Kalamazoo Tournament: Saturday

I had been looking forward to the two stratiflighted games on Saturday because I had the misconception that we would only be playing other pairs in our flight. It turns out that players with a bazillion points have their own game, but the rest of us play each other and results are stratified. With this on my mind, Julie and I greeted the pair who joined us at our table as we waited for the cards and the first round. After exchanging names and a few pleasantries, I got to the point.

"I didn't really understand what stratiflighted means," I said. South repeated what I had already discovered, and North stated that he had wanted to play in the A game but South had wanted to play in the B-C-D game.

"I just thought I would be more comfortable playing against others who are at my level, rather than against much better players. This will be less tense and more fun."

"How many points do you have?" I asked South. If they had seriously considered playing in the other game, I doubted that we were at their level.

"750."

"So you're a life master?" I continued.

"Yes." South nodded modestly and North naturally asked how many points we had.

"About 50 each," I replied.

"Fifteen hundred?" he asked.

"No, fifty," I repeated.

"Five hundred?" North had a puzzled look on his face.

"No, five-zero. Fifty." North looked at me for a moment then he turned and studied Julie.

"Your face looks much smarter than that," he told her. (Apparently my face doesn't.)

"My face may look smarter," Julie replied, "but my brain doesn't."

So that was the introduction to our first round in the first stratiflighted game. We continued to have a fun afternoon and an even more enjoyable evening. On the few occasions when people were irate with their partners, it became a joke and we all laughed. In terms of our bidding and play, we lost our focus in the afternoon but did much better in the evening. All in all, it was an excellent tournament.