the cavendish: thursday
Cellphones and other devices utilizing cellphone technology (like my Sidekick, or your Blackberry) are strictly forbidden at The Cavendish, and while I could probably take my laptop and sit outside the playing area, the whole liveblogging business doesn’t appeal to me like I imagined.
I managed to kibitz a few hands between naps and trips to the pool: in the third round I watched Roy Welland playing with Chris Willenken against George’s teammates, Steve Weinstein and Bobby Levin. I sat down between Roy, sitting North, and Steve (West) in time to watch a pair of 1NT hands. In the first (board 21 of the 1st session, if you followed along on vugraph), Roy held xxx / KQx / QJxx / xxx. Willenken opened 1C in third seat and Levin overcalled 1H. Welland bid 1S, transferring to 1NT, which ended the auction. Levin took quite a while to make the opening lead, then Willenken was slow playing it. Fairly sure he went down.
The next board wasn’t terribly exciting: 1C - 1NT by East-West. After quite a long while, Levin took seven tricks and we laughed on the Welland/Weinstein side of the screen: if the next contract was 1NT, I’d be released from my promise to stay for the whole round. Then, board 23, both vulnerable, Willenken opened 1NT. We laughed again. Levin passed, the tray came back, Welland passed. I gathered up my purse and coffee. Weinstein checked his hand again and bid 2D, diamonds and a major. His hand: Axx / xxxx / KQJ8x / x. When the bidding finally ended, Willenken was doubled in 3C, minus 1100, and the tension at the table pretty high. A few more boards before the then-tense round was over. Despite -1100, Welland won with the whip in the air.
After the break Hamman/Zia and Levin/Weinstein played the Ekeblads (Gary Cohler playing with Howie Weinstein, Russ & Sheila & Michael Seamon) and won by 14, then played Yeh on vugraph (won). I kibitzed John Kranyak (playing with Gavin Wolpert on a team with Mike Moss/Peter Fredin) in the last round last night, playing Shane & Bob Blanchard. It was fun watching John & Gavin move back into contention after losing their first few matches.
I’m skipping the last three rounds this morning to hang at the Spa and visit with George’s niece, Kyla. Kyla and her partner, Mike, have an absolutely delicious eight week old baby, Erin, who’s also the grand-niece of Brenda Jacobus. Kyla and Erin are joining us for dinner and the auction. I’m planning to snap some photos, but we’ll see if I get to that.
Cheers –
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