Home Again

Our journey is over and we are back in Michigan. Following are the answers to some questions that you may have.

What did you think of Philadelphia?

The City of Brotherly Love was great! It is an attractive and interesting city, with lots to see and do.

Is it possible for two people to talk for over 12 hours straight without running out of things to say?

Yes, not only is it possible but we did it twice--there and back--and talked all day and half of the night for several days as well. We talked about people (lowest form of conversation), things (bridge), and ideas (highest level of conversation). We did it all.

Did you get any gold?

No, although we did get some red. It would have been nice, but our decision to go to Philly was about the experience, not the points.

What did you experience?

We met a lot of people from Jersey as well as other places and played against some tough competition. I finally saw the set-up for top players in games where they use screens. We met a very funny director who told jokes. We saw the sights (museums, fountains, liberty bell, etc.) and ate at great restaurants. We were part of the Nationals!

What did you learn?

Some of what I learned is hard to put into words. Playing so much bridge with the same person advances the partnership and our game--more things become automatic, more flaws are uncovered and theoretically repaired, more practice simply makes for better bidding and play. A couple of specific things I learned is that I will no longer go to no trump with only one stopper in the opponents' suit, and I will not undervalue a distributional hand. (By the end I was successfully going to game based on the shape of my hand and not the points.)

Will you go to another National?

Of course! I'm especially looking forward to Las Vegas in a couple of years.

Now that you are home, will you continue to write on your blog?

Probably not for awhile. I have three other writing projects in the works that need my time and attention. That said, however, Julie has become quite enamored of writing and so she (or we) will write from time to time. Also, Mike plans to write more. So stay tuned! In the meantime, play good bridge.

A Comment From Julianne About Partnerships

At one of the tables, a father and son were playing together. The son got annoyed at the father and voiced his displeasure. The father admonished the son that losing his temper was not going to change the outcome and, in essence, was a waste of energy. The son shot back that the father needed to trust the son's bidding. TRUST, another essential component of a successful partnership. Out of the mouths of babes!!!!

Last Night in Philly

Our last night in Philadelphia included a stop at a wine bar on Thirteenth Street. Temperatures were in the 90s even late in the day, but since there was a 30 minute wait for an indoor table Julie, Lee, Mike, and I sat outside for awhile. Unfortunately Julie sat on top of a grate that periodically blasted hot air. With the words, "I can't take any more of this!" Julie stood up and took off a layer of clothing. Suffice it to say that heads turned.

To return to bridge, we had a rough morning mentally. We seemed to be playing and defending okay, but our bidding was off and we did not get to game contracts. We were prepared for a low score, but to our surprise and delight we were above 50% and got more red points. In contrast, we were very pleased with our game in the afternoon session but in the end did not do that well.

It's more fun to think you're doing badly and end up with a good score than the other way around.

THE NATURE OF A SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP

I have been commissioned to blog again tonight. So what that means is "I will write, without pay and benefit of any material reward and be happy that I have been afforded the opportunity to appear in print." Thank you, Margaret.

One of the things I have been thinking about is the nature of partnerships and the need to honor the partnership by honoring your partner. So there r times when things are not going well, and the easy response is to blame your partner. But if u value the relationship with your partner and want to continue to learn and grow with that person, you find ways to laugh off crazy bidding and the playing of a hand. And u always leave the table to talk about suggestions for a more productive bid or play. Bridge partnerships need to be treated like any relationship that is important to you. You don't want to hold back and be resentful, but you want to find ways to communicate in a way that adds value to the partnership. We all know (because my mom used to tell me this) that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. And not to worry, Margaret and I both believe this so I am just stating a blinding flash of the obvious.

Now on a sillier note, Margaret and I were standing in front of our hotel listening to two young men play the guitar and sing. Margaret and I couldn't quite rememeber the name of the song, but we both liked it and remembered it from some time ago. Finally I said to her, I think the name of the song is: Under the Bridge. Margaret said, "Why do u think that is the name of that song?" To which I replied, "I think that is the name because they keep repeating those lyrics." So after the song ended, Margaret went up and asked them the name of the song. She was somewhat surprised when they said, Under The Bridge. She turned to me and asked, "how did u know that?" I suggested to Margaret that bridge requires us to be logical, and I think all the experience with thinking logically with bridge this past week in Philly, brought me to a place to be able to get the name of that song. Hey, I said it was going to be silly and a little inane.

I think this is my last entry for this trip. So good night, Mrs. Kalabash, wherever u r. And thanks Margaret for being such a great partner and good friend. And, of course, I am thrilled that you make me write entries on our trips!!!

Gold Rush I

Two friends from Grand Rapids joined us today. Lee and Mike drove in yesterday and also played in the Gold Rush pairs; we all agreed that there was no need for me to post any of our results. However, Julie and I were getting our groove back in the afternoon session and are hoping for better things tomorrow.

I do have a bidding question; here's what happened. I held 13 HCPs with 5 hearts and opened 1 heart. Julie bid Jacoby 2NT, I bid 4 hearts, everyone passed. When dummy came down, I saw that Julie had 4 hearts and 11 HCPs; she had counted a doubleton for an extra point to get to her bid. I went down one, although I saw later that which much more careful play I could have made it.

Here's the question: Was Jacoby 2NT the appropriate bid, or would 3 hearts (limit raise) have been better? I just don't know; I would have passed 3 hearts and made my contract, but I should have been able to make 4. (But that's neither here nor there in terms of what is the correct bid.)

After the second session, Julie and I went out with Mike and Lee for a wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant. Afterwards, we invited them to join us at the Goodwill party. (It had nothing to do with the charity, which is what some of us thought at first.) Our new Indian friend had told us about it, and while we didn't know what time it started we figured 8:00 would work. Mike and Lee declined and admonished us to behave ourselves so we would feel good for Gold Rush II. We said we would try but could make no promises.

Alas, by the time we got there the party was over. On to Plan B, which is me typing on the blog and Julie texting on her phone. Let's see if I can get her to write something . . .

Guess not.

A Bridge Story

Our names are in print, although unfortunately they did not want to take our picture. Maybe after tonight's game . . . Julie is washing her hair just in case. Anyway, I wanted to tell you about one of the boards from this game. Two men sat down at our table, and right away I could tell that East was in charge. He offered his partner advice in a rather condescending tone, although they seemed to be good friends. On the last board that we played with them, East opened the bidding with 1 heart. West said 2NT and East said 4 hearts; Julie and I just passed. With the contract set at 4 hearts, East proceeded to make 6. This is when the discussion got interesting.

"I had 15 points, maybe I should have just bid 4N instead of Jacoby 2N," West said.

"Well, then at least we could have looked for slam," East said. "All I had was a minimum opening hand."

"Or should I have said 4N after you bid 4 hearts?" West continued.

"Oh, definitely," East agreed. I think he might be from Jersey, I said to myself. I was trying to keep quiet and stay out of it.

"Let's look at your hand," Julie said.

Since we had finished the round early, West took out his cards and we all studied them. He had 4 card heart support, two doubletons, and 15 HCPs. East again said that it would have been up to West to take them to slam, and that he probably should have just bid 4N in response to the 1 heart opening.

"What would you have done?" West look inquiringly at me. That's all the encouragement I needed to jump into the conversation.

"Your 2NT bid was fine," I said. "That way you share information and learn more about each other's hands."

As we continued to analyze his hand, East pulled out his cards. "All I have is a bare opening," he said again. "Plus this singleton."

Julie and I sat up straight as if electrocuted. We looked at each other and then at East.

"You should have bid your singleton," I said.

"No, I had to tell my partner my point count." East was adamant. "I wouldn't bid a singleton."

"Well, that's standard for Jacoby 2NT," I continued. He was not convinced, and said he was going to look it up later. But then I explained how the bidding should have gone and how easily they would have gotten to slam, since the fit with his partner would have been obvious. He finally believed me.

"So this was all my fault," East lamented.

"No, it's nobody's fault," said his supportive partner.

"Yes, it really was your fault," Julie stated matter of factly. The three of us looked at her and we all burst into laughter while half of the room turned and shushed us.

This was the only pair so far at the tournament who has asked us for any advice. The pair from Stanford who came in first, as well as the pair from Harvard, didn't seem to need our help.

THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

I just got my orders from Margaret that it is my turn to blog. Soooo.........skipping the adventures of Saturday night, I'll talk about the morning after the night before. We decided to take a break from bridge and take in some of the culture of Philly. We really love Philly.

This morning we walked to the Rodin Museum. What an amazing collection of Rodin sculpture. If u r ever in Philly, u need to put this on your "must see" list. They have just finished a lengthy renovation of this museum and its grounds, and we felt fortunate to be here shortly after it reopened.

Following that museum experience, we walked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, another magnificent building. For you Rocky fans, there was a bronze statue in front and a long line of people waiting to get their picture taken next to it. We decided that was too cheesy, even for us.

We talked to Lee and Mike by phone and made plans to meet with them tomorrow after the Gold Rush Pairs event. U seasoned tournament goers have probably already experienced this, but we have found it very fun to hook up with our G. R. bridge buddies. Beth and Robert were very fun and were able to keep up with Margaret and me quite nicely. The bar has been set a little high; we'll see how Lee and Mike do.

So we have a couple things to finish up our day. We r headed over to the see the Liberty Bell shortly, then someplace for fish and salad for dinner, and back to the bridge table tonight at 7:30. There is a lecture we will probably go to before playing. It is on "Hand Patterns." We know we need to learn a lot more about that.

Submitted by "you can't say no to Margaret when she says it is your turn to blog" bridge partner, Julianne Boggiano.

Sunday

After the flurry of blog postings, you may be wondering why you haven't heard from us lately. We have been busy avoiding fame and fortune at the bridge tables, where we played with the big boys. (We have decided to return to our peeps at the 299 game later today.) In addition, we explored a neighborhood that had several nice wine bars and then met up with Robert and Beth at the BBO party. Right now we are headed to breakfast and the Rodin museum; more later.

First Game

The Food: For any of you out there who have never worn a badge, let me just give you my thoughts on the food at Dunkin' Donuts. Never order the egg/cheese wrap. That egg comes out of nowhere, all scrambled and in the shape of a rectangle, (let me just saying watching this meal unfold was a very scary experience.) But I ate it. But I'm not ordering it again, no matter how Margaret tries to spin it as a good breakfast with few calories.

Comment: I only suggested that Julie get this "meal" because the description on the menu made it sound quite delicious. However, I am very grateful that she did; I had planned on getting it tomorrow, but instead I'm going to Starbucks.

The People: We played in the 299 game and it started out a bit rocky. No surprise, since our first opponents were current Stanford students. "You came a long way," we commented. "A collegiate fund paid for our airfare," they replied. And if that wasn't bad enough, the next pair were young men from Harvard. How could we expect to succeed when they let young braniacs play at this level? They should be forced to play at the top levels, no matter how many masterpoints they have.

The Question: If someone is a passed hand and her partner bids 1 heart, what does a 2NT response mean? The opponents were not bidding. Is this simply showing point count, or did the responder re-evaluate her hand and find enough to bid Jacoby 2NT?

The Result: 54.92% and .71 red points

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

In preparation for our first game tonight at 7:30, we have been studying the options: we can play in the side games (but we have been forewarned about who is playing in those games); we can play in the 299 or 199 games; or mb we can get into the stratified pairs game, even though this is the second game of the day for this group. We have settled on pleading our case to play in the stratfied pairs or opting for the 299 game.

Now that the extended discussion about the game to play in is over, we are reviewing some of the admonishments we have received from one of our A player friends (noone from the G.R. club).

1. If your partner doubles an artificial club bid, he is not expecting a spade lead.

2. If you find a fit, stop looking.

3. Never try for slam if u r missing 2 Aces.

4. Try to have more than one honor in the suit u overcall.

5. Don't take a practice finesse.

Armed with all this knowledge, we r ready for the thrill of victory (quite honestly, we r not prepared for the agony of defeat.) Submitted by Julianne Boggiano

First Night in Philly

Those who remember our adventures at the Louisville tournament last year will not be surprised to learn that we found a hotel bar that features water (not the kind that you drink). There was other seating available, but Julie and I opted for fountain-side. We threw pennies and made wishes, tournament-related and otherwise, and enjoyed late night drinks and snacks.

In retrospect, we probably should have paid more attention to our room first. When we tried to go to sleep, we couldn't figure out how to close the heavy curtain that darkens the room. We awoke at 7:00 am to bright daylight streaming in and had to deal with the **** curtain then.

This morning we are looking forward to exploring the city with Julie's friend Marian, who lives about 40 miles away. First on the agenda: The Barnes Museum.

On the Road

Stop #1: About a third of the way to Philly we stopped for a stretch and something to eat. We followed truck drivers to their hangout - friendly folk here. As you can see, Julie is the designated map pointer. Good progress so far.

Stop #2: Even though the temperature was approaching 90 degrees, we felt the need to stop for hot coffee. I ordered my favorite Starbucks treat, mocha with skim milk, no whipped cream. "I'll have exactly the same!" Julie stated. As we walked away, she asked me how we knew these were decaf. "What? They're not," I said. "I never order decaf." (As I write this as 11:40 pm, Julie is jumping around the room.)

Julie's Report on Conversation on the Road:

So Margaret does not love to travel long distances by car, so my job was to help her relax and enjoy the journey. So I had to think of games that would engage her. We tried the alphabet game, but that wasn't going to work. So then we went to "who would u most like to play bridge with at the bridge center" which led us to other questions which Margaret told me I could ask but not write about in this blog. (too bad I can't share them with u because they were really "good" questions. (ask me about them when I get home!!!)

After that I decided we should talk about recent movies that I have seen (which included To Rome With Love. So Margaret asked "wasn't this about retirees?" I said, "Yes, it was about one couple that retired and a barrister that retired." I quoted a poignant statement at the end of the movie, which was "In the end, everything will be okay. And if it's not okay, it's not the end." So after much discussion about the character development in this movie, which took place in India, Margaret asked, "Why was the name of the movie To Rome with Love when it took place in India?" At which point I had a blinding flash of the obvious: I had confused To Rome with Love with another movie I had seen, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. OMG, pray for us.

Pre-Philly

Julie and I are gearing up for Philadelphia by playing bridge Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week . . . with a plan to quiz each other on 2 over 1 in the car on Thursday. We're playing with other partners on two of those days (just the way things worked out), and are stuffing our heads with things like you have to have 3-3-3-4 distribution to respond with a Jacoby 3NT (thanks, Ben) and when to sacrifice, a tough one for me (thanks, Bob and Mike).

A pre-Philly phone conversation, after talking about clothes, went something like this:

Julie: Should we bring anything else with us?

Me: I'm bringing a bottle of wine.

Julie: I meant for the drive, in the car. But wine for the hotel room is a good idea. I'll bring white, but I don't know if there's a refrigerator.

Me: There's always ice.

Julie: True. But I was going to say that I'll bring trail mix for the drive.

So yes, we are planning to enjoy ourselves in ways other than bridge. However, I do have two major concerns.

First: What will Amadeus do without me for so long?? My brother will be stopping in every day and (hopefully) spending the night sometimes, but Amadeus will be lonely. For example, one thing I've been doing this summer is playing the piano for him. He has very specific preferences, and while Ed also plays the piano he doesn't know any Mendelsohn (Amadeus's favorite). Ed might even end up playing Mozart, which to my chagrin Amadeus hates.

Second: Julie and I drove to Louisville last year, and by the time we got there my voice was hoarse from all the talking. Philadelphia is twice as far!! There is little chance that we will drive along in silence, and I am worried that I won't have any voice left at all by the time we arrive. I guess I should just be thankful for bidding boxes.

Other than these two concerns, I am so looking forward to this trip. Stay tuned for regular updates on our adventures!

Mistakes

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” ― Albert Einstein

Every time I add a new bid to my arsenal, I have to mess it up before I get it right. I wish I could say that I only make the same mistake once, but unfortunately it sometimes takes longer before I learn my lesson.

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

“Enemy” is a bit strong, but it is helpful when opponents make mistakes. I will confess that I am sometimes drawn into the discussion afterwards, but I do usually try to stay out of it.

“Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.” ― Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

This seems to happen when I overhear A players vehemently discussing a bad board. They know immediately after it’s been played that something went wrong, and learning in the moment is very powerful.

“I'm afraid that we all make mistakes. One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes. If we lie about having made a mistake, then it can't be corrected and it festers. On the other hand, if we give up just because we made a mistake, even a big mistake, none of us would get far in life.” ― Terry Goodkind, Confessor

I would change “lie” to “deny.” The “giving up” doesn’t seem to apply to our club; our players are very loyal to the game. However, I would add something here about mistakes and character: The way someone reacts to their own mistakes or their partner’s mistakes really does say something about their character.

“The 50-50-90 rule: anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.” ― Andy Rooney

YES! Just yesterday, I had a big hand and of course Julie did not have much. The opponents jumped into the bidding which complicated our communication. I was two-suited and knew that one of these would work for us and the other would not. Of course I picked the wrong suit. It is good to know that the odds were against me and that it wasn’t just bad judgment.

I’ve been thinking about mistakes lately.