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.
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