Bridge Blog 1170: The wish card

Buffalo's heaviest hitters at the Niagara Regional Tournament -- Jay Levy and Saleh Fetouh -- were absent on Saturday, Nov. 22, from the Buffalo Bridge Center's monthly party game, which opened up things for the rest of us. 

Winners still were a couple of top players, Judy Graf and John Ziemer, the only pair in the 13-pair field above 60% with 62.92%. Second with 56.67%, however, were two players in the lowest stratification -- Ruth Nawotniak and Julie Mitchell. They narrowly edged out Florence Boyd and me. Third place overall with 56.25% is nothing to complain about, though. After all, we got 1.92 master points. 

Only one of the 24 hands we played stands out in my memory, Board 5 against Nawotniak-Mitchell, and it turned out to be crucial. 

Ruth Nawotniak played it at 1 No Trump and made an overtrick, a top board, one better than the hand analysis says she should. All my fault. I gave it away by discarding too many of my five Hearts (9-7-6-4-2). She kept her 8 of Hearts until the 13th trick. Beating that with the 9 would have meant half a match point for us, just enough to nudge them out of second place. Coincidentally, AI Overview says that, in tarot, the 9 of Hearts is often called the "wish card" and signifies dreams coming true. 

North: Spades K-7-5-2; Hearts A-Q-8-3; Diamonds A-9; Clubs-Q-10-3. 

South: Spades Q-10-9-6; Hearts 10; Diamonds Q-7-6-5; Clubs 9-7-6-2. 

East: Spades J-4; Hearts K-J-5; Diamonds, J-10-8-4-3; Clubs: K-J-8.

West (me): Spades A-8-3; Hearts 9-7-6-4-2; Diamonds K-2; Clubs: A-5-4. 

Bridge Blog 1169-A: How to mend a broken heart

Does bridge have restorative powers? It did Friday. I set off for the game at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Bridge Club wallowing in distress over two major shocks to my life this month -- severance from my job after 57 years and the untimely demise of my beautiful, beloved 25-year-old grand-niece by her own hand. I emerged three hours later feeling at least a little bit better, thanks to the warmth of competition with this lovely roomful of senior Canadians and a 55% game with Selina Volpatti, who also was directing. Further lifting my spirits was our 0.56 point reward. 

Bridge Blog 1169-B: Deja vu

Talk about deja vu -- Boards 6 and 8 at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Bridge Club on Friday afternoon had everyone thinking so. Sure looked that way to me. I had six Hearts and no high card points on Board 6. Same on Board 8, though the cards were slightly different. Apparently there were enough complaints about Board 6 to get it dealt again for the later rounds. The hand I held is not what's shown in the ACBL's Live for Clubs recap. At any rate, on Board 8, where I took the bid at 2 Hearts, I managed to fall short by only two tricks, not vulnerable, and got a top board. Here's my holding: Spades 10-9-6-5; Hearts 8-7-5-4-3-2; Diamonds 10-5; Clubs 3. 

I wouldn't have bid at all except that Selina, with 12 hcp, doubled the opening 1 Diamond from East, who had a 19-point hand. Here are Selina's cards: Spades A-J-7-2; Hearts J-9; Diamonds Q-J-7; Clubs Q-J-4-2. I managed to force out the high trumps, exploit the Spades and get a Diamond trick, along with three ruffs. Had East-West persevered, they could have made 3 No Trump. 

Bridge Blog 1168-A: St. Catharines Regional Part III

 

After our stellar showing in the Swiss Teams match on Friday -- second place in our division, 8.69 gold points -- I had high hopes of picking up more master points at the Niagara Regional in St. Catharines. Not Saturday, though. Partner Selina Volpatti wasn't playing and I was set to sit it out, but she lined up one of the better Bridge Center of Niagara players, John MacKay, for me. 

We mesh better than I expected (I hope he wasn't too disappointed that I don't play two-over-one), but could manage only 36.75% in the morning session, almost as dismal as the 36.04% Selina and I had Thursday afternoon. Bottom of the heap, just like Thursday. We should be more aggressive, John advises as afternoon play begins. And we are. 45.95%, ninth out of 12 pairs. I take his phone number. Games at the club could be better. 

Selina and I are back together for Swiss teams on Sunday, visions of a repeat of Friday dancing in our heads. Teammates are John MacKay and Marg Dykstra, who also is one of BCON's better players. We lose our first round by a small margin, then get shut out twice in a row. We limp to the finale with wins in two of the three rounds after lunch. Not nearly good enough to tap into that treasure trove of gold points that Swiss team play provides, but at least we don't go home emptyhanded. A win in each round is worth 0.33 red points.

Before the game started Sunday, the place applauded one of our Buffalo players, Mike Ryan, who's pictured above. It was his 77th birthday. 

Bridge Blog 1168-B: St. Catharines Regional Part IV

I'm amazed to discover that my fortunes were more fortunate at the Niagara Regional Tournament than most other Buffalo players. Nothing on the scale of Jay Levy, of course, who took home 38 points, or Saleh Fetouh, who pocketed 28.51. But there I am, third among the Buffalonians with my 9.35, tied for 161st overall. Jay was 30th, Saleh was tied for 61st. 

The sharks -- the professional players -- led the pack. On top was a pair Selina and I faced on Thursday, Radu Nistor and Michael Gamble. They took away 119.06 points -- 29.31 from winning open pairs on Tuesday, 6.51 coming in eighth in Wednesday open pairs, 23.57 from missing first place by a fraction in Thursday open pairs, 29.31 from a win in Friday open pairs and 29.31 again from a Saturday win. Apparently they didn't stick around for Sunday. 

The other sharks who chomped on us Thursday -- Jacob Morgan and the mysterious R. Muggia -- wound up further down the list, tied for 23rd with 47.95 points. A few people I see often at the Bridge Center of Niagara -- John Stevens, Danny Ioannidis and Jane Jennings -- finished ahead of them. 

Bridge Blog 1167: St. Catharines Regional Part II

 

Bridge Blog Nov. 15, 2025

       What are you going to do now that you’re not working, somebody (maybe John Ziemer) asks me during the lunch break Friday at the Niagara Regional Tournament. Become a bridge bum?

       I go, oh no! In fact, because partner Selina Volpatti isn’t going to play Saturday – too tired – I’m planning to take the day off and get some laundry done. But that’s before Selina goes ahead and pairs me up for Saturday with one of the better players at the Bridge Center of Niagara – John MacKay. He’s always coming in ahead of Selina and me, that’s for sure. Looks like I’m making tracks for St. Catharines on Saturday after all.

       John and I compare convention cards and, like Selina and I did on Thursday, we start off against a pair of sharks – this time, it's Radu Nistor from New York City and Michael Gamble from British Columbia. They win the morning session with 72.38%. John and I are at the bottom of our section with 36.75%.

We certainly help launch them on their way. On our first board, we let them collect 17.5 of a possible 19 match points as the only East-Wests to bid 4 Spades and make it. Two boards later, they get 15.5 of 19 by making a 3 No Trump contract while half of the players in their direction go down at 3 NT. In between, they leave me in a 1 diamond contract and I make three overtricks – 14 out of 19 there. After one round, they’re 66.67% and they just get better.

Meanwhile, three of the four winners in our direction are Buffalo people. Jay Levy and partner are on top. Chongmin Zhang and Kathy Pollock are second and Saleh Fetouh and partner are fourth.

John and I compare conventions some more before the afternoon session starts and vow to be more aggressive. Maybe that helps. This time we’re ninth out of 12 pairs with 45.95%. I expect John to be discouraged, but he doesn't seem to be. We exchange phone numbers. Maybe this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, Buffalonians again are on top, led by Saleh Fetouh with 61.48%. Jay Levy is third. Min and Kathy are fourth. The two sessions add 12.37 gold points to Jay’s haul. Saleh, who says in the morning that he’s now got more than 1,000 points this year, collects 7.33. Min and Kathy get 8.37. The sharks? They’re at the top of the food chain – 29.31 gold points.

One reason I’m back in St. Catharines on Saturday is because Selina and I did well on Friday in a Swiss team game and I hope the bridge gods will keep on smiling. Playing with Darlene Scott, who’s a Unit 166 regional director in Toronto, and Elizabeth Williams, who hails from Burlington, we notch a shutout in our first eight-board round and limit the opponents to just one victory point in the next round. We lose three of the next four rounds, but only by small margins, and cling to the top position until just before the end. Second place has its rewards, though. We get 8.69 gold points. Swiss again on Sunday could make us even richer. 

Bridge Blog 1166: St. Catharines Regional, Part I

Nov. 13, 2025

       The Niagara Regional Tournament in St. Catharines, Ont., has been going for two days already by the time I push through the morning registration line on Thursday morning and I’m primed for competition.

       First guys we come up against, though, turn out to be primed all the time. A pleasant guy named Jason Morgan, sitting North, says he’s from Madison, Wis., and mentions that he doesn’t work anymore, despite his youngish appearance. He just does this. His partner, who says his name is Al, hails from Boston. The results identify him as R. Muggia. Sharks.

       They pick us pretty clean on the first two boards. Jason starts off with a 3 Heart contract and goes down one, which feels good to me, but isn't. Out of a possible 23 match points, we get 3.5. The winning East-Wests persevered in Spades, making three mostly, occasionally four. Here's another case of partner Selina Volpatti not rebidding a six card suit.  

The next hand finds Selina opening a Heart, me going to 2 Clubs with a six-card suit headed 10-9 and her raising me to 3 Clubs. I have four sure tricks outside of the Clubs, so I go to five. Here’s one of our other weaknesses – not recognizing a slam when it’s right there in front of us. All North-South gets is the King of Clubs and we’re a bottom board. Everybody takes 12 tricks our way and seven of them are at 6 No Trump, mostly by East. We go on to 41.76%, last on the list for East-West, second to last overall. Only the blissful Sikh guy, Indarjit Ahluwalla, and his partner do worse. We play them last and snatch 31 out of a possible 46 match points.

How did we do in the morning, people ask. We made all our opponents look good, I say. And how did we do in the afternoon? We made all of our opponents look better. Playing North-South this time, we wind up at 36.04%. Believe it or not, we're not last. Another pair finishes with 27.92%.

Winner in the afternoon is Buffalo’s Jay Levy, playing with Lino D’Souza, who’s from Burlington, Ont. They're at 66.52% and collect 13.26 gold points. Selina and I needed to hit at least 50% to catch any points at all. Well, better luck Friday, when we play in a teams game.

       Aside from Jay Levy, Buffalo is represented by Dian Petrov and Kamil Bishara, who do poorly in the afternoon, but well enough in the morning to get a fraction of a red point; John Ziemer and Mike Ryan, who had 48% in the morning and didn’t stay, and Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler, who are in the other section of open pairs and do well in the afternoon, but snag only red points.

There are 12 tables in our section A in the morning, 13 in the afternoon. There's a section B as well, plus Gold Rush pairs for those with fewer masterpoints and a team game. The ballroom is full and everybody remarks about what a good turnout this is. When it's over, the line waiting to get into the hospitality suite stretches all the way across the lobby (pictured).