My partner Christine Matus and I had an extremely successful first Sectional duplicate bridge tournament in our new home town of Vero Beach, FL over the weekend (Oct. 4-6, 2013), racking up points in all four events we played including several first-place finishes for a total of almost 12 Silver … [Read more...]
Length before strength would have foiled Burglar
July 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The victory that the Kathy Bear team inflicted on the Browns and the Chaleks in the Delaware Bridge Studio’s Thursday night (7-18-2013) Swiss team competition was so lopsided (by 65 International MatchPoints or IMPs) that no one could recall ever having seen a more humiliating defeat. It happened … [Read more...]
5 diamond sacrifice in Vero Beach
June 26, 2013 By 4 Comments
VERO BEACH, Fla - While on a weekend visit to Central Florida, my partner Christine Matus and I wanted to check out what is supposed to be one of the top five, eight or nine bridge clubs in the country, the Vero Beach Bridge Club. We were initially told that on Sunday, the day we had available to … [Read more...]
Aggressive interference kept opponents out of game
June 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
KING OF PRUSSIA, PA - I couldn't play as much as I had wanted at the annual Valley Forge Regional duplicate bridge tournament this year (2013) because of previously scheduled travel and a family visit, but I was on a team that did earn a couple of red MasterPoints for winning one match and getting … [Read more...]
Squeeze play: Make 5 diamonds with 20 points
June 18, 2013 By 1 Comment
I couldn’t play on my usual Thursday night team in the Delaware Bridge Studio’s Thursday night Swiss competition this week because I was otherwise occupied, taking my granddaughter to Brown University in Providence, RI, on a college-scouting trip. Christine Matus filled in for me on our team, … [Read more...]
World beaters with a Shanghai sacrifice
June 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment
WILMINGTON, DE - My partner Christine Matus and I were “Hungary” for points this past weekend (June 7-8, 2013) when the 27th annual World Wide Bridge Contest was held with the same boards being played at clubs all around the world. Because of the difference in time zones, no club was allowed to post … [Read more...]
Misfits: Bidding a powerhouse hand into a loser
June 4, 2013 By 9 Comments
WILMINGTON, DE - My partner Christine Matus and I did not fare that well at the Wilmington Sectional duplicate bridge tournament this past weekend (May 31-June 2, 2013) as we showed up for a scheduled Saturday night pairs game only to find it canceled for lack of interest (we were coming in from … [Read more...]
Rock ‘n’ Roll bridge in Cleveland
May 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
CLEVELAND - My partner Christine Matus and I played our last session of Gold Rush pairs at the All-American Regional duplicate bridge tournament on the Sunday of the Memorial Day weekend in Cleveland immediately after touring the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame with the new Rolling Stones exhibit on the … [Read more...]
Swiss downer: Scaredy-cats never win
May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
WILMINGTON, DE - For the first time in many weeks, we got our regular Thursday night four-person Swiss team together again last week (5-16-2013) at the Delaware Bridge Studio with Eileen Bickel-Thomas, recovering nicely from a minor operation, always steady Ed Maser, our fiery captain John Walston … [Read more...]
An unusual Grand Slam: Down 6 doubled, but a great bid
March 29, 2013 By 4 Comments
Grand Slam bids are pretty rare in bridge. Bidding a Grand Slam with only 1 high-card point in your hand is even rarer -- and few if any bridge players would even dream of doing such a thing. But yours truly, otherwise known as the "bridge burglar," did exactly that on Thursday night in a Swiss … [Read more...]