Sunday, November 7, 2010

St. Joe's Sectional

If our performance on Saturday is any indication, it will be awhile until our picture appears in the Bridge Bulletin as the triumphant winners of some big tournament. So here we are instead, one of the first arrivals at St. Joe's, happily unaware of what was to come.

Perhaps it was Karma, since I got off on the wrong foot with the tournament director. I repeatedly resisted her efforts to direct us to the Newcomer Orientation, even though she said "everyone" would benefit from it (then why isn't she there, Julie whispered). Then I poured coffee for myself before it was ready, resulting in the placement of a paper cup over the spout in an effort to prevent me from getting any more. (It was so strong I didn't need more anyway.)

Perhaps it was because we played in the 0-99 group. We thought we had our best chance there, which seemed to be the case when our opponent asked her husband what it meant when he opened 1 club (before play started). He explained, and then she asked about opening with 2 of something. He explained that as well, and then she said never mind, she wasn't going to remember anyway. Well, she may not know much about bidding, but she was able to get to her contract and she sure could play the hand. We were happy to leave that table.

Perhaps it was because we waffled about playing a 1NT response to a major opening as forcing. We decided not to, then Julie bid 2NT in response to my 1 heart. I alerted Jacoby 2NT and properly bid my single club. Julie then bid 3NT and I passed. She did not have heart support, or in fact any good suit, but she had points and didn't know what else to bid. So then we decided to play 1NT as forcing. The situation arose again: I opened a major, Julie bid 1NT and this time I bid 2NT, fearful that if I bid one of my 3 card suits Julie would pass (she later confirmed that this was true). If I had passed Julie's 1NT response we would have made the contract; instead, we went down one. We've decided to play it as non-forcing.

There are other possibilities that I could analyze, but I will refrain from doing so. We had fun on the drive there and back, we had a good lunch at Panera, we got to play lots of bridge, and next time we'll do better.


Sunday, October 31, 2010

Family Bridge

Amadeus wants to join in the bridge fun . . . he may not be ready for duplicate, but a different family member will soon be joining the Newcomer group. I have convinced my brother that duplicate is the game for him, much better than chess or poker. So Ed started studying and playing online, and today he is coming over to play some hands with me and two friends. I don't know how long it will take him to get up to speed, but once he does, he'll be a good player. I just hope it takes awhile for him to catch up to me!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Kalamazoo

Yesterday Julie and I drove to Kalamazoo to play in their afternoon NLM game. It's a good thing we started out early, because even though I had gotten directions from their website we had a heck of a time finding the club. First we missed the street and had to back track; then we went down the street but it was a dead end, so we went down the street the other way and that was a dead end as well. Then Julie remembered the way to where we played in the tournament, so we went there, but that wasn't the bridge club. Finally we went back to the dead end street and drove around the back of some buildings. Success! We found the club. (Later that day, Julie's husband asked why we hadn't taken along one of Julie's two GPS systems. No comment.)

We were warmly greeted and welcomed. Our presence was announced to the group, and we smiled and waved. They had started using electronic scoring devices just the day before; I like technology and thought this was very cool. However, as we started to play, we could immediately see how we did compared to others who had played the same boards. We were not doing well. Everyone else had either made an extra trick, or gone down by one less, or were in a better contract, etc. Julie and I were baffled.

"We played well yesterday and we never do well two days in a row," I commented between rounds. This was true.

"These players are bidding really aggressively," Julie opined. "I would never have gone to game with the 7 points I had in my hand."

"I agree they're aggressive bidders, but they're too aggressive. It's working for them this time, but it can't work all the time."

We continued to play, a bit discouraged and not really seeing what we were doing wrong. For example, one time I opened a weak 2 diamonds and Julie bid 2NT, asking for a feature in another suit. My RHO bid 3 hearts, I passed (since the only good cards I had were diamonds), and my LHO went to 3NT. Unknown to the rest of us, Julie had diamond support and was going to bid again. At the 3NT bid, though, she decided to pass. We ran the diamonds and set them. Although I don't remember what North reported the others as doing on this board, I'm sure it was something much better than what we did.

At the end of the afternoon, I reluctantly went up to the wall where the director had posted the next-to-the-last round results. I had to look twice, report the results to Julie, and then go back to make sure I had seen correctly. We had a 62% game and were first in A, B, and C--our best score to date! The last round was uneventful and the score held.

As for the game where we set our opponents' 3NT contract--that ended up being an excellent board for us. I think that although we didn't have a lot of top boards, we had consistently high boards. Either that, or people weren't used to the new electronic devices and were misreading them. (I do think that happened a couple of times.) In any case, we had an enjoyable afternoon playing bridge at a different club with very nice members.






Saturday, October 16, 2010

When I first started playing bridge, I was shocked by the occasional rude behavior that certain players exhibited toward their partners. There are just a few outstanding examples of this, although over time I have noticed subtler variations in the form of quieter put-downs and eye-rolling. Oddly enough, this doesn't bother me so much anymore, because, oddly enough, the same people continue to play with these critical partners. If they don't care, why should I?

What does bother me, though, is when partners excessively congratulate each other and boast about their excellent play. Sadly, when I reflected back on the last two days of playing bridge at the club, this is what popped into my mind. I didn't think about using 1430 for the first time. (My partner bid 4NT, I incorrectly bid 5 clubs when I should have bid 5 hearts, my partner thought "so what?" and went to slam, making it.) I didn't think about getting points (even a fraction of a gold). I didn't think about what I learned or the mistakes I made. No, I thought about how I had a bad feeling about bridge and then traced it back to boasting.

When players are rude to their partners, it affects the atmosphere at the table but does not reflect on me or my partner. When players boast, that too affects the atmosphere but it also reflects on my play. I don't like it.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Slam Bidding

It has been awhile since I've written about bridge--not because my interest has waned, but because I've been busy with other things and also because nothing especially noteworthy was happening at the bridge table. I've been playing regularly and I think (hope) continuing to improve. There have been interesting hands, new conventions, odd conversations, tournaments, victories and defeats. Yet with all of that action, it took yesterday's Friday night game to bring me back to blog.

Here's what happened. Julie opened with a weak 2 spades bid. My RHO thought for a moment and bid 3 hearts. I had 5 spades, plus the ace of clubs (and about 9 points). WOW, I thought, we have 11 trumps! Plus a club trick! My only explanation for what happened next was that during the previous round I had made slam but we had only bid game. Yes, you guessed it, I bid 6 spades.

I have to commend Julie for keeping a straight face; it couldn't have been easy, since she had about 6 points in her hand. My LHO thought for a moment and bid 7 hearts. Everyone passed, and I led with my ace (I know, I should have doubled). They went down one, which was a top board for us. It turns out that we wouldn't even have made 4 spades, and that it always played their way.

When we told this story later, no one laughed or even commented. Apparently experienced players don't appreciate it when unorthodox (stupid) bidding by less experienced players pays off. Oh well. We will take whatever good boards we can get. That round helped us place 2nd in C, which on a Friday night is enough to make us smile.



Saturday, July 24, 2010

Aggression

"The most noticeable difference between the bidding of an expert pair and that of an average pair is the experts' ability in competitive situations. Experts are able to hop in and out of the auction on a high percentage of the hands and rarely get caught. Average players are much less aggressive in competitive situations and when they do butt in they frequently get punished." (Bid Better, Play Better: How to Think at the Bridge Table, Dorothy Hayden Truscott, 1998, p. 74.)

How true. And how frustrating it is when expert players steal our bid or push us to a level where we go down. And even worse, because the result is usually worse, when we try to do the same and it just doesn't work out. However, we are getting better at doubling when our bid is stolen and we are working on disrupting the opponents' bidding without getting "punished."

My hard-learned lesson this week was on the need to be more aggressive, whether there is competition or not. Twice on Thursday afternoon I had a ton of clubs. Instead of diddling around I should have just bid 5 clubs. Once I thought my bid was forcing and my partner thought it wasn't, and once I bid to show points and length instead of a different (forcing) suit. In both cases, my partner passed and we were in a partial contract. I think my hesitation comes from past games when bold bidding often led to disaster. But I've learned a lot in the past few months, and it is time to trust of my evaluation of the situation. So what if it doesn't always work out, it's just a game. Right?


Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Complex Bidding

Last weekend Julie and I played in our fifth tournament. There were two sessions on Saturday--the first went okay but not great (meaning we didn't place) and, as has been the case four times previously, our play went downhill during the second session. Exhausted but undaunted, we returned the next day with our friends Melissa and Jeanne to play Swiss Teams.

We knew going into Swiss Teams that it would be a long day, but somehow we hadn't realized that we were going to be playing seven rounds of seven boards each. We started at 11:00 am and finished around 6:00 pm. That's a lot of cards!

The most entertaining play came towards the end. Our opponents were a young couple (young, of course, being a relative term). They were 0-5, having lost all of the rounds up to that point. Our team was 2-3, which all of a sudden didn't seem so bad. Once we started to play, it quickly became apparent that these two had quite a complicated bidding system.

I wish I could replicate the bidding here, but that is impossible; it was just too complex. I'm still struggling with trying to remember the differences in leads when playing suit vs no trump contracts, so the esoteric meanings that flew across the table were beyond me. However, I can still picture this lively and friendly pair as they slowly and intricately worked their way to a slam contract. It took quite a while, since every bid was alerted and I kept asking what each bid meant. I just couldn't resist. For example, one seemingly innocuous bid--was it 3 hearts?--meant that the bidder had a certain number of "points" in her hand. These points were assigned to aces and kings, so she had either one ace and three kings or two aces and no kings (or something like that). I was happy when they finally reached a 6 no trump contract, since I was on lead and was holding two aces. That took care of that.

At the end of the day we were 3-4, which didn't seem very good. But then I found out that we had gotten silver--the first for Melissa and Jeanne--so I guess we did okay after all.




Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Crystal Clear

My bridge partner last evening is an A player with zillions of masterpoints (I have about 13). She is very friendly and kind, but for some reason I was a little bit on edge. Not nervous exactly, but more like I-really-don't-want-to-do-anything-stupid. I recognized only a couple of really awful goofs, which I guess isn't too bad, although I do realize that there were most likely more goofs that I didn't recognize. We were playing as A players and came in 4th with 55%.

A huge benefit of last night's play was that my errors were crystal clear. When I play with a less skilled partner, I am not always sure if my bidding was on target or if I could have made one more trick (or stopped our opponents from making one more trick). Yesterday I could see the answers to those questions (or get the answers from my partner).

My bidding is not perfect but is coming along and getting more precise all the time. My main problem is keeping my focus sharp throughout the entire match and giving my complete attention to what has been played. For example, I trumped my partner's good queen (one of my egregious errors). I have to whip my lazy brain into shape!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Tough Opponents

To the extent that playing bridge can be boring, yesterday afternoon's game was just that.  Julie and I played east-west, and we have never before had so few points.  Out of 27 boards, we got the contract a total of 6 times (all partial games or going down).  I was consistently looking at hands with an average of 2-6 points, which likely explains my rash bidding when we came up against a pair of our toughest opponents.

We traditionally get low boards against these A players, who are always on top with 60%+ games.  They steal our bids and make slams while smiling and joking, and then graciously explain what we should have done differently.  This day we again started out with few points, so they took the bid and made their 3NT contract (a very low board for us).  Then I made a 1NT contract, which seemed bad at the time although it turned out to be an almost average board.  Finally came the last board for this round and finally it seemed as though Julie and I had some points.  We bid toward game in spades, but our opponents were also bidding and topped our bid of 4 spades with 5 diamonds.  With unfavorable vulnerability and no way of making 5 spades (game was a stretch), I ignored the little voice in my head that kept repeating "pass" and out of frustration I boldly bid 5 spades.  Everyone passed and play began.  "I am tired of you two stealing our bids" and "It's only a game" were my defensive comments.  Plus, I didn't have to play it--Julie did.  

Well, we went down two vulnerable for -200 points and were instructed that a better bid would have been a double, since there was no way they could have made 5 diamonds.  However, while I am sure this would have been a better bid (it never crossed my mind, although apparently Julie had considered it), it turned out to be a good board for us.  Not a top one, but it was above average.  

The moral of the story is that I need to develop a better sense of when to sacrifice, since I had no idea at the time that this score was a good one.  I also need to think harder about doubling.  At the end of this "boring" afternoon, we ranked first in C for the session and fourth overall.  I guess it wasn't so tedious after all.



Monday, June 28, 2010

Visiting a New Club

The players included a pair who bested us in the Kalamazoo tournament, a couple of familiar faces from GR, a few very focused and alert couples, and several people with vision problems and other impairments.  Julie and I had just had wine with dinner, but neither the alcohol nor the physical infirmities of our elderly opponents softened our competitive edge. 

Julie and I used our favorite tokens from the Kalamazoo tournament—automatic pencils decorated with a card motif and topped with clear plastic caps both for the lead and for the eraser.  Unfortunately, Julie’s eraser cap kept popping off.  The clear plastic was difficult to spot on the floor; coupled with the worry that someone would step on it and break it, this caused several episodes of mini-drama at our table (we were sitting north-south).  “What are you looking for?” one grouchy old man asked.  When I told him, proudly showing the cap still secure on my own pencil, he dismissively retorted that “you’re supposed to throw that away after you get the pencil—why would you need a cap on an eraser, it just gets in the way.”  Hmm. 

Julie and I felt pretty good about our play throughout the evening, although of course we had ideas about what we should have done differently.  As we waited for the last round, we noted that the pair coming up were very slow players.  In fact, we played three boards before they were done with their first one.  As we waited and waited and waited, we agreed that we had to get the bid at all costs in order to move things along. 

When the last pair finally sat at our table, Julie was the dealer and opened one diamond.  My RHO bid.  I looked at my hand – I had 16 high card points, stoppers in every suit, and my partner had opened.  I did not have a four card major.  I pondered my bid. I could go slowly and try to figure out if we belonged in slam.  However, since we do not have much practice with slam bidding, that route was fraught with possible pitfalls.  Also it was imperative to move the game along.  I decided that missing a possible slam was worth the risk, so I bid 3 NT.  It turned out to be a good bid; Julie had a minimum and we did not have slam.

At the end of the evening, both of our pencils had clear plastic eraser caps firmly in place, and we had a score of 58%.  That placed us first overall in A, B, and C.  We’ll be back.

 

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Playing with The Director

Our club director and her husband very kindly offered to be partners with me and Julie at a Friday night game.  That happened last night; I played with The Director while Julie played with the director's husband.  

Before the game, I went to the ACBL website and reviewed the meanings of the bids on the convention card--how embarrassing would that be, to answer "I don't know" if my new partner had a question about something on my card!  I also went over my notes and played some hands on my computer software program.  My main goal was to have my head in the game and not do anything too stupid.  Did I succeed in this goal?  I think so, but I'm not totally sure.

The evening started out quite well.  At least I think it did, because my partner did not have much to say about my bidding or my play.  I listened as she occasionally commented on our opponents' play, though, which was gratifying because I knew what she was talking about.  

I was not surprised when this silence ended.  My bidding and defensive play were okay and at times even good, but my play as declarer was often flawed.  My partner pointed out the analysis I should have done as I planned the play of the hand.  I am trying to get better at this, but it is really difficult to think about all of the elements involved and put them together in a way that works.   I need to:  Think.  Think.  Think.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice. 

I thought I would be anxious playing with The Director, but I was not.  It helped that the cards were not too weird and so the bidding was relatively simple.  Also, she made some nice comments about my play and her advice was always matter-of-fact, never critical.  We ended up 2nd in A for the session, 1st in B.

A couple of people did compliment me on my calm demeanor.  Maybe someday I will be such a good player that people will want to be my partner and be nervous about it at the same time!










Saturday, April 24, 2010

Lansing NLM Tournament

Julie and I drove to Lansing today with a couple of friends to play in the NLM tournament.  We had our best game yet, placing first in north-south!  It was a very nice afternoon, but most of the details escape me at the moment.  One thing that I do remember is that the director called for a 5 minute "hospitality break" in the middle of the session.  That gave people a chance to get up and stretch, get a snack, or catch up on their play if they were behind.  I liked that; I wonder why we don't do that in GR?  

We played mostly defense, which was in our favor because it turns out we are better at that than at offensive play.  Also, even though we went over and over certain conventions and bids that we are trying to incorporate in our game, we did not get to use any of them.  How can we improve if we have so little opportunity to make some types of bids?

Sunday, April 18, 2010

GR Sectional Tournament

Day 1, Friday afternoon:  Picture members of an extended family gathering for a holiday celebration.  Many haven't seen each other for awhile, so there are happy greetings and much laughter.  The adults gather around the dining room table, talking over each other because there is so much to catch up on.  Wouldn't it be nice, they think, for the children to sit together and get to know each other better.  After all, they don't see each other very often and besides, there is no room for them at the big table.  So card tables are set up in another part of the house, the kitchen or maybe the living room.  And there the children sit, eyeing each other warily and feeling left out of the real action.

At our very first tournament ever, my partner and I sat with the other non-life master "children" at three card tables in the far corner of a very large room. On the other side were countless tables and many people mingling.  Once in awhile one of the "adults" waved at us or came over to see things were going, but for the most part we were on our own.  We did know one of the other pairs, so that was nice.  And the new people we met were easy going and friendly.   Most were from out of town, so they asked us to recommend a restaurant for dinner.  I told everyone about One Trick Pony, since it is within walking distance of the tournament site and has good food.

The card play was uneventful; I actually missed the more aggressive action that I have become used to at the bridge club.  No one stole our bid, and it was easy to take the bid away from others.  As my partner said, we weren't fighting over one pork chop.  At the end of the session, we ended up in third place.  That was okay, but nothing to get excited about. 

Day 1, Friday evening:  This time we were assigned to play with the general population since there weren't enough people signed up for the non-life master section.  Before we found our table, we chatted with some of our new friends.  I asked the first couple where they had dinner, and they replied "Boston Market."  Boston Market??  Then I had to ask another pair and they said "Brandywine."  Hmm.  Now I had to find someone who took my advice, and eventually I did.   I was starting to wonder if anyone had listened to me!

My partner and I were very comfortable playing with the "grown-ups."  We both felt it was more like playing at the bridge club, but friendlier.  This was surprising since someone had told us that tournament goers were nit-picky, called the director a lot, and were not fun.  In fact, we found the opposite to be true.  I think that the out-of-towners looked at this event as a mini-vacation and were focused on enjoying themselves.  It was interesting to meet new people, and especially nice to see familiar ones.

The bridge hands were computer generated, and someone told us that they were designed to make a point.  I soon realized that these hands were separating the chaff from the wheat; for example, you had to really be on top of things to know you should be in game even though it didn't look like it, or that you were not going to make game even though you had more than enough points.  My partner and I had our best session this evening--we came in second in Division C.  Our first silver points--hurray!

Day 2, Saturday morning:  Here's what happened when we played against the one pair who were not so nice.  Almost as soon as we sat at their table "Fred" said something in a rude tone to his partner, and his bad attitude continued throughout the first board.  During the second board he was the declarer (south) and my LHO (I was sitting east).  As he drew trump he obviously miscounted, because he played the ace of clubs from dummy and I trumped it.  OMG!  He totally lost it.  He barely managed to finish the board before he swept cards off the table in frustration and anger.  As he bent to pick them up, Julie and I quietly got up and left.  We didn't dare look at each other.

When we sat at the next table, we were congratulated for having survived the previous table.  We found out that "Fred" is an excellent player who used to play in the GR bridge club but had been kicked out for bad behavior.  What in the world is wrong with him?  Does he have no self control at all, or does he just not care?

Day 2, afternoon:  The results of our morning session were not good, but the afternoon was better.  However, we did not come close to the Friday evening results.  This coming week Julie and I are going to analyze the games and figure out what we need to do differently.  We are both competitive and determined!  Plus, we each have someone at the club whom we really want to beat.  It is good to have a goal.




 


Friday, April 2, 2010

Roller Coaster

Exuberance and depression; achievement and failure; cleverness and stupidity; progress and regression:  so it went last week at the bridge club.  After a successful Thursday afternoon and a humbling Friday evening, I told my partner I would no longer play on Fridays since the competition was too tough.  I was almost too embarrassed to even play on Thursdays.

We did play the following Thursday, though, and did quite well.  I decided to continue the roller coaster ride and will play again tonight, Friday.  However, I am blogging today just in case there is another rapid drop and the ensuing headache interferes with my composition.  Unlike most writers, I am much more prolific when things are going well.  (You may have noticed my lack of an entry last week.)

So about yesterday's game:  I used a new bid and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.  My partner opened 1 heart.  I had 4 high card points, but 5 hearts with a singleton and doubleton.  I bid 4 hearts, successfully shutting out the opponents--but not before they doubled for penalty.  I nervously watched my partner play the hand, and even though we had a total of 17 HCP, it was starting to look like she would make it.  I held my breath, but that didn't help--we went down one, vulnerable and doubled.  Our opponents tried not to look smug, but I could see they were pleased.  After they left the table, I apologized for my bid but my partner kept saying that she thought it was okay, that they must have had something they could have made.  She was right--we got a top board on that one.  

Years ago a friend tricked me into getting on a roller coaster at Disney by convincing me it was "tame" and I would enjoy it.  It was horrible and I survived only by keeping my eyes tightly shut the entire time.  I only hope that I will not be embarking on another ride tonight.







Sunday, March 21, 2010

Two Break-Throughs

Thursday afternoon my partner and I were defending against a 3NT contract.  My partner led a low club; the jack and two small clubs were on the board.  I ended up taking the trick with a 10, and I led another club back.  This time the declarer took it with the jack, but when I regained the lead I played another club.  My partner ended up winning several club tricks, and I had a suit to run as well.  Our opponents went down 4 vulnerable, giving us a top board.
The break-through:  For the first time, I was able to visualize my opponent's hand.  When declarer ducked that first club, I knew what to do.

That same afternoon, playing against a different pair, my partner opened 1 heart.  I had 18 points in my hand with 3 hearts (Qxx), 4 spades, 6 clubs, and a void in diamonds.  I pondered what to do.  I knew that 3H was not right, but that's what I ended up bidding because I knew my partner would not pass this (even though it is an invitational bid).  My partner did bid 4H, but what now?  I decided to show my very nice club suit, so I bid 5C.  My partner thought this was Gerber, so she bid 5H to show she had 1 ace.  I thought she was rebidding her heart suit, telling me that she had better than a minimum heart opening.  I wasn't positive we had a slam but I didn't want to miss it if we did, so I bid 6H.  We made 7 and got an excellent board.
The break-through:  Obviously not the crazy bidding, we lucked out there but did discuss it later and thought about what we should have done.  No, the break-through is related to memory.  It is three days later and I still remember my hand and the bidding!  Not that long ago I couldn't remember what I held 5 minutes after the hand was played.  

Progress is a good thing.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Comments Overheard at the Bridge Club this Week

"I need a beer if I'm going to eat those jalepenos."

"How many crocs do you own??"

"They're shouting at each other because neither one of them can hear."

"Mr. Dummy, lay down your cards."

"What is he doing over there playing with newcomers?"

"It wasn't me, it was C/Synthia."

"I don't care that you played out of turn, just please don't call the director."

"So you were the mystery woman in leather!"

"He kicked me under the table when I led an ace."

"I was wondering how far you would go."

And heard every week, at every game:  "There sure are some strange hands today."












Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Monday Night

My play was perfect.  I had no doubts, no confusion, no missteps--I made my 3NT contract and the way I did it was a thing of beauty.  I tried to keep a smile off my face, I tried to remain impassive and humble, but I could not resist a glance at my LHO, The Director.  Expecting to see a look of approval, I was instead met with a wry half-smile and a sad little shake of the head.   "What?" I asked, all semblance of modesty gone out the window.  "I thought I played that well."  "You did play that very well," came the reply. "It just would have played better in spades."  Sigh.

In another part of the room, my friends Jean and Melissa were having problems of their own.  Melissa looked at a hand full of clubs and few points, so she reached for the bidding box to play 3 clubs.  As she continued to study her hand, she heard her LHO ask Jean what her bid meant.  To her horror she heard her partner reply that it was a strong bid.  Melissa looked down and saw that she had mistakenly pulled out the 2 clubs card.  Jean, looking at 10+ points in her hand, happily bid towards slam while confusion reigned among their opponents, who had the remaining points in their hands.  They went down six.

Bridge--always an adventure!



 

Saturday, February 27, 2010

What I Learned This Week

As I entered the bridge club on Thursday afternoon, I scanned the crowd for my partner.  I couldn't spot Julie anywhere, but I knew she must be there because I was running a little late.  I looked for her 90 year-old mother, whom I saw talking to someone wearing a baseball cap.  I looked closer--yes, that was Julie wearing a bad-hair-day hat.  It turns out she was still feeling under the weather from a bug she got last week, and wasn't up to dealing with the new perm that was hiding under her cap.  Several people commented on her outfit (because of course she had on a matching jacket), even calling it "collegiate."  Julie sure knows how to pull off a new look!

As we traveled around the room sitting east-west, Julie carried her triage bag along and periodically blew her nose, coughed, and took drugs (always wiping her hands with anti-bacterial tissues).  Across the room I could hear Mike echoing her noises, although he was much less delicate and a lot louder.  In fact, the room was full of the sounds of sneezes, coughs, and sniffling.  I am hoping that since I haven't caught anything yet, I am safe.  Knock on wood.

What I learned playing bridge on Thursday, perhaps better stated as "what I learned playing bridge on Thursday that I still remember on Saturday":  Consider playing in No Trump even when you fit a fit in the majors.  It's 10 extra points.  I think about No Trump when we have a fit in the minors, but was taught that it's better to play in the majors if you can because it's easier to make the contract.  Now I know that I need to consider my partner's bid and count tricks, and decide if it will work in No Trump to get those 10 extra points.  At the end of the day, when I looked at the game results, I saw that 3 pairs got to No Trump on that board.  We had an above average board.  I think it is wonderful that our opponents are coaching us to be top players, not just good ones.  

What I learned playing bridge on Friday:  Julie and I have been working on playing defense, since that appeared to be a weak spot.  Now it seems that we need to focus on playing offense, as well as to continue to fine tune our bidding.  

How long does it take to get good at this game???

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Rude Players

I played bridge Wednesday and Thursday afternoons this week.  It's hard to play on Wednesdays because I teach a 7:45 am class and a 5:45 pm class, so when I also play bridge I am exhausted by the end of the day (plus my paperwork doesn't get done).  This Wednesday my class met at the library so I thought I could relax; this turned out to be true for the evening class, but the morning librarian didn't know much about using technology for database searches, so I ended up taking over.

Anyway, at the bridge club on Thursday my partner and I sat north-south.  After a couple of rounds, a pair we like -- and not just because we usually do well playing against them -- sat down.  They were visibly upset, especially the woman.  I got the bid, LHO (the man) played a card, Julie laid down the dummy, and the woman started laying down her cards.  What?!?  She was so rattled by what had happened at the previous table that she had totally lost focus.  She picked up her cards and commented on "that awful woman."  Her partner (husband?) told her take a deep breath and we concurred that "she really is an awful woman."  Julie assured her that she hadn't seen her cards, and in fact was a bit upset with herself because she should have looked.  That brought a laugh and play proceeded.

Bad behavior at the tables is not tolerated by the tougher, more experienced players or by the director.  (I have heard both put people in their places.)  I suspect that the few people who are sometimes rude are fundamentally unhappy and find bridge to be one of their few sources of enjoyment.  If true, you would think they would take care not to alienate people at the club.


Friday, February 12, 2010

Today is My Birthday

The words "treat your partner like royalty, don't criticize and always praise..." greeted me as I entered the bridge club yesterday.  The regular Thursday morning lesson was coming to a close with partnership advice.  I found my partner across the room and repeated what I had just heard.  She liked it!

Play went well for us.  Even though we made a few mistakes, since this wasn't the Friday night crowd we placed 3rd in our division.  That's good for beginners, which we still are because we've been playing for less than a year.  

A few people have noticed and commented on the fact that I am not playing bridge tonight; instead, I am going out to celebrate my birthday.  Apparently my obsession with bridge is not (yet) all consuming, as I am on my way out the door for dinner and dancing.  Cheers!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:  To get right to the point, on Thursday afternoon we had a 50.25% game and placed 2nd in C.  At first Julie thought we weren't doing well because our opponents were winning game after game, but I noted that they were winning with too many overtricks.  I thought that at least in some of the games this meant that they were in the wrong contracts; plus, we did have some good games.  My goal for the afternoon, which I miraculously met, was to stop and think before I did anything.  That helped a lot.

The Bad and the Ugly:  I know this should be two separate paragraphs, but Friday night was too awful to dissect and write about twice.  It is hard to compete against people who have more knowledge than I do of the cards in my partner's hand, and in some cases better knowledge of my own cards!  Add to that a couple of horrendous mistakes, and the result is not pretty.  

Even though Friday night play is incredibly humbling, I still have fun because I am playing bridge, the people are nice, and I laugh a lot when we go out afterwards.  The thought occurs to me that those who are the most encouraging and kind to newcomers, and the most polite at the tables, are the best players . . . why do you think that is?  (Note that this is an invitation to comment on this blog.)

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Year Two

I haven't written for awhile, but I have been busy playing bridge.  A few things have happened since last summer . . . Julie and I have established a solid partnership. We learn from each other, don't get upset by each other's mistakes, and mostly we have fun.  I am much more confident in my bidding and my play, and we sometimes join the Friday evening games (we were intimidated at first by the level of play, but now we don't care).  We've had some good games where we actually got master points.  Some things have remained the same . . . most of the people at the club are very nice and a lot of fun, but some are grumpy.  There's so much to keep track of that I lose my train of thought sometimes and make mistakes that I shouldn't make because I know better.  My bidding is still too conservative.  And while we have some good games, we also still have some not-so-good games.

Last Thursday included a little bit of all of this.  The play at our table was so crazy I didn't know what to think.  Here's one thing that happened:  During one game, I had five nice spades and was getting ready to bid them when my RHO bid spades.  This was disappointing, but I bid something else instead and we got the contract.  My LHO played, the board came down, and my RHO said, "Something is not right here."  I thought she meant that our bidding was way off (which was possible, I guess), but then she said that she had some of the same cards in her hand that were in dummy!  It turns out she had taken her cards from the other board.  I was sure this had never happened before in the history of bridge, but when we called the director over she said that she's seen it all and seen this particular scenario more than once.  Our opponent exchanged her cards and play continued, even though we were in the wrong contract and did not do well.  Our opponents felt badly and tried to give us an extra trick but the director said "no."  

And then we played with another pair and things were going smoothly when suddenly one of the opponents started to vigorously erase something on her card.  She erased and erased, picking up her card and blowing on it, and erased some more.  I watched Julie become increasing distracted and was not surprised when she suddenly blurted out, "What the hell are you doing??"  Our opponent explained that she had written the wrong score down previously and was correcting it.  I didn't say anything.

That gives you an idea about how our afternoon went, and we could only laugh.  Playing bridge is never boring.