Published: April 23, 2008 06:26 pm         

'Party on the Plateau' great for bridge players

The Party on the Plateau was the theme of the non-life master bridge tournament held at the Fairfield Glade Recreation Center on March 28, 29, and 30. Lots of silver points were awarded to participants. Winners of the Saturday compact KOs were from Knoxville and winners of the Sunday Swiss Team event were from Chattanooga. Most of the pairs event winners were from the local area.

Friday morning's pairs North/South winners in stratification A/B and first overall were Robert Williams of Crab Orchard and Mary Lee Neal of Fairfield Glade. William LaSalle and Bill Lee were the East/West A/B winners and Stratification C winners East/West were Bob and Evalie Breeding of Sparta; they were first overall in C.

The Friday evening East/West pairs winners were Johanne Ardire and Ginny Adams of Fairfield Glade. Johanne and Ginny were first in stratifications A/B and first overall. Ruby Klinger of Fairfield Glade and James Taylor of Crossville placed first in C stratification and first overall in C.

Winners of the Saturday morning pairs in the North/South A/B stratification were Grayce and Walter Tyszko of Fairfield Glade; they were first overall. Winners of the C stratification were Eileen Rentz of Fairfield Glade and Margaret Anderton of Sparta. The East/West winners in A/B were Robert Williams of Crab Orchard and Mary Neal of Fairfield Glade; they were second overall.

Saturday afternoon pairs winners were Nancy Martin and Jane Hartson. They won overall by being first in D, C, B and A; they were playing East/West. Nancy and Jane both have less than 10 masterpoints and they bested the field of players with anywhere from 0-500 masterpoints. Congratulations, Nancy and Jane. They've now been bitten by the bridge "bug."

First for North/South A/B were Carolyn Lee Jernigan of Sparta and Richard Balian of Doyle; they placed second overall.

The Sunday Swiss Team event was won by the team from Chattanooga. In second place were Carolyn Lee Jernigan, Sparta; Richard Balian, Doyle; Eileen Rentz, Fairfield Glade; Margaret Anderton, Sparta. Third place in the event was captured in a close race by Janetta Voiles, Fairfield Glade; Marianne Porpora, Fairfield Glade; Constance Routh, Crossville; Jewel Crosby, Bradenton, FL.

Bridge tournaments would not be complete without food — a big thank you to all of the folks who contributed the cookies, cakes, snacks, dips, and other goodies consumed by the crowd. Saturday the tournament hosted a light lunch and Sunday's lunch event was catered by Wildwood Catering. A huge thank you goes to all of the helpers that served the lunch. The lunch servers were all bridge life masters giving their time so that the non-life masters could enjoy the tournament.

This was the second annual Party on the Plateau bridge tournament. The event organizers hope to continue with this tournament as an annual event.