The next
eight-week series of free online
Junior Lessons sponsored by Unit 116 Youth Program will begin Sunday, Jan. 10.
Middle and high school students who would like to learn how to play should
contact Kathy Pollock at bridgekat@gmail.com.
•
• •
Frank Stewart’s
Daily Bridge Club column stopped
appearing in The Buffalo News last fall when pages were eliminated to cut
costs. Stewart himself believes that reader sentiment can bring it back. In an
email to this column last month, he wrote:
“I will be most
grateful to readers who go to bat for bridge and for me and contact the paper
to ask that my column be reinstated. I rarely lose a paper; bridge players are
notably loyal to their local column, and there have been several instances
where a paper proposed to drop my column and had to back off after a deluge of
complaints. But a paper will act only in response to reader feedback.”
Stewart noted that
he has emailed Mike Connelly at mconnelly@buffnews.com and Margaret Kenny at mkenny@buffnews.com.
Stewart, meanwhile,
is still writing instructive columns featuring Cy the Cynic, Unlucky Louie,
Minnie Bottoms and all the other denizens of the penny game at his club. You
can read them at bridgefeed.acbl.org. Or better yet, follow Judie Bailey’s suggestion and find a whole
Frank Stewart archive at Baron Barclay here.
•
• •
Bridge Base
Online has teamed with the ACBL to
offer games with ACBL master points, some of which benefit local clubs. Among
the clubs taking part in Virtual Club play locally are the Airport Bridge Club,
the Bridge Center of Buffalo, Delaware Wednesday and the Lockport Duplicate
Bridge Club. More info can be found at acbl.org or bridgebase.com.
The Airport
Bridge Club is linked with the
Alliance Bridge Club, the ACBL’s largest bridge club, which offers more than a
dozen games every day. Anyone who has played at the Airport Club is
automatically a member. For more info, visit alliancebridgeclub.com or call Airport Club manager Bill Finkelstein at
603-6943.
The Bridge
Center of Buffalo offers
games at least three days a week on Bridge Base Online and the Lockport
Duplicate Bridge Club has scheduled games there on Tuesday evening and
Saturday afternoon, the same days they played face to face.
The Bridge Center
has added an open game to its Tuesday
afternoon game for players with fewer than 999 master points on Bridge Base
Online. The 999er session starts at 12:05 p.m, while the open game for all
players begins at 12:20 p.m. Winners in the open game receive large point
rewards since they are based on the total table count from both sections.
For more info, visit
the Bridge Center of Buffalo website, call 691-6201 or email acting club manager Terry Fraas at tmfraas@gmail.com.
The Delaware
Wednesday Club, which is invitational, plays
under auspices of the Bridge Center of Buffalo on Bridge Base Online at 7 p.m.
Wednesday. For info, call Ed Harman at 480-1666 or email eharmon@roadrunner.com
•
• •
The East Aurora
Bridge Club has resumed face-to-face
games, the only ACBL sanctioned club in the area to hold live competition. Play
begins at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King
St., East Aurora.
Director Dave Larcom
says that players have their temperatures checked upon arriving and must wear
masks. For more info, email him at dmocral@verizon.net.
•
• •
Tournament
calendar
2021
CANCELED: Cleveland
Rock and Roll Regional – Embassy
Suites, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd., Independence, Ohio. Wednesday, Jan. 6, to
Sunday, Jan. 10.
CANCELED: Buffalo
Winter Sectional – Main-Transit
Fire Hall, 6777 Main St., Amherst. Friday, Jan. 22, to Sunday, Jan. 24.
RESCHEDULED:
St. Catharines Sectional –
Holiday Inn and Suites Parkway Conference Center, 327 Ontario St., St.
Catharines, Ont. Was Friday, Feb. 12, to Sunday, Feb. 14. Rescheduled for Friday, March 26, to Sunday,
March 28.
NO LONGER on
ACBL Tournament Schedule: Rochester Spring Sectional – Webster Columbus Center, 70 Barrett Drive, Webster. Saturday,
March 27, and Sunday, March 28.
NO LONGER on
ACBL Tournament Schedule: Toronto Easter Regional – Sheraton Toronto Centre, 123 Queen St. West. Tuesday,
March 30, to Sunday, April 4.
NO LONGER on
ACBL Tournament Schedule: Unit
112 (Rochester) 199er Tournament –
Strathallan Hotel, 550 East Ave., Rochester. Saturday, April 9, and Sunday,
April 10.
Buffalo
Spring Sectional – Main-Transit
Fire Hall, 6777 Main St., Amherst. Friday, April 16, to Sunday, April 18.
Cleveland
All-American Regional – Embassy
Suites, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd., Independence, Ohio. Tuesday, May 25, to
Monday, May 31.
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Intermediate/Novice Sectional – Niagara-on-the-Lake
Community Centre, 14 Anderson Path, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Friday, June 4, to
Sunday, June 6.
District 5
Sectional Tournament at the Clubs (STaC) – Local clubs. Monday, June 14, to Sunday, June 20.
Southwest
Ontario Regional – Bingemans
Conference and Convention Centre, 425 Bingemans Centre Drive, Kitchener, Ont.
Tuesday, July 6, to Sunday, July 11.
NO LONGER on
ACBL Tournament Schedule: Rochester Regional – RIT Inn and Conference Center, 5257 W. Henrietta
Road, Henrietta. Monday, Aug. 2, to Sunday, Aug. 8.
St.
Catharines 299er Sectional –
Bridge Centre of Niagara, 6-2E Tremont Drive, St. Catharines, Ont. Saturday,
Aug. 21, and Sunday, Aug. 22.
Pittsburgh
Labor Day Regional – DoubleTree
Pittsburgh-Green Tree, 500 Mansfield Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. Tuesday, Aug. 31, to
Monday, Sept. 8.
Great Lakes
Sectional – Erie Bridge Center,
1221 Grant Ave., Erie, Pa. Saturday, Sept. 11, and Sunday, Sept. 12.
Buffalo Fall
Sectional – Main-Transit Fire
Hall, 6777 Main St., Amherst. Friday, Sept. 17, to Sunday, Sept. 19.
RESCHEDULED:
Buffalo Regional – Millennium Hotel, 2040 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga. Was Tuesday,
Oct. 19, to Sunday, Oct. 24. Rescheduled
to Tuesday, Oct. 5, to Sunday, Oct. 10.
Niagara
Falls Regional – Crowne Plaza
Hotel, 5685 Falls Ave., Niagara Falls, Ont. Tuesday, Nov. 9, to Sunday, Nov. 14.
Unit 255
Sectional – Niagara-on-the-Lake
Community Centre, 14 Anderson Path, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Friday, Nov. 13, to
Sunday, Nov. 15.
District 5 Winter
STaC – Local clubs. Monday, Dec. 6,
to Sunday, Dec. 12.
•
• •
Bridge
club websites:
Click
names for links.
The
Airport Bridge Club does not have a website. For info, call 716-603-6943.
•
• •
The
Duplicate Bridge column is
compiled weekly by News Staff Reporter Dale Anderson. The print version stopped
appearing Saturdays in The Buffalo News when the pandemic forced local bridge
clubs to halt face-to-face play.
These days you can
find it in two places online. Google “Duplicate Bridge” plus the current
Saturday date and that should bring up a link to it on buffalonews.com, the Buffalo News website.
If you can’t get to
it there, go to Dale Anderson’s bridge blog at http://newsdupli.blogspot.com/
Deadline for
submission of scores and notices is Tuesday night. Email danderson@buffnews.com or dahotwings@aol.com. Office phone is 716-849-4420.
•
• •
Now a Gold
Life Master, Dale Anderson is
playing online these days and his career total is approaching 2,800 master
points. Online play doesn’t provide as much drama for his bridge blog as
face-to-face competition, but he still writes about his quest for the next
measure of achievement, Sapphire Life Master (3,500 points), and other bridge
adventures here.
•
• •
Duplicate
scores from Bridge Base Online
Week of Dec. 21 to Dec. 27
Bridge
Center of Buffalo Monday evening –
99ers. North-south, Shyam and Sarmishtha Kumar, 58.33%; David Schott and partner,
56.60%; Carole Licata and Stephane Ronget, 53.47%; Amy Habib and Jane
Constantine, 51.39%; east-west, Martha Cain and Linda Henschel, 67.01%; Janet
and David Desmon, 62.15%; Barb and Jim Aston, 57.29%; Joann and Gary Keenan, 56.25%.
Bridge
Center of Buffalo Tuesday afternoon – 999ers. North-south, Susan Cardamone and Linda Milch, 69.44%; Marilyn
Wortzman and Jim Easton, 67.32%; Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 61.51%; Bonnie
Clement and Larry Himelein, 58.91%; east-west, (tie) Rose Ann Grimaldi and
Betty DeFeo, Paula Rosen and Maryann Sazafran, 60.28%; Beena and Madhav
Deshmukh, 55.56%; Janet Desmon and Joanne Nover, 54.39%; Dorothy and Larry
Soong, 53.13%.
Bridge Center of
Buffalo Tuesday afternoon – Open game. Sharon Benz and John Marvin, 61.11%; Martha and John Welte,
54.17%; Judy Padgug and Rajarshi Roy, 50%.
Bridge
Center of Buffalo Thursday afternoon – Under 1,500 points. North-south, Richard McGowan and Jim McClure,
63.39%; Agi Maisel and Tova Reinhorn, 60%; Jennifer Epstein and Terry Camp,
58.75%; Fran Kurtz and Carol Bedell, 57.14%; Gabe Tannenbaum and Jim Lanzo,
54.46%; east-west, John Bava and Rajat Basu, 66.43%; (tie) Mary Ball and Joyce
Frayer, Joanne Nover and Janet Desmon, 58.75%; David Schott and Larry Himelein,
56.79%; Susan Levy and Doreen Skok, 53.37%.
Bridge Center of
Buffalo Friday morning – Christmas 999er
game. North-south, Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 60.76%; Paula Rosen and Linda
Milch, 55.56%; Joanne Nover and Bonnie Clement, 54.51%; Richard McGowan and
Ruth Nawotniak, 53.47%; east-west, Larry Himelein and David Schott, 67.01%;
Marilyn Wortzman and Jim Easton, 56.25%; Martha Townson and Amita Arora, 53.12%;
Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 52.08%.
Delaware
Wednesday evening – Shyam and Sarmishtha Kumar, 68.52%; (tie) Henry Chudy and
Jeff Bender, Beena and Madhav Deshmukh, 62.92%.
Garret Club
Invitational Monday morning – Robin
Coffin and Jane Constantine, 60.19%; Linda Henschel and Jane Mitchell, 56.48%;
Judy Reich and Martha Cain, 55.56%.
Lockport Duplicate Bridge Club Wednesday evening – Martha Townson and partner, 63.89%; Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 52.78%; Gay Simpson and partner, 51.39%.
