Psych bid: Down 2, but still a winner

Snow kept down attendance at the Wednesday night (2-13) game at the Delaware Bridge Studio and with 2.5 tables, every board was played only twice, so you got a win, a loss or a tie on the board – there were no in-between scores. With that kind of scoring, anything can happen and in this case the … [Read more...]

A rowdy weekend of director’s calls

BALA CYNWYD, PA - My partner Christine Matus and I had an up-and-down weekend at this year’s second winter Sectional at the Bala Golf Club (Feb. 8-10, 2013), but we ended on an up note on Sunday winning six head-to-head matches in the four-person Swiss tournament finale with our friends and … [Read more...]

Tennis trip with a healthy side game of bridge

JACKSONVILLE, FL - While in Jacksonville, FL, to watch the American tennis players demolish Brazil in the first round of the 2013 Davis Cup over the weekend, my partner Christine Matus and I managed to get in a side game of bridge Friday morning at the Lakeside Bridge Club. We couldn’t dance the … [Read more...]

Psyching ’em out in Mechanicsburg

MECHANICSBURG, PA - We had great confidence that the road crews would clear the Pennsylvania Turnpike overnight after last Friday’s snow event, and our confidence turned out to be entirely justified as my partner Christine Matus and I made it to this past weekend’s Sectional duplicate bridge … [Read more...]

Stealing a bid while playing hooky

PHILADELPHIA - My partner Christine Matus and I went on a mentoring mission to an inner-city school last Friday, and after so much do-gooder activity, we felt the need to balance the ledger and do something absolutely criminal. So like good partners in crime, before going back to work we played … [Read more...]

Stealing the bid: Is there a bridge burglarette in town?

Although I played twice last week at the Bridge Studio of Delaware with different partners and teammates and got some additional MasterPoints, I couldn’t find a good hand on the “bridge burglar” theme of stealing a bid or a contract. There was no clever trickery – if we got a good board, our … [Read more...]

Resist the urge to take that finesse!

This week’s Thursday night Swiss team game with duplicated boards at the Bridge Studio of Delaware in North Wilmington presented some challenging boards – and perhaps therefore had some surprising results. In the shark tank of the highest ranked teams, Rick Rowland, who just got his Life Grand … [Read more...]

Forced to bid with only 3 points! Aaaarrrggghhh

BALA CYNWYD, PA - The Philadelphia Contract Bridge Association (PCBA) showed off its new site for all area Sectional tournaments this past weekend with a well-attended Sectional at the Bala Golf Club in Bala Cynwyd, PA off City Line Avenue, and despite a couple of glitches, people generally liked … [Read more...]

On the road: Doing the Charleston

CHARLESTON, SC - My partner Christine Matus and I “did the Charleston” in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, combining lots of bridge at the Mid-Atlantic Winter Regional duplicate tournament  (an ACBL-sanctioned event) in the cavernous Charleston Convention Center with some interesting … [Read more...]

You win some, you lose some

LANCASTER, PA - Well, although I’m probably less than five points away from attaining my Life Master status now, I didn’t quite get there yet. At Sunday’s  four-person Swiss format team competition that ended the Lancaster, PA, Winter Regional duplicate bridge tournament (an ACBL-sanctioned event), … [Read more...]