Bridge Blog 1110: Smashed Pumpkins

       Do we remember October? Now that we’re stuffed with Thanksgiving turkey, just dimly. Better gather up the pumpkin lattes from the ACBL master point races before they evaporate completely.

       Where did I stand for the year as of Oct. 31? Ace of Clubs points – 111.03, fifth among players in the Ruby Life Master (1,500 to 2,500 points) division of the Ace of Clubs race (points earned in club play only) for Unit 116 (the metro Buffalo area). If I were ranked in the division where I rightly belong, Gold Life Master, I would be third. 

        As for all points earned everywhere, which are tabulated in the Mini McKenney race, I had 123.06, seventh among the Unit 116 Rubies. (As a Gold, I'd be fourth.) Let’s run them all down:

       Unit 116. Ace of Clubs. Ruby Life Masters. It’s still Linda Burroughsford and Martin Pieterse, pretty much neck and neck. Linda leads with 163.59 and is fourth among all Unit 116 players. Martin is close behind with 158.51. He’s fifth in the Unit.

       The rest of the Top 10: Fred Yellen, 139.69; Ken Meier, 114.62; moi, 111.03; Davis Heussler, 98.49; Gene Finton, 91.97; John Sinclair, 91.83; Dorothy May, 91.23; and Art Matthies, 78.39.

       Unit 116. Ace of Clubs. All players.

       Alan Greer keeps right on rolling. 380.62 points. Well ahead of his sometimes partner, Nancy Wolstoncroft, who’s second with 224.31.

       Next is John Welte with 171.51, followed by Linda Burroughsford, 163.59; Martin Pieterse, 158.51; Barbara Libby, 156.81; Martha Welte, 152.85; Mike Silverman, 150.99; Gay Simpson, 147.09; and John Ziemer, 139.69. Of the Rubies, Fred Yellen is #11, Ken Meier is #17 and I’m #19.

       Mini McKenney. Unit 116. Ruby Life Masters.

       Linda Burroughford here, too. She’s first among the Rubies and first in all of Unit 116 with 454.17. Next is her frequent tournament partner, Davis Heussler, with 412.76. He’s fourth in the Unit.

       They far outdistance the rest of the Top 10: Ken Meier, 237.59 (#13 overall); Fred Yellen, 182.24 (#20 overall); Martin Pieterse, 174.77 (#23); John Sinclair, 139.39 (#32); moi, 123.06 (#39); Gene Finton, 114.64 (#42); Art Matthies, 105.74 (#43); and Dorothy May, 103.91 (#46).

       Unit 116. Mini McKenney. All players.

       Linda Burroughsford has surpassed Saleh Fetouh, our perennial champion. And John Welte has slipped ahead of Davis Heussler. Here’s the leaderboard:  

       Linda Burroughsford, 454.17; Saleh Fetouh, 426.32; John Welte, 416.06; Davis Heussler, 412.76; Alan Greer, 407.09; Martha Welte, 392.89; Mike Ryan, 361.12; Dian Petrov, 297.21; Glenn Milgrim, 295.66; and John Ziemer, 272.65. Not far behind are Jay Levy, 258.99; and Chris Urbanek, 256.21. Ken Meier is #13.

       District 5 (Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh). Ace of Clubs. Ruby Life Masters.

       Top three and five of the Top 10 are Buffalo players, led by Linda Burroughsford with 163.59. She’s ninth among all players in the District. Second and third are Martin Pieterse and Fred Yellen, with 158.51 and 139.69, respectively. They’re #11 and #21 overall.

       After that, it’s Kenneth Eichler of Murrysville, Pa., 127.88 (#31); Judith Shapiro of Akron, Ohio, 118.31 (#43); Barbara Schidlowski of Kent, Ohio, 115.01 (#46); Ken Meier, 114.62 (#47); James Wheeler of Edinburg, Pa., 114.57 (#48); moi, 111.03 (#54); and Doug Snyder, 102.66 (#68). Unit 116 has four more players among the next 10.

       District 5. Ace of Clubs. All players.

       Unit 116’s Alan Greer and Nancy Wolstoncroft are one-two with 380.62 and 224.31. After that, it’s Reanette Frobouch of Pittsburgh, 195.24; Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, 194.61 and 192.79, respectively; John Welte, 171.51; Arlene Port of Pittsburgh, 168.17; Bruce Cahoon of Akron, Ohio, 164.88; Linda Burroughsford, 163.59; and Kenneth Bergman of Wexford, Pa., 159.92. Martin Pieterse is #11.

       District 5. Mini-McKenney. Ruby Life Masters.

       Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler are way out in front here with their 454.17 and 412.76. On a district level, however, they’re just #14 and #17.

       Far, far behind are Doug Snyder of Shaker Heights, Ohio, 258.60 (#35); Robert Zimmerman of Pittsburgh, 241.88 (#42); Ken Meier, 237.59 (#46); James Fox of Canonsburg, Pa., 218.44 (#57); Fred Yellen, 182.24 (#79); Martin Pieterse, 174.77 (#85); and Elena Steingraf of North Canton, Ohio, 162.77 (#95). Unit 116’s John Sinclair, with 139.39, is #16 (#128 overall) and my 123.06 puts me at #26 (#161 overall).

       District 5. Mini-McKenney. All players. No Unit 116 players in the Top 10, but seven from Ohio, led by Sue Lan Ma of Kirtland Hills, Ohio, with 877.46. The rest:

       Philip Goulding of Wexford, Pa., 596.65; Bernie Greenspan of Beachwood, Ohio, 592.70; Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, 575.05; Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, ohio, 566 even and 564.18; Phillip Becker of Beachwood, Ohio, 557.95; Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburg, 557.31; Don Sulgrove of Twinsburg, Ohio, 538.70; and Fred Schenker of Pittsburgh, 497.77.

       Nationwide. Ace of Clubs. Ruby Life Masters.

       Helps to live in Florida. Five of the Top 10 hail from the Sunshine State: Jim Loffree of Naples, Fla., 304.32;  Mark Crumrine of Ocala, Fla., 290.56; Sidney Perutz of Dallas, 288.87; Christopher Smith of Vero Beach, Fla., 286.60; Mason Barge of Atlanta, 283.55; Jay Lucas of Little Rock, Ark., 276.95; Russ Pearly of The Villages, Fla., 270.96; John Miller of Chicago, 262.35; Christine Converse of Highland Beach, Fla., 262.32; and Bruce Ladin of Harwood Heights, Ill., 260.67.

       Unit 116ers include Linda Burroughsford at #95 with 163.59; Martin Pieterse at #123 with 158.51; Fred Yellen at #208 with 139.69; and Ken Meier at #487 with 114.62. My 111.03 doesn’t cut it. The list cuts off at 114.29.

       Nationwide. Ace of Clubs. All players.

       Bill Kulbersh of Atlanta, way ahead with 628.10. Then it’s Neil Silverman of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 494 even; Francine Feldman of Boca Raton, Fla., 463.11; En Xie of St. Louis, 455.19; Sheila Gabay of Newton, Mass., 450.71; Robert Epstein of Atlanta, 422.98; Jeff Edelstein of Tampa, Fla., 417.26; Judy Zhu of Romeoville, Ill., 402.87; Harry Kaufmann of North Redington Beach, Fla., 399.66; and David Hudson of The Villages, Fla., 394.54.

       Unit 116’s Alan Greer is #15 with 380.62 and Nancy Wolstoncroft is #271 with 224.31. Nobody else from our neck of the woods. The list cuts off at 192.60.

       Nationwide. Mini-McKenney. Ruby Life Masters.

       Nobody here in four figures and probably won’t be when the year ends. Top dog is Harrison Luba of Lynnfield, Mass., with 736.55, followed by Thomas Rush and Dolores Aquino, both of Houston, with 701.03 and 604.96, respectively.

       Then there’s Jay Lucas of Little Rock, Ark., 573.23; Amy Casanova of Portland, Ore., with 578.71; Christopher Smith of Vero Beach, Fla., 536.63; Murali Nair of Phoenix, 508.67; Shailesh Gupta of Aliso Viejo, Calif., 506.12; Samuel Amer of New York City, 488.29; and Ann Buchholz of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., 468.23.

       You don’t have to go much further to find a couple Unit 116 players. There’s Linda Burroughsford at #13 with 454.17 and Davis Heussler at #21 with 412.76. And there are more. Ken Meier at #207 with 237.59 and Fred Yellen at #473 with 182.24. The list stops at 178.42.

       Nationwide. Mini-McKenney. All players.

       Mark Itabashi of Murrieta, Calif., has not only surpassed the double millennia mark, but also has taken the lead, slipping past Kevin Dwyer of Melbourne, Fla., who’s second with 2,004.61, and Joe Grue of New York City, third with 1,997.88.

       After that, we find Jacob Morgan of Madison, Wis., with 1,953.64; the legendary Jeff Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach, Fla., 1,913.64; Shan Huang of Melbourne, Fla., 1,807.58; Alex Hudson of Raleigh, N.C., 1,659.19; Eddie Wold of Houston, 1,627.30; John Hurd of New York City, 1,592.63; and Brad Moss of Denver, 1,579.29.

       Meckstroth’s partner/collaborator Eric Rodwell of Clearwater, Fla., is #11 with 1,561.15; and former Buffalonian Joel Wooldridge, now of Jackson Heights, has risen to #12 with 1,494.57.

       Other familiar faces – Sue Lan Ma is #71 with 877.46, three places ahead of her frequent partner, Peter Petruzzellis of Scarborough, Ont., who has 858.25. Unit 116’s Linda Burroughsford is #415 with 454.17. Did Davis Heussler make it, too? Not quite. The list ends at 423.36. 

Bridge Blog 1109-A: Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional -- Low ball

Missed the first two days, played the last four – six sessions of open pairs, morning and afternoon, with my Canadian partner Selina Volpatti, Swiss teams on Sunday.

High score in the pairs – 47.85% on Friday afternoon, which felt good in retrospect. Two of our games were under 40%. Our aggressive game did not click at all. 

Unlike the Buffalo Sectional Tournament, where the side game is populated by weaker players, these Regional pairs games, side attractions to the knock-out games, attract the sharks. Selina and I were the prey. We helped fatten the winning margin of, for one, Saleh Fetouh, the Buffalo area player who won the most points in Niagara Falls. His total of 58.39 included 31.43 from topping the open pairs on Thursday.

It took until the Swiss teams on Sunday to find salvation from what was threatening to be another complete shutout in Niagara Falls (like 2017). Our team – Selina, Ruth Wurster, Florence Boyd and myself – won our second round, but the rejoicing didn't last long. That was our only win en route to finishing last among all 73 entries. Our reward – 0.22 of a red point.

Bridge Blog 1109-B: Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional -- Goodbye, Crowne Plaza Hotel

Niagara’s next regional tournament, right after Labor Day in 2020, will not return to this grand old establishment overlooking one of the wonders of the world. When the Unit 255 people went to negotiate new dates, the Crowne Plaza wanted too much money.

So the tournament will set up shop in an affordable, but unmemorable, box on a tacky commercial strip – the Holiday Inn and Suites Parkway Conference Center in St. Catharines, Ont. At least it will feel like home. That’s where they hold the February sectional tournament.

It won’t have the view. It won’t have the casino and the casino’s buffet next door. It won’t have two Starbucks coffee shops downstairs. And it won't have ballrooms with a touch of 1920s elegance. But at least it will be superior to the place that hosts the Buffalo regional – the Buffalo Grand Hotel, formerly the Adam’s Mark – where the carpets are repaired with tape and out-of-town guests were complaining that they couldn’t get towels.

Ballroom full of bridge players at the Crowne Plaza Hotel

Bridge Blog 1109-C: Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional -- Bigger

The Niagara Falls Regional always draws more players than the Buffalo Regional. And this year the difference was even more dramatic.

Tables – Buffalo, 597. Niagara Falls, 1,129 (1,166 in 2017).

Sunday Swiss teams – Buffalo, 34. Niagara Falls, 73 (68 in 2017).

Players winning points – Buffalo, 380. Niagara Falls, 765 (821 in 2017).

Most points earned – Buffalo, 91.28, by Jonathan Steinberg of Toronto and Alex Hudson of Raleigh, N.C. Niagara Falls, 75.36, by Saad and Diana Dahdouh of Toronto. Keith Heckley of Hamilton, Ont., won 75.82 in Niagara Falls in 2017. This year he was 16th with 48.82. The Dahdouhs were deep also-rans in 2017, tied for 117th place with 16.35 points.

Bridge Blog 1109-D: Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional -- The Point Queen of District 5

That’s Sue Lan Ma from Kirtland Hills, Ohio, near Cleveland. She seems to hit all the tournaments. Someone said she is a woman of means and that’s how she spends her retirement. In a brief chat, she told us she’s only been playing for nine years. Secret to her success is perennial partner Peter Petruzzellis of Scarborough, Ont., In Buffalo last month, they won 34.84 points. In Niagara Falls, they collected 23.26. Now that I’ve played against her a few times, I’ve befriended her a little. In Niagara Falls, she even posed for a photo.

Sue Lan Ma, right, opposite partner Peter Petruzzellis. Opponents are St. Catharines players David Pickering, facing us, and John Mackay, back to us.