Some thoughts about the first weekend of the Summer NABC

All the games are being held in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta. The facilities are absolutely excellent. The rooms, at least in the Regency Tower in which I stayed, are a little small. Finding the ironing board, which I desperately needed, took me at least five or ten minutes.

While perusing the Gold Rush results sheets I happened upon the name of Alexa Canady-Davis, who is a famous neurosurgeon now living in Pensacola, Florida. She was also my debate partner at the University of Michigan in 1968. I have not seen her in forty-five years!

District 25 was well represented in Atlanta. It seemed as though 80 or 90 percent of the tournament players from EMBA were there. It was not surprising that Connecticut’s participation was much lower. The first batch of Sugar Queen appears at the roadside stands in early August, and you could hardly expect Nutmeggers to pass up that opportunity.

Zach Grossach recovered from his team’s loss in the quarterfinals of Flight A of the GNT by winning the A/X pairs (67 tables) on Saturday with a 63.14% game. I do not have much firsthand information on the subject, but the scuttlebutt that I heard indicates that if he keeps his nose clean, this kid might be a pretty good bridge player someday.

Stewart Rubenstein and Chris Parker had a tolerably good weekend. They won the 49-table B/C/D portion of the pairs game on Saturday. On Sunday they teamed up with Howard Canan to eke out a win in their bracket in the 0-3000 bracketed Swiss by the narrowest of margins (twenty-seven victory points) over my team, which included Michael Dworetsky and Bob and Shirley Derrah.

At the table: In the side game we encountered a couple who were playing Fantunes. Fortunately for us, all of their calls on both boards were green. We later met a couple from Stamford whom I had never seen at a New England Regional. They told us that the tournaments were too far away from them, and the drives were difficult. Food for thought.

Is there a worse feeling in bridge than the realization that your partner has misinterpreted your splinter bid?

The GI tracts from more than one participant gave the pizza-by-the-slice establishment in the food court a low rating.

If you are a fan of the Ninfa’s chain of restaurants in Houston, you will doubtless be disappointed with the Atlanta version, which is called Mama Ninfa’s.

Fashion note: Frank Stewart was the host of "Ask the Expert?" on Thursday. He wore a coat and tie. I wish that I could have seen what Joe Grue wore for his appearance on Monday. He has been sporting a tee shirt and shorts as he did at the sectional in Pleasantville, but he has upgraded his footwear from flip-flops to grungy tennis shoes.

How would you play this freakish hand?

	You open 1♣ (natural), LHO overcalls 1♥, your partner jumps to 5♣, and RHO doubles. Lefty leads a spade. You cross with a heart and then play a spade (pitching dummy's heart). You return to the board in hearts. The opponents follow suit throughout, and the only honor card was the ♥Q from lefty. You next call for the ♣Q, and, needless to say, righty plays the ♣6. Do you finesse or play the drop?
	I figured that I knew at least seven of lefty’s cards (the five hearts for the overcall plus the spades) versus at most six of righty’s (the three remaining hearts plus the spades and the club that he just played). So, to my way of thinking the finesse was about a 54 percent play. I also took a slight inference from the double. On the other hand, lefty surely needed at least one of the other two kings for the overcall.
	My choice was wrong. Here was the hand.
	Do you think that I should have played for the drop? My decision kept us from qualifying for the second day of the 0-1500 LM pairs.

Here is what bridge is occasionally like in the B flight. You won’t see anything like it in the Bridge World or even the Bridge Bulletin.

For the most part the great unwashed masses of B and C players are relegated to the gigantic ballrooms that are easily large enough to hold four or five events simultaneously. The stars for the most part are playing elsewhere. Occasionally, however, one catches a glimpse of a celestial body.

I saw Bob Hamman several times majestically standing alone with his arms folded, as if surveying his realm. Roy Welland and Sabine Auken were out jogging together at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. They have to be in great shape to win weeklong team events playing four-handed. Meckstroth and Rodwell were just barely visible amidst a throng of kibitzers playing in the early rounds of the GNT that they ended up winning for the umpteenth time. Joel Wooldridge sat among the peons in the lunch area playing Magic the Gathering with someone whom I did not recognize. New England’s Karen McCallum was seen perambulating during the lunch break as she prepared for the Wagar.