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District 25 News
(Now that Bill Braucher, a New England bridge addict, is Webmaster, he plans to provide a few paragraphs of buzz after each regional he attends. The opinions expressed are his own, not those of District 25.)
Buzz from the District 25 Labor Day Regional
Over the six days from Wedneday August 31 to Monday September 5, 2005, District 25 held its Labor Day Regional at the Marriott Hotel in Springfield, MA. Using my fingers and toes, I counted 1179 table-sessions for the six days, with 864 different players winning over 6800 master points.
New York's Mel Colchamiro nipped Connecticut's Geoff Brod for best-in-show, 66.54 to 66.10. 184 players won 10 points or more. 18 players won over 50: Anton Tsypkin; Henry Wong, Howard Piltch, and Dave Metcalf, who were on two winning Flight A KO teams; Mel and Janet Colchamiro plus fellow New Yorkers Steve and Betty Bloom, who won the biggest Flight A KO and finished second in another; Helen Pawlowski, Paul Bacon, J Peter Tripp, and Amos Foster, who won all three second-flight KO teams; perennial masterpoint leaders Lloyd Arvedon, Doug Doub, Shome Mukherjee, and Bill Hunter, all with numerous high finishes; and yours truly, who won the final roadrunner Swiss after losing two KO finals.
A plague of ineffective ace-asking struck Springfield. Using exclusion Blackwood, Lloyd Arvedon bid a grand slam off an ace that wasn't cashed, to finish second in the Sunday Swiss. Steve Bloom was less lucky in the morning KO final, as his opponent cashed an ace against his grand slam. Steve's teammates couldn't complain. Their opponents cashed two aces against their small slam. In a pair game, I led the club ace against a contract of 7NT, which my partner called my best lead in years. In the Flight A KO finals, two players had to respond to one heart with AKQJxxxxx x K Kx. For one of them, Blackwood was always key card, for the agreed or else the last bid suit. She tried one spade, but partner rebid two hearts. Desperate to agree any suit other than hearts, she tried a minor, but over 3NT, 4NT would have been quantitative, so she gave up, closed her eyes, and bid six spades. A big loss? No, a huge gain! 4NT was regular Blackwood at the other table, but now opener, with both minor aces, long hearts headed by the king, and a spade void, decided to show three, and responder bid 7! Alas, the ace of hearts was cashed, and the match was lost.
After many years in Springfield, the next Labor Day regional may be held in Nashua, New Hampshire. Watch the calendar for details when they're available.
Other News
Mark Aquino of EMBA tells us the hotel for the EMBA sectional in Hyannis has extended the deadline for room reservations at preferential rates to September 23, so make plans for the weekend of October 7-8-9.
If you qualified at your club this summer, be sure to enter the District's North American Pairs Finals at Sturbridge October 15-16, 2005.
The next District 25 regional is the Ed Gould Masters in Portland, Wednesday November 9th to Sunday November 13th, a great warm-up for the Denver Nationals the following week. This will be Maine's first regional in several years, and Maine's most prominent player Dick Budd assures me, you'll be glad you came. Notice that the schedule features main events at 10AM and 3PM and side games at 7:30. The ACBL used this schedule in Atlanta, and it proved popular. Try it - you'll like it.
Attaboys and Attagirls
Congratulations to New England players who achieved milestones , moving up in rank during September 2005.
Today's Hand
A very good Flight A player reports that since he was trailing in a Flight A KO semifinal at Springfield, he asked for aces holding AJx K x KJ10xxxxx. When his partner showed three, he drove to Seven Clubs against silent opponents. Dummy was xxx AJxxxx AJ Ax. Lefty led the spade ten to righty's queen. Pick your play before reading on.
Declarer won the spade ace, heart king, club ace (all following). He then ruffed a heart and went down. To make his grand, he had to cash the heart ace in dummy. LHO had queen fourth of hearts, righty the KQ of spades, and the diamond honors were split. No, you can't set up the hearts, but there's a double squeeze if you cash dummy's top heart. And to top it off, at the other table, they stopped in five!
Galleries of the usual suspects
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