JB and Shari Smart, Gilbert, AZ, placed third in the North American Online Bridge Championships 0-1500 Pairs event, Sunday March 21. JB and Shari Smart, Gilbert, AZ, placed third overall in the North American Online Bridge Championships 0-1500 pairs event Sunday, March 21, 2021. It was worth a whopping 22.47 gold. Shari has now met her gold requirement for Life Master and, as usual, JB is close behind.
The pair played steady over two days during all four sessions of bridge. In the first session on Saturday they had a 58.12 percent, second in session and 13th overall. Their second session was 51.42 percent, 4th in session and qualified 23rd overall. Sixty pairs qualified out of a field of 122 for Sunday’s final two sessions. In Sunday’s third session they scored a 53.71 percent, fifth in session and 12th overall. They finished the fourth and final session with a 59.55 percent game, second in section and third overall in the event.
JB and Shari were surprised to finish third overall since they were just playing steady bridge. They said they didn’t do anything spectacular but also didn’t make too many game-changing mistakes.
“Lots of coffee and a little calculated risk taking seemed to be a good formula,” commented JB.
JB and Shari took their first bridge lessons in 2010 while on a cruise ship. Life got too busy and they didn’t get back to playing more bridge until 2018. For the last two years, Shari has won the Unit 351 Mini-McKenney Race and was the Ace of Clubs champion for her masterpoint level. She just edged out JB in both races in 2019 by .12mp. In 2020, she increased her lead over JB. He is such a nice guy to let Shari win. He just didn’t want to have to sleep on the couch.
Congratulations to this couple and good luck in the future.
Testimonial Seven
