7421 Tables Overcoming the Odds
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Friday, March 28, 2014 Volume 57, Number 8 Daily Bulletin 57th Spring North American Bridge Championships [email protected] Editors: Brent Manley and Sue Munday Overcoming the odds Cayne routed in Richard Coren has had his photo on the front page of this paper a couple of times this week. He Vanderbilt, won the Platinum Pairs – the most prestigious pairs event on the ACBL calendar – playing with Bobby Monaco, Nickell Levin. He followed that with a win in the Mixed Pairs with Janice Seamon-Molson. Far more impressive cruise than his back-to-back North American wins, however, The team captained by Mark Gordon took an is his resilience in the battle with Crohn’s disease. early lead against the No. 6 seed, led by James Crohn’s is an immune-related type of Cayne, on the way to a 178-195 rout and a spot in inflammatory bowel disease. It has a genetic today’s quarterfinal round of the Vanderbilt Knockout component and can vary in severity. “Mine is bad,” Teams. says Coren. His brother, too, has the disease, although Other high seeds fared well, No. 1 Monaco his symptoms are milder. dispatching Robert Hollman 151-110. No. 2 Nick Coren was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease during Nickell trailed at the half but outscored Richard his second year in law school when he suffered an Schwartz 107-22 in the second half to advance. episode so debilitating that he had to drop out and No. 4 Martin Fleisher had it the easiest when their move back home to live with his parents. opponents withdrew at the half, trailing 126-26. He was crushed, both physically – “I couldn’t eat a piece of toast,” and mentally. “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish school,” he Rodwell and Bales says. But living on Gatorade and bananas, he studied, lead the Women’s Pairs and when it came time to take his exams, his stamina Fueled by a sensational 71% second qualifying lasted only through the third test. session, Donna Rodwell of Clearwater Beach FL “I couldn’t take the fourth exam,” he says, “I just and Toni Bales of Pickerington OH head up the handed in my book with nothing in it.” He received Whitehead Women Pairs going into the final day. three A’s and an incomplete, and passed. Phyllis Fireman and Shannon Cappelletti, whose Shortly after leaving law school, Coren built solid 62% afternoon and 58% evening has them his own law practice. He was married and had a sitting in second, are 9 points off the pace. two-week old daughter when he checked into a Closely following in third place, are last year’s local hospital for the routine treatment he needed to champions, Barbara Nist and Patti Hartley. manage his disease. What should have been routine The event concludes today. turned into tragedy. “I was mistreated,” he says. He became dehydrated. Sepsis set in, he suffered total organ Norwegians lead failure and he lapsed into a coma. “The hospital said ‘pull the plug,’ but my wife and business partner refused to accept that.” They Silodor Two members of Norway’s open team from the convinced the Ryder Trauma Center in Jackson 2012 World Championships are leading the Silodor continued on page 5 Open Pairs with two final sessions to play today. Thor Erik Hoftaniska and Thomas Charlsen take Two for the road: Poplawsky, a carryover of 256 into today’s play, ahead of another European pair, Tim Verbeek of the Netherlands and Hubert heading for retirement Christina Madsen of Denmark. Top today is 64. If not for a chance encounter with a pretty girl at a coffee shop 10K KO ends today at the University of Mexico about The teams captained by Michael McNamara and 50 years ago, the ACBL might Robert Todd will square off today in the final of the never have discovered the talents 0-10,000 Knockout. of Tournament Director Guillermo McNamara, Sylwia McNamara, Kelley Hwang, Poplawsky, working his last NABC Eric Robinson, Corey Krantz and Meyer Kotkin after nearly 36 years of service. played leapfrog with John Lewis’s team on Thursday, Poplawsky joins TD Olin sliding past Lewis in the fourth quarter to win 102- Hubert as short-timers at the Spring 99. NABC. Hubert is also doing his Todd, Spencer Jones, Peggy Ware and Garth swan song in Dallas, planning to Yettic dominated the squad captained by Eric join the ranks of players. Also in Hendrickson 165-52. Dallas, DIC Chris Patrias is serving in that capacity at an NABC for the last time, but he won’t put away the Guillermo Poplawsky Olin Hubert laws book until next spring. Gladfelters set the pace in Poplawsky, a civil engineering student at the Mexico City. Red Ribbon Pairs University of Mexico, knew nothing of bridge before Turns out he and three of his Mexican friends After the first two qualifying sessions of the Bean he encountered future wife Harlene Berry, a Phi Beta married women from the U.S. “and they taught us to Red Ribbon Pairs, Michael and Mary Jane Gladfelter Kappa student from Oklahoma, at the university in continued on page 9 of Columbus OH are in front with a carryover of 103 points. Not far behind in second – with a 92-point ATTENDANCE carryover – are Julian and Elizabeth Wachs from Goodwill Message Chapel Hill NC. Seventy-eight pairs advanced to the through Thursday final day. Accept defeat and victory with grace. Players earn a red ribbon qualification by placing 7421 tables Sandy DeMartino, Chair first or second overall in regionally rated events of at Aileen Osofsky ACBL Goodwill Committee least Flight B status. Page 2 Friday, March 28, 2014 Daily Bulletin SPECIAL EVENTS MEETINGS / SEMINARS / RECEPTIONS Friday, March 28 Sunday, March 30 11 pm-Midnight Women’s International Team Trials meeting. (Sheraton Peter Pender Memorial Vugraph. (Room TBA) Hotel, 4th floor, Remington) Peter Pender Memorial Vugraph. (Room TBA) CELEBRITY SPEAKER PROGRAM Don’t miss these free lectures by some of the best-known players in the game! (Conference Center, 3rd floor, San Antonio Ballroom) Friday, March 28 Saturday, March 29 9:15 a.m. Tom Carmichael Cuebids: More Than a Slam Try 9:15 a.m. Gary King Working at Bridge 6:45 p.m. Donna & Chris Compton Strip ‘em & End ‘em 6:45 p.m. Eddie Wold & Bob Morris Q & A ENTERTAINMENT and HOSPITALITY Late-night snacks served at 10:30 p.m. in the Grand Hall on the first floor of the Conference Center. Friday, March 29 Friday, March 27-28 Lemon squares After the Texas Holdem Poker Tournament. $10 entry and rebuys Saturday, March 30 evening session until midnight. (Conference Center, 3rd floor, Houston Ice cream Ballroom) New Life Master News How low can you go? Today Monaco, tomorrow Congratulations to new Life Master Dolores By Barry Rigal Reiley. Reiley, from San Antonio, needed about . the consolation KO The regional knockouts and the regional Swiss By Barry Rigal six gold points to get her gold card. On Tuesday, teams produced two deals with a similar theme. Here In our loss to the Monaco team (considerably her team made it to the third round of the Senior they are, and I’ll present them to you as problems – weakened by Pierre Zimmermann’s need to return Knockout, which was good for about half the points then discuss the action at the table. home for a family emergency), Jeff Aker was she needed. She picked up the rest when her team Dlr: South ♠ A K Q confronted with an interesting problem. How would finished third in their bracket in the Wednesday Vul: Both ♥ K 7 5 you deal with it? Compact KO. Her teammates – all from San Antonio ♦ 10 4 Dlr: West ♠ 5 4 2 – are Kathy Sinkin-Amor, Beth Gale and John Hilbig. ♣ 9 8 7 6 2 Vul: N-S ♥ J 10 9 7 The four play regularly at the Fiesta Bridge Club. ♦ K 6 5 3 Marcia Cornell of Hilton Head SC gets double ♠ J 6 4 ♣ 7 4 honors for her team’s finish in Thursday’s Stratified ♥ A J 10 9 8 6 2 ♠ Q Swiss Teams – first in Strat C, third in B and fifth in ♦ Q ♥ A Q 6 4 2 A. The 8.48 gold points she earned were enough to ♣ 4 3 ♦ 10 7 2 earn her a gold card as a new Life Master and a new West North East South ♣ K 6 5 3 Bronze Life Master. Cornell played with Roger Baim, 3♥ West North East South also of Hilton Head. Their teammates were Sandy Pass 4♥ All Pass 1♥ Pass 1♠ Dbl Williams of Atlanta and Rita Sanders of Bluffton SC. West leads the ♦K and gets a count signal of the 2♣ Pass Pass 2NT ♦2. West then shifts to the ♣A: 2, 10, 3. He continues Pass 3NT All Pass with the ♣5 to the king. East continues with the ♣J. Be Scent-sitive! Your low club lead goes to the 8 and declarer’s Plan the play from here. Some people have an extreme sensitivity to queen. At trick two, the ♥K appears on the table. Second deal: fragrances (colognes or perfumes). Many ACBL Make a play . and a plan. Dlr: South ♠ A Q J 10 clubs, units and districts have adopted policies that At the table, West ducked, won the next heart as Vul: Both ♥ 8 7 4 prohibit players from wearing fragrances. The East discarded the ♣J, then led a low club. Declarer ♦ A 10 4 ACBL has not issued an official policy on the (Aker) ducked, won the next club, cashed the ♦A and ♣ J 6 4 matter, preferring instead to appeal to the goodwill of ♦Q, followed by the top two spades, then put West in its members to refrain from using fragrances.