CNTC C Final

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

The top 4 teams are :

Josette Levesque – Chantal Dube – Sylvie Levesque – Yves Decelles

Terry Visentin – Michael Shaw – Jenna Tichon – Ken Goodridge – Neil Goodridge

Duval – Johanne Sevigny – Jean-Pierre Longpre – Liliane Theberge – Lydia Simard

O’Loughlin – Watson – Roberts – Michael Moore – Steven Mehta – Catherine Kinsella

In the Semi Final the match up : 

Levesque  24  + 38 = 62  VS Duval 12 + 49 = 61 

Visentin  26  + 52 = 78 VS O’Loughlin 40 + 21 = 61

In the Final. 32 boards.

Levesque  66  + 30 = 96 VS Visentin 30 + 31 = 61

Levesque is the CNTC C Champion, Congratulations.

The winner - Yves Decelles, Sylvie, Chantal Dube and Josette Levesque.

Neil Goodridge, Ken Goodridge, Jenna Tichon, Terry Visentin and Michael Shaw.

Canadian Senior Team Champhionship

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

The round robin is over and our team, ended up in 5th just missing out the KO stage, oh well can’t win them all. Thanks to Karl, Leo and Rod for the most enjoyable event.

Rod Mackenzie, Karl Hicks, Leo Weniger and I.

Baran won the round robin and they picked Domansky, the boys from Thunder Bay.

The Senior Team match up in the Semi Final will be :

With one set to play Baran opened up a useful lead of 59 IMPs. 

Baran  32  + 41 + 34 + 57 = 164 VS Domansky 16 + 8 + 24 + 2 = 50

Baran NPC: Dan Jacob, Robert Lebi, David Lindop, Jurek Czyzowicz.

Domansky : Don Domansky, David McLellan, Roland Laframboise, Larry Hansen.

In the Curry and Silver match, both team pulled their goalie resulting in a wild shot out.

Curry  29 + 77 + 25 + 13 = 144  VS Silver 22 + 22 + 74 + 39 = 157

Curry : Bert Curry, J Mark Siegrist, John Bowman, Bill Bowman. 

Silver : Joseph Silver, John Cuoba, John Carruthers, Martin Kirr.

The final will be 64 boards on BBO.

Baran  27 + 45 + 27  + 21 = 120  VS Silver 38 + 16 + 27 + 62 = 143

Silver won Gold and Baran won Silver. Well done and Good luck in the Worlds.

Martin Kirr, Joe Silver, John Guoba and John Carruthers.

Robert Lebi, Dan Jacob, Daive Lindop, Jurek Czyzowicz and Boris Barn.

3/4 place Teams :

Larry Hansen, Don Domansky, David McLellan and Roland Laframboise.

 3/4 th The Curry teaam. Bert Curry, J Mark Siegrist , John Bowman and Bill Bowman.

Bridge week Open Semi Final And Women Final

May 3rd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

We will have new Canadian Champions this year in both the Open and the Women.

In the Open : Rayner and Roche part of last year’s winning team lost in the Quarter Finals yesterday. Doug Baxter, Mike Hargreaves did not play this year. David Lindop and Jim McAvoy are in the Seniors.

In the Women : Last year’s winners Joan Eaton, Karen Cumpstone,Sandra Fraser and Katrin Litwin did not enter the Championship this time around.

In the Open Semi Final :

Cannell  39 + 24 + 50 + 36 = 149  VS Todd 23 + 64 + 35 + 28 = 150

Cannell (Drew Cannell, Daniel Lavee, Paul Thurston, Jeffrey Smith, Pierre Daigneault and Kamel Fergani)

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

L’Ecuyer 42 + 42 + 49 = 84 VS Janicki 19 + 15 + 11 = 34  WD

L’Ecuyer (Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel)

Janicki (Paul Janicki, Morrie kleinplaz, Bob Kuz, Barry Senensky, Waldemar Frukacz and Stephen Copper)

Todd won by 1 IMP!

To-morrow’s Final will be

L’Ecuyer VS Todd. You can watch it on BBO. 

In the Women Final 72 boards. You watch this on BBO.

Fung 36 + 24 + 30  + 38= 128  VS Demme 25 + 46 + 47 + 32 = 150

Fung (Kiz Fung, Susan Culham, Francine Cimon, Brenda Bryant, Samantha Nystrom and Isabelle Smith)

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

Congratulations to the Demme Team they are the 2012 Canadian Women Champion.

CNTC B

Renaud 43 + 21 + 51 + 59 = 115  VS Larrivee 61 + 8 + 45 + 35 = 149

Renaud (Andre Renaud, Carl Levesque, Gerard Turcotte and Robert Tremblay)

Larrivee (Jason Larrivee, Rupa Krishnan, Pamela Keim and Duddow Cooney)

Larrivee WON. Well done.

Bridge Week Quarter Final

May 2nd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

In the Open after  4th quarter.

Cannell 44 + 54 + 38 = 136  VS Sinno 47 + 27 +16 = 78  WD

Cannell (Drew Cannell, Daniel Lavee, Paul Thurston, Jeffrey Smith, Pierre Daigneault and Kamel Fergani)

Sinno (Rajaa Sinno, Baha Faha, Ghassan Menachi, Jay Saks, George Retek, Philip Silverstein)

Carriere 27 + 19 + 38 + 30 = 144  VS Todd 49 + 28 + 24 + 58 = 159

Carriere (Ronald Carriere, Frederic Pollack, Larry Crevier, Marc-Andre Fourcaudot, Renald Davidson, Michael Gamble)

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

L’Ecuyer 54  + 59 + 69  = 182  VS Zaluski 50 + 28 + 10 = 88  WD

L’Ecuyer (Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel)

Zaluski (Edward Zaluski, John Zaluski, John Cook, R Elwin Brown, Herve Chatagnier and Rene Pelletier)

Janicki 56  + 16 + 46  + 49 = 167  VS Rayner 45 + 31 + 29 + 23 = 128

Janicki (Paul Janicki, Morrie kleinplaz, Bob Kuz, Barry Senensky, Waldemar Frukacz and Stephen Copper)

Rayner (John Reyner, Michael Roche, Piotr Klimowicz, Nader Hanna, Roy Hughes and David Turner)

The match up to-morrow will be

Cannell VS Todd

L’ Ecuyer VS Janicki

In the Women. After 4 quarter

Fung 63 + 44 + 73 + 65 =  245  VS Macnab 15 + 40 + 31 + 17  = 103

Fung (Kiz Fung, Susan Culham, Francine Cimon, Brenda bryant, Samantha Nystrom and Isabelle Smith)

Macnab (Kathie Macnab, Elizabeth Lagacy, Anne Mahoney and Trisha Fleet) 

Demme 32 + 35 + 67 = 134  VS Caley 39 + 14 + 2 = 55  WD

Caley (Sylvia Caley, Barbara Saltsman, Sondra Blank, Linda Lee, Deanna Godel and Hope Wener)

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

In the final :

Fung VS Demme

In the CNTC B

Henault 29 + 20 + 15 + 67 = 131  VS Renaud 58 + 15 + 63 + 12 = 148

Henault (Alain Henault, Eric David, Marius Moldovan and M. Xavier Combey)

Renaud (Andre Renaud, Carl Levesque, Gerard Turcotte and Robert Tremblay)

Beenard 58 + 15 + 41 + 32 = 170  VS Larrivee 62 + 45 + 56 +  44 = 207

Benard (Nicole Benard, Raymond Boyer, Louis Dessureaux, Guy Duchesne, Louise Mascolo and Diane Majdell)

Larrivee (Jason Larrivee, Rupa Krishnan, Pamela Keim and Duddow Cooney)

In the final :

Renaud VS Larrivee

Bridge Week Senior Teams Championship

May 2nd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

Am in Montreal PQ play in the Canadian Senior Team Championship. This year some may say the senior championship is stronger then the open by the number of good players in the event.

11 matches in the round robin then 4 teams play in the KO.

I am playing with Karl Hicks, Leo Weniger and Rod MacKenzie all from Halifax NS.

Here are the team rosters.

Team 1. Baran NPC. Dan Jacob, Robert Lebi, David Lindop, Jurek Czyzowicz.

Team 2. Don Domansky, David McLellan, Roland Laframboise, Larry Hansen, Bob Todd, Doug Fisher.

Team 3. Alex Fowlie, Dick Anderson, John Morgan, Bill Koski, Juday Chapman.

Team 4. Roger Dunn, Jean Castonguay Suzanne Dussault, Gisele Caron.

Team 5. Gary Westfall, Andrew Firko, Roman Klein, Ron Sutherland, Gary Bernstein, Steve Caplan.

Team 6. James Priebe, Lewis Richardson, Michael Cafferata, David Colbert, Ray Jotcham, Stephen Mackay.

Team 7. Bert Curry, J Mark Siegrist, John Bowman, Bill Bowman.

Team 8. Joseph Silver, John Cuoba, John Carruthers, Martin Kirr.

Team 9. Fernand Pollack, Pierre Belisle, Nicole Treblay, Pierre Gaudreau, Serge Saint-Laurent, Richard Cordeau.

Team 10. Charles Martineau, Andre Chartrand, Janyne Provencher, Sylvain Mayer, Caro;e Coveney, Michel Coveney.

Team 11. Doran Flock, Dave Smith, James McAvoy, Duncan Smith.

Team 12. Leo Weniger, Rod Mackenzie, Michael Yuen, Karl Hicks.

Canadian Senior Teams All Session April 2, 2012 Scores after  3 rounds

Team   Wins   Score

11    3.00   69.00 Doran Flock – David Smith – James McAvoy – Duncan Smith  

2    3.00   64.00 Don Domansky – David McLellan – Roland Laframboise – Larry Hansen – Bob Todd – Douglas Fisher  

1    2.00   61.00 Boris NPC Baran – Dan Jacob – Robert Lebi – David Lindop – Jurek Czyzowicz  

7    3.00   54.00 Bert Curry – J Mark Siegrist – John Bowman – Bill Bowman  

5    2.00   53.00 Gary Westfall – Andrew Firko – Roman Klein – Ronald Sutherland – Gary Bernstein – Steve Caplan  

9    1.00   45.00 Pollack – Pierre Belisle – Nicole Tremblay – Pierre Gaudreau – Serge Saint-Laurent – Richard Cordeau

12    1.00   44.00 Leo Weniger – Roderick Mackenzie – Michael Yuen – Karl Hicks

10    1.00   37.00 Martineau – Andre Chartrand – Janyne Provencher – Sylvain Mayer – Carole Coveney – Michel Coveney  

3    1.00   36.00 Alex Fowlie – Richard Anderson – John Morgan – William Koski – Judy Chapman – Barry Pritchard  

8    1.00   37.00 Joseph Silver – John Guoba – John Carruthers – Martin Kirr  

6    0.00   24.00 James Priebe – Lewis Richardson – Michael Cafferata – David Colbert – Ray Jotcham – Stephen Mackay  

4    0.00   16.00 Roger Dunn – Jean Castonguay – Suzanne Dussault – Gisele Caron

Scores after  6 rounds

Team   Wins   Score   Rank  

1    4.00  115.00   1   NPC Baran Baran – Dan Jacob – Robert Lebi – David Lindop – Jurek Czyzowicz  

7    6.00  114.00   2   Bert Curry – J Mark Siegrist – John Bowman – Bill Bowman

11    4.00  104.00   3   Doran Flock – David Smith – James McAvoy – Duncan Smith  

 2    3.00   97.00   4   Don Domansky – David McLellan – Roland Laframboise – Larry Hansen – Bob Todd – Douglas Fisher  

8    4.00   96.00   5   Joseph Silver – John Guoba – John Carruthers – Martin Kirr  

9    3.00   94.00   6   Pollack – Belisle – Nicole Tremblay – Pierre Gaudreau – Serge Saint-Laurent – Richard Cordeau

10    4.00   93.00  7/8  Martineau – Chartrand – Janyne Provencher – Sylvain Mayer – Carole Coveney – Michel Coveney

12    3.00   93.00  7/8  Leo Weniger – Roderick Mackenzie – Michael Yuen – Karl Hicks  

5    2.00   82.00   9   Westfall – Andrew Firko – Roman Klein – Ronald Sutherland – Gary Bernstein – Steve Caplan  

3    2.00   72.00  10   Alex Fowlie – Richard Anderson – John Morgan – William Koski – Judy Chapman – Barry Pritchard  

6    1.00   67.00  11   Priebe – Lewis Richardson – Michael Cafferata – David Colbert – Ray Jotcham – Stephen Mackay  

 4    0.00   53.00  12   Roger Dunn – Jean Castonguay – Suzanne Dussault – Gisele Caron

Canadian Senior Teams All Session April 2, 2012 Scores after  9 rounds

 Team   Wins   Score  

1    6.00  165.00 NPC Baran Baran – Dan Jacob – Robert Lebi – David Lindop – Jurek Czyzowicz  

7    8.00  162.00 Bert Curry – J Mark Siegrist – John Bowman – Bill Bowman  

2    5.00  156.00 Don Domansky – David McLellan – Roland Laframboise – Larry Hansen – Bob Todd – Douglas Fisher

11    6.00  151.00 Doran Flock – David Smith – James McAvoy – Duncan Smith

12    5.00  149.00 Leo Weniger – Roderick Mackenzie – Michael Yuen – Karl Hicks  

 8    6.00  141.00 Joseph Silver – John Guoba – John Carruthers – Martin Kirr  

5    4.00  136.00 Gary Westfall – Andrew Firko – Roman Klein – Ronald Sutherland – Gary Bernstein – Steve Caplan  

9    3.00  127.00 Pollack – Pierre Belisle – Nicole Tremblay – Pierre Gaudreau – Serge Saint-Laurent – Richard Cordeau 10   

5.00  127.00 Martineau – Andre Chartrand – Janyne Provencher – Sylvain Mayer – Carole Coveney – Michel Coveney  

6    3.00  126.00 James Priebe – Lewis Richardson – Michael Cafferata – David Colbert – Ray Jotcham – Stephen Mackay  

3    3.00  109.00 Alex Fowlie – Richard Anderson – John Morgan – William Koski – Judy Chapman – Barry Pritchard  

4    0.00   67.00 Roger Dunn – Jean Castonguay – Suzanne Dussault – Gisele Caron

The Bridge Week Draw

May 2nd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

The Canadian National Team Championship Quarter Final.

Cannell (Drew Cannell, Daniel Lavee, Paul Thurston, Jeffrey Smith, Pierre Daigneault and Kamel Fergani) VS Sinno (Rajaa Sinno, Baha Faha, Ghassan Menachi, Jay Saks, George Retek, Philip Silverstein)

Carriere (Ronald Carriere, Frederic Pollack, Larry Crevier, Marc-Andre Fourcaudot, Renald Davidson, Michael Gamble) VS Todd (Bob Todd, Doug Fisher, Neil Kimelman, Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Jonathan Steinberg)

L’Ecuyer (Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel) VS Zaluski (Edward Zaluski, John Zalusk, John Cook, R Elwin Brown, Herve Chatagnier and Rene Pelletier)

Janicki (Paul Janicki, Morrie kleinplaz, Bob Kuz, Barry Senensky, Waldemar Frukacz and Stephen Copper) VS Rayner (John Reyner, Michael Roche, Piotr Klimowicz, Nader Hanna, Roy Hughes and David Turner)

The Canadian Women Team Championship.

Fung (Kiz Fung, Susan Culham, Francine Cimon, Brenda bryant, Samantha Nystrom and Isabelle Smith) VS Macnab (Kathie Macnab, Elizabeth Lagacy, Anne Mahoney and Trisha Fleet)

Caley (Sylvia Caley, Barbara Saltsman, Sondra Blank, Linda Lee, Deanna Godel and Hope Wener) VS Demme (Ina Demme, Hazel Wolpert, Linda Wynston, Lesley Thomson, Debbie Bennett and Pamela Nisbet)

The CNTC B Semi Finals.

Henault (Alain Henault, Eric David, Marius Moldovan and M. Xavier Combey) VS Renaud (Andre Renaud, Carl Levesque, Gerard Turcotte and Robert Tremblay)

Benard (Nicole Benard, Raymond Boyer, Louis Dessureaux, Guy Duchesne, Louise Mascolo and Diane Majdell) VS Larrivee (Jason Larrivee, Rupa Krishnan, Pamela Keim and Duddow Cooney)

Bridge Week 2012

April 30th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  3 Comments 

The Canadian National Team Championship is taking place in Montreal PQ from the 28th April to the 7th of May 2012.

The winner of the Open, Women and Senior Team Championships will represent Canada in the upcoming World Bridge Game in Lille this summer.

In the Open there are 18 teams. 1st stage is a complete round robin for four days then the top 8 teams will play KO till we have a winner.

In the Women there are 6 teams. They will also play a complete round robin, the top 4 teams will play KO.

The Seniors will play a 2 days Swiss. Top 4 will play KO for one winner. Even starts on Wednesday the 2nd of May.

It will be a very strong field this year looking at all the players sitting out the Open Teams.

In the Open: 

It is the 3rd day and we have a log jam at the top of the table.

After 10 matches there are 6 teams with the 173 VPs tied for the lead.

L’Ecuyer, Janicki, Cannell, Krnjevic, Zaluski, Sinno all at 173 VPs. Then Martineau at 168 VPs, Carriere at 161 VPs rounding out the top 8..

It had often been said that you can’t win the championship in the round robin, you can only lose it.

There are still seven matches to be played between to-day and to-morrow. While is true that all the rest of the teams still have good chances to made the KO stage. However it’s time to make a move to keep in touch with the leaders.

After round 12 of 17.

The top 8 remain much the same.

1 Cannell 219. 2 Sinno 212. 3 Janicki 211. 4 L’Ecuyer 206. 5 Krnjevic 205. 6 Zalucki 199. 7 Carriere 198. 8 Martineau 188.

Todd made a move to 9th with 188 VPs, only 3 VPs out of 8th.

After round 13.

1. Cannell 237. 2 Sinno 227. 3/4 Janicki. 3/4 Carriere 223. 5/6 Zalucki. 5/6 Krnjevic 222. 7 L’Ecuyer 219. 8 Todd 211.

Martineau 195, Weniger 190 and Rayner 189 in a dog fight for a play off spot.

After round 14.

This was the last match of the day.

1 Cannell 255. 2/3 Zalucki. 2/3 Carriere 243. 4 Janicki 242. 5 Sinno 238. 6 Krnjevic 236. 7 L’Ecuyer 235. 8 Todd 227. 9 Martineau 211. 10 Rayner 201. 11/12 Wang. 11/12 Weniger 200. 13 Mayer 196. 14 Brough 183. 15 Boucher 171. 16 Castonguay 170. 17 Chevalier 163. 18 Tremblay 132.

It will be a sleepless night for some as teams down to 12th position still have a chance to make the top 8.

This was the last match of the day. There will be 3 more matches up for grabs to-morrow. 

After the 17th and last round.

The top 8 teams are :

1. Cannell 308 VPs. 2 Carriere 304 VPs. 3 L’Ecuyer 295 VPs. 4 Janicki 287 VPs. 5 Sinno 284 VPs. 6 Zaluski 283 VPs. 7 Todd 279 VPs. 8 Rayner 266 VPs.

Rayner step on the gas and won all 3 matches to-day to make the playoff. Amazing!

In the Women’s:

After 2 matches.

It is Fung at 38 VPs, Macnab at 36, Demme at 30 and Caley at 26. Dupont and Thompson both at 24.

All six teams are still alive and I would expect any team that played average to make the KO. 

After 3 matches out of 5.

1 Fung at 58 VPs. 2 Macnab at 46. 3 Caley at 44 and 4 Thompson won a match to move into 4th with 43 VPs. Demme with 42 VPs at 5th.

Still anybody’s ball game.

After the 4th Match.

1. Fung 76 Vps. 2 Caley 69. 3/4 Demme. 3/4 Macnab 59. 5 Dupont 47. 6 Thompson 46.

The 5th and 6th place team still have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. They have to win their match and hope for the best.

To-morrow the match between Fung and Caley will decide the standings.

There is a big advantage for winning the round Robin, winner gets to pick their Semi-final opponent. With 2nd playing whoever is left.

After 5th Match.

1 Fung 97 VPs. 2 Demme 79 VPs. 3 Caley 78 VPs. 4 Macnab 76 VPs.

Fung went undefeated in the round robin. They picked Macnab in the Semi- final. So Demme will play Caley in the other.

Rocking in River Rock.

April 30th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  3 Comments 

The Vancouver Regional final table count was 1510 at the end of the tournament, 50% more then two years ago! Much thanks have to go to tournament chair Cam Doner, Monica Angus, Jane Youngberg and their team of volunteers.

Cam Doner and Jane Youngberg.

It was announced that the next Regional had been booked in the same location, the River Rock Hotel Casino 7th April – 13, 2014. Better make plans early.

Howard Epley and Monica Angus.

Bruce McIntyre better known in this parts as McBruce, did a fantastic job with the Daily Bulletin. He also duplicated all the boards for the Regional. 

Bruce McIntyre - McBruce at work.

Playing with Keith Dowdall, Jadwiga Polujan and Bob Gwirtzman. We won the Peter Morse KO Team on Saturday. Thanks team, everybody played well.

Keith and I bid and made this slam which helped us to the win. 

Board 19. Dealer South. East-West vulnerable.  

Dealer: South Vul: E-W	North ♠ 984  ♥ 74 ♦ 10986 ♣ 8654
West-Keith ♠ AJ10752 ♥ AQ63  ♦ A4 ♣ J		East-Michael ♠ Q63 ♥ 8  ♦ K32 ♣ AQ10973
	South ♠ K ♥ KJ10952 ♦ QJ75  ♣ K2

The auction. 

The lead was the eight of clubs. Once South open the bidding, Keith was able to play him for everything.

Made 12 tricks for +1430 and won 13 IMPs.

At the other table they played in game, made 12 tricks for +680.

Keith Dowdall, Jadwiga Polujan, Bob Gwirtzman and I.

Michael Dimich’s team won the Sunday Swiss running away. They clinched the event before the last match!

Michael Dimich, Laurence Betts, Don Brazeau and John Bryden.

Location! Location! Location!

April 29th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

This year the Vancouver Regional is being held at the River Rock Casino. What a difference the location made. After 4 days the table count is already at 1127 tables! 

The playing site/Casino is conveniently located in Richmond. Only miles from the US boarder, made it that much easier for US players to get here. For those driving, there is free parking, If not the Skytrain station is right at the front door. For those that come from the island the express bus from the ferry terminal drop you off across the street. Vancouver International Airport is only minutes away.

The show must go on

 I played two sessions of the Monica Angues KO with Susan Peters and the McCunes.

Mary McCune, Susan Peters, Marty McCune and I.

Spotted at the tournament all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sharon and Roger Anderson won the Friday Open Pairs by one matchpoint!

ACBL President-Sharon and Roger Anderson.

The Poker tourney on Monday was won by Rhoda Tafler. With 33 players in the field, the pot was over $300, she also won an E-reader.

Rhoda Tafler - Sid Segal (Won Thursday Open Pairs with Howard Rubin)

Playing with friends from Saskatoon SK we made the overall in the Thursday Swiss.

Cydney Hayes, Linda Connell, Marjorie Ford and Peggy McGregor.

The Jets Has Landed

April 24th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

There is a roar in the air ever since The Jets hockey team returned to play in the City of Winnipeg. (The City lost it’s hockey team to Phoenix in 1996. Then in the Spring of 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers were sold to Winnipeg to be renamed the Jets.) Seems everybody was “Fueled by Passion” –slogan of the club.

I was in town to partake in the Regional. Playing sometimes three sessions a day I had mixed results, with much thanks to my partners and teammates, won a KO and a Swiss, came third in the another event.

In the Seven Oaks KO, I played with Bob Kuz.

Board 9. Dealer North. East-West vulnerable.

As East Bob held : ♠ K3 ♥ Void ♦ AQJ10943 ♣ KJ63

I was West :  ♠ A2 ♥ KQ652 ♦ 72 ♣ Q975

This was our auction.

The lead was the Ace of hearts. How would you play?

Given a chance, Bob played the hand perfectly to land the contract.

South led the Ace of hearts, two, three and ruff with the three of clubs. Trick 2, Bob played the Jack of clubs, ducked by south with the two, five and eight. Continued with the King of clubs, Ace, seven and north discarded the six of spades.

The deal. 

Dealer: North Vul: East-West	North ♠ 976  ♥ J8743  ♦ K865  ♣ 8
West ♠ A2   ♥ KQ652  ♦ 72  ♣ Q975		East ♠ K3  ♥   ♦ AQJ10943  ♣ KJ63
	South ♠ QJ10854 ♥ A109 ♦   ♣ A1042

South switched to the Queen of Spades, Ace, nine and three. Bob played seven of diamonds, five, took the diamond finesse with the Queen and South ruff with the four of clubs. South played the Jack of spades, two, seven, won by the King.

Trick 7, six of clubs, ten, Queen and North could discard in comfort the four of hearts.

This was the layout with six cards remaining.

Dealer: North Vul: East-West	North ♠   ♥ J87  ♦ K86  ♣
West ♠   ♥ KQ65  ♦ 2  ♣ 9		East ♠   ♥   ♦ AJ10943  ♣
	South ♠ 10854  ♥ 109  ♦   ♣

Trick 8, Bob played the last trump, the nine of clubs from dummy, that squeezed North between the red suits. If North discard a heart then all the hearts in dummy would be good. If North discard a diamond then Bob would finesse the king and all the diamonds in his hand would be good. Bob made 11 tricks for +750.

At the other table our opponents played in four diamonds, made 10 trick for +130. We won 12 IMPs and with it the match.

Sue Treble, Brian Pauls, Bill Treble, Bob Kuz and I won the Seven Oaks KO.

Other ex-winnipeggers and friends that dropped by for a game.

John Rayner and Jill Thompson - 1st in the Pairs and 2nd in the Swiss.

As usual tournament co-chairs Doug Fisher & Gerrie Hewitt with their committees of volunteers ran a nice tournament. The host hotel was great, good location. nice rooms, good restaurant and bar, free parking. The playing site was excellent, spacious, good lighting, new playing cards, Bridgemate. Efficient directing staff. Great Hospitality, free coffee and free delicious lunch everyday.

Barbara Shnier and Barry Senensky - 2nd in the Saturday KO.