My partner Christine and I don’t play a lot of complicated and arcane conventions. We like to keep things as simple as possible and use as few as possible artificial bids to avoid confusion. And we’ve rarely found ourselves lamenting not playing a certain convention because it was the only tool that … [Read more...]
Two Floridians pick pockets in France
October 14, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Vive la difference! In the second week of our two-week European vacation, my partner Christine and I started needing our bridge fix, and in advance we had arranged to play on Friday (5-29-2015) at the Club St. Honore just behind the Arc de Triomphe. And even though one of the other main clubs, … [Read more...]
Cheaters
October 14, 2015 By Leave a Comment
My partner Christine and I had a successful weekend (10/9-10/11-2015) at the Sectional bridge tournament at our home club, the Vero Beach Bridge Center, earning Silver MasterPoints at every one of the four sessions we played and winding up with a total haul of 13 points. That was good enough for … [Read more...]
The Burglar’s brother steals the bid
November 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
My oldest brother Johan taught me how to play bridge some 60 years ago, but we had never played duplicate together as a pair. So naturally, when he and his wife visited me and Christine in Vero Beach – they were the first of what we hope will be many visitors – we had to play duplicate at least … [Read more...]
Tampa pre-empt doesn’t scare Eagles fan
October 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
TAMPA, FL - The people of Tampa Bay proved to be very congenial hosts when Christine Matus and I decided to spend a weekend there around the Buccaneers’ NFL home game against our former home team, the Philadelphia Eagles, on Sunday (10-13-2013). Walking the streets of Ybor City the night before … [Read more...]
Bidding on fumes keeps opponents out of game
October 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment
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...]
Difficult hand comes down to basic math: 3 is better than 1
September 29, 2013 By 2 Comments
My partner Christine Matus and I won points for the fifth time in six outings Sunday (9-29-2013) by winning two and losing two head-to-head matches in an “eight-is-enough” Swiss team competition at the Vero Beach Bridge Center. We got .52 MasterPoints, .26 for each of the matches we won with … [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 1 Comment
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...]