Bridge Blog 1107: Buffalo Regional Tournament

       Three weeks ago – I discover that it’s too late to ask for Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday nights off from work, as I had intended. New plan: Forget about Tuesday and Wednesday, play Thursday, Friday and Saturday, work as usual Sunday. See if I can come to the office late on Saturday afternoon.

       Two weeks ago – Canadian partner Selina Volpatti announces that she’ll play with me Thursday, Friday and Saturday and has booked a room in the tournament hotel – the Buffalo Grand Hotel, formerly the Adam’s Mark. Dimly recall that I may have made other plans for Friday and Saturday. Did I cancel them?

       Tuesday – Selina texts that she can’t play Thursday. Has a preliminary appointment for her medical procedure next week.

       Wednesday – Another text from Selina. She’s got a cold. Needs to be healthy for her procedure. No regional for her.

Drop into the tournament at lunchtime to put in my name at the Partnership Desk for Thursday and Friday. Pairs games, team games, I’ll play anything. Run into Dorothy May, who says we’re teammates Friday. Must not have canceled that prior arrangement. Take back ticket asking for a Friday partner and confirm by e-mail that evening that I’ve had a Friday-Saturday date all the time – Ruth Wurster.

Thursday – Present myself at the Partnership Desk at 9:45 a.m. Here are two guys who want to play in the team game, Dian Petrov says. Can you round up a partner? I give a glance at Jim Gullo behind the desk, who has been a last-minute partner in the past. No, he says, he’s in the third round of a knock-out game. No other free agents show up. An unexpected day off. What to do? It’s raining. I gas up the car, go home and hit the computer.

Friday – Swiss team games. Split up into little bitty sections. Six teams in ours, all looking like they’ve had more experience. I make a big mistake in the first round of the day, allowing the opponents make a contract they should have lost, and it costs us 6 victory points. Nevertheless, we have two wins and two losses and a shred of hope when we come to the fifth and final round.  It’s against the Weltes, John and Martha. They slam dunk us, shut us out, and win the section – 17.12 points. We’re last on the list, but our two wins send us out the door with a little something – 1.04 red points.  

Saturday – Friday Swiss winners get to play knock-outs for a big championship. Friday losers get to play a compact knock-out game in the morning. We lose our first match, which knocks us into a consolation round – a three-way round robin. We manage to win one of those two games, lose the other badly to a team that includes two of Buffalo’s best players – Saleh Fetouh and Jay Costello. There’s consolation, though. 0.71 of a red point.

Ruth is game to play in the afternoon. I check with the office to see if it’s cool to come in late. It’s not. Two people have called in sick, the dayside city editor tells me. After 4 p.m., I’m the only staffer on the news-gathering side of things. For me, tournament over.