Still on the
calendar, pandemic permitting, is the
Buffalo Winter Sectional Tournament, scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21, to Sunday,
Jan. 23, in the banquet hall of the Main-Transit Fire Hall, 6777 Main St.,
Amherst. For more info, click this link.
The ACBL has declared
that masks are required for everyone playing in tournaments, along with proof
of vaccination. District 5 has sent out a notice that this order will be in
effect at the Rock & Roll Regional in Cleveland from Wednesday, Jan. 5, to
Sunday, Jan. 9.
“You will have to
wear a mask covering your nose and mouth. Single layered cloths are not
acceptable,” District president and tournament chairman Jim Overcasher said in
an email. “We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we have to follow ACBL
guidelines.”
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• •
Face-to-face
games in the bridge clubs are closing
down because of Covid again. The Bridge Center of Buffalo has moved its game at
noon Thursday back to Bridge Base Online. Master point limit is 1,500. For the
moment, the club is continuing its other face-to-face games – a 999er game at
noon Tuesday, an open game at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and an open game at 10:30
a.m. Friday. Attendance is ranging from three to five tables.
Continuing on Bridge
Base Online are the club’s 0-750 master point game at 7 p.m. Mondays and the
Delaware Wednesday game at 7 p.m. Wednesday for players with fewer than 2,000
points. For more info, visit the
Buffalo Bridge Center website, call 716-691-6201
or email acting club manager Terry Fraas at tmfraas@gmail.com.
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• •
The Bridge Centre
of Niagara in St. Catharines, Ont.,
has stopped holding its in-person games on Wednesdays and Thursdays due to
Covid-19. All of the club’s games are back on Bridge Base Online. When will
face-to-face play return? The board of directors will discuss it later this
month.
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• •
The East Aurora
Bridge Club has been holding
face-to-face games for more than a year. Play begins at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in
the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King St., East Aurora. Players must wear
masks. Attendance is generally three or four tables. For more info, email
director Dave Larcom at dmocral@verizon.net.
Also back to
in-person play is the Lockport Duplicate Club. Games begin at 1 p.m. Saturdays
in the Dale Center, 33 Ontario St., Lockport. For info, call Dian Petrov at
716-668-1226.
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• •
Players who
aren’t comfortable with face-to-face
play or who are not vaccinated can earn ACBL master points in a variety of
games sponsored by local clubs on Bridge Base Online. Info can be found at acbl.org or bridgebase.com.
The Rust Belt
Bridge Group, which invites players
from Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh to play on Bridge Base Online, has
novice games at 9:45 a.m. Monday to Saturday, with open games at 9:50. To visit
the group’s homepage, click this link. For
other info, call Dian Petrov at 716-688-1226 or email dpetrov@roadrunner.com.
The Airport
Bridge Club is linked on Bridge
Base Online 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 716-603-6943.
The Delaware
Wednesday Club plays on Bridge Base
Online under auspices of the Buffalo Bridge Center at 7 p.m. Wednesday. For
info, call Ed Harman at 716-480-1666 or email eharmon@roadrunner.com.
•
• •
Tournament
calendar
2022
Cleveland Rock
and Roll Regional – Embassy Suites
Hotel, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd., Independence, Ohio. Wednesday, Jan. 5, to
Sunday, Jan. 9. For more info, click this link.
Buffalo Winter
Sectional – Main-Transit Fire Hall,
6777 Main St., Amherst. Friday, Jan. 21, to Sunday, Jan. 23. For more info,
click this link.
St. Catharines
Sectional – Holiday Inn & Suites
Parkway Conference Center, 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines, Ont. Friday, Feb.
11, to Sunday, Feb. 13. For info, click this link.
•
• •
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 in March 2020 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. Another place to find it
is on 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 has a career total of nearly 2,900 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. 20 to Dec. 26
Buffalo Bridge
Center Monday evening – 0-750
game. Larry Himelein and David Schott, 65.28%; Paula Rosen and Linda Milch,
63.19%; Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 56.94%; Jennifer and Howard Eptstein,
52.08%; Jim and Michael Hassett, 51.39%.
Buffalo Bridge
Center Tuesday afternoon – 0-1,150
game. Jim McClure and Richard McGowan, 60%; Sol Messinger and John Marvin,
52.50%; Pat Haynes and David Schott, 47.50%.
Buffalo Bridge
Center Wednesday morning – Open
game. Donna Steffan and John Sinclair, 62.35%; Sharon Benz and Stan Kozlowski,
55.36%; Chris Urbanek and Sue Neubecker, 54.32%; Howard Foster and Davis
Heussler, 51.19%.
Buffalo Bridge
Center Thursday morning – 0-1,500
game. North-south, Marilyn Wortzman and Jim Easton, 63.49%; John Bava and Rajat
Basu, 56.98%; Violet Makhija and Judy Zeckhauser, 56.35%; Larry Himelein and David
Schott, 53.57%; east-west, Agi Maisel and Tova Reinhorn, 57.14%; Paul Rosen and
Jim McClure, 53.18%.
Bridge Club of
East Aurora Wednesday morning – Linda
and Paul Zittel, 61.46%; Dan Clark and Dave Larcom, 60.42%; Renee Cancilla and
Peggy Meade, 51.04%.
Delaware
Wednesday evening – North-south, Marilyn
Wortzman and Jim Easton, 70.83%; Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 58.33%; Jan O’Mara
and Bill Rich, 55.56%; Henry Chudy and Jeff Bender, 50%; Jennifer and Howard
Epstein, 48.61%.