Yesterday I played bridge for 7 hours.  I went from being a Newcomer who made some horrendous mistakes to being the expert who answered all questions.  It was an extremely disorienting experience.

I started the day—well, the late morning—at the local duplicate bridge club.  I met my partner there about ½ hour before the starting time, and we went over the systems card.  Since we are both Newcomers, we didn’t know what half of it meant.  However, the process did help us review what we did know (some of which we promptly forgot the minute we started playing).  As we prepared to venture into the world of experienced players, my partner commented that this was how it must feel to run with the bulls in Pamploma. 

Everyone was very kind to us, although one pair did get irritated when I bid incorrectly.  We ended up in the right contract, but apparently our opponents played according to what they thought I had, not the cards I actually did have.  My partner had bid 1 NT, and I attempted a transfer.  It turns out I should have simply bid 2NT.  Transfers and “garbage” Stayman are new to me I became horribly confused.  I have studied 1 NT responses extensively, so this mistake shook my already shaky confidence and it took me a few hands to settle down. 

When it was all over, we had a score of 84.50 with a percentage of 39.12.  My ever-positive partner noted that we were not last, and in fact had played above average on 7 of the 27 boards.  We even had one 8, which was top of the board!

A few hours after this exhilarating and humbling experience, I went to a friend’s house for more bridge.  We had two tables of players with varying expertise and we played relay style, changing partners after every couple of hands.  Oddly enough, I was the expert of the group!   This change in status was disconcerting but enjoyable.  I was able to answer more than one question regarding NT responses, so hopefully that information is now solidly in my head and I will bid that correctly next time!