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.