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 Leave a Comment
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 Leave a Comment
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...]
Optimists don’t fare well in Reston
March 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
RESTON, Va - I should have known better than to try and squeeze in a late-night bridge game after the annual visit to my tax accountant, which is always a pretty exhausting exercise. But since I still use the same accountant who has served me well since the days I lived in the DC area in the ‘80s … [Read more...]
Stealing bids, parking spaces at the Black-Eyed Susan
March 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment
PIKESVILLE, MD - The Black-Eyed Susan Spring Sectional duplicate bridge tournament this past weekend (March 22-24, 2013) in the Baltimore, Maryland, suburb of Pikesville turned out to be dangerous place for bridge burglars like me – but not necessarily at the bridge table. First of all, it was … [Read more...]
No fit, no points, but we still stole bid
March 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
ARLINGTON, VA - While playing reporter at a Payroll conference in Washington, DC, my head was spinning from the W-2s, W-4s, FICA, FUTA and all the other alphabet soup that goes with that territory, so I took a break to look for a bridge game Monday night (3-11-2013) and I found a very congenial one … [Read more...]
Mining gold in coal country
March 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment
WILKES-BARRE, PA - In between work assignments at the end of one week in northern Pennsylvania and in Washington, DC, at the beginning of the next, I decided to drop in for the final days of the Wilkes-Barre, PA, Winter Regional duplicate bridge tournament (March 8-10, 2013) that annually attracts … [Read more...]