June 8th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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We lost our first match of the day by 13 imps. On the first board out, my RHO decided to bid a Michaels 2 clubs (no one vul) over Keith’s 1 club opener. I was sitting in the weeds with J93 A1032 AJ52 K6. Penalty doubles ensued; they ended up in 2 Hearts doubled – Keith made the expert lead of a heart from xx in hearts rather than his god given AKQ of spades – and when the smoke cleared declarer was down 5 for +1100. A great start to the day.
Dummy was 108765 QJ987 8 Q4 opposite 42 K4 Q10763 10872
A few hands later I decided to show him what a Michaels Cue Bid really looks like. I had 5 KJ983 KQJ65 A9. RHO opened 1 spade; I said 2 Spades. LHO passed, and Keith bid 3 Diamonds. (Perhaps even some experienced partnerships would get the meaning of this wrong)
I inferred Keith had a reasonable hand with clear diamond preference and also support for clubs – since if my second suit was clubs, we would now be at the four level.
The other available bid was 2NT – asking me to say which minor suit I had.
So I decided game in diamonds would have a play, and I simply bid 5 diamonds. It did have a play – but…………..
Keith’s hand was AJ1096 75 104 K1083. He was pretty sure I had diamonds – so he meant his bid as pass or correct to 4C. Anyway, they led a club, and he won the king in his hand and finessed the heart jack – losing to the ace. Back came a spade. He flew up with the Ace; played King and ruffed a heart (they were 3-3 yay!) and played the diamond ten from his hand. His LHO won the Ace and played another spade. If Keith can just get away with ruffing the spade low in dummy, he would draw trumps and claim.
But spades were 6-5-1-1 around the table; diamonds were 2-4 against; and down 1 was probably a just result.
3NT is the best contract here, and was bid at the other table for a ten imp loss for your heroes.
We did some small good things in this match too, but the penultimate board was a kick in the nuts. I held Jx 9x A972 AQ1094. My options are to pass (don’t like it)bid 1NT weak (don’t like it though it has preemptive value) or to open one club, planning to rebid 2C. I liked this best, and opened 1C.
No one vul, my LHO bid 3 diamonds preemptive. Keith made a negative double; pass by RHO to me. I felt I had a pretty easy pass here. Yes I had a squeamish feeling in the pit of my stomach but I have seen hands like this pick up an occasional +500 if the opponents are frisky and the breaks were bad – and I wasn’t expecting that. Down 1 or two would be fine.
Strike 1
Dummy tabled with 2 tricks. Dummy had A974 K7643 5 863
Strike 2
Declarer had kinda wound us up with a rock for his bid. He had 105 QJ KQJ10643 K2
So there was no way to beat 3D X and we were -470.
My only real alternative to passing 3D X was to bid 3NT – which I don’t think is winning bridge – nor would it have been successful – it would have been down 4 for – 200. Sometimes all you can do is tip your hat to the opponents.
Anyway, a few imps on either side of the ledger elsewhere led to lose by 13 imps.
Next match up was against one of the pre tournament favorites – Keith and I sat down against Darren Wolpert and Jurek Czyzowicz ; at the other table was Kamel Fergani and Nick L’Ecuyer against our own Messrs. Smith and Thurston. Dan Korbel and David Grainger were sitting out for them, as were John and Herve for our team.
We strung together ten good boards – and we needed all of them to win by 7 imps. We bid a grand slam in about ten seconds. Keith opened 1 spade, and I held AQJx x AJ10xx Kxx. I responded 3D which shows at least 4 spades; at least five diamonds, and game forcing values.
Keith launched into RKCB, and after I replied 5 spades, he bid 7 Spades. I knew this was a claimer before the lead was made.
Keith had Kxxxx AK KQxx Ax – and indeed it was a wrap. We picked up two imps when Kamel and Nick played in 7 D at the other table – which was well done actually as the hand in front of Keith’s opened a Multi 2D – so they had to brush that aside and bid their grand salami.
We got lucky on a later board when I held KJ9 KQJ742 43 A3. Keith opened 1 diamond; I responded 2H. (Showing long strong hearts and a GF hand – alternately it could show diamonds and hearts and a game force) Keith rebid 2S; I rebid 2NT. Keith rebid 3D and I was not sure what to do next. I could rebid hearts; but I already had shown 6 good ones and I did not have the ten or even the nine of hearts extra. So I bid 3S; rather than hog into 3NT.
Keith now bid 3NT and I was done.
The opponents did not get their clubs going in time, and with the favorable fall of the heart 108 doubleton, I romped home with ten tricks – cutting down the loss on the board to 1 imp – when 4H made 5 with the same favorable heart lie.
3NT is not a terrible contract – but on this day – it was fated to go down, while 4H makes. (The king of diamonds is fourth onside; the spade queen is also onside; clubs are 3-5 with Kxx in LHO hand and QJ9xx in RHO’s hand.)
The wildest hand of the match occured near the end. I held K K109832 Q542 K8
Jurek on my right opened 1 club; and I overcalled 1 heart. Darren passed, and Keith cue bid 2 clubs – usually promising heart support. A new suit bid by Keith would not have been forcing in our methods though – keep that in mind.
Jurek passed, and I showed my second suit with a 2 diamond bid. Now Darren came alive with 2 spades; Keith bid 3 spades; and Jurek bid 4 spades (!)
I knew we were in a forcing pass situation, and I had no clear opinion what to do, so I passed this around to Keith who bid 5 diamonds. Jurek passed, and I passed – trusting Keith to have huge diamond support and secondary heart support.
But Darren was not done yet – he bid 5 spades; I forget which one of us doubled, but that is where we played. Keith led the Ace of spades; felling my stiff king. Dummy had
QJ85 6 KJ8 AQ953
Keith now cashed the Ace of hearts and we waited in time for the club king and down 1and +100. Darren had started with 10976432 J754 void 72
This seems like a par result as we can make 5 diamonds vulnerable. However at the other table our boys bought the hand in 4 spades doubled on their combined 14 HCP, and this could not be beaten and we made +590 over there for a 12 imp win on the board.
I have heard a few stories about this hand – including high level doubled spade contracts making overtricks when the Ace of diamonds was led !!!
Our next match was against Paul Janicki’s team and finally we fired on all cylinders at both tables and won this one by 29 imps for a near blitz.
I have not checked the scoreboard today and don’t plan to for a while – we were in a hole at the beginning of the day, and we still are – if we start to win a few matches, we can get back into the hallowed top 8 teams.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 8th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
2 Comments
So the round robin is almost half way over. We have to pull up our socks. The boys lost another close one by 7 imps. I don’t know any of the hands, but I do know we now have 163 VP’s from a total possible of 275.
This is clearly below the targeted average needed to make it into the playoffs. At this point, no one really cares if they come in 1st or 8th – since the KO portion is like a brand new event.
Only 8 teams will be in the knockout portion. Instead of playing short ten board matches against your opponents, you play at least 64 boards per match.
The current leaderboard sees many changes throughout the day – in our case, we free fell from 3rd down to 14th or so. Others like L’Ecuyer have moved up into contention, and others still – like Rayner, Todd, Marcinski, Steinberg etc. seem to have been near the top since the beginning.
Funny how there is less to say when the results aren’t good. Hopefully I will have good reason to be ebullient tomorrow.
Current standings can be found at http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_CNTCArr2.html
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 8th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Keith and I just completed match 10 – another loss – albeit by an almost negligible 2imps so we scored 14 VP’s of a possible 25. Did not check our placement yet; we were in 10th place before this match.
I had a chance to pick up 7 imps when I held J KQ98xx K Q108xx. The guy on my left opened 4S (limited by his failure to open Namyats); Keith passed, and my RHO passed in no distress. We were equal white, and my head told me to stay out of this auction. But I am a sucker for shapely hands, and I re-opened 4NT.
Keith responded 5C, and everyone passed. Keith had Ax x A98xxxx K7x. He played 5C well to go only down 1 for – 50. Had I passed the hand out we would have beaten 4S by three tricks for +150.
Nevertheless our team mates did score +140 in 3 spades making, and we won 3 imps anyway.
Two hands later I held xx x J432 AJ98xx. We were vul, they were not. My RHO opened 1H, and I passed. LHO responded 1S, and Keith overcalled 3D. RHO said 3H. At this point, even though I cannot make it – I should simply bid 5D and put maximum pressure on the opponents.
If they double us, we only go down 1, and we push the board at –200. If they bid on to 5H, in this case they will be +450 as 5H happens to make – but sometimes it won’t. In fact, I messed around with a 4C bid; and they subsided in 4H and anyway Keith was void in clubs.
Towards the end of the set, I held QJ8xx A9 AQx 9xx. Keith opened 1S, and I responded 2NT – either a forcing raise OR a strong balanced hand. He bid 3H natural and I bid 3S, confirming I had the strong raise type hand. Next Keith cue bid 4C, which was nice, but limited by his failure to bid 3NT – which we play as a “serious slam try” – stronger than a 4C cuebid.
I was guiltily aware that I might be about to launch into the stratosphere opposite a hand not dissimilar to mine in terms of HCP. I could bid 4D now, but I thought there was a risk of a lead directing double. So I simply bid 4NT, and when Keith showed 2 key cards I jumped to 6S.
They led a diamond through the AQ in my hand; but Keith rose casually with the Ace; knocked out the spade Ace and claimed shortly thereafter. Turned out it was a club lead I should fear – not a diamond lead.. Keith had K9xxx KQJx x A8x. This netted 13 imps to the good for your fearless adventurers.
Now we are sitting out match 11 (twelve more to go) and wait for our team mates to finish up and score. That bottle of wine which has been decanting all day looked mighty inviting and we are watching Celebrity Poker on tv; discussing the hands from the day; debating the merits of the various Miss Penticton Contestants we may each have seen throughout the day, and I am writing this blog. Wish our results had been better today, but hey, we’re only half way done.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 7th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Well it has been a rough afternoon. In the third match of the day Keith and I sat out, – turns out we lost that one by 17 imps – scoring 10 out of a max 25 VP. We had slipped to 8/9 in the standings.
Keith and I sat in for the next match versus David Sabourin, Dave Colbert, Danny Miles, and Jon Steinberg. We lost this match by 21 imps – scoring only 9 VP of a possible 25 VP. They have not posted the scores yet but we have 136 out of a possible 225 – so we could be anywhere from 9th to 11th right now – the field still bunched up.
The last hand of this set was wild and woolly at our table. I held an innocuous hand – Q98 108x AQ6 987x. Keith opened 1C, no one vul. RHO said 2C – showing both majors, and I passed. LHO bid 3H, and Keith freely bid 4C. I was planning to bid 5C or even 4NT (a happy 5C bid) over the expected 4H bid, but David Sabourin bid the unexpected 5 clubs !
So I bid six clubs. Jon on my left bid 6H passed around to me. Maybe I should double to involve partner in the decision here. Some message like – well I have a trick, and if you don’t you can pull it. The theory being I would just pass 6H if I was reasonably sure I was beating it.
Anyway I passed it out, and Keith led a low diamond and dummy had about what you would expect:
AKJ10xx
KJ9xx
xx
Void
I won the Ace of diamonds and gave Keith a diamond ruff for down 1. Wow ! We won 7 imps on that board.
First hand of the match I had a brain spasm. I held 9x KJ10xx Q32 7xx
RHO opened 1S, and I passed. Jon on my left bid 2S and Keith said double. RHO said 4Spades and I chose of course not to save in 5H as that could be very expensive. All passed and I led the jack of hearts.
Dummy had Qxx xxx xx K10xxx
Keith won the Ace of hearts and played another heart as David ruffed on my right with a small spade. He played the Ace of diamonds from his hand; Keith playing the ten and me the two.
We play standard count signals – so Keith probably had an even number of diamonds.
Next came the Jack of diamonds from declarer and I stared at that for a minute or so. I was having a hard time envisioning how we were going to beat this hand. For sure, I should have just let this ride around to Keith – maybe he would have a better bead on what is required. He is marked of course with the diamond king.
I convinced myself to play the DQ from hand, thinking I could push trumps through the dummy from my side, perhaps protecting Keith’s holding on some layouts. Pretty obscure thinking actually.
So I played the D Queen, and Keith played the D King on top of it. Shit ! This meant declarer had six diamonds – and likely 5 spades and singletons in the offsuits.
We could not beat the hand now. Keith tapped declarer again in hearts, but it was crucial that declarer no longer needed the trump queen in dummy to ruff the diamonds good.
He banged out a spade honour which Keith correctly ducked, and then another spade honour from his hand which Keith won. Although Keith and declarer and dummy were all down to one trump, declarer had any answer for whatever Keith did.
Had I ducked the diamond like a human being rather than play the queen like a donkey, declarer would thrash and slash and end up down 1. We lost 12 imps on that board.
Like I keep saying, there will be errors, there will be bad boards. Let’s see if we can dig in our heels and tough this sucker out.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 7th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Bridge is all about judgment, concentration, temperament, and minimizing your mistakes – especially those of the unforced nature. In an event such as this, no one is perfect – we all have our trials and tribulations. Can you put it aside and get on with the next hand or next match – that is most important. Compartmentalize or wither !
So Keith and I played in the first two matches of the day. We won the first match by 21 imps – giving us a healthy 22 VP’s and vaulting us up to 3rd on the leader board.
Keith made a beautiful bid on the following hand – propelling us to 6H making for a 13 imp win!
NORTH
S Q10
H AKQ107
D AJ9
C A75
SOUTH
S AKJ65
H 9532
D 4
C 1096
(P) P (P) 2NT
(P) 3C (P) 3H
(P) 3S (P) 4C
(P) 4H (P) 4S (!)
(P) 4NT (P) 6H
(P) P (P)
My 3 spades was a mild slam try in hearts. Very mild. Keith cue bid 4C excitedly, and I said no thank you with 4H. I could have bid 4D “last train” to give him more encouragement without going past four or our suit. Keith elected to bid again – and bid 4S ! Looking at the AKJxx of spades, I realized Keith had taken his life in his hands, and must have a very fine hand indeed – he had essentially manufactured a bid to get this message across.
So being the grateful ox I am, I bid 4NT which is Key Card Blackwood. Keith ended the auction with a jump to 6H – there was no reason in his mind to provide the canned response. When the dummy came down, he thought we had missed 7H even. But with the hearts 4-0 offside six was the limit – and my condolences to any pair who did bid 7H on this hand – well done and too bad !!
At the other table, John creatively opened the bidding 1D ahead of the monster hand; monster said double, then Herve responded 1H – try getting to a slam in hearts after that start !!
Next match was against the strong team of Zyg Marcinski, Bryan Masymetz, Waldemar Frukacz, and David T. Willis. Dan Jacob and Larry Hicks were sitting out.
There were five double digit swings in this match – they got one more than us, so we lost this match by 7 imps, ending up with 13 VP. Now we have 117 VP out of a possible 175 VP and are in 6th place.
One hand I would like to take back was when I held 764 AQ986 Q42 J10. LHO passed and Keith opened 1D. I responded 1H, and Keith jump rebid 2NT – showing 18-20 in our methods. We have a very effective method for checking for a 5-3 heart fit at this point, and I chose not to use it.
We do love to avoid 4 of a major when we have extra high cards between us because often bad things can happen at the four level, whereas 3NT will still make. I thus bid 3NT, and caught Keith with only Qx of clubs opposite my J10 doubleton. We quickly went down 2 into our own + 420. Aargh !
I was wrong here to do this though. Perhaps if I had J10 of diamonds and Qxx of clubs it might have been a safer move – but here I know Keith has for sure at least 4 diamonds, and he would not have 4-4 in the minors or he would have opened 1C in our methods. So he has at most three clubs – so this was not a hand to get cute on.
When something like this happens, you feel foolish. But you must get over it – IMMEDIATELY – or your worries will for sure affect you in the subsequent hands.
A little later I made a very normal 1H overcall over 1C with 93 KQJ93 J1052 K6. However, this kept them out of their own 4-4 heart fit and they played 3NT. Had I divined to lead a diamond rather than my god given KH, we could have beaten that too – but no – we were – 460.
This was a double whammy as our teammates opened 1NT on my hand’s right – who no longer felt safe in overcalling at the two level. So he passed, and I think he got to hear his opponents climb up to 4H which was doubled and beaten 3 tricks for –800. So we lost 15 imps on that board – but no real errors on any of our parts – shit happens – deal with it !
On the last board of the match, I had a chance to win 10 imps if I could make 4 spades.
NORTH
S 2
H AQ752
D Q64
C A986
SOUTH
S AQ109863
H 8
D J752
C 3
LHO opened 1C, Keith bid 1H, RHO said double (denying 4 spades) and I bid 1 Spade. LHO passed and Keith rebid 1NT. I jumped to 3S and Keith did well to raise to 4S on his stiff deuce of spades !
LHO led the diamond Ace , attracting the 8 (playing upside down signals) from East. I followed with the two. LHO shifted to the 2 of clubs. I won the Ace, and East played an encouraging 4.
I hoped there was no diamond ruff pending, so I need to focus on losing only one spade trick. If I have to dispose of my long diamond I suppose there is always the hope of a heart hook, or in some cases a heart – diamond squeeze.
So how do I play spades? They hadn’t revealed much of their hands to me yet. All things being equal, LHO is more likely to hold the SK than his partner, given LHO had opened the bidding. So I played a spade to the ten, losing to the doubleton jack. Shortly thereafter I went down 1.
When you are ” in the zone” you get those guesses right – so I am not there yet. Also, I could have tried something exotic and played the Ace of hearts, then the HQ after winning the Ace of clubs. When RHO fails to cover the HK, I could play LHO for that card and the Ace King of diamonds and bits and pieces. Then I could ruff the HQ; lead a diamond towards dummy’s queen, and eventually use the late DQ entry to hook RHO for the king of spades – a bit fancy – and in good company I would expect East not to cover the HQ anyway.
So we lost 6 imps when the opponents were only in 3S making 3, versus gaining 10 imps had I made 4S.
But you must soldier on – a couple of good things also happened for us, and our team mates, so we only lost the match by 7 imps and remain very much alive and well.
I didn’t realize how much time this blog would take me – and I doubt I can (or want to) maintain this pace of posting – so enjoy while you can!
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 7th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
4 Comments
Day one has finished. The maximum you can win in a match is 25 Victory Points (V.P.’s) Given the matches are so short at this stage – it is hard to win or lose by a large margin – so far we have earned at least 13 VP per match – I think.
To simply qualify for the playoffs is everybody’s goal – and if you eventually get to the point where you “know” you are going to make it, try to place in the top 3 – since then you get to select your opponents in the knockout phase of the tournament.
Historically in the CNTC, averaging 17 VP per match makes you a lock to qualify for the KO portion. I have heard that 16.5 is a comfortable average too – and in some years 16 VP per match was enough.
Well we have only played 5 matches so far, but we have 83/125 possible VP. We are averaging 16.6 VP per match – which is likely why we now stand 8th.
It was a rush to sit down at the screened tables surrounded by so many people from my past and present who are all here for the same purpose – to beat each others’ heads in and WIN !
Our very first hand of the tournament woke us all up in a hurry. Both vul, I held KJxx 10 AK104 K76x.
RHO opened 1C, and I bid 1D. (The normal approach would be to pass now and wait for them to bid hearts and then make a take out double). LHO bid 1H, and Keith was there like a bear with 3D – a weak raise.
RHO bid 3H, I had had enough of course, and LHO bid the 4th and final heart. Keith led a low diamond and dummy was
AQ9x
Q9xx
J
A8xx
I won the lead with the king, and shifted to my singleton H10 – mainly by process of elimination – if not the heart then what?
This was ducked smoothly all around to dummy’s queen. Declarer led an immediate low club from the table and it was my turn to duck smoothly. He played the ten from hand and lost to Keith’s Jack. That looked good for us.
Keith exited a low spade; declarer played the queen, and I won the king. Pretty sure Keith had the third ten of spades, so I exited a spade and Keith’s ten forced the dummy’s Ace.
Now a heart was played from the dummy and a palpable pause when I pitched a diamond and failed to follow suit. He soldiered on and rose with the Ace in his hand and now ran the C9 to my king, completing his misery in the club suit as I won the king and gave Keith a ruff. Keith exited King and another heart and when the smoke cleared we were +400 as declarer had to go down 4. Welcome to Penticton ! I’m glad it wasn’t me – no time to even clear the butterflies before that one.
Later in the same match, this same player on my left held AJ109853 J4 3 1095. Both vul, and on his right I opened the bidding 1H. He jumped to 2S – I get this – no one wants to go for 800 or 1100 in the first match – but surely 3S or if you prefer 1S is the better call.
Anyway, this was passed around to me on his right and I bid double for takeout. Keith responded 3D; I raised to 4D; Keith re-raised to 5D, and the preemptor’s hand expressed his opinion with a double of 5D – which became the final contract.
Partner led the King of clubs, and dummy was
Q4
AK8765
AK86
Q
At trick 2, partner shifted to the King of Spades. What do you play and why? LHO thought for long time and played an encouraging card. Alas, partner had no more spades, so Keith was able to establish the hearts and wrap up a gorgeous plus 750! Keith had been dealt 762 3 QJ9542 J63.
Can this problem be solved? Well you could reason that Keith would not bid 5D with a doubleton spade – 3 is more likely. You could also surmise your partner might have bid three spades at some point with AK of clubs and Kx of spades.
But the biggest clue is that if partner did have Kx of spades, he must, no MUST, play a low spade at trick 2 – forcing you to return one. When he didn’t do that, it’s because he could not. Ergo you should overtake the spade king with your ace, temporarily setting up the dummy’s queen; and then returning a spade for partner to ruff and a well deserved plus 200.
I thought that was a really interesting hand.
Next up was our secret weapon – the weak 2 diamond opener. I persuaded Keith that this bid, although Stone-Age in nature, was a very good imp generator, and he is now convinced. Recently we changed our methods specifically for this weak 2 bid – and decided a 2NT response is simply invitational to 3NT – giving up on the normal informatory responses in lieu of practicality. In fact, even our new suit responses are not forcing.
So along came this moose – AK KQ96 Q85 AQ65. I was preparing to open 2NT when lo and behold, Keith was in the auction first with a 2D opener. OK so the good news is I know we have a good game in 5D or 3NT – but what about slam in diamonds or even NT? But I had no methods available to me. I had to decide right here right now do I bid Key Card Blackwood or do I settle for game in 3NT.
Many players would bid 4NT KCB, but we are very liberal with suit quality and our range is 4 – 10 HCP so that could result in silliness I thought. So I bid 3NT and was dismayed to see Keith table :
9832
A
KJ10963
87
As you can see, 6D is a great contract – virtually 100%. And 3NT could even go down after a heart lead. They led the HJ, so I had no entry to the diamonds. If they can duck the DA twice I only have 8 sure tricks. So I won the heart in dummy, and planned to duck a club to my LHO. I was keeping alive the possibility of two club tricks.
RHO played the C9 so I could now finesse the queen – which held – so twelve tricks were immediately claimed. We of course lost ten imps on this board to the 6D contract bid at the other table.
I am sad to report that even at this level of bridge, I am told the player at the other table finessed the club queen also to make 6 – which is an egregious error as twelve tricks are cold with no finesses ! I heard of at least one other player who did this – pretty sad!
I gather most of the field passed Keith’s hand and when partner opened 2NT – they wheeled out 3S – showing some form of 1 or 2 suited diamond hand. 6D was the inevitable result.
Needless to say we decided to change our methods after the match – so this cannot happen again. You lose imps for many reasons at bridge – you make a mistake; they do something really good; they get lucky; you get unlucky; but to lose 10 imps because your methods are inferior to everyone else is NOT acceptable.
There’s not a whole lot of available time – so I will stop here and get ready for Day two. The standings are linked here at the CBF website
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/09files/BWeek09_CNTCArr1.html
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
June 6th, 2009 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Well we’ll see if that is true. It has been 21 years since the last time I played in the CNTC (in Vancouver in 1988 with Wayne Timms, Steve Aarons, and Tommy Greer) – we came 3/4, losing to Molson-Baran, Guoba Carruthers, etc.
I have emerged from my cocoon to resume my partnership with Keith Balcombe. Keith and I last played together in 1984 – in the CNTC in Toronto. We had a five man team including Irving Litvack, Eric Kokish, and Joey Silver.
I don’t remember much about it – the highlights as I recall are as follows:
We sailed through the round robin; beat a spirited East Coast team in the playoffs (aided by bidding and making a grand off two aces !!!) and made it to the final against an Alberta team. We were very strong in the first half, and sailing to victory. In the third quarter, the wheels came off when I allowed myself to become distracted after I failed to play the card I was known to have while defending a poor slam, and the slam then came home on a squeeze which declarer may not have otherwise played for.
The fourth quarter we tried to mount a comeback but it was too late – we had suffered a very disappointing defeat.
I also recall sitting on the edge of a glass table in the hotel lobby while discussing hands, and falling through the table !! My hand was lacerated, and I lost a lot of blood and my customary red face went pretty white. John Gowdy drove me to the emergency room of a local hospital and I played one-handed the rest of the way.
Anyway, I retired from the game after 1988, and in fact moved to Edmonton to pursue my career in financial services. I lived there five years, and stayed on the wagon. (Bridge wagon that is) Back to Aurora in 1993, a digression into the world of technology with a company called Netron (in fact founded by a group of very sharp guys who were also well known bridge players) and stayed there till 2000 – when the axe finally fell.
Back to financial services helping companies secure growth financing, and eventually into my current business with Svetlana in 2003 – which is more “all things financial” for individuals and small businesses.
I followed the 2008 CNTC online and noted the return to high level bridge of my old friend Michel Lorber – who seemed to effortlessly slough off the rust of his own self imposed retirement and made it to the final of the event.
This got me thinking maybe I should take up the game again. So I checked out the 2009 playing site and dates, and booked me a plane ticket to Penticton. All I needed now was a partner and some team mates. Keith fell off his chair when I asked him to play with me – actually I asked twice because he did not take me seriously the first time !
Anyway, after scrambling to free up his availability for the better part of a month, he masochistically said yes, and then hooked us up with Paul Thurston and Jeff Smith for this year’s event.
Later John Duquette (actually my very first regular bridge partner while in University) and Herve Chatagnier rounded out our sextet.
So here we are. It is June 6, 8 AM in the morning. Like most of the players from Eastern Canada, I struggled to stay in bed till a normal time (I first woke up at 3.40 AM) and forced myself to sleep longer. The event starts at 10.30 AM – time for a brisk walk and some breakfast.
Also time to refamiliarize myself with our defenses to some of the exotic bidding methods which have been adopted as mainstream since the last time I sallied forth.
Keith and I will sit out the first match and then sit down to play against one of the “name teams” – Joe Silver, John Carruthers, David Turner, Nader Hanna, Jim Green, and Roy Hughes. Nothing like jumping in the deep end !
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
November 12th, 2008 ~ Ross Taylor ~
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Many years ago I was on the cusp of a career as a professional bridge player. I had all the pre-requisites. I had taken up the game with a passion while still a teenager, and had even withdrawn from The University of Waterloo Math Program to pursue my hobby in earnest. (i.e. I was a University drop-out)
I was scratching together a living teaching bridge lessons, and playing semi pro dates – including one memorable experience with Bruce Ferguson and his #1 client Clarence Goppert, at a regional in Lake Placid some 30 years ago. I think I was 19 at the time.
Keith Balcombe and I were recruited to play on a team with Clarence’s lovely wife, while Bruce and Mark Lair and George Mittelman and George Keri played on Clarence’s “A Team”.
The results don’t matter much – but it was clear we were heading in a direction only a few players aspire to.
Anyway, life got in the way, and instead of becoming professional bridge bums, Keith and I decided to become “normal citizens” – bridge would remain a(n important) hobby, rather than our source of income.
I went back to University and completed my Math degree. While waiting for the MBA curriculum to begin at MacMaster, I eked out a living again working with and for a fine gentleman called Ted Horning and his then partner Bev Jones at their Bridge Studio in Don Mills.
I taught classes, directed his daily games; ghost wrote his bridge column occasionally, and played a lot of bridge. It was there I first met my very good friend Peter Kline. We have remained close ever since.
I also was (apparently) somewhat of an inspiration to an even younger bridge up and comer – Fred Gitelman – who we all know has gone onto deserved greatness in life and in bridge.
I also met many fine ladies and gentlemen at Ted’s club who still remain active in bridge to this day. Back then Hazel was pregnant with Gavin, and still came regularly to the bridge studio.
Over the next few years, I played rarely, since studies were pretty intensive. In first term MBA, I had to take off a couple of weeks to play for Canada in the Bermuda Bowl Trials held in Minneapolis that year. Keith and I had been augmented to play on Nick Gartaganis’s team – which included the boy wonders Gord Crispin, Zyg Marcinski, and Voyteck Pomykalski. George Retek was our NPC, and a youngish EOK made perhaps one his earliest coaching forays as the coach of our talented but outgunned team.
That was a glorious experience – we did make into the play offs but experience and skill won out and there was no Bermuda Bowl entry that year. (Back then Canada did not send a team to the Bermuda Bowl – we had to compete in the North American Team Trials for the right to represent North America.)
Anyway, I pretty much decided there could be no more bridge for me until I completed the MBA – no room for both ! So my bridge playing remained dormant until the Spring of 1984 when I graduated.
If anyone would like to contact me directly I can be reached at [email protected]
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