Sunday, July 30, 2017 Toronto, ON • July 20-30, 2017 Volume 89, Number 10 Daily Bulletin 89th North American Bridge Championships [email protected] | Editors: Paul Linxwiler, Brent Manley and Chip Dombrowski Diamond meets Lavazza Local pair snags Red Ribbon win in Spingold final Sudhir Patwardhan and Steve Overholt of John Diamond’s four-handed squad will take Etobicoke ON are the 2017 winners of the Bean on Team Lavazza in the final of the Spingold KO Red Ribbon Pairs. Patwardhan and Overholt, who Teams. Both have multinational rosters. Diamond is qualified fourth in Friday’s opening round, led the playing with Brian Platnick (both of the U.S.) with two-session final from start to finish, posting a 61% teammates Boye Brogeland and Espen Lindqvist game in the afternoon session and a 60% game in the of Norway. Lavazza (the squad is sponsored by evening. Their score of 832.70 put them more than the Italian coffee giant) includes Italians Norberto two boards ahead of the field (25 was top). Bocchi (captain), Antonio Sementa and Giorgio Patwardhan, an ACBL-certified teacher, is the Duboin, Dennis Bilde of Denmark, and Argentina’s manager of finance and administration for Goods and Agustin Madala and Alejandro Bianchedi. Services Branding Inc. Overholt is the owner of the In the semifinal round, Diamond clobbered Etobicoke Bridge Centre where he also teaches. They Mittelman npc 168-71 in three quarters. In the other have been playing together for seven years. bracket, Lavazza held off Richard Schwartz’s team In second with 774.32 were Daniel Lev of New 102-92. York City and Samuel Amer of Astoria NY. Winners of the Bean Red Ribbon Pairs, Steve Mini-Spingold 6000 final: continued on page 5 Overholt and Sudhir Patwardhan. Stark vs. Caspar Tournament chair: Thank you The teams captained by Andy Stark and Henry Ina Demme, tournament chair for the 2017 Caspar will meet in today’s final of the 0-6000 Mini- Toronto NABC, extends her thanks to everyone Spingold KO Teams. involved in making the summer tournament a huge Stark is playing with Terrence Rego and Detlef success. Ledewig, all of Toronto, and Brad Bart of Coquitlam “I first want to thank all of the volunteers who BC. They defeated Albert Shrive’s all-Florida team have worked so hard to make this happen. The in the semifinal round, 145-120. main committee has been planning the NABC for Caspar of Las Vegas is playing with Terry continued on page 5 Richardson of Austin TX, Chris Cowan and Debbie Feldman of Oakville ON, Doug Barnes of Caledon Members of the Toronto NABC host committee ON and John McWhinnie of Hillsborough ON. The include Carol Bongard, Charlotte St. Amant, Lyn Caspar team beat David Sokolow’s squad 165-100 in Stevens, Chair Ina Demme, Jackie Syer, Janice the semifinal. Upenieks, Helene Taylor, Richard Garlick and Michael Yang. Tsai vs. Cotterell in Micro final The largest donor Tsao-Tung Tsai’s California foursome will For five always a few large donations that propel the club into battle Kerry Cotterell’s quartet in the final of today’s consecutive the stratosphere and account for a significant portion 0-2500 Mini-Spingold KO Teams. years since the of its total – on the order of $10,000 to $20,000. The Tsai lineup includes Luen-Jyh Luo, Edward ACBL began The stakes for what constitutes a large gift at So and Jack Uppal. They eliminated Kenneth partnering with Sagamore are different now. As part of this year’s Hopke’s team in the semifinal, winning 156-73. the Alzheimer’s efforts for The Longest Day, Ruth Stober of Floral For Cotterell, the roster is Bruce Williams, Association for Park NY donated $100,000. Curt Kristensen and Howard Montemurro. In their The Longest “I just felt I wanted to do something major,” semifinal match against Luc Gagnon’s squad, Day, the top Stober said in between sessions on Saturday. “This Cotterell narrowly prevailed, 130-125. fundraising organization is very near and dear to me.” club has been Stober’s mother, Miriam Benjamin, lived with Pepsi stays on top Sagamore Alzheimer’s for seven years before dying at 97 in Bridge Club in 2005. Both of Benjamin’s sisters also had the disease. in Roth semifinal round Syosset NY. The “Where I live, I see a lot of people with dementia,” Jacek “Pepsi” Pszczola’s team, who won Friday’s club’s donations Stober added. opening round of the Roth Open Swiss Teams, averaged Benjamin had worked on Wall Street at a time remains ahead of the pack after yesterday’s semifinal Ruth Stober donated $100,000 to the Alzheimer’s Association $100,000 per when it was unusual for women. “She used to walk round. Pszczola’s lineup is Josef Blaas, Jacek Kalita, for The Longest Day, year the first around her care facility with the Wall Street Journal Michal Nowosadzki, Sjoert Brink and Bas Drijver. accounting for 10 percent of four years. under her arm,” Stober said. “I don’t know if she They will take a carryover of 20.81 victory points the ACBL’s total. There are continued on page 5 into today’s two-session final. In second is the DC-based crew of captain Ai-Tai Lo, William Cole, William Pettis and Beth Palmer. 40-year absence from bridge? No problem. Their carryover is 19.13 VPs. On the first Friday of however, Vag dropped a the Toronto NABC, Ray bombshell on his soon-to- Lai leads 10K Mixed Swiss Parnell of Wonder Lake IL be partner. Jessica Lai’s California-based squad topped the went to the partnership desk “I think you should qualifying round in the 0-10,000 Mixed Swiss Teams. in search of someone to know that I haven’t played The Lai team has a carryover of 24 victory points play with in the two-session duplicate bridge in over 40 going into today’s two-session final. Playing with Lai Gold Rush Pairs. The folks years,” admitted Vag. are Grant Vance, Leila Sink, and John Hoffman. at the desk quickly paired Parnell said, “I thought In second with a carryover of 18.75 is the team him up with John Vag of to myself, ‘Uh-oh,’ but I captained by Bruce Lang of West Palm Beach FL. Willowdale ON, and the Parnell Vag put a brave face on and told arrangement seemed suitable. him, ‘No problem. I’m sure everything will be fine.’” ATTENDANCE “John was very nice. We briefly discussed a In addition to his trepidation in playing with through Saturday convention card and decided to play 2/1,” said someone who’s been away from the game for four Parnell. decades, Parnell was also unsure how Vag could 12,692 tables On their way up the escalator to the playing area, continued on page 4 Page 2 Sunday, July 30, 2017 Daily Bulletin SPECIAL EVENTS MEETINGS / SEMINARS / RECEPTIONS Sunday, July 30 11 a.m. til Peter Pender Memorial Vugraph. (Exhibit Hall B, upper level) No discounts at Be scent-sitive! Some people have an extreme sensitivity to Loose Moose, Lone Star fragrances (colognes or perfumes). Many ACBL Attendees at the Toronto NABC should be clubs, units and districts have adopted policies aware that the NABC Restaurant Guide – which that prohibit players from wearing fragrances. The includes discount offers at various local restaurants ACBL has not issued an official policy on the matter, – erroneously included discount offers at The Loose preferring instead to appeal to the goodwill of its Moose and Lone Star Texas Grill. The restaurants members to refrain from using fragrances. have made clear that they never agreed to such an Because duplicate bridge requires players to be offer. There is no discount at The Loose Moose or in close proximity to each other, individuals who Lone Star Texas Grill. suffer from fragrance-related reactions cannot avoid Players should check with the management at those who are wearing them. Among the commonly any dining establishment about the status of offers reported symptoms are intense headaches (indeed, presented in the NABC Restaurant Guide in advance fragrances can frequently be a trigger for migraine to avoid misunderstandings. sufferers) or breathing-related problems. For these individuals, the issue is much more serious than Nikolaos Delimpaltadakis of Greece (top) was simply disliking a particular smell — it’s a real health the winner of the ACBL Online Individual Help speed up the entry line: problem. Tournament that concluded Wednesday. His Please, if you’re going to play in a club or a score was 67.10%. Pay with CDN currency tournament, don’t wear cologne, perfume or scented In second place was Mike Grodsky (bottom) of Players can help speed up the line for buying lotions. St. Simons Island GA with a score of 67.06%. entry fees by paying in Canadian currency. Players who present U.S. currency at the selling desk slow down the process by forcing the directors to first Goodwill Message exchange currency and then make change. As we fold up our bid There are many nearby places where currency boxes and prepare to leave, may be exchanged. Help make the pre-game let’s again thank our hosts for experience better by having your entry fees ready in their hard work and gracious the proper amount and in Canadian currency. hospitality. Sandy DeMartino, Chair Aileen Osofsky Goodwill A multi-edged sword Committee By Oren Kreigel The multi 2♦ often generates swings due to confusion about who holds which suit. My team, KASLE, lost such a swing in our Spingold match against FLEISHER, when my teammate overcalled 2♥ over 2♦, but it happened that opener also held hearts.