Buffalo Niagara duplicate bridge notes: Dec. 13, 2025

 

News and notes for the Buffalo area duplicate bridge community  appear weekly right here at http://newsdupli.blogspot.com/, usually by midweek. They are no longer carried on the Buffalo News website.

 

The Buffalo Bridge Center, 60 Dingens St. off Exit 1 of the I-190, holds its monthly party game today, Saturday, Dec. 13, in conjunction with the District 5 Sectional Tournament at the Clubs (StaC).  Since it’s a sectional, players can win silver master points. Snacks at noon. Game at 12:30 p.m. Bring munchies to share. For partnerships and info, call Pat Haynes at 716-472-5189 or email phaynes508@roadrunner.com.

 

The Buffalo Bridge Center offers a regular schedule of in-person and online games Monday through Friday with party games once a month on weekends. For more info, visit the Buffalo Bridge Center website or call 716-424-0014. Fee for games is $8 for members and $12 for non-members.

 

Other ACBL sanctioned clubs: Contact for the Bridge Club of East Aurora is Dave Larcom at dmocral@verizon.net. Games are at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King St., East Aurora.

The Bridge Centre of Niagara (BCON) in St. Catharines, Ont., offers face-to-face games six days a week at its club in Tremont Square opposite the Pen Centre shopping plaza off Glendale Avenue. Website is bridgewebs.com/Niagara.

The Niagara-on-the-Lake Bridge Club plays in the Community Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on Anderson Lane off Mississauga Street on the western end of the village. Open games are at 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays. Website is bridgewebs.com/niagaraonthelake.

Non-sanctioned clubs: Tonawanda Senior Center, 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays; Amherst Senior Center, 12:30 p.m. Mondays and Fridays.

Tournament calendar

2026

Toronto Winter Non-Life Master Regional – Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Saturday, Jan. 3, and Sunday, Jan. 4. For more info, click this link.

Toronto Winter Sectional – Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Saturday, Jan. 3, and Sunday, Jan. 4. For more info, click this link.

Cleveland Rock and Roll Regional – Embassy Suites Hotel, 5800 Rockside Woods Road, Independence, Ohio. Wednesday, Jan. 7, to Sunday, Jan. 11. For info, click this link.

Niagara Winter Sectional – Holiday Inn & Suites Parkway Conference Center, 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines, Ont. Friday, Feb. 13, to Sunday, Feb. 15. For more info, click this link.

Toronto Easter Regional – Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont. Tuesday, March 31, to Sunday, April 5.

Buffalo Spring Sectional – Buffalo Bridge Center, 60 Dingens St. Friday, April 10, to Sunday, April 12. For info, click this link.

 

Scores from ACBL Live for Clubs

Week of Dec. 1 to Dec. 7

Buffalo Bridge Center Monday evening – 0-900 game online. Candace Graser and Cynthia Tashjian, 59.72%; Betsy and Jim Greno, 54.17%; Fran Schmidt and Richard McGowan, 50%.

Buffalo Bridge Center Tuesday morning – 0-1,600 game. North-south, Betty Metz and Ruth Nowatniak, 58.33%; Paula Rosen and Maryann Szafran, 50.40%; Marilyn Wortzman and Jim Easton, 49.60%; east-west, William and Nathan Kross, 63.49%; Agi Maisel and Pat Haynes, 63.10%; Barbara Landree and Brian Universal, 62.70%.

Buffalo Bridge Center Wednesday morning – Open game. Andrei Reinhorn and Chris Urbanek, 63%; Martha Welte and Howard Foster, 57%; Sharon Wilcox and John Ziemer, 47%.

Buffalo Bridge Center Thursday morning – 0-2,000 game. North-south, Joanne Nover and Agi Maisel, 59.38%; Anthony Girasole and Dennis Daly, 55%; east-west, Pat Haynes and David Schott, 62.50%; Candace Graser and Cynthia Tashjian, 49.38%.

Buffalo Bridge Center Friday morning – Open game. Martha Welte and Larry Abate, 62%; Vic Bergsten and John Ziemer, 55%; Linda Burroughsford and Judy Graf, 53%.

Bridge Club of East Aurora Wednesday morning – Open game. Linda and Paul Zittel, 58.33%; Maureen Piasecki and Sandi England, 57.29%; Jan and Carl Hasselback, 56.25%.

Unit 116 Annual Meeting and Game Saturday afternoon – North-south, Martha Welte and Howard Foster, 66.67%; John Bava and Ed Morgan, 57.87%; Tova and Andrei Reinhorn, 55.56%; Barbara Landree and Betty Metz, 54.40%; Judy Graf and John Ziemer, 54.17%; east-west, Linda Burroughsford and Davis Heussler, 62.27%; Kathy Pollock and Bert Feasley, 58.10%; Chris Urbanek and Kamil Bishara, 57.41%; Larry Abate and Jim Lanzo, 55.79%; Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 53.25%; Julie Mitchell and Brian Fleming, 49.31%.

Non-sanctioned clubs

Amherst Senior Center Monday afternoon – North-south, Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 56%; Joe Huber and Fritz Schweiger, 52%; east-west, Judie Bailey and Paul Orosz, 61%; Joan Stankiewicz and Ellen Lochead, 60.5 %.

Amherst Senior Center Friday afternoon – North-south, Jill and Bruce Brown, 67%; Shirley Cassety and George Mayers, 54%; east-west, Carol Neuhaus and Fritz Schweiger, 65%; Ellen Lochead and Dan Blatz, 56%.

Unit 116 Master Point Leaders for Club Play

Jan. 1, 2025, to Nov. 30, 2025

0-5 Points – Julie Mitchell, 23.58; John Brennan, 8.79; Maureen Piasecki, 6.62; Joan Warren, 5.46; Linda Marsh, 4.83; Susan Mann Dolce, 4.10; Arthur Ziller, 2.10; Ann Bonte, 1.65: Amy Licata, 0.99; (tie) Walter Balon and Ellen Balon, 0.89.

5-20 Points – Devon Marlette, 0.96; Amber Dizon, 0.21.

20-50 Points – Dennis Daly, 12.61; Anthony Girasole, 10.59; Molly Morris, 5.53; Gini Sicignano, 5.18; Zakie Nohra, 5.15; Phyllis Stasiowski, 0.83; Chris-Elaine Santilli, 0.57.

50-100 Points – Brian Fleming, 22.82; Donna Starnes, 10.26; Ilene Rothman, 9.22; Susan Cardamone, 8.02; Pepe Justicia-Linde, 5.89; Maureen Cancilla, 5.03; Susan Burns, 2.97; Mary Berlow, 2.85; Carole Sedita, 2.83; Amy Habib, 2.56.

100-200 Points – Carol Licata, 8.42; Betty DeFeo, 5.78; Mike Meacham, 5.55; Joan Ciszak, 2.51; Pam Righter, 1.68.

200-300 Points – Judy Babat, 1.88; Ethan Xie, 1.60; Hannah Weinberg, 1.13.

300-500 Points – David Schott, 43.59; Pat Haynes, 35.37; Joanne Nover, 32.31; Audrey Ray, 30.74; Maryann Szafran, 19.17; Ruth Nawotniak, 18.35; Linda Milch, 15.03; Agi Maisel, 10.88; David Whitt, 9.12; Carl Hasselback, 8.61.

500-1,000 Points – Larry Himelein, 48.63; Linda Zittel, 39.50; Joyce Frayer, 37.68; Andrei Reinhorn, 35.64; Mary Terrana, 25.33; Jo Nasoff-Finton, 21.61; Jim McClure, 20.80; Gordon Crone, 20.12; Paula Rosen, 20.08; Dave Larcom, 19.54; Joe Miranda, 17.98.

1,000-1,500 Points – Paul Zittel, 45.79; Betty Metz, 44.43; Mary Ball, 42.49; Howard Foster, 41.23; Joanne LaFay, 30.38; Marilyn Wortzman, 26.60; Jim Easton, 26.40; Terry Fraas, 23.15; Bert Feasley, 21.24; Larry Abate, 17.85.

1,500-2,500 Points – Pinky Regan, 40.58; Kamil Bishara, 36.65; Tova Reinhorn, 33.28; Paula Kotowski, 32.99; Joyce Greenspan, 26.37; Sandi England, 22.66; Nancy Kessler, 14.01; Walt Olszewski, 13.73; David Colligan, 12.19; Judy Kaprove, 7.50.

2,500-3,500 Points – Linda Burroughsford, 40.42; Dale Anderson, 23.50; Elaine Kurasiewicz, 2.25; Art Morth, 2.07; Pat Rasmus, 1.78; Fred Yellen, 1.43.

3,500-5,000 Points – Judy Graf, 63.41; John Ziemer, 62.09; Davis Heussler, 55.26; Martha Welte, 40.19; Jim Gullo, 32.79; Donna Steffan, 31.67; Allen Beroza, 4.86; Chongmin Zhang, 0.74; Brian Meyer, 0.60.

More than 5,000 Points – Mike Ryan, 73.14; Chris Urbanek, 51.12; Jay Costello, 47.35; Bud Seidenberg, 43.19; Jay Levy, 16.54; Sharon Benz, 1.38; Dian Petrov, 1.03; Kathy Pollock, 0.75; Dan Gerstman, 0.60.

 

Dale Anderson fell in love with this wonderful game as a teen and compiled the local duplicate bridge notes column in The Buffalo News every week for more than 20 years. He's a Gold Life Master and reached a career milestone, 3,000 master points, at the Buffalo Fall Sectional Tournament in September.