Vulnerability

Yesterday was not a good day for bridge, at least not for me. North-south did not get many cards, and when we did get cards we were vulnerable and east-west was not. This consistently inspired our opponents to push the bidding until they got the contract (which they often made). At one point my partner said with relief, "The last round is coming up." I looked at the clock and saw that in fact we had at least another hour to play. We both felt as though we had been there for days.

The positive side of having a bridge day like this is that I usually learn something. It's not as much fun as bidding and making slam or getting good boards against A players, but it advances my game in a way that a good day does not. At least that's what I tell myself.

Yesterday I learned about sacrifices. I have thought about this a lot but have seldom (consciously) bid knowing that I probably wouldn't make my contract. Here's what happened: I held 8 nice diamonds, my partner kept passing and we were vulnerable. I figured that we would go down at least one and maybe two, but I continued to bid up to 5 diamonds. The opponents bid 5 hearts and I reluctantly passed. They made their contract but we got an above average board. It turns out that if they had doubled my 5 diamonds I was going to go down 2 for 500 points; instead, they made 450. I missed that bullet but learned in a concrete way how far to go when I am bidding aggressively.

The funny thing about bridge is that if things go well or not, I want to play again. I'll be back at the club in just a few hours.