Bridge Blog 873: Happy Endings

I began the year wondering if I would live to see the end of it, given my diagnosis of bladder cancer. Thanks to the folks at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, I’m still here, at least most of me, and I’m still working full-time, playing almost daily and hoping to reach Gold Life Master in, well, perhaps 2019. Maybe sooner.

How much progress I would make toward that goal this year was uncertain. Surgery and recovery would take me out of action for an unpredictable amount of time. Being laid low by chemotherapy and taking time out for heart procedures didn’t help, either.

With surgery scheduled for early May, I expected to miss the Rochester Regional Tournament, the first one there in ages, which I was greatly looking forward to. But when the surgery was delayed because of my heart procedures, I got to go after all, at least for a couple sessions. It turned out to be the high point of the year – a victory in one of the knock-out games (see Blogs 835 and 836).

As for collecting gobs of master points, I put aside all my ambitions this year. Whatever I won would be good enough. Here’s the breakdown, month by month.

January – 9.73.

February – 1.84.

March – 7.81.

April – 9.90.

May – 23.32.

June – 1.33.

July – 10.86.

August – 15.11.

September – 14.41.

October – 19.08.

November – 15.35.

As of Nov. 30, there were 95.10 club points, 128.74 overall. Add to that a tentative December total of 23.10 at the Airport Bridge Club and another 0.56 at the annual meeting and game and, voila! December has been the best month this year. Looks like I’ve passed the 150-point mark. 

Bridge Blog 872: Past Due

Let’s blame it on the STaC. The Sectional Tournament at the Clubs had the marathon air of a regional tournament, at least for people as obsessive as me who decided to play in almost every STaC game available. In my case, there were 14 of them – morning and afternoon from Monday Dec. 7 to Sunday Dec. 13. They ate up so much of my time that I’m still playing catch-up on blogging and a bunch of other things two weeks later. 

And how did I do in the STaC? No big games over 60%. No big jackpot scores. Just plain dogged persistence through 14 sessions that got me to 7.77 points for the week, 69th among 1,137 players who earned points, or some fraction thereof. Winners in the district were a pair of our guys – John Ziemer with 37.61 and Jerry Geiger with 32.45. 

Bridge Blog 872-A: Annual Meeting

When local bridge players around here talk about having an event at the fire hall, that’s the Main-Transit Fire Hall. It’s modern and particularly well-situated a few minutes from the Thruway exit on Transit Road.

For the 2015 annual meeting and game, however, they picked a different fire hall – Rescue Hose in northest North Tonawanda. Not quite as modern nor as convenient (it’s a half hour drive from my house), but it did have a big plus – hot water in the washrooms.

The food – Weidner’s roast chicken, potatoes, salads, a big fruit salad for dessert – was as good as it gets at these affairs. No question that Paul and Linda Zittel, who put this together, as well as the annual picnic, deserved the Volunteer of the Year award. 

The meeting is usually something to be endured, but this one slid through easily. There was no argument over the unit’s $3,988.96 surplus for the year or the suggestion that the new board of directors would have to look for a way to spend it.

Partner Florence Boyd, who helped count the election ballots, said the final results were very close. Nevertheless, the announcement of the winners was a great relief to Ron Henrikson, who was sharing a table with Flo and me. He wasn’t among them.

The game also zipped by, thanks to director Brian Meyer, who maintains a quick pace. Instead of being an hour late for work, I arrived only a few minutes off schedule. Meanwhile, Flo and I managed to finish above 50% -- 53.49%, to be exact. Sixth in the B strat. 0.56 of a master point. 

Bridge Blog 872-B: 11 Down, 1 to Go

Also lost in the STaC shuffle was the monthly review of the Unit 116 and District 5 master point races and my quest  to maintain a respectable position in them despite losing a couple months to medical leave.

Let’s start with the Ace of Clubs, points earned in club play only, for Unit 116 in the 1,000 to 2,500 point division, which is where I’ve been living since 2011. As of Nov. 30, I had 95.10 club points, keeping my position in sixth place on the list.

Leader is John Ziemer again, with 164.79, but nipping at his heels is Mike Silverman with 164.43. If Mike didn’t disappear on vacations, like the one he’s on now (Dec. 26), he’d be in the lead.

The rest of the list looks like this: Ken Meier, 152.71; Fred Yellen, 142.50; Martin Pieterse, 127.95; then me, followed by Allen Beroza, 94.39; Walt Olszewski, 79.38; Dorothy May, 78.85; and Bill Finkelstein, 75.76. Eleventh is Gene Finton, with 71.03 and an address of Delray Beach, Fla. Didn’t realize he was a snowbird.

In all divisions among Unit 116 players, Jerry Geiger (5,000 to 7,500) is on top with 229.18 and Meg Klamp (7,500 to 10,000) is next with 181.70. Then it’s the top three from 1,000 to 2,500, followed by Bill Boardman (500 to 1,000) with 148.22. Me, I’m 16th in the unit overall.

Moving right along to the Mini McKenney, which counts all points earned in all places, I have an end-of-November total of 128.74, which makes me a solid seventh.

John Ziemer is on top here too, with 258.27. Next are Fred Yellen, 229.24; Ken Meier, 201.68; David Hemmer, 199.49; Mike Silverman, 179.79; Martin Pieterse, 173.02; then that big step down to me, followed by Dorothy May, 109.62; Allen Beroza, 103.45; and Barbara Pieterse, 101.06.

Overall point champs in Unit 116 are the big-time players – Saleh Fetouh with 488.06, Jerry Geiger with 310.67, then Bud Seidenberg, 269.92; and Chris Urbanek, 264.47. John Ziemer is fifth. I’m 30th.

OK, time to look at District 5, which includes Cleveland and Pittsburgh as well as Buffalo. Here Unit 116 dominates the Ace of Clubs again. We hold the top four spots, then Gary Montain of Westlake, Ohio, checks in with 132.58. Martin Pieterse is sixth. I’m 13th. Allen Beroza is 16th. Walt Olszewski is 28th. Dorothy May is 30th.

Overall, it’s Jerry Geiger and Meg Klamp on top. John Ziemer is seventh. Mike Silverman is eighth.

Mini-McKenney, however, is where the Ohio people shine. They occupy the top four places – Su Lan Ma of Kirtland Hills, 567.14; Fleur Howard of Gates Mills, 528.64 (47.87 of them here in Buffalo in October); Peter Merker of Mentor with 300.89 and Charles Ladiha of Vermilion with 263.11. John Ziemer is fifth. Fred Yellen is sixth. I’m 38th.

Champion of all District 5 players is Reanette Frobouck of Pittsburgh. She has 804.27. Then come the Ohio people Fleur Howard played with in Buffalo – Phillip Becker of Beachwood, 642.66; and Robert and Stephanie Alexander of Mentor, with 605.37 and 568.73. Su Lan Ma is fifth. Saleh Fetouh is eighth. John Ziemer is 38th. I’m 154th.

Best of all Ace of Clubs players in the 1,000 to 2,500 point bracket is Sanford Robbins of Pompano Beach, Fla. He’s got 432.94, an amazing number of club points, when you really think about it. Second is another Florida player, Edward Rauch of Fort Lauderdale, with 384.94. John Ziemer’s 173rd. You need at least 132.89 to make the Top 500. Best overall Ace of Clubs guy is Bill Kulbersh of Atlanta – 695.73! Sanford Robbins is tenth. Jerry Geiger is 255 th. The list cuts off at 192.92.

Best Mini-McKenney guy in the 1,000 to 2,500 category is Peter Gelfand of Corallitos, Calif., with 1,393.52. He won’t be in this division much longer. Sue Lan Ma is 15th. John Ziemer is 303rd. Fred Yellen is 458th.

Even more awesome is the overall Mini-McKenney list. Here we find Chris Compton of Dallas with 3,016.34, more points than I will probably earn in a lifetime. The fabled Jeff Meckstroh is 13th with 1,702.64. Buffalo native Joel Wooldridge is 29th with 1,356.56. Our own Saleh Fetouh is 404th. 

Bridge Blog 871: Wham Bam Slam

One thing I regretted again and again at the Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional was the inability of me and my partners to bid and make slams. But that deficiency ended in a big way on Thursday at the Airport Bridge Club. Tom Koralewski, with whom I was playing for the first time, and I bid and made three of them en route to a superlative 63.69% effort. Second overall, we earned 2.08 points.

Two of the slams were small ones – 6 Spades, 6 No Trump. But one of them was grand and it came in the very first round. Board 5, North-South vulnerable, but not us in East-West. Tom opened a Heart. Holding 17 high card points, I went 2 Diamonds. If I recall correctly, he gave me 3 Clubs next.

Moments earlier, when we reviewed which conventions we played, we'd skipped over slam procedures. “I guess this is something we didn’t discuss,” I conceded, slapping down a 4 No Trump bid to ask for Aces. Tom thought for a minute and went 5 Diamonds. Hopefully, that’s one Ace. Terrific, I had the other three. On to 5 No Trump. Kings? He responded 6 Spades. OK, we have all the Aces and Kings. What the heck. 7 No Trump.

West (me)

Spades: A-4; Hearts: A-5; Diamonds: A-8-6-5-3; Clubs: K-Q-9-6.

East (Tom)

Spades: K-J; Hearts: K-Q-8-6-3; Diamonds: K-10-7; Clubs: A-J-2.

North (Eleanor Whelan)

Spades: Q-10-9-7-3-2; Hearts: 10-7-4; Diamonds: J; Clubs: 10-7-3.

South (Sharon Wilcox)

Spades: 8-6-5; Hearts: J-9-2; Diamonds: Q-9-4-2; Clubs: 8-5-4.

Eleanor led a Spade and I thanked Tom for the dummy. No question that we had two Spade tricks, four Clubs, the top two Diamonds and at least three Hearts. But that’s only 11. The other two would have to come from one of the long red suits. Best to test the Hearts first and see if the opposing hands split 3-3. Hallelujah. With five Heart tricks, I didn’t need to try for extra Diamonds, which would have been fatal.

At other tables, people stopped at 6 NT if they got to slam at all. One of them even went down one. Nobody else went all the way. According to the hand record (a new feature at the Airport Club and much appreciated), East-West can make three other slams – 7 Hearts, 6 Diamonds and 7 Clubs. But match-point-wise, why settle for less? 

Bridge Blog 870: Niagara Falls Regional Wrapped

The Niagara Falls, Ont., Regional Tournament felt bigger than the Buffalo Regional three weeks earlier. And it was. Buffalo attracted the Ohio and Rochester people. Niagara Falls drew them in from Burlington, Oakville, Toronto and points beyond.

Buffalo had 699 tables. Niagara Falls had 1,094 (down from 1,177 in 2013). A total of 732 players earned points in the Falls. Just 487 did in Buffalo.

In Niagara Falls, the big winner, Jack Shinehoft of Dundas, Ont., earned 76.60 points. In Buffalo, the couple tied at the top, Stephanie and Robert Alexander of Mentor, Ohio, took home 63.15.

In Niagara Falls, Buffalo’s leading point man was Saleh Fetouh, fifth overall with 67.77. He also was our biggest winner in Buffalo, 20th overall with 46.13.

In Buffalo, there were local players racking up impressive point totals who usually don’t do that sort of thing. In Niagara Falls, our representatives on the leaderboard were the people you expect to see there. To wit, Dian Petrov, 40.07 (27th), Jill Wooldridge, 36.37 (37th), Chris Urbanek, 32.72 (42nd), Bud Seidenberg, 26.91 (53rd), John Ziemer, 25.28 (60th), Shakeel Ahmad and Manju Ceylony, 25.23 (Sunday Swiss team winners once again and tied for 61st), David Hemmer, 25.14 (63rd) and Mike Ryan, 19.22 (87th).

Personally, I found Niagara Falls more rewarding. With 6.78 points, 1.67 of them gold, I was tied for 268th on the list, joined by Teri Ford of Amherstburg, Ont., and John Abbott of Windsor, Ont., neither of whom I recall meeting. In Buffalo, I earned 5.38 points, 2.65 of them gold, and was all by myself at 220th.

Other points of comparison:

Hospitality food. Better in Buffalo, a respectable hors d’oeuvre each evening, though not without a foul-up or two by the Adam’s Mark Hotel. In Niagara Falls, it was chips, popcorn, cheese and crackers.

Wine. Better quality in Niagara Falls, at least on Saturday evening, when they were pouring pinot noir and meritage from Between the Lines Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Better quantity in Buffalo, where one of the committee got a deal on box wines and you could fill your own glass.

Parking. Easier in Buffalo, both in terms of finding a space (always got one near the elevator on the second level, sometimes had to go to the sixth level in the Falls) and quickness of exit.

Restaurant food. In the Falls, I hit the mini food court outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel twice for a Subway sandwich for lunch, then opted back to the buffet in the attached casino for more food, more variety, same price. Evening choices were Swiss Chalet, a retro trip since the chain no longer has an outpost in Buffalo, and Mandarin, a Chinese buffet bigger and better than what we have over here. Dinner Saturday night was back in Buffalo, actually Blasdell, at the Brick Iron Bystro, by far the best food I had all week.

Things also were better during the Buffalo Regional.  Ventures outside the hotel were rewarded by lunches in great downtown places – Osteria 166 (twice), Merge and the Allen Burger Venture. Wait’ll next year.  

Bridge Blog 869: Niagara Falls Regional Final Day

        Swiss teams! Lots of them on this, the last day of the Niagara Falls Regional Tournament. In the A/X division, 28. In the B/C/D bracket, 34. The main ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel was teeming with players.

        Thanks to the fact that partner Selina Volpatti and teammates Marilyn Sultz and Ruth Wurster have an average of about 500 points apiece, we wound up in the C stratification and we started out by kicking some B strat butt, winning by 27 International Match Points. That warmed us up for a second-round shutdown of a D strat team, 42-6.

        My teams never win the first two rounds in Swiss matches, but here we were. The third round brought us back to reality, with the Paul Pointet-Lezlie Cullen team (also a D bunch) drubbing us, 14-1, en route to their second-place finish.

        But we won the fourth round, beating the Adrian Record team (which ultimately finished third), 24-12, then had a lunch break that was light with elation. Marilyn checked the scoreboard and reported that we were in third place.

        Our good fortunes faltered in the fifth round, however. Selina and I had a series of crummy hands and watched another D team – Alan and Leslie Wilson of Port Elgin – whip us, 23-11. But then we rallied to win round six, 20-14, against the Anne Pettigrew team, our opponents being scary old and such slow players we feared the directors would take away our final two boards. We rushed and got them played.

        If we win our final round, I told the team, we could collect some serious gold points. Indeed, we stood a chance of finishing fourth, fifth or sixth overall, good for 2.86 to 4.44 gold points. However, we got blanked, 17-0, by the Polish guys from Burlington, the Henyrk Nowak team. They finished fourth.

(The big winners, by the way, were the doctors – Shakeel Ahmad and Manju Ceylony – who also won the Swiss teams at the Buffalo regional. They went undefeated in all of their rounds with a team that included Judy Kaprove and a last-minute pick-up guy and collected 10.01 gold points.)

We wound up tied for tenth overall, out of point range in the B strat, which rewarded just the top nine with gold points. But we also tied for the eighth and final extra-point position in the C strat. I thought the C strat paid off only in red points, but according to the ACBL Live results e-mail, it actually gives gold. A whole 1.67 points for us. After a week of red points, gold, gold, gold at last.  Total take for the entire tournament, despite no big winners – 5.11 red, 1.67 gold.