Bridge Blog 1161: First date

 

With my usual Canadian teammate, Selina Volpatti, unavailable for the game Friday at the Bridge Club of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont., it seems like a good time to take my friend Judy Zeckhauser up on her desire to play there together one of these days.

But Judy hasn't been at this game as long as I have – she has fewer than 500 master points and I have nearly 3,000. As we review conventions at 140 kilometers per hour on the Queen Elizabeth Way, it becomes clear that we should avoid anything exotic.

The folks at BCON are gracious to Judy, but competitive, as usual, in a 7½-table game. After four boards with our first opponents, Kathy Morrison and Sandy Smee, we emerge with a mere 8.5 match points out of a possible 24.

Then, as East-West, we’re off to face John Mackay and Clyde Paul, the eventual winners Friday. Even so, we find our footing, holding them to four average boards for 12.5 points out of 24.

That delivers us to Marg Dykstra and Donna Fettes, who immediately slam-dunk us, bidding and making a 4 Heart contract that others make but don’t bid. They go on to drub us worse than Kathy and Sandy, 17 points to 7, though I’m still kicking myself for not grabbing that Queen of Hearts trick against Marg's 1 No Trump contract on Board 16 and holding her to eight tricks, or maybe seven, since that happened at three other tables. A quick hit of the calculator shows us at that point with a paltry 38.88%.

Then we meet up with perennial partners Joan Soifert and John Marksell. Joan declares that they're having a terrible day and, despite our expressions of sympathy, we extend their bad luck further on the first board when their overly ambitious 4 Spade contact makes only eight tricks, like every other North-South does. We sink them again on the next two boards. Discouraged, they fail to bid the makeable game on the fourth board. We depart for the next table with 19.5 out of 24 match points. Our overall fortunes have suddenly brightened to 48.43%.

We could have done better than a flat 12 out of 24 points against our next opponents, Susan Messer (whom I often see at Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Barbara Staples, another toughie. Here's how we miss a slam on Board 3, mostly because I just didn't think we could bid it:  

Three passes to me and I’m holding the best hand I’ve had all day – six Spades, five Hearts, singleton Ace of Clubs and Queen of Diamonds, 21 high card points. Wham! I simply slam down a 4 Spade bid. Would 2 Clubs, showing huge strength, be better? Hard to say. Judy has a six-point hand, three Hearts to the Queen, two small Spades. Hand analysis shows 11 tricks in Spades, which I make, and 12 in Hearts. Nobody bid the Heart slam, but one East-West took all 13 tricks playing Hearts, obviously because North didn't grab their Ace of Diamonds when they had the chance.

We meet the roving pair – Chris Loat and Don Munroe – on the next round and we nail them. I make an iffy 2 Spade contract to tie for a top board, then Judy, holding four trump, a void and a couple Aces, delivers a knock-out punch by doubling Chris' 3 Spades, Down three vulnerable. Total top board.

Another double by me against a 4 Club contract gives us another top as we join Jan Andreychuk and Pat Braun, two more seasoned players, at the final table. Looking at the Ace-King of Clubs and two other Aces, I can't not double. Down three, thanks to Judy chipping in with the Queen of Clubs and King of Hearts. But then they get it back when a mistake Judy confesses to puts her down two on a makeable 1 No Trump contract.

It doesn't feel like a great day for us, so the final tally is a surprise. 54.49%. Fourth overall. Second in the B strat. Our reward: 0.61 of a black point and 0.31 of a red point. It’s a happy ride back to Buffalo.