Bridge Blog 1105: Long look back at August (now complete)

Here it is, the end of September and I barely remember August. Better check into the ACBL master point races before they put the new totals up in a few days.

As of Aug. 31, My Ace of Clubs total for points earned in club play stood at 97.35, up 14.52 from July. And the Mini-McKenney total, all points earned everywhere, has reached 104.54, also up 14.52. Yes, for the second month in a row, all my new 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).

A middling kind of month keeps me in fifth place among Buffalo players. Meanwhile, Martin Pieterse, who took first place in June, has been overtaken by Linda Burroughford, who jumped from third place in July. Here’s the list:

Linda Burroughsford, 131.52 (up to #4 from #5 among all players in Unit 116); Martin Pieterse, 130.27 (dropping to #5 overall from #3); David Millward, 124.64 (down from #4 to #7 overall); Fred Yellen, 105.70 (down to #15 overall from #11); moi, 97.35 (up to #16 overall from #18); Ken Meier holding steady in sixth with 87.06 (#22 overall); Davis Heussler still seventh with 78.42 (#29); John Sinclair, 77.83 (#30). swapping places with Gene Finton, 77.08 (#31); and Dorothy May, 73.10 (still #33).

Ace of Clubs. Unit 116. All players.

Alan Greer has a 58.03-point month. He now stands at 307.92. Then it’s Nancy Wolstoncroft with a 38.96-point month to reach 191.31. John Welte, with a 33.02-point month, sits third with 140.30; with Linda Burroughsford next with 131.52. After that, it’s Martin Pieterse, 130.27; Martha Welte, 126.54; David Millward, 124.64; Gay Simpson, 122.63; Barbara Libby, 118.68; and Mike Silverman, 118.39.

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

No August tournaments for Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler, whose totals increased only modestly here. Linda’s reign continues with 355.20. She also remains first in the entire unit. Davis, who has 333.50, has slipped one notch to third place overall in the unit.

The rest of the Top 10 remains pretty much in the places they occupied a month ago: Ken Meier, 181.92 (still #13 overall); Martin Pieterse, 144.31 (#20, down from #18); David Millward, 137.43 (#24, down from #21); Fred Yellen, 134.73 (#25, down from #22); John Sinclair, 114.94 (#30, down from #27); moi, 104.54 (#36, down from #33); Gene Finton, 92.04 (#42, up from #43); and Dorothy May, 81.31 (#46), swapping places with Art Matthies, 80.49 (#49).

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 355.20. Alan Greer regains second place with 334.39. David Heussler is right behind with 333.50.

Holding steady is John Welte, 313.76. Mike Ryan, 302.39, swaps seats with Martha Welte, 300 even. Saleh Fetouh, 277.80, exchanges places with Glenn Milgrim, 240.25. Rounding out the Top 10 are John Ziemer, 214.86; and Nancy Wolstoncroft, 200.09.

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

Top five are Linda Burroughsford, displacing Martin Pieterse on top, with 131.52. She holds steady at #10 among all players in the district.

Martin Pieterse slips to second with 130.27 (down to #11 from #5 in the district). David Millward descends to third with 124.65 (also down to #16 from #9).

Fred Yellen stays fourth with 105.70 (but slips to #32 from #23). I slide to seventh from fifth with my 97.35 (but hold steady at #42 overall).

Cutting ahead of me are Judith Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, 99.73 (up to #38 from #43); and Kenneth Eichler of Murrysville, Pa., thanks to a 33.89-point month, which gives him 97.61 (up to #41 from #48).

On my heels is James Wheeler of Edinburg, Pa., 96.04, (up to #44 from #57 overall), leaping ahead of Ken Meier, seventh a month ago, now ninth with 87.06 (#59 overall, down from #45). Rounding out the Top 10 is Barbara Schidlowski of Kent, Ohio, with 85.33 (#61). Buffalo’s Davis Heussler, tenth among Rubies last month, now is #12 (#79 overall, down from #68).

Ace of Clubs. District 5. All players.

Buffalonians hold the top two spots and 10 of the Top 20.

Alan Greer, with a 48.03-point month, leads with 307.92. Nancy Wolstoncroft, after a 38.96-point month, has 191.31, eclipsing perennial Pittsburgh champ Reanette Frobouck, who picked up only 6.03 to reach 177.44.

Then it’s Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, leaping to fourth and fifth place from #11 and #12 after 34.59-point months, reaching 143.67 and 143.09, respectively.

Constance Hoechstetter of Moon Township, Pa., maintains her grip on sixth place with 142.13. Arlene Port falls from fourth to seventh with 140.55. Buffalo’s John Welte climbs from #13 to eighth with 140.30. Then it’s Kenneth Bergman of Wexford, Pa., 138.93; and Ruby leader Linda Burroughsford, 131.52.

After that it’s Martin Pieterse, 130.27; Bruce Cahoon of Akron, Ohio., 130.10; Martha Welte, 126.54; Lynn Rafferty of Columbiana, Ohio., 126.19; Allen Selling of Erie, Pa., 124.98; David Millward, 124.64; Gay Simpson, 122.63; Barbara Libby, 118.68; Judy Haffner of Pittsburgh, 118.48; and Mike Silverman, 118.39.

Mini-McKenney. District 5. Ruby Life Masters.

Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler continue one-two – Linda with 355.20; Davis with 333.50. Among all District 5 players, Linda improved to #12 from #13. Davis went to #15 from #14.

Ken Meier has moved into third from fifth place with 181.92 (#46 overall, up from #52). Going to fourth from sixth is Doug Snyder of Shaker Heights, Ohio, with 179.21 (#49).

Then it’s James Fox of Canonburg, Pa., 173.08 (#57); Judith Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, 159.27 (#65); Martin Pieterse, 140.02 (#85) and David Millward, 137.43 (#89).

Where am I with my 104.54? #18 among the Rubies, up from #20, and #138 among all players in the district, up from #149.

Mini-McKenney. District 5. All players.

No stopping perennial leader Sue Lan Ma of Kirtland Hills, Ohio. Thanks to a 143.22-point month, she now has a better than 200-point lead over another Ohioan, Bernie Greenspan of Beachwood. Here’s the Top 10:

Sue Lan Ma, 674.81; Bernie Greenspan, 461.15;  Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., 455.97; Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh, up to fourth from eighth with a 99.60-point month, reaching 434.30. Phillip Becker of Beachwood, Ohio, 403.30, swaps places with Craig Biddle of Pittsburgh, 380.51.

Then it’s Kenneth Kranyak of Parma, Ohio, 374.38; Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio; 372.74 and 372.16; and Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, 363.11. Seven Buffalonians occupy places between #12 and #21. 

And finally, here on Oct. 3, August’s national leaders:  

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

Jay Lucas of Little Rock, Ark., with 270.42, supplants Russ Pearly of The Villages, Fla., on top. He has 251.28, improved by only 5.90 in August.

Jim Loffree of Naples, Fla., leader in May, second in June, moves from fourth to third with 242.01. Sidney Perutz of Dallas advances from fifth to fourth with 236.03. They displace Mason Barge of Atlanta, reaching 229.24 after only a 14.45-point month.

The rest of the Top 10: Mark Crumrine, a Top 10 newcomer, 222.79; ditto with John Miller of Chicago, 209.13. They drop Bruce Ladin of Harwood Heights, Ill., to eighth from sixth, with 208.35. Then come Christine Converse of Highland Beach, Fla., 207.28; and Christopher Smith of Vero Beach, Fla., 203.84.

Unit 116 leader Linda Burroughsford moves up to #88 from #116 in July with 131.52. Martin Pieterse is now #90, down from #73, with 130.27. David Millward is #109, down from #100, with 124.64. Fred Yellen, with 105.70, is #257, down from #219. I’m #371, up from #392, with 97.35. Ken Meier has dropped from the Top 500. The list stops at 88.93.

Ace of Clubs. Nationwide. Top 500 players.

Bill Kulbersh of Atlanta has a 61.31-point month to reach a total of 467.98, extending his lead over April leader Neil Silverman of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who had only 27.68 in August and has 381.76 now.

April-May leader Barbara Sartorius of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., third in July and fifth in August, drops to ninth with 314.64, after a mere 17.27-point month. Ahead of her now are Francine Feldman of Boca Raton, Fla., with 352.40 (a 44.64-point month), who squeezed past En Xie of St. Louis with 352.16 (a 43.01-point month).

After that, David Hudson of The Villages, Fla., 340.64 (56.92-point month) moves from seventh to fifth. Shiv Arora of Boca Raton, Fla., keeps sixth with 335.85 (45.37-point month). Harry Kaufmann of North Redington Beach, Fla., slips from fifth to seventh with 333.96 (40.30-point month). Jeff Edelstein of Tampa debuts eighth with 323.07. Barbara Sartorius debuts ninth with 314.64. And Jack Borenstein of Dallas, after a 26.41-point month, has 308.49, dropping from eighth to tenth. 

Unit 116 and District 5 leader Alan Greer is #12 with 307.92, up from #17. Nancy Wolstoncroft takes another leap, to #190 from #287, with 191.31. And that’s it for Buffalonians. The list cuts off at 150.79.

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

Now four players have reached the half-century mark and two of them have surpassed 600.

New leader is Harrison Luba of Lynnfield, Mass., with 648.17. Third a month ago, he had another big month, 149.12 points.

He bumped Thomas Rush of Houston to second place. Rush collected only 87.58 points to reach 600.20.

Dropping to third is Jay Lucas of Little Rock, Ark., with 542.22 after a 27.74-point month. Dolores Aquino of Houston continues fourth with 508.84 (an 87.59-point month).

Then it’s Amy Casanova of Portland, Ore., 450.26; Murali Nair of Phoenix, 431.25; Christopher Smith of Vero Beach, Fla., 427.03; Samuel Amer of New York City, 412.71; Shailesh Gupta of Aliso Viejo, Calif., 385.84; and Bill Cook of Louisville, Ky., 383.95.

Unit 116’s Linda Burroughsford drops to #20 from #15 with 355.20. Davis Heussler falls to #25 from #18 with 333.50. Ken Meier up again, #242 from #249, with 181.92. David Millward, last man on the list a month ago, is missing. The list cuts off at 142.09.

Mini-McKenney. Nationwide. Top 500 players.

Twenty-seven players now have gone into four figures and it’s a bit of a dogfight on top.

Kevin Dwyer of Melbourne, Fla., leads with 1,788.19 after a 288.50-point month. He supplanted Shan Huang, also of Melbourne, Fla., with 1,701.63 after a 193.77-point effort in August.

Then it’s Jeff Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach, Fla., collecting another 343.10 in August to take third with 1,657.81. Mark Itabashi of Murrieta, Calif., moves from sixth to fourth with a 389.76-point month, for a total of 1,639.68.

They bump Joe Grue of New York City, from third to fifth. His 265.77-point month left him with 1,586.61.

Then it’s Jacob Morgan of Madison, Wis., 1,440.22; Geoff Hampson of Las Vegas, 1,431.07; Alex Hudson of Raleigh, N.C., 1,368.65; John Hurd of New York City, 1,364.11; and Eric Rodwell of Clearwater, Fla., 1,323.51.

Native Buffalonian Joel Wooldridge, now based in Astoria, Queens, was #10 in July, but after a 66.39-point month, he’s dropped to #14 with 1,244.35.

As for others we know and love, District 5 leader Sue Lan Ma rebounds to #84 from #116. Unit 116 leader Linda Burroughsford slips to #471 from #413. Davis Heussler doesn’t make the list. It cuts off at 345.99.

Bridge Blog 1104: Buffalo Fall Sectional Day III

In his considerable wisdom, teammate Jim Gullo summed up our Sunday Swiss team experience this way – there’s always one hand that makes the difference between winning and losing.

In the first match, against the estimable Christy Kellogg and Bert Hargeshimer, that was a 6 No Trump slam, bid and made at the other table. Partner Denise Slattery and I signed off at 3 NT and to make matters worse, I opted to avoid the winning Heart finesse and won only 10 tricks. That cost us 11 International Match Points. Take that away and we wouldn’t have lost the match, 25-19.

But Christy and Bert are A-list players (as are Jim Gullo and myself). Match 2 pitted us against Sue Neubecker and Jo Nasoff-Finton, B players with no shortage of experience, but B players nevertheless. Instead of having our way with them, however, we suffered our worst defeat of the day, 38-11. It wasn’t just one hand that made the difference. There were three. Jim and his partner, Elaine Kurasiewicz, spent the interval between matches disputing each others’ bidding methods.

Match 3 found us sitting opposite another good team down on its luck – an even better B-rated bunch that included Allen Beroza and Bob Sommerstein. Unclear in retrospect whether we should have defeated their 3 NT contract on Board 3 or whether our teammates should have made it, but that was the big one. To succeed completely, though, Denise and I needed to stop bidding on Board 6, where we went down 3 vulnerable at a mere 2 Spades. Those two boards cost us 11 and 5 IMPs, respectively. We lost 20-8.

Winless going into Match 4, we met the Bradford, Pa., ladies – Maxine Davis and Bonnie Smith – who had driven 2 hours Sunday morning to play with us. Here we gave away a 13 IMP board – Elaine and Jim let their opponents make a slam – but won all the others. The margin was 27-13, our first victory of the day, just in time for the lunch break.

We should have won Match 5 against a C-rated team that, at our table, included Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, but these adorable ladies nailed us, thanks to Board 17. Mary opened 1 NT, Denise overcalled 2 Hearts. Cappelletti, I concluded. Hearts and a minor suit. I had the minors and only a singleton Heart. I bid 2 NT to ask Denise which one. She left me there. Down 4. An 11 IMP setback. We lost the match, 17-15.

For Match 6, we met another down-in-the-depths team in the persons of Judy and Bob Kaprove. We might have given them their first victory of the day had Denise not bid us up to an inspired 6 Spade slam, which I brought home. At the other table, they didn’t bid the slam and they didn’t take 12 tricks. We really needed those 12 IMPs. Our margin of victory was only 15-7.

We could have won Match 7, too, had Denise not abandoned what had been a day of consistency and self-control on Board 27, a severely distributional hand. Denise challenged opponents Florence Boyd and Ruth Wurster with a high-level Diamond overbid, then upped the ante even further with a 5 Heart bid, which was promptly doubled. I had three low Hearts, three Diamonds with the Ace, maybe 7 high-card points total. Do I bid 6 Diamonds, which also will be doubled? The axiom stipulates: Don’t save your partner. But in this case, partner needed saving. 5 Hearts went down 8 for a minus 2,000 score, a number you never want to see in Swiss teams. Six Diamonds doubled? Down three perhaps. We gave away 18 IMPs and lost 30-17.

Our reward for the day – two wins worth 0.26 silver points apiece. Add that what Art Matthies and I accumulated Friday afternoon and I came away with 3.09 points for the tournament.

Meanwhile, Swiss teams weren’t as rewarding this time as they have been at other sectionals. There were only 18 teams, continuing the blight on attendance that began on Friday (the Canadians who usually come to our sectionals stayed away). The winning foursome – local expert Jay Levy, his protégé Ethan Xie and two out-of-towners – collected just 7.70 silver points.  

Bridge Blog 1103: Buffalo Fall Sectional, Days I and II

         “How’d we do this morning?” I ask partner Art Matthies as he returns to the event room at the Main-Transit Fire Hall in Amherst during the lunch break Friday. “We were within hailing distance,” he declares.

         Hailing distance turns out to be half a match point, a mere 0.30% behind Dotty May and Joe Rooney, who are third in the A stratification in the morning side game. One more trick somewhere – or maybe less of a bumpy start to the day – and we’d be the ones winning 1.07 silver master points.

         Nevertheless, our 54.46% is more than respectable. We have high hopes for the afternoon.

         It’s a drastically smaller side game after lunch – 3½ tables instead of the eight in the morning session – and Art and I get the final sit-out. So although it feels like a good game, we don’t stick around to see how we did. It isn’t until late in the evening that I get to check my e-mail and discover we’re head and shoulders above the rest – 58.75%. 2.57 silver points.

         I hope to repeat Friday’s good fortune Saturday with Judie Bailey, but we fail in our first strategy. We don’t get into the side game. Judie’s late. Director Brian Meyer is ready to start things rolling when she arrives. Adding us to the side game would create half a table. And the big double-session open game is half a table short. We could create two problems, he says, or no problems.

         It’s Judie’s birthday and I try mightily to stifle negativity, but we’re having a bad day, a really bad day – both of us. We don’t take all the tricks we should. We forget how many trumps we’ve drawn. We fail to find our maximum contracts. 

Plus we are playing extraordinarily slowly. We get admonitions from Brian Meyer. We test the patience of Bud Seidenberg and Jay Levy, who are following us East-West. They wait at the change of every round. (Their reward comes later – they’re first overall for the day.)

         We finish the game so late that we get only a half hour for lunch. Judie wants a birthday lunch at Anderson’s, the frozen custard and roast beef place a couple minutes down Main Street. When we return, seconds after the afternoon session begins, I catch a quick look at the morning scores. 37.18%. Miraculously, we’re not last. Just within hailing distance.

         Vowing to do better in the afternoon, we actually do, but we don’t raise any ripples. 43.11%, 10th out of 13 pairs.

         At least Sunday should provide some sort of salvation. It’s rare to get shut out entirely at Swiss teams, although it can happen. Plus I get reunited with partner Denise Slattery, who’s moved away to the countryside south of Rochester. “I don’t come back to Buffalo for just anybody,” she says Saturday morning.

Bridge Blog 1102-A: Blondes Have More Fun

I didn’t see her. I scanned the whole room Friday, Sept. 6, at the Bridge Centre of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont., and nobody sitting in her customary seat – South – looked like Selina Volpatti.

Yes, she’s here, director Diane Kunselman said. Table 3. I looked. I looked again. Omigod. She’s a blonde!

Her son-in-law, a hair stylist, wanted to do it and she agreed, sitting under bleach for six hours. I quickly adjusted to the new Selina, liking her more and more as the game progressed. And what a good game it was. 58.01%. Second North-South. 0.91 of a point. Blondes really do have more fun.

The next day, she inspired similar surprises at the Airport Bridge Club in Cheektowaga. Pawan Matta, who is letting her hair go gray, was particularly delighted. But we couldn’t recreate the fun. 43.65%.

Bridge Blog 1102-B: Yes, Really

The following Friday, Sept. 13, in St. Catharines, it was jamais vu all over again. None of the blondes sitting South were her. Yes, she’s here, Diane said again. Table 1. Right behind me. Sure enough, there she was, sitting North, but not bright blonde. Ash blonde. That son-in-law again.

Not as much fun this time, but I blame myself. I overreached three times in the final two rounds of the day.

Had I not pushed to a 6 No Trump slam on Board 23, going down one, we would have been 4 match points to the better.

Had I not bid at all on Board 24, we would have settled at 1 NT instead of 3 NT, we would not have had a bottom board and we would have collected at least 3 more match points.

And on Board 26, the last hand of the day, had I returned to Spades, Selina’s opening bid, we would have played at 4 Spades, making at least one overtrick, instead of 3 NT, making just nine tricks, which happened at four other tables where a Heart was the opening lead and they took four quick Heart tricks. We would have been 3 match points to the good.

North (Selina)

Spades: A K 10 9 4; Hearts: 10 9 4; Diamonds: 5 4 2; Clubs: A K.

East

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

South (moi)

Spades: J 6 5; Hearts: 5 2; Diamonds: A K Q J 7; Clubs: J 5 3.

West
Spades: Q 3; Hearts: A J 8 7; Diamonds: 8 6 3; Clubs: 10 7 6 2. 

Let’s face it, I fell in love with that solid Diamond suit and figured we could make an extra 10 points in No Trump. And in the less-than-likely event that the opponents don’t lead a Heart, we're golden. It’s a top board – 12 tricks. That happened twice elsewhere. If we're that lucky, 7 more match points.

So we're sixth out of 13 North-South pairs with 49.65%, half a match point out of fifth, which would have given us a small reward.

I vowed to Selina that we’d improve Saturday at the Airport Bridge Club, but then a virus intervened.

Bronchitis. That little cough I had Friday morning became a scratchy throat, a runny nose and a lot of fatigue by the time we got home that evening from “The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid” at the Road Less Traveled Theatre in downtown Buffalo and a late snack afterward at one of our favorite stops – Coco’s. I texted Selina just before midnight to cancel.

Our next get-together – Sept. 27 in St. Catharines. More jamais vu?

Bridge Blog 1101: 4,000!

John Ziemer delights in nailing me on a doubled contract. With an endless succession of ill-advised sacrifice bids, I’ve given him many a 1,100 score. But now he’s come back from the Pittsburgh Labor Day Regional Tournament with a new benchmark in penalty scoring.

John and partner Mike Ryan sent an unfortunate pair of opponents down eight, doubled. Their score? 4,000. John says he’s never seen a number that high. Me neither. 

According to the numbers on the backs of the cards in the bidding box, there aren’t many higher. You can’t get there playing offense. The highest score for someone bidding 7 No Trump, doubled and vulnerable and making it, is only 2,980. Anyway, here’s the hand. Board 25, east-west vulnerable:

 North

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

 East

Spades: 7 3; Hearts: A 10 9 5 4; Diamonds: K 10 7 5 2 Clubs: 8.

 South

Spades: A Q 2; Hearts: K J; Diamonds: A Q 8 6 3; Clubs: K Q 4.

West

 Spades: K 9 6 5 4; Hearts: Q 8 7 2; Diamonds: none; Clubs: A 7 6 5.

According to the hand record, John and Mike, playing East-West, can make 6 Diamonds if East is declarer for a score of 1,370. What happened, however, was that North gave a cue bid of 3 Diamonds. John doubled. North redoubled. South left it in. Down eight, redoubled. At most tables, East-West played the hand at 3 NT and made a couple overtricks.