Totally Unauthorized

The good news about losing in the morning KO’s is that you don’t have to get up early in the morning.  So I slept in a bit today, but had to get up to play the Fast Open Pairs at 10.  Gail decided to catch the evening flight home, so  I dug out the green shamrock suspenders, we played two quick sessions (one very good, one very bad) and off she went.

The league claims that the number of boards played in regional events is an option of the local committee, but somehow the fast pairs is inevitably only 24 boards–I want to play fast, that doesn’t mean I want to play less.  Sure wish there was some way to get the league to listen to the players occasionally.

So on to Tuesday’s winners:

EVENT WINNER: Hedy Wee, Frank Concepcion, David Silberman and Frank Dubois won the C strat of the side Swiss.

Randy Corr, Pat Krock, Lynne and John White took 2nd in the morning KO’s bracket IV, as was the mysterious Wayne Rechnitz in bracket II.

Jack Fulcher and Lisa Evans were 2nd in a 30 table side game.

I’ve played enough cards for one day–tonight I’m going to kibitz the Vanderbilt and see what I can learn.  Watching the pros play a hand is fascinating, amazing, astounding, amusing, intriguing and just plain fun.  It’s a great way to improve your game.  Next week I’m going to be a much better player.

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Tom and Deirdre still glowing

Well, somebody did something good today.  It sure wasn’t me.

We got blown out in the morning KO.  Gail and I were just below average in the first session of the National Mixed Pairs, and waaaaay out of the money in the second.  In the first round, I picked up AQTx AKTxx  Jx  Ax.  Gail opened 3♣, and I bid 3NT.  Seemed reasonable.  Still does.  Down FIVE.  That’s why we’re playing something else tomorrow.

Most of our friends had the same kind of day–only Danny and Linda Friedman got the coveted Q for the next two sessions of the Mixed Pairs.  Not the Bandlers, not the Nedhams, not Nancy B, not Dan Scarola, maybe Jeff Polisner and Vicki Rivera (I didn’t see their score, but they play pretty darned good). UPDATE:  Yep, they qualified.

The best news, to me, is that Tom Jacobson and Deirdre Dunne, while missing their qualification by thiiiiiiiiiis much, placed in the evening session and Deirdre, playing in her first National event, now has 1.04 Platinum Points to her credit.  We’ll make a bridge addict out of her yet.

We ran into Marj Russel and Carol Brooks on the way to the after-game refreshments, and they were bemoaning losing their KO by 1 measly imp.  Is it better to lose by 1, and feel like you coulda been a contender, or lose by 50 and not have to worry about it?  I’ve been mulling that question forever, and don’t have an answer yet.  If you have an opinion, leave a comment.

Speaking of which, please leave comments! This doesn’t have to be just me talking, we can all have a say. Click on the “leave a comment” at the top of the post.  If there is already a comment, it will simply say “comments” and then the number of them.  Let your voice be heard. Even if only to congratulate Deirdre.

That didn’t take long–I went downstairs to play in the morning KO: our team ran into a buzzsaw, withdrew because we were down 43 after 12 boards and now I’m back.  If the ♦Q had been onside, I would have made that slam and we’d still be playing.

So now I have more time to search for winners.  Right off the bat, I see that Marj Russell, Carol Brooks, Wayne Miller and Bob Locke were 2nd in the D strat of the Swiss.  Jarett and Judy Inkeles had a 2nd in B in the 100/200/300 afternoon game.

I found winners from Pittsburgh, PA and Pittsburg, KS, but none from Pittsburg CA.

We’ve played in this hotel 25 years or more. Every time I’m here, I think of Shirlee Shaw, sitting at the nickel machines near the coffee shop.  I just know that she expected to have to change the sign out front to “Shirlee’s Grand Hotel”.  I was reminded of that again this morning as I saw Nancy Boyd playing penny slots.  Machines aren’t much of a way to get rich quick, but Nancy has clearly perfected the art of getting poor slowly.

Still searching for the perfect fancy, modern restaurant.  Asking for the concierge wasn’t much help–this 2000 room hotel only has an “adventure desk”, and his best recommendation was the Steakhouse in the hotel.  Is there anyone in this town who would recognize a quenelle if they saw one?

Off to play the Mixed Pairs with Gail today.  Tomorrow, too, I hope.

Okay, who is Wayne Rechnitz?

This is one of the things that makes me crazy.  Wayne Rechnitz, of Orinda, CA, was on the team that placed 7 OA, 5th in the X strat, yesterday in the Swiss Teams.  I don’t know him.  Why?  How can there be an A/X player, from Orinda, who is I/we don’t know?  There seem to be players, even in our area, who only come out for nationals–how do we lure them to our club games, sectionals, unit games, etc?  This inquiring mind is just baffled.

Moving on, I was searching in Orinda first today to see how Manfred did–and the answer is 23rd overall in the Silver Ribbon Pairs, playing with Jack Scott.  The final last night was a darned tough field, even with me in it.  At least I got to enjoy pseudo-squeezing Chuck Burger (one of the Bear Stearns former big shots) by running my 9 card club suit for an uptrick.

Last night in the side game Dan Rubinfeld and Keith Gunn were 3rd in B, Bill Barron and Randy Corr were 3rd in C.  Nice symmetry there.

Another man I don’t know–Mark Burkhammer of Concord was 9th in the Daylight Pairs.  We have to get to know these people.  Ching Chao came in 5th in the B strat, with a partner from the partnership desk.

Judy Keilin and Jack Meng were 3rd in their bracket in compact KO’s.  Olivia Guthrie and Roma Rehfisch placed in two separate 100/200/300 events.

The brothers Huffaker won the A/X teams.  Big brother Ron even had on long pants–I didn’t even know he owned them.

There may be more, but I have to go play.  Check again at noon.  Hope I find something better than Johnny Rockets for lunch.

Shhhhh. Be vewwwy quiet. Gail is still asleep, as I madly type before running downstairs for the morning KO.

If you’re wondering about the order of how I list people, I search the results by city. So people who live in the first city in our area I remember get listed first. Not exactly a meritocracy, and living in Alamo tends to get you to the top of the list.

So today, I’ll start by noting that Ally Whiteneck and Bruck Johnsonbaugh were 5th in B, 2nd in C in the Senior Swiss Teams yesterday. Mark Burkhammer won the morning side game.

Dmitri Shabes and Daniel Tataru were 3rd in A, FIRST in B in the Strat Pairs, Danny and Linda Friedman tied for 6th OA.

EVENT WINNERS: Leo and Pat Rolandelli, John and Rebecca Kunzman won the Sunday Morning 299’r Swiss.

Qualifiers in the Silver Ribbon Pairs: Manfred and Jack, Mike B and Bob L, Tom J and moi, Shirley Needham and Suzanne Cederborg, Bipin Patel and Larry Cohen

Fred and Jean Cochran took 4th in the 100/200/300 pairs, then 5th that evening in the 299’rs.

Troy and Roberta Lemons were 5th in C in the side game.

Life in the big leagues: local boy Kit Woolsey came in third in the Platinum Pairs, picking up 112 points. Coming in dead last on the final day was still worth 26.67 platinum points–it pays to make the finals.

That’s the news for this morning. I’m off to the KO’s, then the Silver Ribbon finals. Plenty of big finishes to report tomorrow. Be here.

Q as in qualifying, which is what we try to do on the first day of a national event.  They cut the field by approximately half for the second day–you go on to the finals, or you play a regional event.  I want to play with the big kids in the finals.

Tom Jacobson and I played in the Silver Ribbon pairs today–which is only the second senior event I have played.  The first was the Silver Ribbon pairs last year, also with Tom.  That time we got our Q, didn’t do well the second day.

Today, we had a good first session, 54%.  All we needed to do was be over average for the day; it was looking good.  But things didn’t go too well tonight.  We made some errors, the opponents didn’t make enough errors.  After 11 rounds, we stood at 41%, not good.

The last two rounds picked things up, though, and we squeaked in.  Probably won’t have any carryover, but who cares? I get to play with the big kids tomorrow.

Among those big kids, Mike B and Bob Luebkeman qualified, as did Jack Scott and Manfred Michlmayr.  By the morning they will post the full list of winners and I can see if there is anyone else from our area.

I ran into Marj Russell today in the hallway, and she was bemoaning being in the hotel for a week already–she came up here last Monday to take the directors course.  She aced it, naturally.  If you’re going to be stuck in the creepy old pile of a hotel for a week, you should at least be successful.

Somebody in the grocery store this morning told me that when Grand Sierra took over the hotel, they had huge plans to expand, remodel, refurbish and improve the place.  Indeed, there had been considerably work done, but then there was that little economic crash, the money stopped flowing, and the construction stopped.  When the state of the nation improves, they will be able to finish refitting this place to its former glory.  Remember, when it first opened as the MGM Grand it was one of the premier hotel/casinos in the world.  Not so much anymore.

Dinner tonight was at the Claim Jumper.  There were 8 of us, and sure enough they tried to stuff us into a U-shaped booth like sardines in a can.  I always wonder how many groups would meekly start cramming themselves into that miserable sausage casing, but our little band of outspoken bridge players were having none of it.  There was an enormous refectory table for 10 right next to the little booth–guess where we sat.

We were there mostly because the restaurant guide for this NABC is the worst I have seen in maybe 40 national tournaments.  It looks like someone just opened the phone book and wrote down all the chain restaurants.  There must be a decent place to eat here, but you’d never know it from the guide.  I didn’t have time to do much research, so I just picked this one.  The portions are huge, the food is decent, the prices are fair.  It isn’t bad, it just isn’t great.

This afternoon I peeked into the finals of the Platinum Pairs.  There were 71 tables originally.  That was cut to 39 for the second day, and down to 18 for the finals.  This third day they are playing behind screens, which is just another whole world of bridge.  It seems weird when you look at it, but being all isolated like that improves your concentration incredibly–not that the kind of player who gets to the finals of a 3 day national event needs much help in that department.

Okay, I’ve rambled enough.  Time to hit the sack–I have to play morning KO’s tomorrow, then the Silver Ribbon Finals. Linda Bandler arrives on the 2:00 plane, and Mike is planning a big dinner. I better get some rest.  More tomorrow.

We are all here in Reno for what we call a National tournament.  Officially, it is a North American Bridge Championship. In truth, this is a world wide event.  The winners of the IMP pairs are from Argentina, 2nd place went to a pair of Icelanders and third went to the Canadians.  In the Platinum pairs, the names at the top of the list are Polish.  Most of the top teams in Vanderbilt will have foreign players on the roster. Airfares are (relatively) cheap, and people come from Asia to compete as easily as we go to Milwaukee or St. Louis or Phoenix.  Where we were once a fairly insular American community, we have expanded to a polyglot, multi-cultural, international horde.  It may not be the start of world peace, but it sure is nice.

I guess having your picture on the Totally Unofficial Blog is a good thing–Grant Robinson and Terry Boyd averaged 63% yesterday in the B-C-D pairs to win the event. Coming on the heels of their 72% in the morning it was a fantastic day for them.

Joyce and Eldonna, playing with Rosemary and Peter Boss,  are still in the morning KO.

Manfred Michlmayr, Dan Scarola, Jack Scott and Jack Beers won Bracket 5 of compact KO’s.  John and Rebecca Kunzman are tearing up the 5/20/50 pairs games.

Ally Whiteneck and Bruce Johnsonbaugh were in the money last night in the 299’r pairs.  David Terris and Bob Liu were 5th OA in the Daylight Pairs (which they used to call Seniors, but now they let everyone play.  Of course, we’re all over 55 anyway so the distinction was silly)

Jeff Polisner and Ed Nagy were 10th overall in the A/X pairs. Don and I were average, but how else can I get my name in today?