First Wednesdays

The first Wednesday of every month we play boards that have been made ahead of time, and then after the game we get hand records.  Most people who refer to these, I suspect, use them to learn and improve their games.  Sometimes I do that, too.  Not this week.

When I've had a not-so-great game I like to focus on what I did right.  Wednesday we scored in the low 40s; not all that long ago I would have considered that just fine, but no longer.  So to help bolster my bridge ego, I checked on our top boards rather than the bottom ones.  It was nice to note good defense on one board, getting to the right contract on another, making an extra trick on a third.  I did need to take a detour from self-congratulation, though, to check on at least one low board.

Two days later I can still remember all of those red cards in my hand.  I didn't have much more than opening, but I had seven really nice diamonds and at some point in the auction my partner showed me that she had support.  So when our opponents went to 4 spades, I decided to bid 5 diamonds.  If they go to 5 spades, I reasoned, maybe they'll go down.  I thought that if I got the bid and they doubled me (vulnerable), it would still be okay.  The opponents opted for the latter and even with those beautiful diamonds I went down for 500.  When we looked at the cards, though, it seemed like it was going to be a good board for us because they clearly could have made 4 spades (also vulnerable).

In fact, the hand records showed that they could have made 5 spades.  Apparently a good sacrifice isn't good if none of the opponents in the field bid game.  Rats.