Slam

Yesterday I played bridge with Lee.  The last round was interesting because I opened with only 10 HCPs.  I held five very nice spades along with five okay clubs, and using the Rule of 20 I took a breath and bid 1 spade.  My LHO passed and I watched with increasing unease as Lee pondered what to do.  She bid 2 hearts.  Yikes!  I should have known better than to open, I thought.  Now what?  I had to bid clubs which put us at the 3 level with my partner thinking I had more than I did.  Lee responded with 3 diamonds.  Well, at least my next move was clear.  For better or worse--probably worse, I thought--I said "alert" and bid 3NT.

Imagine my astonishment when Lee next bid 6 spades.  She will not be happy to see my measely 10 points, I thought.  Then in a flash I realized that I would be playing the hand--yikes again!

My LHO led the ace of diamonds and dummy came down.  Lee had nice spade support and 21 HCPs; slam was a cinch.  While the auction may have been unorthodox, it got us where we needed to be.  We came in first in C (yippee, first!) and I will again consider opening a two suited, 10 point hand.

On another note:  I thought I was done with posting pictures of Amadeus, since Halloween is over and he is out of costumes.  However, I had a special request from JP for just one more picture.  Here you go, Jim!

Swiss Team Game #3

One hand last night was particularly aggravating.  Julie opened 1 diamond, and with our opponents passing I bid 2 spades (a strong jump shift).  Julie then bid 3 clubs; I rebid my spades.  Julie went to 3NT, and I bid 4 spades to end the auction.

This is where I have to pause and think about how much to tell you about my hand.  If I report exactly what I was holding (which, by the way, I do remember), you will be amazed that I did not bid differently. I know this because as soon as dummy came down I wanted a do-over.

I think it's best to just say that I held a solid spade suit with lots of points.  I figured that Julie probably didn't have any spades (she didn't), and since I didn't have another suit and didn't want to play in no trump, I didn't know what else to bid.

I made seven spades.

My only consolation is that our opponents at the other table, a B team, were also in 4 spades making seven.  Their auction went differently but they had the same result.  Whew.

And now for the last Halloween picture of the season.  It's the same devil costume, but this time you can see the bow tie more clearly.

Swiss Team Game #2

Yesterday Julie and I played another Swiss Team game.  It no longer feels like a marathon, though, because unlike the 7 rounds we played in Grand Haven this was a regular afternoon with 4 rounds.  I was curious about where the name for this team game came from, and apparently it is derived from a similar movement in chess which originated in Zurich.  Interesting.

Anyway, we won two rounds and lost two, ending up a little below average.  We did okay in 3 of the 4 rounds, one being simply horrible.  However, I did enjoy the conversation at the start of that low-scoring round.

"So you're a B team, right?"  My right hand opponent was North, and he was keeping score.  He was asking this question because of the handicapping system our club was using for this team event.  As a C team, his team would have to "give" us points.

"No, we're a C team."  I was surprised by the question, since the answer seems obvious.

"You're C players?"  I was gratified by the surprise in his voice.  "Who are you playing with?"  He looked around to see our team members.  When he saw who they were, he again said that we must be a B team.

"I guess they must take the average of all of our points,"  I said.  "Julie and I don't have that many.  I'm sure we're listed as a C team."

Julie and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"We'll be B players one day," I continued.  Everyone smiled and agreed.

"You're a B player now in your heart," my RHO said.

"Yes, I am," I agreed.  "But I still want those [handicap] points!"

Tomorrow:  Swiss Team Game #3


Amadeus as a little Halloween devil...

Skips and Bumps

Yesterday was a break from this week of Swiss team games (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday).  I asked Becky to play, and she was kind enough to give up Monday night at home with her husband to come out to the club.  Becky is an excellent player and I learned a lot from her.  On one issue, though, she called the director over to consult.

"Margaret wants to know why there's a bump if there's already a skip," Becky said.  I knew there was going to be a skip, which was not a big deal because we were sitting north-south.  Whatever east-west pair sat at our table was fine with me.  However, someone had just come by and said we were being bumped for the next round.  That I did not care for, since it meant we had to sit out.

"The skip happens every time there's an even number of tables," the Director said.  "Otherwise, people would play the same boards again.  Right?"  She looked at me expectantly, waiting to see if I understood.

"Oh, that's right.  I get it,” I said.  Really I didn't, but I had a feeling that further explanation wouldn't help.  "But then why is there a bump?"

"The bump is because we have an extra pair."

That was easier to understand.  The Director left, and Becky suggested that since we were being bumped, we kibitz at the next table.  We pulled up a couple of chairs; as I watched I also kept an eye on our table.  I kept waiting to see the "bumpers," but no one appeared.  The east-west pair sat alone at our table and chatted.  After the first board was done, I spoke to Becky.

"Who is supposed to bump us?  Because they still aren't there."

Everyone looked, and there was some conjecture about what was going on.  Finally we realized that the "bumpers" were at another table, and that the east-west pair was waiting for us!  After a few choice words, we quickly got back to our table and into action.

Shortly thereafter the Director returned to further instruct me on skips and bumps.

"You have to wait until you are told that you are being bumped before you move," she said.

"We were told!" Becky and I said in unison.  

"Well, who told you?"  

Obviously not the bumpers.  Oh well.  I learn something every time I play.

Back to Halloween pictures; this time Amadeus is masquerading as a tiger.

The Swiss Team Marathon Begins...

Yesterday was the beginning of three Swiss team events this week.  Julie and I played in the Grand Haven tournament with Jeanne and Melissa; we placed and got some silver, and had a lot of fun.  Playing there reminded me of our introduction to this team event.

Julie and I heard about Swiss teams the first year we started playing bridge.  We didn't understand the concept but decided to give it a try.  The problem was that we didn't have another pair to team with and were reluctant to ask anyone.  We were so new to bridge and so unsure about Swiss teams, we figured no one would want to play with us.  I know this sounds sad, but we didn't feel badly and it did not deter us.  We talked to our Director and she arranged for us to team with a pair who was also new to duplicate bridge and Swiss teams.

We met our partners the day of the event and found out that they had even less experience than we did.  One of them had never even played duplicate bridge, and neither had ever played Swiss teams.  We needed help figuring out where to go, how to score, how to turn in the score...you name it, we didn't know what to do.  The oddest thing, though, was that our teammates never really understood that we were a team.  After each round we would get together to compare scores.  They were either happy that they had beaten us or sad that our scores were better than theirs.  We kept trying to tell them that we were in this together, but each time it seemed that we were making head-way we would have to move for the next round.  They never did know why the four of us met after each round and they were never again seen at the club.

It's been a long road, but yesterday I finally understood the scoring.  I had certainly learned to go through the correct motions before now, but this time I talked to someone and figured out the big picture.  I learned that the goal was to stay above average, and we did.  The average was 70 and our final score was 71.

On another note, Halloween is a week away.  I've been shopping for Amadeus, and here you can see me helping him try on one his costumes.  More pictures to come!

Kalamazoo

Yesterday Julie and I drove to Kalamazoo to play in their Friday afternoon game.  I have mixed feelings about the results--you guessed it, we were first in Flight C going into the last round but ended in second place.  Just like in Lansing, we couldn't find a fit and so when we got the contract we usually went down.  This time, though, I kept quiet about how we probably weren't doing as badly as it felt because I thought we really were doing that badly.  Our 51% score was a nice surprise, and as an added bonus it was a special club game so we ended up with extra points.

Regular readers of this blog may recall how I dislike sitting with my back to the room.  An incident that happened yesterday confirms that it is much better to be seated where you can see what's going on.  We were in the middle of a round when I heard a player directly behind me coughing.  Naturally I did not turn around and stare, since I would have had to shift my entire body; rather, I continued with the hand.  Everyone else, though, looked over.  There were gasps and exclamations, and then suddenly a woman ran past me.  It turns out that she had choked on a pretzel and had successfully done the Heimlich Maneuver on herself!

"If that had been me," Julie said, "I would have died.  I don't know how to do that."

"I would have saved you," I said.  I tried to sound competent and reassuring, but my statement was an empty promise.  I don't know how to do the Heimlich Maneuver either.

"I was going to get some pretzels," Julie went on, "but I changed my mind."  She apparently did not have much confidence in me, and rightly so.

"I think that's a wise decision."

To get back to why it would have been better to be facing the other direction:  there was some controversy over how the player in question saved herself.  Some witnesses said she bent over the back of a chair, while others said that she folded her arms around herself and applied pressure that way.  I could have resolved this question if only I had not been facing the wall.

Darn it!

When I looked up the NLM scores online to see how everyone else did, imagine my dismay when I noticed that Julie and I had placed second, not first, in the evening game. There must have been scoring mistakes and subsequent adjustments, but no matter the reason I felt let down. Oddly enough, though, the new scores showed us getting more silver than previously. That was a comfort.

What can I say? My quest for placing first -- in any flight in any type of game -- continues.