GLIK Day 2: Julie's Perspective

Well we just finished the first session at Nationals. . .Based on our performance, we are considering a change of strategies. First, no more reading our press clippings (between sessions); second, putting aside the advice of our fellows/gals in GR; third, fighting to get into the 0 to 5 master point group. Yowser, we got totally smoked in Round 1.

So we did what any well-adjusted, middle + aged duo would do. We went out for Mexican food, loading up on carbs, and then we each bought our own special bottle of wine at CVS and planned our post-Session 2 party.

Backing up for a moment, we went out for breakfast at Einstein's Bagel eatery. I don't get it, but another stop and another TV station blaring out the 700 Club, Pat Robertson and Co. We aren't in Kansas any more, Toto. Keeping opinions to ourselves. That is pretty easy for me, but Margaret is struggling a bit as you might expect for those of you who know us both.

Get Lucky in Kentucky, Day 1: The Journey Continues

On the recommendation of a friend, we interrupted our otherwise uneventful drive to Kentucky with a stop in Fairmount. Did you know that this small town is home to not only the James Dean Museum, but also Snoopy? We did not. Here you see a picture of Julie on the front porch of the museum--she's the one on the right.

Before we arrived at the museum, we stopped for lunch at The Outpost. It was immediately clear that we were in "God's Country," not only because the sign above the door told us so, but also because the TV in the corner was tuned to Pat Robertson. We quietly enjoyed the home cooked food. It was really very good.

After lunch, we found our way to the James Dean Museum. Julie, one step ahead of me, opened the door in great anticipation. She took a half step in, quickly turned, looked at me in horror and shouted "OH *#%@&" as she slammed the door shut. I imagined we had walked into some kind of unspeakable activity; I couldn't wait to see what it was. Alas, it was merely an excitable puppy that had charged the door. How was this overgrown doberman to know that Julie was terrified of dogs? The owners quickly took control and the remainder of our museum visit proceeded uneventfully. We skipped the trip to the gravesite, however, since we were anxious to get back on the road.

We are now safely in Louisville, in a wonderful hotel with good restaurants, bars that have live birds and fish, rooms with views of the river and the city below, and . . . tomorrow. . . BRIDGE!

Get Lucky in Kentucky, Day 1: The Journey Begins

My bags are packed, my bridge notes are in my purse, and Amadeus has food, water, a clean litter box, and directions for his babysitter. Julie will be here in a few minutes and our drive to Louisville for our first major tournament, the Spring NABC, will begin!

We have, of course, thoroughly discussed the schedule and consulted with more experienced tournament goers. While we lust after gold, a more immediate issue is our need to amass points. Therefore, instead of playing in open games where we could get gold but have little to no chance of placing, we will be playing in non-life master games where we have a (good?) chance of doing well but the awards are not gold.

So I have decided to wear gold instead--I have gold rings on my fingers, gold hoops in my ears, a gold band around my wrist, and a gold chain with gold trinkets hanging from my neck.

Julie is here...stayed tuned for an entry later today detailing our adventures on the road!

A side note to my non-bridge playing readers: Unfortunately, gold refers to the kind of points players receive, not to the precious metal. If the opposite were true, we would be playing in the open regardless of our chances!!

St. Joe's Sectional

If our performance on Saturday is any indication, it will be awhile until our picture appears in the Bridge Bulletin as the triumphant winners of some big tournament. So here we are instead, one of the first arrivals at St. Joe's, happily unaware of what was to come.

Perhaps it was Karma, since I got off on the wrong foot with the tournament director. I repeatedly resisted her efforts to direct us to the Newcomer Orientation, even though she said "everyone" would benefit from it (then why isn't she there, Julie whispered). Then I poured coffee for myself before it was ready, resulting in the placement of a paper cup over the spout in an effort to prevent me from getting any more. (It was so strong I didn't need more anyway.)

Perhaps it was because we played in the 0-99 group. We thought we had our best chance there, which seemed to be the case when our opponent asked her husband what it meant when he opened 1 club (before play started). He explained, and then she asked about opening with 2 of something. He explained that as well, and then she said never mind, she wasn't going to remember anyway. Well, she may not know much about bidding, but she was able to get to her contract and she sure could play the hand. We were happy to leave that table.

Perhaps it was because we waffled about playing a 1NT response to a major opening as forcing. We decided not to, then Julie bid 2NT in response to my 1 heart. I alerted Jacoby 2NT and properly bid my single club. Julie then bid 3NT and I passed. She did not have heart support, or in fact any good suit, but she had points and didn't know what else to bid. So then we decided to play 1NT as forcing. The situation arose again: I opened a major, Julie bid 1NT and this time I bid 2NT, fearful that if I bid one of my 3 card suits Julie would pass (she later confirmed that this was true). If I had passed Julie's 1NT response we would have made the contract; instead, we went down one. We've decided to play it as non-forcing.

There are other possibilities that I could analyze, but I will refrain from doing so. We had fun on the drive there and back, we had a good lunch at Panera, we got to play lots of bridge, and next time we'll do better.

Family Bridge

Amadeus wants to join in the bridge fun . . . he may not be ready for duplicate, but a different family member will soon be joining the Newcomer group. I have convinced my brother that duplicate is the game for him, much better than chess or poker. So Ed started studying and playing online, and today he is coming over to play some hands with me and two friends. I don't know how long it will take him to get up to speed, but once he does, he'll be a good player. I just hope it takes awhile for him to catch up to me!

Kalamazoo

Yesterday Julie and I drove to Kalamazoo to play in their afternoon NLM game. It's a good thing we started out early, because even though I had gotten directions from their website we had a heck of a time finding the club. First we missed the street and had to back track; then we went down the street but it was a dead end, so we went down the street the other way and that was a dead end as well. Then Julie remembered the way to where we played in the tournament, so we went there, but that wasn't the bridge club. Finally we went back to the dead end street and drove around the back of some buildings. Success! We found the club. (Later that day, Julie's husband asked why we hadn't taken along one of Julie's two GPS systems. No comment.)

We were warmly greeted and welcomed. Our presence was announced to the group, and we smiled and waved. They had started using electronic scoring devices just the day before; I like technology and thought this was very cool. However, as we started to play, we could immediately see how we did compared to others who had played the same boards. We were not doing well. Everyone else had either made an extra trick, or gone down by one less, or were in a better contract, etc. Julie and I were baffled.

"We played well yesterday and we never do well two days in a row," I commented between rounds. This was true.

"These players are bidding really aggressively," Julie opined. "I would never have gone to game with the 7 points I had in my hand."

"I agree they're aggressive bidders, but they're too aggressive. It's working for them this time, but it can't work all the time."

We continued to play, a bit discouraged and not really seeing what we were doing wrong. For example, one time I opened a weak 2 diamonds and Julie bid 2NT, asking for a feature in another suit. My RHO bid 3 hearts, I passed (since the only good cards I had were diamonds), and my LHO went to 3NT. Unknown to the rest of us, Julie had diamond support and was going to bid again. At the 3NT bid, though, she decided to pass. We ran the diamonds and set them. Although I don't remember what North reported the others as doing on this board, I'm sure it was something much better than what we did.

At the end of the afternoon, I reluctantly went up to the wall where the director had posted the next-to-the-last round results. I had to look twice, report the results to Julie, and then go back to make sure I had seen correctly. We had a 62% game and were first in A, B, and C--our best score to date! The last round was uneventful and the score held.

As for the game where we set our opponents' 3NT contract--that ended up being an excellent board for us. I think that although we didn't have a lot of top boards, we had consistently high boards. Either that, or people weren't used to the new electronic devices and were misreading them. (I do think that happened a couple of times.) In any case, we had an enjoyable afternoon playing bridge at a different club with very nice members.

When I first started playing bridge, I was shocked by the occasional rude behavior that certain players exhibited toward their partners. There are just a few outstanding examples of this, although over time I have noticed subtler variations in the form of quieter put-downs and eye-rolling. Oddly enough, this doesn't bother me so much anymore, because, oddly enough, the same people continue to play with these critical partners. If they don't care, why should I?

What does bother me, though, is when partners excessively congratulate each other and boast about their excellent play. Sadly, when I reflected back on the last two days of playing bridge at the club, this is what popped into my mind. I didn't think about using 1430 for the first time. (My partner bid 4NT, I incorrectly bid 5 clubs when I should have bid 5 hearts, my partner thought "so what?" and went to slam, making it.) I didn't think about getting points (even a fraction of a gold). I didn't think about what I learned or the mistakes I made. No, I thought about how I had a bad feeling about bridge and then traced it back to boasting.

When players are rude to their partners, it affects the atmosphere at the table but does not reflect on me or my partner. When players boast, that too affects the atmosphere but it also reflects on my play. I don't like it.