GR Sectional Day 2, Sessions 1 & 2

On the second day of the tournament Julie and I played in both NLM sessions. That's 8 hours of bridge (with a short break for pizza). Although it was a bit tiring, the day included everything that I love about bridge.

Starting something new: Julie and I incorporated a new "rule" into our play. We had read in the Bridge Bulletin that "there is no 2NT". I had no idea what that meant until I opened, Julie bid something, I bid 1NT, Julie said 2NT, and we went down. That's when we recalled the article and said "no more 2NT". I think that I played more 1NT contracts on Day 2 than I have played in total in all previous games. And guess what...they were top boards! The problem with this new strategy is that in our regular club game the A players won't let us get away with a 1NT contract. Oh well, at least it will work against some of our opponents.

Meeting new people: We met a really nice pair in the first session. We talked, we laughed, we complimented each other, we felt all warm and fuzzy. I smiled as they approached our table during the second session, thinking this would be a pleasant round. Well, one of the pair kind of lied about her hand, they got into a bad contract and went down horribly. Her partner said something about her point count and I made the mistake of chiming in; after all, we were all buddies, right? Wrong. She snapped at me in a tone I can only describe as vicious! I guess no one likes to lose.

Spending time with friends: At the end of the day, two of the nicest people at our club had an open house with a Chinese buffet, strawberry shortcake, and good fellowship. We ate, drank, talked and laughed. I learned various interesting tidbits about people. In fact, some were so "interesting" that I was specifically asked not to repeat them in writing! But here's something that I can mention: I learned that there are actually people who do NOT want to become life masters just so that they qualify to play in games with less competition. They do things like letting their ACBL membership lapse and avoiding play where they might win gold. It reminds me of when my nephew was younger and into video games. He kept playing the games at the lowest levels even though he had totally mastered these. When I asked him why he didn't play at a higher level, he said it was because he wanted to win. I understand that kind of thinking in children but not adults.

Today I am looking forward to a marathon Swiss Teams event. The good news and the bad news is that we will probably play against some of our club's A players. I kind of miss them but odds are they'll beat us.