November 16-November 26, 2000 Birmingham, Alabama 74th Fall North American Bridge Championships Vol.Daily 74, No. 10 Sunday, November Bulletin 26, 2000 Editors: Henry Francis and Jody Latham 2000 Player of Year still up in the air The 2000 Player of the Year is definitely up in the air as the result of yesterday’s upsets in the Reisinger. Zia, leading with just the Reisinger to go, still may prove to be the winner, but only if both Lew Stansby and Robert Levin do poorly in the Reisinger final. Zia and Jeff Meckstroth, running 1- 2 after the Blue Ribbon, both failed to make the Reisinger final. The only points that count in this race are those won in North American championships – platinum points. John Mohan, last year’s Player of the Year, is not in the running this year although he has amassed 407 points. The following list has been compiled by the Daily Bulletin staff and therefore is not official. Section awards were not available and were not included. Members of the Birmingham NABC Caddy Corps (from left): Leigh Griffin, Austin TX; Sara Wexler, According to our calculations, these players have New York City; Michelle Griffin, Austin TX; Chris Sherwyn, Sandi Arabia; caddymaster Jackie earned more than 350 platinum points this year, with Matthews, Sacramento CA, and Laura Rich, Cumming GA. all events counted through Thursday’s Blue Ribbon Pairs. Jackie Matthews: Thanks for the Memories Continued on page 4 For Jackie Matthews, the last 15 years as still have time to be kids.” caddymaster at North American championships The Caddy Corps here in Birmingham has has produced “memories of a lot of kids and a lot been an extremely diverse group: members of the of families. Convention Center family, a senior group, “I see pictures of grandkids now,” says Matthews’ traveling group – “they’re sure I put on Matthews. “When they’re ready to caddy, I’ll quit.” a 10-day party just for them,” says Matthews – Matthews, a tournament director from Sacra- and a small group of more experienced caddies. mento CA, worked her first NABC as caddymaster The last group includes Bernice Gee of at the 1986 Spring tournament in Portland. She Regina SK, whose husband Ken is one of Canada’s sees her role as “firm but motherly – I want my top professional players, and Elaine Ware of kids to be well behaved in the (playing) area but Continued on page 4 Jacobs leads Reisinger The team captained by George Jacobs has a 2.27- board edge and leads nine other qualifiers heading into today’s final two sessions of the Reisinger Board-a- Robert and Joanne Wegsten show off their trophies to Judy Cotterman, IN Tournament Director. Match Teams. Jacobs is playing with Ralph Katz, Alfredo Versace, At-the-table bridge is fun too Lorenzo Lauria, Norberto Bocchi and Giorgio Duboin. Richard Finberg, Mark Lair, Gary Cohler, Mike A San Francisco husband and wife with two Cappelletti and Jerry Goldfein are second with 35.91. computer set-ups at home so they can take les- This is the team (minus Goldfein) that won the Open sons on-line together are finding that at-the-table Swiss Teams at the Spring NABC in Cincinnati earlier bridge can be fun too. this year. Robert and Joanne Wegsten came to Birmingham The runners-up in the Spring Swiss were the with a few masterpoints: Robert had 11 and Joanne had 21. They’ve increased their total by about 8 points Co-Chairpersons Ann West and Clay Hall Continued on page 4 while adding four trophies each to their hardware collection. "Volunteers were great" Their bridge careers began last year when 18 advance to Swiss final Continued on page 4 In the spring of 1995, Clay Hall attended the meeting of the Board of Governors in Phoenix where An all-Florida team has a slim 7.50-Victory Point Meeting Services Planner Nancy Foy reported that lead over 17 other teams going into today’s two final Watch the Reisinger Birmingham was under consideration as the site of a sessions of the North American Swiss Teams. Ten teams will battle for the Reisinger cham- future North American championship. The leaders, with 124.50 VPs, are Steve Levinson pionship today, and all 54 boards will be shown That was the first Hall, a former president of Unit and Barnet Shenkin of Boca Raton and Benito on vugraph. The vugraph sessions will start at 157 (Alabama Bridge Association) and District 10 Garozzo and Lea Dupont of Palm Beach. noon and 7 p.m., and the show will take place in (Mid-South Bridge Conference), had heard of the plan Close behind, with 117 VPs, are Simon Kantor, Jim the auditorium in the Medical Center., and on the – which was being pushed by the Birmingham Visi- Robison, Linda Lewis and Mark Itabashi. internet at www.acbl.org or www.acbl.com tors and Convention Bureau. An all-Austrian team is third with 115.50. Team Once again Chris Compton will be the chief com- By the fall of 1995, the unit and the district had members are Gerhard Schiesser, Sascher Wernle, Arno mentator, ably assisted by such expert commentators Lindermann, Bernel Saurer, Andreas Babsch and Mar- as Zia, Michael Rosenberg, Barry Rigal, Chip Martel, Continued on page 4 tin Schifko. David Berkowitz, Larry Cohen and George Jacobs Page 2 Daily Bulletin Missing the point of the board By Mark Horton Who has the queen? Although the entry for the Reisinger event was well down in size from 1999 Boston, the field was By Phillip Alder In the second session of the Reisinger, strong, containing a wealth of world, European and the following declarer play problem arose. North American champions. As an aside, one way to What would you have done? increase the number of entries would be to allow non- Dlr: South A 7 2 qualifiers to drop into the North American Swiss « Vul: Both J 10 9 7 4 3 Teams with an assigned score – a method that has ª 9 8 6 worked very well for a number of years at major © 7 events in Great Britain. ¨ In what is surely the toughest short teams event Q J 10 8 6 5 4 in the world, defensive skill is at a premium. Several « A players missed opportunities of varying degrees of ª 10 7 2 difficulty during the second session of the qualifying © K Q round. ¨ West North East South This was what Sherlock Holmes might have Brothers Jeremy Fournier (top left) and his 1 called a three-pipe problem: « brother, Jared (top right), are playing here in 2 2 Dbl. (a) 4 Board 26 K J 9 8 7 2 Birmingham with Paul Anderberg (bottom left) © « « « Dbl. Pass Pass Pass Dlr: East Q 3 and their dad, Bob Fournier (bottom right). ª (a) Responsive: length in the unbid suits Vul: Both K 5 2 © West leads the K. After winning with the Q 8 ª ¨ Caddies no more - A, you run the Q, which wins. You continue A 4 Q 6 5 3 ª « « « with a trump to the king and ace, East pitching A K 9 8 5 4 2 J 6 ª ª a club. You call for the J and East plays low. A 10 Q J 9 7 4 now they're players ª © © Do you ruff or discard? Why? J 3 7 5 Two Knoxville TN brothers, who’ve cad- ¨ ¨ Answer on page 4. « 10 died at the last five Gatlinburg regionals, have ª 10 7 turned their sights to playing here at the NABC. © 8 6 3 Jared Fournier, 16, and Jeremy Fournier, 13, ¨ A K 10 9 6 4 2 are playing – knockouts, Swiss teams, pair Lesson Hand West North East South games – with their dad, Bob, and family friend By Henry Bethe Horton Meyer Paul Anderberg of Crossville TN. When an expert of any level plays with Pass 3 So what’s it like to go from caddying to play- ¨ her son (daughter, husband, significant other), 4 All Pass ing? “It feels good,” said Jeremy. ª there is always a certain amount of tension. Many players overcalled only 3 with the West Does he call “Caddy, please?” He shakes ª Any mistake you make is a mortal insult: how his head no. “Just ‘caddy’ is enough.” cards, but that is a very conservative view. Partner dare you play less than your best when play- may fail to raise when he has what you need for game. What was the hardest part about being a ing with them. Any mistake they make is a North led the Q, and South took the first two caddy? Jared thought a moment. “Players hide ¨ sad reflection on you: you should have told tricks. The switch to the 10 was taken by the ace, the pick-up slips,” he said, “under the boards, « them what a bid means, how to play a suit and declarer drew trumps and played a spade, under the mats.” combination, what card to play on defense. endplaying North. East’s worthless looking dummy The brothers decided about a year ago they With that in mind let me offer a hand which was suddenly back in the game. were ready to learn bridge. They enlisted their might have been a lesson, but the tension from dad, an ACBL accredited teacher, and began Should South have found the winning defense of discussing it at the time would have become a third round of clubs, a play that would have set up playing locally.