Feb 5-8 -- Resort Follies Part I

Points Summary
♠       ♥       ♦       ♣	Gold	Red	Silver	Other	Total
Earned This Time	3.22	6.45			9.67
Earned Since Last Update				0.08	0.08
Earned Earlier This Year	3.78	9.75	1.22	1.07	15.82
Total Earned This Year	7.00	16.20	1.22	1.15	25.57
Earned Prior to This Year	11.41	45.01	21.98	17.39	95.79
Total	18.41	61.21	23.20	18.54	121.36
Required	25.00	25.00	50.00	200.00	300.00
Still Needed	6.59	0.00	26.80	145.25	176.84

Advance Planning

Although I had arranged for the time off from work, I hesitated to make the eleven-hour drive alone with no partner or teammates. I learned of an opportunity to travel with two professionals, and stay the week with them, if I could provide the accomodations. This abandoned the opportunity to play in the Sectional en route, but the benefit of the companionship of better players and shared travel, versus driving alone, made this the best choice.

I'm missing the annual birthday party for the Intermediate/Novice game at our Unit Game Thursday; I may never qualify to participate in this party again.

So I arrived at the resort with no partner and no teammates. I looked up the tournament web site and found the e-mail address of the partnership chair, and a link to a page where people posted looking for partners and teammates. On this page I found a player with two others looking to form a team; it looked like they were at about my level judging by Masterpoints. I e-mailed both the Partnership Chair and the possible partner, and went to sleep. Monday morning I was awakened by a call from the possible partner, and we agreed to the partnership and the team. We were to meet before the game began, to complete our convention card. The three players would be leaving the tournament Thursday morning, so I would be in the same partnerless and teammateless situation later in the week

Overall Results

We signed up for the Bracketed Knockouts, and found ourselves in Bracket 10 of 10, where I expected we would be with our total masterpoints. We took a quick 20-IMP lead in the opening match Monday night, but collapsed in the second half and lost the match by 15 IMPs. It seemed to me as if I was a much stronger player than my partner, but isn't it that way for most bridge players? Although I was very frustrated with some of my partner's bidding and playing decisions, I agreed to play on the same team in the next Bracketed Knockout, starting Tuesday afternoon. On the way from the tournament to where we were staying, I shared my feelings about my abilities relative to my new partner. One of the pros had begun his serious tournament career by traveling alone to tournament after tournament, relying on the Partnership Desk at each tournament for partners and teammates. On the basis of his experience, he told me that I should have politely refused to continue the arrangement, and sought a new partner and teammates closer to my level. Too late to do that now.

Monday Knockout Summary scoring = IMPs 24 boards per match
Match	first half	second half	match total
1	35 - 15	4 - 39	39 - 54

For the knockouts beginning Tuesday, we were in Bracket 9 of 9. We won the opening match against a local team, taking an 18-IMP lead at the half and losing the second half by only one IMP. At our level, results are often quite erratic; of the 24 boards in the match only two were even. I made errors on three or four of the boards myself, as did my partner.

After the dinner break (I ate with the pros back where we were staying; again they counseled me to drop the partner as soon as we lost a match), we returned to play the evening match. The opponents were another local team, very inexperienced. This was their first Regional tournament and their afternoon win was their first win in a knockout match. They, like us, had been knocked out in the first round of the Monday KO's. We took a 41-IMP lead in the first half, the highlight being a slam we bid and I made, while at the other table the locals stopped in game. In the second half of the match, my partner and I missed bidding a Grand Slam, stopping in game. We also missed bidding two games. The locals also missed the slam, and a few other swings went our way, so we ended up even in the second half of the match. The locals were encouraged, and planned to continue playing at the tournament. We were in the semifinals, with the first Gold Masterpoints for the other pair on our team.

Next afternoon, we showed up for the semifinals. Our opponents were a team made at the Partnership desk, one pair from the South and the other from the Midwest. We took a 9-IMP lead at the half, and lost the second half by 6 IMPs, thus squeaking through to a 3-IMP victory. "How many Masterpoints do we have now?' a teammate asked. "Doesn't matter. We can't count that and settle for second. We have to go into the final match planning to win," I replied. All agreed, and it was off to the dinner break. I again ate with the pros back where we were staying.

In the final match, we took a 5-IMP lead at the half. The second half was a grind for us. The opponents were also exhausted, but I thought they played well. Six of the twelve boards were even. Of the three big swings in the second half, two went our way, and we ended up winning the half by 18 IMPs and the match by 23.

Tuesday - Wednesday Knockout Summary scoring = IMPs 24 boards per match
Match	first half	second half	match total
1	56 - 38	18 - 19	74 - 57
2	43 - 2	15 - 15	58 - 17
3	29 - 20	25 - 31	54 - 51
4	27 - 22	28 - 10	55 - 32

My first Knockut Victory!!

Lessons Learned

• I don't need to stick with partners and teammates who aren't at least at my level. Once the session is over or we lose the knockout match, I can just say "Thanks, but no more," and move on.
• The opportunity to spend time with the pros is valuable, their insight into both my experience and my mistakes is helping to improve my game.
• Practice and analysis of results is essential for recognizing and eliminating mistakes, and becoming more consistent in good bidding and play.