Saturday, May 28, 2011

Memorial Weekend

As I sit in Julie’s kitchen on this Memorial Weekend Saturday, sipping bubbly and listening to music, I ask her, “What stood out to you yesterday at bridge?”

“John and Joanne were particularly nice,” she mused.

“Yes, but what about bridge?” I persisted.

“There weren’t many C players,” she noted.

“But what’s something interesting that happened?” I continued to ask.

“Well, I think that one hand really can make six because you made it. A lot of people didn’t make six, but if they played it like you did they would have made it.”

This brings up a point that I have been wanting to make, which is that I do believe my play is improving. My Wednesday partner made encouraging remarks to this effect, and an opponent earlier in the week said that he couldn’t believe I had made a particular contract. So that is good news.

Along with the play, Julie and I are improving our bidding. We added support doubles to our arsenal and were able to use this bid for the first time last night. Julie opened a minor, her LHO passed, I bid a heart, and fourth seat bid a spade. Julie doubled. For just a moment I was perplexed. I thought, she’s telling me that she has the unbid suits…the only unbid suit is clubs…why would she double to tell me that?? AHA! I confidently said “alert” and rebid my hearts, since I had 5 of them. We were able to get to the right contract and make it. Next: reverses!

As we continue to sip our bubbly, Julie turns to a topic that is weighing heavily on her mind. Julie writes…

In addition to all the bridge talk we have been having, Margaret has been able to confirm that singlehood is really, really a pleasant place to reside. Phil and I have been discussing who put my clothes in the dryer when I specifically told said husband, as I left for bridge, not to do anything with said clothes that were in the washing machine. Since Phil said he didn’t do it, I told Phil we’re going to have get ADT because obviously the house is being broken into. I know this blog is about bridge, but I am thinking there are some couples out there who can relate to the additional stories about wedded bliss. I could go on, but I won’t. I will leave the additional story—about sending a husband to the store for a very specific item—for another time.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Top 10 List

I wonder...

#10: What did I used to do with all of the time that I now spend playing bridge?

#9: Why do I bid distributional hands fabulously one day and haphazardly a week later?

#8: When there’s a skip, why do I always end up bypassing C players and never A players?

#7: When my game is going relatively well (49%), why are my last round opponents A players who show no mercy?

#6: What are the odds that every time my partner opens a weak two bid, I’m either void in her suit or have one card?

#5: How many times in one game can I make slams that I didn’t bid, and not make slams that I did bid?

#4: How is it possible that in any given game, most of the best players are my opponents and, at the same time, most of the best players are sitting the same direction as me?

#3: When will there be another tournament in Hawaii?

#2: Do A players no longer pepper me with advice because I am bidding and playing better, or because they have given up on me?

#1: Why do people remark in person on my blog but hesitate to leave written comments?

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Kalamazoo Tournament

After the first game, Dee and I approached the tournament director to see where we stood with one round to go. The printer wasn't working, but he had his computer up and didn't seem too busy at the moment. We told him our pair number and he scrolled down the screen. After squinting at the numbers he turned to us with pity in his eyes. "There is no way you're going to win," he announced with a sad shake of his head. Ever hopeful, I asked what our percentage was and he told us.

"24 percent!" I repeated, aghast and in awe at the same time.

"No, 44 percent!" Dee and the director shouted in unison.

"Well, that's not so bad," I commented to Dee. It certainly wasn't, compared to a full 20 percentage points less. "I guess it is to an A player," she replied.

I find this difference in perspective between A players and C players very interesting. Earlier that day, before play had started, I was joking with our club director about my plan for the tournament. "If there's game, bid it and make it; if there's not game, don't bid it. Likewise with slam."

Joanne added, "And if you bid game but it's not there . . ." She paused while I considered this likely possibility. ". . . make it anyway!"

I kept this directive in mind when the play started, and I am happy to report that I successfully heeded it. My bidding got us into a contract that, once dummy came down, I saw there was no way of making. The beautiful ace and king of hearts might as well have been in Alaska, since I was void of hearts and there were no other entries. I also had worthless clubs in my hand and on the board. Play started and I was doing the best I could when my LHO took a trick and was on lead. He played a heart! I was able to cash in my ace and king, and made the contract. He had never played his ace of clubs.

So even though I need gifts to be able to follow the advice of A players, maybe that still means I'm on the right road.




Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Bridge Beginnings

Today my bridge partner was my teacher, the man who introduced me to bridge almost 2 1/2 years ago. I remember signing up for the six week beginner course, thinking that was an excessive amount of time to learn a card game. Oh well, I thought, this way I'll learn all of the nuances and really know how to play. It didn't take long for me to realize that this was going to be a whole lot more complex than I had imagined. At the end of the six weeks I signed up for the intermediate course, and when that class ended I signed on to play duplicate at the Grand Rapids Bridge Club in the newly formed Newcomers section.

After I had played in the Newcomers group for awhile, my teacher invited me to play with him on what some of us called "the dark side," the other area of the room where the "real" players were. (Some of us still call it that.) I remember my nervousness and fervent hope that we wouldn't end up on the bottom. It turned out to be a special day for points; we placed and I even earned some red! Since then I have found that "the dark side" has a lot of light and that being on the bottom sometimes isn't so bad (although I would still rather not be there).

How did you first come to duplicate bridge and the GRBC? Here's your chance to share your story! Please leave a comment, we need some new voices here!


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Most Difficult Part of Bridge

Bridge is a complex undertaking; I hesitate to call it a "game" since it is so much more than that. The many fascinating challenges are outlined and analyzed in a myriad of books and articles that cover topics such as bidding systems, defensive strategies, the play of the hand, opening leads, and so much more. However, I have yet to read anything about the aspect of bridge that I have found to be the most demanding, which I encountered--not for the first time--last night.

I played yesterday with a new partner, since Julie has an out-of-town guest who would not appreciate her being gone for the bulk of the evening. We sat north-south, with me in the south, which in and of itself was fine. However, our table was placed so that my view consisted mostly of the wall. Since I didn't have the luxury of leaving the table to move to the next one, this meant that I didn't see anyone until they sat at our table and that they didn't see me. In fact, my own brother didn't know I was in the room until the game was almost over! Someone less social than myself may not mind this, but I like to see what's going on. I like to feel part of things, to make eye contact with people, to notice who might strangle their partner.

But this was not the main problem. The main problem was that in addition to the seating, I did not get any good cards. I had 2, 5, maybe 9 high card points in most of the hands that I held. With nothing to look at, either in the room or in my hand, I found it very hard to concentrate. The lack of stimulation lulled me into a semi-comatose state. I bid my hands, but couldn't think about stealing bids or taking sacrifices. I thought briefly about what cards my opponents might hold, but then an unbidden "what difference does it make, I don't have anything to defend with anyway" would enter my mind. The same with counting cards--I just couldn't make the effort.

I would much rather struggle to bid slam and then struggle to make it, even if I did it incorrectly and got a bottom board. Failing that, I would much rather move around the room and get energy from the group, even if I wasn't holding cards with a lot of points.

There are a lot of books that can teach me about bridge, and even a few books that can help with attitude. Until I reach the level of an A player friend who revels in playing defense no matter what cards he holds, I would benefit from a book on how to deal with the combination of both of these things.









Sunday, May 8, 2011

More about Frankfort

If you read the previous blog by my partner, teammates and friends, you will know that we had a great time at the Frankfort tournament and stayed up very late Friday night. Julie and I shared a room and spent most of that night talking and laughing; periodically she would count the possible number of hours that were left for sleep and say "this is not going to be good." I brushed aside her calculations and misgivings with the remark that "if **** can do it, we can do it." Of course this referred to someone who had an excellent game on Friday after a previously rough day (Cinco de Mayo).

In fact my predication turned out to be accurate. We won 4 of the 7 Swiss Team rounds, placing second in C and winning almost 2 silver points. We started out losing by only 13 points to the A team that ended up in first place, followed by 3 wins. That put us in 3rd place overall going into the lunch break. Unfortunately it also meant that our next opponents were very good players and we lost the next two rounds. However, we rallied and told each other to win the last round, which we did.

What did I learn this weekend? Well, one thing that made the play interesting was what seemed to be an inordinate number of distributional hands. This provided me with the opportunity to practice thinking about winners and losers rather than merely counting points. It got to the point where I was actually looking forward to these strangely lopsided hands rather than dreading them. Not only was I able to enter the bidding in a way that ended up well for us, my bidding often created a tension in my partner that was only relieved after we won the hand. Now that is fun!



Friday, May 6, 2011

The Frankfort Tournament: Guest Writers

Julie says:
First of all, Margaret is making all of us write something on "HER" blog before we can go to bed tonight. I'm going to depart from the theme of bridge bidding/playing to address a topic that a group of women driving 2 1/2 hours to the Frankfort bridge tournament usually likes to trot out and try to solve. HUSBANDS. How do you get them to change? After lots of thoughtful sniping, Margaret (the single one) gives us the answer to the eternal question: "you can't change someone else, you can only change yourself." Thanks, Margaret, if only we had known this some 26, 28, 38, and 44 years ago. You've got to love those single girls who have the tolerance and patience for changing self.

Melissa and Jeanne say:
"I really thought I had it all nailed down" Jeanne lamented, as we missed our exit, somehow - even though we had map quested it and had a GPS system. Why did we miss our exit? Well, all of our bridge friends will understand that we were in a deep discussion on a variety of bidding systems we were considering and completely missed our exit. When we finally arrived in Frankfort, a team who felt sorry for us; because we had to work all week, because we had gotten lost and probably because they knew they would be beating us in the tournament ...... gave us the wonderful bottle of wine they won in the first round. As I sit here, being chained to the computer (yes, Margaret has used extreme pressure)..... I think perhaps, drinking the wine - it hasn't been that bad of a night after all.

Lea says:
I have to say how wonderful this game of bridge is. Not only do we get to use these aging brain cells to learn new things, but we get to meet such fun and interesting people. It is great to laugh and get to know these women. I am honored to be included in this group; Margaret, Dee, Julie, Melissa & Jeanne. (They made me name them.)

Dee says:
I would agree that bridge is the best! It may be a humbling game, but it keeps the mind active and friendships expanding. It's 1:22 A. M. and everyone here, at my daughter's house in Beulah, is still rehashing the day's tournament bridge hands, laughing and enjoying our time together!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Education

I played with a new partner yesterday--well, he was kind of new. We had played bridge together once before, and many years ago we used to hang out with the same group of people and play volleyball. Darryl's suggestions the first time we played were the reason that Julie and I now play DONT, bid controls in response to a 2 club opening, and changed some of our No Trump responses. I was looking forward to playing and learning more.

It started out a little rough. I sat down at the table eager to show Darryl that I could play. Don't be a wimp, I told myself. Be aggressive! Take the bid! Go to game! Don't let the opponents push you around! You can guess the result. Darryl softly said "you didn't really have another bid" and I settled down.

That afternoon I learned some things about play and bidding. The most important lesson, though, came from watching an A player's approach to the game. I know enough about bridge now to be able to think about moves that previously seemed almost magical. Questions like "Where did that bid come?" and "Why isn't he getting trump off the table?" have changed to questions like "What did the opponents' bids tell him that I missed?" and "How did he know where the king was?" What Darryl and other good players do--take in and use all of the information that is revealed during bidding and the opening lead--is my goal. Of course I also need to work on counting cards, bidding, opening leads, defense, offense...




Sunday, May 1, 2011

GR Sectional Day 3, Swiss Team Marathon

I am exhausted! After playing bridge 8 hours a day for the past 3 days, plus dreaming about bridge at night, I feel like a zombie. I am taking the next few days off before playing later this week at the club and then going with a group to Frankfort to play in the tournament there. What a game!

Swiss Teams were a lot of fun. After 4 rounds Julie and I were both feeling good, alert and peppy. Then we ate lunch, and sometime during round 5 we both started fading. The same thing happened after lunch the previous day. I read something in the Bridge Bulletin about a top player who does not allow his partners to eat; he says that you play better hungry. I think there may be some truth to that, although I doubt that I will ever personally test that theory.

Even though we ate lunch and got tired, Julie and I came through for our teammates. We won 4 rounds, tied 1, and lost 2 for a total of 70 points and some silver. It was a good day.