Bridge Blog 1196-A: Back to the tables -- Under the radar

 

But at least not under the tables on Thursday morning at the Anchor Bar at Maple and Sweet Home Roads in Amherst, my first game in nearly two weeks after a trip to Washington, D.C., for a wedding.

This was Third Thursdays, a non-ACBL-sanctioned game directed by my dear friend and sometimes partner Judie Bailey that I never expected to play in. Back when it met at a country club, it was ladies only. Lately, however, a gentleman has been invited to fill out an empty chair and on Wednesday, while I was homeward bound and stopped at a Starbucks in Clark's Summit, Pa., Judie texted an invitation to me.

Indeed, I was not the only gentleman who helped fill up four tables in the side dining room at the Anchor Bar. There were three of us. Entry fee was $1. Judie told me to sit anywhere East-West. I'd never met the attractive white-haired woman across from me, Judy McDermid, one of three Judys present, but we quickly determined that we could do things like 14-30, asking for key cards in a slam attempt.

Before play, a waitress took orders for lunch and when food came out, we took a break after the second round. Music from the restaurant's sound system sifted into our area. Elsewhere sports channels played on flat-screen TVs, a few patrons sat at the main bar and, in the regular dining room, there was a group of Red Hat ladies having lunch.

In all, we played 16 boards in four rounds. Aggressive me, I took the bid on at least half of them and was nailed for minus 1,100 on the second hand when I went after a 5 Spade sacrifice. Sitting North and doubling was Paula Kotowski, who reminded me how I kept her from getting her final points for Ruby Life Master 17 years ago when I failed to return a card for her to trump. She was delighted to inflict some revenge. Down 5. But was it a bottom board? The scoring slips later showed that North-South could take 12 tricks.

Even so, this was not a slam-bidding crowd. Mostly, they were social players familiar with some of the modern bridge basics. Nevertheless, there were a few that I know from the clubs – the aforementioned Paula Kotowski, Florence Boyd, Dorothy May, Judy Kaprove and Paula Salamone. I hadn't seen Paula Salamone since before the pandemic. We greeted each other with a hug.

No results right away. Judie let me know with an email on Friday and it turned out that we club players carried the day. Judy McDermid and I tied for first with Paula Kotowski and her partner with a 29. Figuring a maximum of three match points on 16 hands, that would translate to 60.41%. Paula Salamone and Flo Boyd and their respective partners tied for second with 28, or 58.33%.

Bridge Blog 1196-B: Back to the tables -- Switcheroo!

 

Having warmed up from my layoff at the Third Thursday game, I was ready, ready, ready to reunite on Friday with my Canadian partner, Selina Volpatti, at the ACBL-sanctioned game in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. But surprise! When I walked in, Selina, who was directing, announced that I would be playing with her son-in-law, John Beck, who unexpectedly found himself with the day off from his thriving construction business.

John is a bit of a novice, having followed his wife Laura into the game, but no problem. Selina not only transferred her love of bridge to John and Laura, but she also taught them to play. Essentially, it was like playing with Selina. Plus, not only did John cover my entry fee, he also has an easy sense of humor and an upbeat attitude. I'd be happy to hang with him even if we didn't have cards in our hands. Turns out we're OK with cards, too. Second North-South with 59.58%.

Bridge Blog 1195: Shot at the Buzzer

"That dbl (double) on Board 4 may have put us over the top," partner Selina Volpatti texted me after our first place showing Friday at the Niagara on the Lake Duplicate Bridge Club. "... that gave us the point over the Tremblays." 

It's a great day whenever we beat Claude and Muriel Tremblay, the perennial top pair at the club. On this occasion, they were second. We outdistanced them in match points, 74.18 to 71.45. Translated into percentages, that's 61.82% to 59.54%. 

True, Selina's double on Board 4, our last deal of the day, earned us one match point more than the Tremblays, who had the second-best score on that hand, where East-West took only six tricks at 3 Hearts. Same thing happened at the Tremblays' table, but they didn't double. As it turns out, though, that only gave us a break-even against Claude and Muriel in that round. Board 4 was a feel-good finale, the frosting on the cake. We already had piled up our advantage elsewhere. 

It wasn't in the first round, where we played Boards 5 through 8. The Tremblays roared to a four match-point lead there, even though we were second-best on each hand. 

The crucial difference came during the two rounds that followed, Boards 10 to 14, where we grabbed 10.5 more match points than they did. We won No. 10 on defense, holding a 2 Spade contract by East-West to one fewer overtrick than they did. No. 11 found me down one at 3 Spades, for a score of minus 50, while they let East-West play and make 3 Diamonds for minus 110. On No. 13, the opponents helped us out. East went to 4 Spades with a seven-card trump fit, which we set by one trick, while Claude and Muriel saw West play it at a much more solid 3 Hearts, where they had a 10-card fit and made an overtrick.

No. 14 was a top board for us, again thanks to our opponents. They passed after Selina boldly bid it up to 3 Spades. She made an overtrick, despite our deficiency in high card points (she had 14, I had just two Jacks). At Claude and Muriel's table, West took the bid at 3 No Trump and took an overtrick.