LAURINBURG — Two pairs playing at Bridge-at-the-Village on Monday, Oct. 21, finished one-two in the local club and ended up virtually tied atop the Howellers in the Common Game when its final results were released.
The pair of Joanne Martin and Ann Buie won the local Club Appreciation Championship Game, followed closely by the pair of Mac and Jacque Doubles. The results of these two pairs in the Common Game, in addition, showed them also atop the 55 Howeller pairs playing among 21 clubs, separated by only a fraction of a percentage point — 66.34% to 66.12% — a statistical tie.
To have two pairs from the same club end up on top almost never happens, and to be so close to one another is remarkable.
One of the advantages local Bridge-at-the-Village players enjoy is having their results also recorded in the Common Game against players in clubs across the country. Smaller clubs playing six or fewer tables play what is called a Howell Movement, a type of progression where all pairs except one move and where all pairs meet to play against one another. Clubs with six or more tables use the Mitchell Movement in which the players seated North-South remain stationary and those sitting East-West move each round. As the Common Game reports these movements separately, Bridge-at-the-Village players are included in the report from the Howell Movement, thus termed Howellers.
In addition, the Common Game reports its results in two strata, or ranks, one recording scores from clubs with players who have earned more than 300 master points and the other from clubs where players have fewer than 300 master points. Bridge-at-the-Village players are reported in the latter rank, the so-called 299ers. On Monday evening, Oct. 21, there were 189 pairs playing Common Game hands in fifty-six 299er clubs across the country. The Martin-Buie and Doubles pairs, while topping the Howellers, finished fourth and fifth respectively among these 189 pairs.
Nor were these two the only Bridge-at-the-Village players to be included in these Common Game results. The pairs of Doug and Connie Harris and John and Celeste Lewis finished in the thirteenth and fourteenth places respectively among the fifty-five Howeller pairs, thus placing in the top fourth. Bridge-at-the-Village players think that to have four pairs in the top twenty-five percent of finishers in the Common Game is an indication of the level of play at the club.
Bridge-at-the-Village is an ACBL-sanctioned club that meets every Monday evening at 6:00 o’clock in the Scotia Village Café. Refreshments are served, master points awarded to winning pairs, and hand records of the hands played along with a lesson hand are available at the close of every game. Visitors are encouraged and welcomed, and a partner is always available.
