Bridge Blog 1133: No Surprises in October, Part I

           But then again, no disasters, either. Just the new normal. I now have 59.68 points in club play, thanks to another 5.57 accumulated on Bridge Base Online. It sounds slight, but it’s better than September and the best since the new normal arrived last March. Overall, the total for the year is 64.23. And if we could count  everything I’ve won on OKBridge, it would be 129.53. So let’s put those in our pocket and head off for the ACBL’s master point races.

        Ace of Clubs (Club Play Only). Unit 116 (Just Buffalo). Gold Life Masters (Players with 2,500 to 3,500 points).

        Looks like no movement on this list of what is now just nine players. Allen Beroza is still first, with 129.25 points, up 12.33 for the month. He’s also still third overall in club play among all players in the unit.

         Still second is Ken Meier, now with 104.21 points, 19.95 better than a month ago. He’s climbed to seventh overall, up from tenth.

        My 59.68 makes me third and keeps me at #28 overall. Mike Silverman holds fourth without budging from 50.61 in October. Overall, he’s #32, down from #29. Fred Yellen is similarly motionless in fifth place with the same 40.21 he previously had. He’s #45 overall, down from #38.

        Art Morth stands pat at 28.48 in sixth place, dropping to #66 overall from #61. Bill Rushmore added 1.29 points to reach 19.38. Still seventh, he’s #88 overall, down from #83. Motionless at 18.09 is John Sinclair, eighth on this list, #94 overall, down from #86.

        Chongmin Zhang having disappeared from this division, Pat Rasmus occupies ninth place, the lowest rung on the ladder. But she’s playing again at the Bridge Club of East Aurora and earning points – 1.45 of them in October. She now has 4.24. She’s #241 overall, up from #254.

         Ace of Clubs. Unit 116. All players.

        John and Martha Welte keep piling up the points. They collected another 79.37 of them in October, padding their insurmountable lead. They now have 416.07.

        Gold Life Master leader Allen Beroza is next with 129.25. Coming up fast behind him is NABC Master Jim Lanzo with 121.47, catching 18.14 points in October to advance to fourth from fifth. He passed Bud Seidenberg, who has 116.63, winning 10.01 points for the month.

        Sixth is Saleh Fetouh with 104.51, 11.62 points better than a month ago, which propelled him past Alan Greer, who has the same 100.85 he’s had since March and now is tenth.

        Also passing Alan Greer is Ken Meier, seventh with 104.21. Vic Bergsten jumps from #11 to eighth with 103.28 after a 27.01 point month. Barbara Libby maintains her hold on ninth with 102.53, having added 18.13.

        Next in line to pass Alan Greer are Gay Simpson with 97.03, Larry Himelein with 93.48 and Sandi England with 88.63. By the end of the year, he may even get lapped by Sharon Benz, 81.79; Martha Townson, 81.37; Mary Ball, 80.83; and her frequent partner Joyce Frayer, 78.78.

        Mini-McKenney (Club points plus tournament points). Unit 116. Gold Life Masters.

        It’s Allen Beroza again. His 141.28 is 12.33 better than a month ago, but he slips to sixth among all Buffalo players, down from fifth.

        Ken Meier looks like a mover with 121.09, up 24.50 pointwise and up to eighth overall from his previous #13.       

        Lo and behind, I’m still third with my 64.23 and still #31 overall. John Sinclair in fourth place added nothing to his 58.36 (he’s piling up points online instead). He’s #36 overall, down from #32.

        Mike Silverman and Fred Yellen are similarly silent – Mike with 55.77 (#40 overall, down from #34), Fred with 55.61 (#41 overall, down from #35).

        Art Morth found a fractional point. He’s sixth with 35.55, #62 overall, down from #60. Bill Rushmore has 25.22, #82 overall, down from #78. Meanwhile, Pat Rasmus, with 4.24, rides up to #247 from #259.

        Mini-McKenney. Unit 116. All Players.

        Weltes, Weltes, Weltes. John and Martha now have 486.23 for the year so far. That’s 86.26 more, after collecting 64.18 in September and 61.21 in August. Where do they find them all?

        They should tell Saleh Fetouh. He’s an even more distant third with 194.37, adding just 11.62 points.

        Steady in fourth is Davis Heussler with 154.23, only 5.76 better than a month ago. Surging into fifth from seventh last month is Jim Lanzo with 143.25, having amassed 22.72 more.

        He passed Allen Beroza, sixth with 141.28, and Bud Seidenberg, who has 138.77 following a 10.01 point month. Then it’s Ken Meier, 121.09; Vic Bergsten, 120.83, up 25.59 points; and Linda Burroughsford, 120.71, 5.88 points better, but dropping from eighth to tenth.

        Then come a tight cluster of players who have just surpassed the century mark – Gay Simpson, 108.05; Amita Arora, 104.41; Bob Sommerstein, 103.87; Barbara Libby, 103.69; and Jim Easton and Marilyn Wortzman, tied for #15 with 102.06.

(More to come) (well, maybe not ...) 

Bridge Blog 1132: Taking notes

            Instead of talking to the computer screen, I started jotting things down in October during a particularly desolate stretch of games when it seemed like Selina Volpatti and I couldn’t put together an effort anywhere near good enough to earn master points.

Things aren’t quite as dismal now that November’s here (darker days, brighter fortunes?), but I’m still jotting. In the Bridge Base Online game Wednesday, Nov. 4, where we notched 62.96% and came in first north-south, there wasn’t much to complain about – only Board #9.

 

North:  Q J 10 3 2/ K 5/ A Q 10 8/ A 6

East: K 9 6/ 7 6 4 2/ 7 4/ Q J 10 7

South: 7 5/ Q J 10 9/ K J 6/ K 9 8 3

West: A 8 4/ A 8 3/ 9 5 3 2/ 5 4 2

 

It was our only bottom board. Everybody else wound up at 3 No Trump. I opened 1 Spade, she bid 1 No Trump, I bid 2 Diamonds, figuring it would be a demand bid, but it didn’t turn out that way. I made 4 Diamonds and felt pretty good about taking 10 tricks, but I was the only one who played it there. Most everybody else bid 3 NT and made it. Four of them made an overtrick.

Our first game of the day over on OKBridge was a throwback to last month. I jotted a lot. We had a 37.70% game on 11 boards and finished 67th out of 73 pairs. Let’s look at the four stinkers that made their way into my notes.

Board 2. Partner pushes me to 5 Hearts after I double the opponents at 5 Diamonds. I have five Diamonds to the Ace-Queen. We’re going to kill them in Diamonds, but it’s down one at 5 Hearts. Yep, next to a bottom. Five Diamonds doubled goes down at least 4. On the other hand, if the defenders don't take the tricks they're entitled to, 5 Hearts makes it at 10 of the tables.

Board 5. Despite my passes, partner overcalls opponents’ jump to 4 Hearts by bidding a vulnerable 4 Spades, gets doubled and takes only five tricks. Minus 1,100. Sure, most of the time they make 4 Hearts, but we should have let them play it.

Board 7. Partner doesn’t lead a third Diamond for me to ruff after I show a singleton on her Ace-King lead. Opponents are down one at 4 Hearts. Could have been down two.

Board 10. Partner opens 1 Diamond, opponent bids 1 Heart. Do I bid 1 Spade with this hand?

Spades: K, 9, 8, 6. Hearts: J, 4. Diamonds: Q, 9, 8, 2. Clubs: J, 6, 2.

Of course, I do. Partner bids 2 Spades over their 2 Hearts and comes back again with 3 Spades over their 3 Hearts. Down two vulnerable.

Actually, Boards 7 and 10 are not bottoms. They’re better than 50% in the OKBridge scoring system, just marginally less rewarding than they could have been. Sometimes things seem more awful as they’re happening than they really are. And sometimes things are just bad all over.