| Sixth Annual Grand Prix (2004) World Series of Hearts at Oak Brook Hills, Illinois
Sept 17-19
The action was hot and heavy at the Hearts Nationals! Although the field was small, the enthusiasm was big and with a guaranteed First Prize of $ 1000 on the line, the competition was very intense. The game of Hearts, an original classic card game, does not draw the "live" event numbers it attracted at one time. Still, it is part of the Grand Prix Series, and will not be phased out. Hopefully, with an invitational format for next year, we will see a larger field.
Total of twenty participants
Final 8 qualifiers after 5 round preliminaries of 100 pts./game
Game/Round value points: 1st=6 pts, 2nd=3 pts, 3rd=2 pts, 4th=1 pt.
1. 26 - Renee Staggs (Joliet area, IL)
2. 23.5 - James Rochford (Chicago, IL)
3. 21 - Yogi Cunningham (West Texas)
4. 20 - Tom Wiencek (Orland Park, IL)
5. 19 - George Klemic (Bensenville, IL)
6. 18 - Patrick Kington (Columbus, OH)
7. 17 - Bill Fraser (Boston, MA)
8. 16 - Tim Kington (Columbus, OH)
1st-Patrick Kington
2nd-Tom Wiencek
3rd-Renee Stagg
4th-James Rochford
Special thanks to Ben Tchaou for his assistance with this event.
Hand of the Month
Here is one of the deals from this year's Grand Prix Finals. The scores for each player are noted:
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| Here was a fantastic endgame, with all four players within ten points of each other. South was determined to nail the North player. In this distributional monster with an across pass scenario, South passed the spade Queen, (!!) the nine of hearts, and the Ace of diamonds to North; in return, he received the ten of hearts, the ten of diamonds, and the Ace of clubs. The passing of a protected Queen of spades to a particular player, with the idea of driving the spade Queen from that player's hand is called The Rubin Maneuver. The East and West passes are immaterial. South was very confident that he could push North past the game limit, and claim first place easily. Keeping the spade Queen might have been a better strategy; however, South was fearful of becoming stranded with so many high spades, with a very weak club suit, as well.
The deuce of clubs drew the Ace, the discard of the King of Spades from a very happy West, and the ten spot. South, with "smoke out" aspirations, now led the Jack of spades. West tossed the Jack of hearts, and North pounced on this trick like a snow leopard with his Ace. His was shocked to see a high diamond discard from East, and was not thrilled with the 6 - 6 spades distribution. The nine of hearts was tabled, as East played his eight, and South was in with his lone ten (West dropped the seven spot.). South now launched the Great Spades Drive, as he banged his ten on the table. West dropped a high heart, North played a low spot, and East dropped his highest heart. Three more rounds of spades ensued, as West and East cleaned out their hearts suit, and North ducked and ducked and ducked. Finally, the four of spades coaxed out Her Royal Majesty. A crestfallen North realized that he had reached the magical 100 point plateau. And South also blew by East and West for a miserable last place showing! Driving out the spade Queen, while soaking in eight additional and unnecessary hearts left a lot to be desired.
After taking the first two heart discards on the Jack of spades, South might have considered shifting to the singleton ten of diamonds (a very slight risk of getting burned here), and then exploring the club suit. (West had shown out, and North was likely to have at least a few clubs.) Although the four of clubs was not guaranteed passage out of the hand, it offered a fair chance of escape. East and West were void in spades, and were probably loaded with red suit length. South played like a drib, and was so intoxicated with his "cutesy" spades maneuver. Justice was served, and the results were quite fitting!
I want to thank all of those players who came to the Grand Prix World Series of Hearts. Tell your friends! If any Hearts player wants to receive an invite to next year's event, let me know. (heartsmoon@aol.com).
Happy Halloween!
Do you remember "Monster Mash" (1962) by Bobby "Boris" Pickett?
Here are the last two verses:
"Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist
And said, "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?"
Now everything's cool, Drac's a part of the band
And my monster mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you
Then you can mash
Then you can Monster Mash"
See you in November! | |
