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.