Y., with 351.46. Looked him up on the internet and found him at the Summer NABC Tournament in Las Vegas. Address there is Long Island, N.Y. He’s been a big-deal junior player.  

Unit 116’s Linda Burroughsford advances to #15 from #21 with 327.08. Davis Heussler jumps from #33 to #18 with 319.47. Ken Meier up again, #249 from #305, with 157.36. David Millward, #402 a month ago, is now the last man on the list, #500 with 124.72.

Mini-McKenney. Nationwide. Top 500 players.

Fifteen players now have gone into four figures and Shan Huang of Melbourne, Fla., takes the lead with 1,507.86, after an amazing 333.51-point month. Kevin Dwyer, also of Melbourne, is close behind with 1,499.69. Then it’s Joe Grue of New York City, 1,420.84; Jeff Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach, Fla., 1,414.71; John Hurd of New York City, 1,294.66; Mark Itabashi of Murrieta, Calif., 1,249.94; Curtis Cheek and Geoff Hampson, both of Las Vegas, with 1,200.63 and 1,184.72, respectively; and Alex Hudson of Raleigh, N.C., 1,179.41.

And who should be holding down #10 but native Buffalonian Joel Wooldridge, now based in Astoria, Queens, with 1,177.96, thanks to an even slightly more amazing 339.66-point month. A big winner in Las Vegas?

As for others we know and love, District 5 leader Sue Lan Ma slips from #82 to #116. Bernie Greenspan is down from #104 to #178. Unit 116 leader Linda Burroughsford moves up to #413 from #492. Davis Heussler rejoins the Top 500 at #442. The list cuts off at 302.76.

Bridge Blog 1097: Taken to School

Airport Bridge Club manager Bill Finkelstein says he loves to teach this hand, the first one he introduced in the lesson on Wednesday, Aug. 7. It’s easy to see why. It has so many teachable moments.

East is dealer. North-South is vulnerable.

East:

Spades: A-K-6-5-4; Hearts: K-Q-9-8-7; Diamonds: None; Clubs: 7-5-4.

South:

Spades: Q-J-8-7-2; Hearts: 6-4; Diamonds: Q-7-5; Clubs: K-8-3.

West:

Spades: 3; Hearts: A-J-10; Diamonds: K-J-6-4-3-2; Clubs: Q-10-9.

North:

Spades: 10-9; Hearts: 5-3-2; Diamonds: A-10-9-8; Clubs: A-J-6-2.

The Easts have no trouble with their opening bids. All go 1 Spade. Some Wests, however, do not show their Diamonds, as they should have. Some bid 1 No Trump, seeing balance in the rest of their hand. Not a good way to show it.

Easts also have no trouble bidding Hearts properly the second time around. I was East and jumped to 3 Hearts. I want to show strength and a five-card suit, I explain. Wrong. My hand is not strong enough, Bill declares. 2 Hearts is the right overall. West has to respond to the new suit and I have a chance to rebid Hearts to show that I have five of them.

Wests then have a chance to show their six-card Diamond suits, but my partner goes to 2 NT instead. Figuring she has the two minor suits covered, I raise her to 3 NT. Also wrong. North will certainly make a Club lead and it will defeat us.

In the commentary, Bill writes: “As it happens, it matters little whether West rebids 2 NT or 3 Diamonds, as East will rebid 3 Hearts to show five Hearts. Responder revalues his hand and happily raises to game.”

Now we play the hand, with Bill suggesting that good defense will set the 4 Heart contract. Once everyone learns that the 3 of Clubs is the right lead, North-South can take three Club tricks, then lead a Heart to limit ruffs of Spades.

At my table, North wins the first trick with the Ace of Clubs and doesn’t lay down a second Club, like he should. He shifts to the Ace of Diamonds, expecting I might have a singleton. Bad assumption. I ruff, cash the two top Spades (discarding a Club from dummy), discard a Club from my hand on the King of Diamonds and keep on cross-ruffing, making an overtrick. Eight Hearts, two Spades and the Diamond.

In the first two weeks of lessons, I’ve converted all this fresh knowledge into first-place finishes in the game that follows the lesson. Not this time. Partner June Feuerstein and I get taken to school repeatedly. We’re lucky to make 40%. Not dead last (two other pairs are in the 30s), but last among the experienced players in Strat A.  

Bridge Blog 1096: Picnic Pickup

As I’ve said many times before, the Unit 116 picnic and game is my favorite unit event. Two games. Picnic food. You can’t go wrong.

Well, this year’s picnic, on Sunday, Aug. 4, was just one game. Maybe that’s just as well. Two is an endurance test.

And the picnic food, although once again it was that wonderful Weidner’s chicken, it was missing that special touch that Paul and Linda Zittel brought to the meal in previous years – the fresh corn and the fabulous corn salsa.

Still, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. And I nearly did. Although I bought my $15 ticket weeks in advance, I couldn’t line up a partner, ask as I might. And although I requested the night off from work, the schedule at The Buffalo News showed me working as a city editor Sunday night. I figured my request had been turned down.

So it was great surprise on Saturday night to see that the schedule had changed. Someone else would be Sunday night city editor. I was free. I immediately called the chairwoman, Betty Metz, and explained my situation. Did anyone need a partner? She gave me two names, two women I’d never played with before.

I called the more experienced of them, Fran Kurtz, and she accepted. I told her, alas, that I do play two-over-one, but we agreed that we would have a good time. And we did, despite mistakes on both sides of the table. We had a respectable finish – 49.69%, seventh out of 12 North-Souths. A couple more good hands and we would have snagged a fraction of a master point.

The Unit 116 Junior Team

Meanwhile, one of the proudest moments of the afternoon was the introduction of the unit’s junior team, students from the Sunday lessons at the Bridge Center of Buffalo, who did very well a week earlier in the Junior Nationals in Las Vegas.

Fran and I got to play one of the pairs – Michael Passucci and Tyler Mu – and, aside from one bidding mistake (which didn’t seriously hurt them), they seemed to know their stuff. Among the kids, they were the best, the ones who earned master points.

Bridge Blog 1095: If I Ran a Bridge Club, Part I

A prime directive – anyone who dropped an F-bomb would be penalized. Not money, which players tend to weasel out of, but match points, right on the spot. 20 or so. Enough to hurt. And I'd distribute them to other players. 

Why do I care? An F-bomb was dropped right behind me at the Airport Bridge Club on Tuesday by a player who occasionally has been my partner. A loud one, so loud that everyone at our table was appalled and voiced their disapproval.

Director Bill Finkelstein intervened, demanded an apology from both parties involved, got one, and play went on. But I don’t think an apology was enough. It can happen again. A penalty could go a long way toward curbing those intemperate outbursts. And if the F-bombers object to the penalty and walk out, well, good riddance.