Boston -- I coulda been a contendah!

Points Summary
	Gold	Red	Silver	Other	total
Earned	1.30	1.24			2.54
Before	11.41	45.01	21.98	17.39	95.79
Total	12.71	46.25	21.98	17.39	98.33
Required	25.00	25.00	50.00	200.00	300.00
Still Needed	12.29	0.00	28.02	161.36	201.67

Session-by-session

• Friday Afternoon
  I arrived short of sleep and fighting a cold. I intended to play in the Friday afternoon side game, but got paired with a gentleman in the novice game. We had a good time putting together a convention card; he has also been reading the Max Hardy books on two-over-one. We had an up-and-down session, he was consistent and I wasn't. End result was fifth overall in the session, winning points. He mentioned calling me to partner for the Sunday pairs games, but we both ended up playing in the Ethel Keohane Individual instead.
• Friday Evening
  Friday night I found another pickup partner at the partnership desk, and we hooked up with another pair for the B/C Bracketed Knockout Teams. We had a good first half, and were ahead by eight IMPS at the half. We lost the second half by a bundle, though, losing the match by 17 IMPs.
• Friday Night
  I appreciated the loss from a personal health standpoint; I was able to get a good night's sleep Friday night and have a leisurely Saturday morning. A 9 a.m. match would have meant much less sleep and a much more rushed morning.
• Individual Competition
  I remember many years ago when this regional tournament was four sessions of Individual, with well over a dozen sections. Saturday was the open, Sunday was Finals and Consolation. Times have changed, and so has the tournament. Now most come to play in the knockout games, and there are side pairs games every session and a full set of novice (299er) games as well. Now the Individual is two tournaments, Saturday and Sunday, with the trophy going to the player with the best overall percentage in both tournaments. This year's individuals were only THREE sections, with enough dropping out to provide only two sections for the final session. Apparently the pursuit of Master Points and titles is now paramount; playing Tournament Bridge for fun is no longer popular.
• Saturday Afternoon
  Saturday morning's session was good; I finished second overall in my section and was at that point third overall in Strat C (0-200 points). I made one terrible bidding error that cost me 8.5 matchpoints, otherwise I would have had a section top.
• Saturday Evening
  After the Saturday dinner break with friends, I had a good but not great second session. I think the last board was fouled somehow, costing me a bottom. Even so, I had fourth overall in the section, and in Strat C for the tournament. If my result on the probably fouled board had only been average, and I had bid correctly on that one board in the afternoon session, I would have at least tied for fifth overall. "If only" -- sad words.
• Saturday Night
  I got little sleep, and did not sleep well. I had to rise early on Sunday for Mass and breakfast before the 11 a.m. start of competition.
• Sunday
  I haven't looked at the details of Sunday's two sessions, but I was below average in each. In between sessions, I went to a relative's for a quick visit and sandwich.

Tournament Summary
Scoring	Pctg/ IMPs	Overall				Section				MP's
		Size	Strat A	Strat B	Strat C	Size	Strat A	Strat B	Strat C
Friday Afternoon 299er Pairs
MPs	52.08	24				12	5	?	?	0.31
Friday Evening B/C Bracketed KO Teams (4)
IMPs	49 - 66	16	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Saturday William Keohane Individual
MPs	59.09	43	11	5/7	3	15	2	1	1	1.30 0.23
MPs	53.79	41	?	?	4	13	4	3		0.70
Sunday Ethel Keohane Individual
MPs	47.32	35				11
MPs	44.32	32				15

A note about the Masterpoint awards, as it confused me. How was it that I got both gold and red points on Saturday afternoon? The answer is that second place in Strat A is worth more points than first in Strat B, but only section firsts get the gold points. ACBL regulations say "Gold points are awarded for overall positions and for section firsts in all two-session regional-rated events with an upper limit of at least 750 masterpoints at NABCs and regional tournaments." Strat B's upper limit is 750 points. So my total points of 1.53 were awarded as 1.30 gold (for winning Strat B) and the rest (0.23) red to make up the total for second in Strat A.

Lessons to be Learned

• I play better when I am both healthy and well-rested
• Be consistent. Practice will build consistency.
• Be aggressive and decisive. If it's a close decision, it's usually better to bid than to pass
• Always check the results and report errors, ASAP after the results are posted
• Continue to study both bidding and play. There are always ways to improve bidding; many are found in books or on the Internet
• Study results of each board, to spot and learn from errors in bidding and play

Last Word:
I must perform better to reach my goal; less than three points per tournament -- less than .5 points per session -- just won't be enough. If I play in only 20 of the remaining 27 tournaments on my tentative schedule, I'll need to average over ten points per tournament to reach my goal. It's time to lean and apply the lessons, so I can begin to see the improved results I need.