Saturday, June 25, 2011

Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story"

A few weeks ago Julie and I were playing against C players. I was (and still am) working on using bidding and playing clues to figure out the opponents' cards. I was declarer and my LHO led a small heart, so I figured my RHO for the Ace. I played accordingly and subsequently lost a trick because in fact LHO had underled her Ace.

The frustration I felt that evening was mirrored in the A player who asked my brother's partner about the meaning of his 2 of hearts discard (see "A Lesson for A Players"). It turns out that experienced players' first discard of a low card is discouraging while a high card is encouraging. Many C players play that the first discard--no matter high or low--is encouraging. The A player in question had been burned several times by assuming that a C player's first discard of a low card was discouraging when in fact the opposite was true. He was determined to not let that happen again!

Awhile ago I wrote about the differences between A players and C players. One way to think about this is in terms of language; it's as if one group speaks Spanish and the other French. Although two separate languages, there are enough similarities for mutual understanding if both sides make the effort. Not a perfect metaphor, but there you go.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Lesson for A Players

My brother was playing bridge with another C player, defending against A players in a 3NT contract. Ed didn't have much of anything in his hand, and at some point during the play he responded with a lowly 2 of hearts. I was playing on the other side of the room, so what follows is an approximation of what happened next.

LHO turned to Ed's partner. "What does his 2 of hearts mean?" he asked.

Ed's partner was a bit confused by this question but did her best to answer. "It means he doesn't have many hearts left," she responded.

"But what is he signaling?"

Ed's partner shrugged. "That his lowest heart is a 2."

LHO persisted in his questioning. "But what does that mean?"

Ed's partner, having run out of answers, gave a resigned sigh. "It doesn't mean anything."

LHO was aghast. "You mean he plays cards at random??"

At this point in the conversation my brother could no longer keep silent. "Yes, I do play cards at random."

RHO was stunned by this revelation. "Why haven't you learned signaling?"

"There's so much, I guess it's just been on the back burner."

"Well, move it to the front burner!"

This was all just too much for Ed, who found the discussion so humorous that he had to excuse himself from the table in order to regain his composure.

The moral of the story is: A players shouldn't assume that every move a C player makes has meaning, because a lot of times it doesn't.


Sunday, June 19, 2011

Learning from mistakes?

As I write this, I am waiting for 9 women to descend on my home. I have spent the day cleaning and preparing food; now I am relaxing for a few minutes while Amadeus (my cat) keeps watch out the front window. He knows something is up, since he has not witnessed such frenzied activity for awhile. Soon we will eat and drink and play cards . . . pinochle! There will be a few bridge players in the group, including my partner Julie and our friend Melissa, but there will be no bridge talk. Several of the pinochleheads get rather irate at bridge references, probably because they feel left out. A notable exception is Valeria, whom I suspect you will see one day at the bridge table.

In any case, as I reflect on Friday's game, a familiar question arises. How can you start fresh with each hand while still learning from the previous one? For example, after a bad board my partner and I tell each other to "shake it off" and "a new board is next" and "forget about it, start over." But if there have been a few hands where we didn't bid game but made it, it is really hard to not bid game in the following boards (and fall short). If there are a couple of times that we make slams that we didn't bid, it is really tempting to take a risk later in the game if it looks possible (although it usually isn't). And after all, we want to learn from our mistakes, don't we? Unfortunately, this type of "learning" usually doesn't work out too well.

Maybe this quick fix mentality comes from not having enough time during the game for a real analysis of what happened. I don't know, what do you think?


Monday, June 13, 2011

Sutton's Bay

We were sitting east-west at Sutton's Bay NLM tournament and I opened a diamond. My LHO overcalled a heart and I waited to see what Julie would do. She reached confidently for the bidding box . . . and then paused. I watched with interest as her hand hovered momentarily in mid-air: Would she bid a spade, and if she did, would it mean that she had five of them or that she had once again reverted to the old ingrained system that meant she could have four? If she bid a spade, and if she only had four, it didn't really matter in terms of my next bid. In this situation I always responded as if she had five, in the hopes that one day the result would be so disastrous that she would never again forget about negative doubles. It would be better, though, if that day arrived when we were not at a tournament.

Julie's hand was once again in motion and slowly moved to the back of the box. Here we go, I thought, and just then her hand made a quick dip forward and she flipped the double card onto the table. She had a little grin on her face and I quickly looked away before we both burst into laughter.

I don't remember what happened next and I don't know or if that was a good board for us or not. It doesn't really matter.




Thursday, June 9, 2011

Without a Partner

It was with trepidation that I set off for the bridge club yesterday. My regular partner plays with someone else on Wednesdays and so I was on my own. [Side note: Julie objects to the term "regular" partner because it sounds too pedestrian, although she admits it is better than "normal." Oddly enough, she objects even more strongly to "irregular" and "abnormal."] I didn't know who the standby was, but even if I did it wouldn't have made much difference; partnerless players get paired up with each other before the standby is called into action. I didn't arrange for a partner ahead of time and so I didn't know what--or whom--to expect.

My concern about a potential partner had little to do with skill level. Rather, I was uneasy about playing with someone who would berate me for my mistakes or be so intense that I would become nervous. There was also the possibility that someone would simply irritate me. While 99% of the players at our club would do none of these things, you never can tell what might happen.

Julie sympathized and helpfully suggested that when I arrived at the club I should first stand back and get the lay of the land. I tried this tactic but I couldn't even spot the sign-in table, much less identify the standby or other players in search of partners. I finally had to ask where to sign in (the director was not at the usual spot), and when I approached the table I was immediately paired up with Sharron.

What great luck! Sharron had told me in the past that she has mastered the art of having fun at playing bridge, no matter if she has a good game or not. I knew that she would not be upset at my mistakes, nor would she be stressed and irritating. We did in fact have a fun, relaxed game--and as a bonus, we ended up with a good score and got masterpoints.

There were many interesting hands for east-west, both in terms of bidding and playing, but it is not something complex that stood out for me. Rather, it was when we played defense against a pair of A players in a 3NT contract. I was on lead with not much in my hand other than the ace of hearts and several little hearts. I was sorely tempted to do something with this suit: Should I play my ace, because I'll never get into my hand again? Should I lead a small heart to set up the suit, because I did have a lot of them? I considered my opponents and knew they would make mincemeat out of me with either of those leads. I led a spade. They made their contract but told me that my lead was a good one and that we would get a good board, which we did, because I didn't help them set up anything.

I learn a lot when A players point out my mistakes, but it is also incredibly helpful when they acknowledge something I've done right. Since our opponents made their contract, I wouldn't have known I'd made the right lead unless someone with a better understanding of the game had explained it to me. I have several great teachers at the club!






Wednesday, June 1, 2011

"A Good Partnership is Everything"

Julie and I learned a lot playing bridge in today's afternoon game. In fact, we were learning so much that we figured we weren't doing all that well. After hands were bid and played, we could see (or it was pointed out to us) what we should have bid, what a killer lead would have been, how a card could have been finessed--well, you get the picture.

During an east-west bump we stood off to the side to go over some plays and new ideas. For example, Walt had suggested this: When a 1 NT opener has the minimum (that was me), and the responder bids 2 clubs (Julie), when there's an intervening bid (Walt) the opener should pass. Then the responder doubles to allow the opener to bid her suit. That way the responder knows it's a minimum no trump hand and you don't end up too high (which we did). As we were standing around, Walt wandered over and joined our discussion.

"You two must be doing well today," he opined. I made a neutral sound and tried not to look too surprised. If only that were true, I thought. We chatted a bit and few minutes later our play resumed.

At the end of the afternoon we were pleased to see that we had reached the magic 50% mark and gotten some points. I thought back to that earlier conversation and found Walt.

"When we talked earlier, why did you think we were doing well?" I asked. "Because actually, we did do all right."

"I can see how you and Julie have been developing your partnership," Walt replied. "Many of the others who played against us today are better players than you, but they weren't playing with regular partners. A good partnership is everything."

I have a lot to learn about bridge, but I do know that good partnerships--long standing ones and new ones--are everything in terms of enjoyment and motivation to improve. And it does help your game when you play the same convention card!