Mixed up BAM in Philly!

July 21st, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

After two days of play in the Freeman Mixed Board-a-Match Teams, the Zeckhauser Team (Gabrielle Sherman of Syosset NY, Joel Wooldridge of Astoria NY, Debbie Rosenberg of Cupertino CA and Richard Zeckhauser of Cambridge MA) was declarered the winners by the slimmest margin of 0.41.

Karen Cumpstone, Michael Roche, Nader Hanna and Joan Eaton.

That in it’s self was nail biting enough for those watching from the sidelines. One can only imagine how The Nader Team (Nader Hanner and Joan Eaton both from Toronto ON, Karen Cumpstone of Nanaimo BC and Michael Roche from Victoria BC) who came in second must have felt.

However the roller coaster didn’t end there. Later on in the evening Debbie Rosenberg saw a scoring error on her score card. Did the classy thing by reporting the correction thus dropping them to second and at the same time moved the Nader team to first!

Gabrielle Sherman, Joel Wooldridge, Debbie Rosenberg and Richard Zeckhauser.

I for one would nominate The Zeckhauser Team Spotsman award of the year.

Photos from ACBL Bulletin.

Ladies To Lille

June 23rd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

On Monday 25th June 2012 at Partners Bridge Club, Toronto. There is a fundraiser for Canada’s Women Team (Debbie Bennett, Lesley Thomson, Linda Wynston, Hazel Wolpert, Ina Demme, Pamela Nisbet and NPC Nader Hanna.) They will represent us at the World Mind Sports Game this August in Lille, France.

Partners Bridge Club is at 939 Eglinton Ave East at Brentcliffe Road. Reception at 6.30 pm. Game time at 7 pm.

There will be many excellent door prizes, delicious food and lots of fun.

Here is the team.

Debbie, Lesley, Linda, Hazel, Ina and Pamela.

For more information please check the club’s website www.partnersbridge.com or phone 416-422-2582 to make reservation.

Wish you all a great evening and good luck at the World Mind Sports Game.

Penticton BC

June 19th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

 The lead was ♦ 8 (2nd or 4th best) 2, 3, the 10 won the trick. ♥ king from Ernie, 4, 3 and 2. ♥ queen, ace, 8 and 5. ♦ 4, king, ace and 5.

 At trick 5. East led back the ♦ 6, queen, 4 and 7. ♠ ace from hand, 2, 5 and 3. ♠ 9, 7, queen and 4.

When the queen of spade won the trick,  Ernie could tell East had the 13th diamond. At trick 8, he took the avoidance club finesse into the safe hand. ♣ 7, 2, jack and 4. Claim 10 trick for +430.

At the other table. I was East defending 3NT. The lead was the nine of of diamonds. I know South had the ten, played the jack, won by the queen. Declarer finesse the club into me, I led my fourth best diamond back, keep the ace for communications. Later on in the play was able to cash the 13th diamond for a one trick set. +50 for  10 IMPs and the win.

Here are the winners.

Brian, Tim, Ernie, Michael and Guy

Live From Dublin Ireland via Bridge Topics

June 11th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

The 51st European Championships is about to start on the 12th and run till the 23rd of June. Beside being about to watch the play by play on BBO, we can now watch Videos and live talk shows on Bridge Topics.

During the Championships, Bridge Topics www.bridgetopics.com will broadcast an array of short interviews with players and well known bridge personalities on site, hosted by Jan van Cleeff.

Many would argue that the European Championships open series is a tougher event to win then the World Championships because of the depth of the field.

The top six teams in the Open, Women and Seniors Championships will qualify to play in the 41st World Team Championships in Bali Indonesia next year.

TIT FOR TAT

May 9th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

Neil Kimelman on the silver medal team shared some hands from the Canadian Team final with me.

3/8 Board 13.

Dealer North. Both vulnerable.

Dealer: North Vul: Both	North ♠ 7 ♥ AJ864  ♦ AJ109 ♣ J105
West ♠ A54  ♥ Q103  ♦ K432 ♣ A84		Kimelman ♠ KQ1092  ♥ 72  ♦ Q7  ♣ KQ93
	South ♠ J863  ♥ K95  ♦ 865 ♣ 762

Don Pearsons-West and Neil-East was in 4♠ got the five of hearts lead from South, won by the North’s Jack. The next heart won by South’s King. The diamond switch went to North’s Ace. Given the chance, Neil guess the spade position and picked up the Jack, made 10 trick for + 620.

At the other table, Vincent Demuy as West was in 3NT. North led the ten of Diamond won by dummy’s Queen. Vincent also guess the spades to make 10 tricks for +630. Pushed the board.

Board 15.

Dealer South. Nouth-South vulnerable.

Dealer: South Vul: N-S	Korbel ♠ AK74  ♥ AKJ5  ♦ Q1064 ♣ 7
West ♠ QJ865  ♥ 108743  ♦ 32 ♣ 2		East ♠ 93  ♥ Q62  ♦   ♣ KQJ109654
	South ♠ 102  ♥ 9  ♦ AKJ9875  ♣ A83

It was a spirited auction. 

East led the King of clubs.

Daniel Korbel as North drove to 7NT. He played skillfully. Won the club lead with the Ace. Played two rounds of diamonds. Then cashed the Ace and King of spades. Run the rest of the diamonds. Executed the double squeeze and made 13 tricks for +2220 win 2 IMPs.

This was the position with four card ending.

When Daniel played the eight of diamond, West had to keep the Queen of spades otherwise the seven of spade in dummy would be good, so he let go the seven of hearts, North could discard the seven of spades. East in turn was squeezed between hearts and clubs. 

Dealer: South Vul: N-S	North ♠ 7  ♥ AKJ  ♦   ♣
West ♠ Q  ♥ 1087  ♦   ♣		East ♠   ♥ Q62  ♦   ♣ Q
	South ♠   ♥ 9 ♦ 8 ♣ 83

At the other table Jonathan Steinberg and David Sabourin had bid and made 7♦ for +2140.

Bernie Ludewig (1954 – 2012)

May 8th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

Bernard Ludewig (1954 – 2012)

Bernard Ludewig

We thought we still had so much time!  But now Bernard Ludewig is not with us anymore. He died, which still seems inconceivable to us, on 21. March 2012.

On 24.11.1954, in Marburg, Bernard Ludewig was born as the son of a German father and a French mother. He spent his youth in Marburg, Koblenz and Belgium. From there he headed to Heidelberg to study at a university after having received his “Abitur”. Having grown up with a multilingual family, his studies did not turn out to be very difficult for him. So alongside his studies he still found a sufficient amount of time to optimize his skills in other important parts of his life – particularly in the game of Bridge.

And he became a bridge player and put his heart and soul in it. The list of top rankings he received is long. He could look back upon nine German championships and numerous second- and third-rankings. Even though he loved team play more than pairs’ tournaments, he won his first German tournament in 1987 in the last-mentioned form. His greatest success as a sportsman was the win of the “Rosenblum-Cup” in 1990, the first big title a German team achieved in an open tournament. As the captain of the ladies’ national team,  which played an important role during many world- and Europe tournaments, he also became successful internationally. Bernard Ludewig’s calm and well-adjusted manner as well as his ability as a bridge player is what made him such a convenient captain. More importantly, he was a sportsman with all his heart – fair at all times, but still ambitious.

This personality with all the tolerance, warm-heartedness and serenity was definitely one of his strongest points which made him so unique. Also offside the “bridge table” he was a reliable, attentive and caring friend for plenty of job-related and personal acquaintances, especially for his children Katharina and Stefan, whom he gave everything, and is wife Susanne, who he loved so much and with who he celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary last year – which is definitely not a matter of course anymore these days.

There are a lot of good bridge players but good partners are rare. Bernard Ludewig was not only the best bridge partner I have ever played with but also a cautious colleague and loyal friend over many years. Even when our career (and bridge-) paths parted, we stayed in touch. Sometimes we dreamed about the good old times together, when we drove to a bridge tournament in his sky blue Peugeot 404, with the last bit of money we could find, always accompanied by Wolfgang Ambros’ music and his “Watzmann”. During all of this time I never heard a single mean word from him, even when he stopped in four hearts with his 23-count hand after my weak-two-opening, going one down, he only said: “I already expected it to be quite close…” And when Georg Nippgen and I accidentally turned off the main fuse while trying to exchange a light bulb and his(Bernard’s) day work vanished, even then he reacted even-temperately and asked: “Which world champion was that?” He couldn’t have possibly known that it was the two of us who tried to solve the problem…

At last it might seem like a bitter irony of destiny that of all organs his heart was the one that failed – and he was a man with so much goodness and heart – and he had to pass away from us way too early.

Obituary – By Jochen Bitschene.

On a personal note.

Bernie was such a nice guy. I enjoyed all the championships we worked to-gather both at and away from the table. Will miss him in The Worlds for years to come.

My condolences to Susie and the family.

People having fun

May 6th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

Muriel Dalphond

Everybody having a good time.

Daniel Korbel and JC.

Michael Roche and his honey in waiting

Boris Baran, Jurek Czyzowicz and Dan Jacob.

Danny Miles, Joe Silver and Les Amoils.

Dennis Gamble and Kathie Macnab

The Unsung Heroes

May 5th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

Here are some of the people that who make this Championship so enjoyable. Thank you very much.

Guy Fautux - Doug Rankin

Henry Cukoff - Guy Fauteux

CBF Zone Director - Jean Castonguy

Vugraph operators – Sharyn Reus and Tony The Tuna

Friendly Bartender - Barbard Corcoran.

Canadian National Team Final

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

In one of the most exciting Semi Final match yesterday. Two old friends from Winnipeg, Todd and Cannell played each other to a one IMP decision. 

In to-day’s final with one set to play for the day. L’Ecuyer gained IMPs in all 4 sets. There will be another 64 boards to play.

L’Ecuyer  37 + 41 + 25 + 36 + 52 + 45 = 236

  Todd       19 + 32 + 19 + 23 + 26 + 12  = 131 WD

We have a WINNER.

L’Ecuyer :  Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel Are the Canadian Champions. Well done.

Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Neil Kimelman, Bob Todd, Jonathan Steinberg and Doug Fisher.

Todd (Bob Todd, Doug Fisher, Neil Kimelman, Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Jonathan Steinberg)

The match will be 128 boards played over 2 days. You can watch them in action on BBO.

Here is a nice defence by Leslis Amoils and Derren Wolpert in the 4th quarter of the final. After the Ace of spade, Les played another spade, so when he got in he with the king of hearts. He was able to reach Derren with the club ace in order to lead another spade for a trump upper cut.

At the other table North after the Ace of spade switches to  club, can’t beat it anymore.

Bridge Week Winners

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

The Canadian Women Team winners.

Debbie Bennett, Lesley Thomson, Linda Wynston, Hazel Wolpert, Ina Demme and Pamela Nisbet.

 The IMP Pair winners.

Michael Gamble and Ranald Davidson.

The CNTC B winners.

Robert Trembly, Carl Levesque, Andre Renaud and Gerard Turcotte.

The CNTC B Silver medal team.

Rupa Krishnan, Duddow Cooney, Pamela Keim and Jason Larrivee.

ACBL CEO Robert Hartman, Dick Anderson and George Retek.