GR Sectional Day 2, Sessions 1 & 2

On the second day of the tournament Julie and I played in both NLM sessions. That's 8 hours of bridge (with a short break for pizza). Although it was a bit tiring, the day included everything that I love about bridge.

Starting something new: Julie and I incorporated a new "rule" into our play. We had read in the Bridge Bulletin that "there is no 2NT". I had no idea what that meant until I opened, Julie bid something, I bid 1NT, Julie said 2NT, and we went down. That's when we recalled the article and said "no more 2NT". I think that I played more 1NT contracts on Day 2 than I have played in total in all previous games. And guess what...they were top boards! The problem with this new strategy is that in our regular club game the A players won't let us get away with a 1NT contract. Oh well, at least it will work against some of our opponents.

Meeting new people: We met a really nice pair in the first session. We talked, we laughed, we complimented each other, we felt all warm and fuzzy. I smiled as they approached our table during the second session, thinking this would be a pleasant round. Well, one of the pair kind of lied about her hand, they got into a bad contract and went down horribly. Her partner said something about her point count and I made the mistake of chiming in; after all, we were all buddies, right? Wrong. She snapped at me in a tone I can only describe as vicious! I guess no one likes to lose.

Spending time with friends: At the end of the day, two of the nicest people at our club had an open house with a Chinese buffet, strawberry shortcake, and good fellowship. We ate, drank, talked and laughed. I learned various interesting tidbits about people. In fact, some were so "interesting" that I was specifically asked not to repeat them in writing! But here's something that I can mention: I learned that there are actually people who do NOT want to become life masters just so that they qualify to play in games with less competition. They do things like letting their ACBL membership lapse and avoiding play where they might win gold. It reminds me of when my nephew was younger and into video games. He kept playing the games at the lowest levels even though he had totally mastered these. When I asked him why he didn't play at a higher level, he said it was because he wanted to win. I understand that kind of thinking in children but not adults.

Today I am looking forward to a marathon Swiss Teams event. The good news and the bad news is that we will probably play against some of our club's A players. I kind of miss them but odds are they'll beat us.

GR Sectional Day 1, Session 2

I don't have much time this morning before I have to leave for the bridge club, so I will get right to the point--on the plus side, we won three of the four Swiss Team rounds. On the negative side, our afternoon score dropped dramatically after the last round.

As I think about the upcoming day, it occurs to me that there is a lot of fun to be had playing bridge. I love to start new things--when you first learn something new every step is a victory and every successful application is cause for celebration. I love to meet new people, even strange ones--human nature is endlessly fascinating. I love to spend time with friends--there is always something to talk about and to laugh about. All of these are found in duplicate bridge, with the added bonus of competition and cards.

So even though New Year's Day was months ago, here is my Bridge Resolution: To constantly learn new conventions/plays/leads; to seek out and get to know new bridge people; to focus on friendship and not just winning.

GR Sectional Day 1, Session 1

We had a full house this afternoon for the opening game of the Grand Rapids Sectional. The usual local players were there, plus many out-of-towners--including someone who had been a director at the Nationals in Louisville! That was a surprise, and got me thinking about a second career. If I became a tournament director, would I get to travel for free and get paid to boot? Hmm...

Julie and I decided to play in the NLM game, which of course makes sense since we are not life masters. Our game had its ups and downs, and the early returns had us at 52% and 2nd in C. We can live with that (if it held -- I'll see shortly). The hands were computer dealt and embodied the usual distributional nightmares. I still struggle to see beyond point count so that was good practice for me. Additional good practice is counting cards--I find that even if I lose count, this keeps me alert and hyper-focused.

I also need more practice bidding slam. This afternoon it was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: First we bid slam but didn't make it (too hard), then we didn't bid it but made six (too soft), and finally we bid slam and made it (just right).

Now I am off to an evening game of Swiss Teams...

WE almost BEAT A TOP TEAM!

I know, I know, not long ago I wrote an editorial devoted to the horribleness of gloating, and yet here I have a title that appears to be doing just that. However, it's not really gloating when you didn't actually win. Here's what happened at the Swiss Teams game this week.

Julie and I teamed with a pair who were new to us; we knew them, but had not previously played with them. We started out together with a positive attitude and little pep talk before we separated and played our first round of 7 boards. At one point I had a hand with 20 HCP and 2 doubletons. I had recently learned that it's okay to open 2NT (or even 1NT) with 2 doubletons. I had never actually done that, and I did have a nice 5 card club suit that I could bid. However, I thought it was important for my partner to know right at the start that I had a big hand. I opened 2NT, Julie bid 3NT, and we made it (vulnerable). This turned out to be a crucial hand in our winning the round, since our opposition didn't open 2NT and so never made it to 3NT.

We won the next round as well, which inspired a lot of knuckle bumping and grins.

Our third round saw all of the points in the north-south hands. Since Julie and I were sitting east-west, all we could do was defend. It was a bit disheartening to see the scores accumulate in the negative column; we could only hope that our teammates' scores were all in the plus column. Not only was this the case, we came out a bit ahead and won the round. Julie and I complimented our teammates' play and they complimented our defense. What a happy group we were!

Then came the fourth round. Since we had won the first three, we knew we would be playing against a top team. We told each other to just "play your game" and that it had alread been a good afternoon, no matter what happened next. Those A players can be very tricky--they interfere with your bidding, they take sacrifices, they double when you try to take a sacrifice, they use confusing conventions, and most of all they play the hand extremely well. By the time it was over, we had lost by only 4 points. Since this A team's previous wins that afternoon were in the double digits, we considered this a kind of victory and congratulated ourselves.

So even though the title of this blog may sound like gloating, remember, we didn't actually win that round. Also, we still need some bridge-ego boosting after STaC week as we head into the GR sectional tournament next week.

Redemption

Julie and I emerged from the bowels of STaC week with a good game on Monday night. We needed this boost--while our love for bridge had remained stable during the past horrendous week, the positive view that we were learning from our mistakes had taken a hit. It was good to redeem ourselves with one of our best games to date.

I hesitate to confess this, but I only played one hand. Hmm, I wonder if that had something to do with our good score? On the plus side, the hand I did play was a top board. I opened 4 diamonds, vulnerable with 6 points and 9 diamonds. (6 points was probably the average number of points I had all night; many times it was less.) Everyone passed, I played the hand and went down one. I knew that I could have opened 5 diamonds, but I had confidence that if my partner had any help at all that she would take us there. Turned out to be a good decision.

Overall our bidding was more aggressive. I responded with few points (given my hands, a necessary move if I wanted to participate at all). For example, my partner opened 1 club. I had maybe 2 points in my hand and only 1 club; fearful of stranding my partner in a club contract with possibly 4 trump, I bid my best suit. Partner responded in another suit, I passed, and she went down but we got a good board. I can remember when I would have passed that opening club, thinking that I didn't have enough points to bid. Another time, I doubled a suit contract with few points but 5 of the opponents' trump. They went down and we got a good board.

Surveying our Monday night opponents, it was apparent that there were fewer A players in the field than were visible during STaC week. Also, the hands were not computer generated (although there exists some controversy if those hands are totally random or designed to be devilish). Still, it was good to feel like we were back in the game--just in time for Swiss Teams on Thursday and the GR Sectional next week!

Silver Linings

My brother didn't play on Thursday, so that evening he went online to check the afternoon scores. He then sent a text asking if our score was a typo. Alas, it was not. What went wrong, he asked. Everything. Did you know that you were not doing well? It was hard to miss.

On the plus side:

• At some point in the afternoon Julie said, "Let's just have fun." So we did.
• We had a top board on an afternoon when there were just a handful of those in the entire room.
• Our bidding was on target. (It was our judgement that was off.)
• I was able to practice counting cards (all four suits).
• Someone tried to pull one over on us but now we know enough to not let them. (Some players do try to take advantage.)
• When we went out afterwards for a much needed glass of wine, we talked about things other than bridge (e.g., Where's Bob?).
• We decided to jump back in and play the next evening, Friday.
• Julie had the sense to back out of playing Friday when she woke up not feeling well. ("I wanted to play, but then I thought, how will we redeem ourselves if I'm sick and not playing well?")
• We still love the game!