Tom was born
in Vancouver B.C. but has lived in Edmonton for a long time, now with his
significant other, Leslie Pettie. Tom was a successful businessman in the
lumber business; he still runs a mill part-time but has essentially retired from
the work force.
Tom’s main hobby is bridge. As for activities outside of bridge, he
says, “Not much
now. Golf once a year. Used to curl and
play hockey a lot.” Tom describes his
start in bridge: “I played one game of bridge around 1975. It was a regional at the Macdonald
Hotel. I knew this guy, Jack Smith,
from one of the construction sites I worked on. He was a bridge player and needed a partner for the Saturday game. He knew I played a lot of cards and he
talked me into playing. On the way to
the tournament he taught me Stayman, Blackwood and NT requirements. I had no idea how we were doing but he was
excited as hell. We actually qualified. That was it for my involvement in
bridge until 1982 when I just walked into Peter Jones’s club.”
As for his attitude or philosophy towards bridge Tom says, “As far
as club games go, I'm not very serious.
I laugh and have a few drinks.
Other games such as CNTC, GNT, I try to play well.” And play well he does. Bob Crosby recalls playing with Tom in the
2003 CNTC in Pentiction. “Tom held ♠xx ♥x ♦KQ10xxx ♣KQJx.
I opened 2♣, vulnerable. Tom replied 3♦ and I
bid 3NT; Tom bid 4♣ and I responded 4♦,
followed by Tom taking control of the hand and placing the contract in
7NT. After the opening lead by Paul
Thurston, Bob claimed 13 tricks without playing a card. Paul’s teammates were in 3NT at the other
table, so we won 17 IMPS. Tom’s hand
evaluation and judgment impressed Paul so much that he wrote up the hand in his
bridge column in the National Post.”
Tom has had numerous successes at the national level, has won countless
regional and sectional events, and is a very popular partner. He says, “My favourite partners are Piotr
Klimowicz, Kiz Fung, Maurice de la Salle, Susan Culham, Doug Deschner, Bob
Crosby, and Debbie Corse, to name a few.” Nobody would be surprised if Tom was on
anyone’s list of favourite partners. Tom has a reputation of playing the hands
“double dummy”. In club games, you can
often tell Tom’s pair number by the results on the score sheet: everyone is
scoring -630, except for one -660. That
pair had the bad luck to defend the hand against Tom!
Tom recently returned from the Detroit Nationals where he and his
partner, Kiz Fung, were leading the NAOP at half time. They eventually were 10th overall,
which attests to Tom’s skill at matchpoints.
He recently returned from a regional in Lethbridge where he won 76
masterpoints, plus funds to compete in the GNT super flight finals at Las Vegas
this summer, having been on the winning zone team. Tom is a treasured member of
the Edmonton bridge family. His bridge
skill and love of the game has no equal in these parts.
To anyone contemplating
learning the game of bridge, Tom says, “Just get in
there and play.” Tom lists his
favourite tournaments as Victoria and Penticton. Tom offers this advice to bridge players: “If you want to improve
at a faster rate, work with the director and come down on weekends to play
rubber bridge. He will find you a
suitable game at your level. You play
many more hands and when you're sitting out you can watch the better
players. When I started, I just watched
for a couple of months. That was Peter
Jones’s advice. It worked. Thanks, Peter.” Boy, did
it ever work!
2005 CBF IMP PAIRS (44 Pairs)
1. Thomas Gandolfo - Robert Crosby, Edmonton
AB 82.53 8.66
2. Andre Chartrand, Chateauguay QC; Serge Chevalier, Montreal QC 66.47 6.50
3. Michael Gamble, Shawnigan Lake BC; Doug Fraser, Victoria BC 65.53 4.87
2007 CANADIAN OPEN PAIRS
GOLD: Kamel Fergani, Montreal QC; Pierre Daigneault,
Westmount QC 440.64 42.19
SILVER: Thomas Gandolfo - Maurice De La
Salle, Edmonton AB 434.37 31.64
BRONZE: David Willis, Ottawa ON; Bryan Maksymetz, Coquitlam BC 417.95 25.00
ROUND ROBIN RESULTS
1. (320) Vince Nowlan, Stan Cabay, Vince Lambert, Ron Bass, Maurice de la Salle, Doug Deschner
2. (304) Kamel Fergani, Nicolas L'Ecuyer, Douglas Fraser, Jurek Czyzowicz, Mike Hargreaves, Boris Baran
3. (280) Judith Gartaganis, Nicholas Gartaganis, Keith Balcombe, Gordon Campbell
4. (276) Peter Jones, Piotr Klimowicz, Bob Crosby, Tom Gandolfo, Jym Galand, Gerry McCully