Memory

When I first started playing bridge and listened to other players talk about their hands after a game, I was amazed at their recall. They remembered not only their own cards, but knew what everyone else had held as well. On top of that, they discussed the opening lead and what would have happened if someone had done this instead of that.

Julie and I would look at each other in wonderment. I couldn't remember my own cards or bidding, much less what others at the table had held or did. Sometimes I couldn't even recall these things immediately after the hand had been played, while I was still sitting at the table.

"It'll come," we were told.

"When?" we wondered.

"It takes time."

Well, it appears that the time has come. This week I was amazed that Julie and I could reconstruct the bidding and then analyze what happened for almost every hand that we had played that afternoon. Granted, I couldn't tell you what cards everyone held or what the opening lead was for every hand, but it was still a break-through. Maybe motivation had something to do with it.

Julie and I were east-west and our friend Dee had sat in the same direction. This was especially interesting to us because her partner was a Flight A player and we were eager to compare our moves with his. We didn't end up with a very good game and hoped to discover where we had gone wrong. Following is what we learned about one hand.

Me: What did you do on board 1?

Dee: 4 hearts in the west, down 1. That was a good board for us.

Me: We were 2NT in the east, down 2. Bad for us.

Julie: That's the hand where I bid 1 heart.

Me: Right. I opened 1 diamond because I had 18 points but no suit.

Julie: I didn't really have enough points to bid, but I couldn't leave you in diamonds because I only had 2 of them. I had 6 hearts, though, so I bid a heart.

Me: I only had 2 hearts, so I jumped to 2NT to show my points.

Julie: And I left you there. Should I have just passed?

Me: I don't think playing it in 1 diamond would have been any better. Dee, how did you get to 4 hearts?

Dee: Well, Jim opened 1 diamond and then the opponents bid. I wanted to show him that I had hearts, so I bid 2 hearts and then he went to 4 hearts.

Me: He had 18 points, so even if it had been a 5-2 heart fit he would have been confident because you had bid at the 2 level.

Dee: Right. I should have bid 3 hearts to show I was weak.

Julie: If our opponents had bid, it would have turned out differently for us.

I'm not really sure what we learned about this bidding sequence, other than the whims of our opponents--to bid or not to bid--can really affect what happens. Not exactly big news. Still, it was fun to compare and analyze. It was especially good to be able to remember enough of what had happened to be able to compare and analyze.