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Bridge report

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 12:34 pm
by Bob78164
I’m in San Francisco for the Nationals. Today’s event is the first day of what I hope will be two days in the Nail Life Master Pairs. I’m playing today and tomorrow with my good young partner who abandoned Los Angeles to return to San Jose so he could go to law school, get married, and start his career. I hope it goes well. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 2:06 am
by Bob78164
We managed two above-average sessions to make the cut comfortably for the second (and final) day of the event, in 65th place among 130 qualifiers. In the process we picked up 2.74 platinum points. All in all, a respectable start to the tournament.

Later today I’ll try yet again to reach the overalls of an unlimited national event for the first time. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2019 2:13 am
by Bob78164
Partner and I were dealt a monster game in the afternoon session. Between an opponent literally pulling the wrong card out of her hand, and another opponent forgetting system and making an ill-advised bid to boot, we were dealt a giant. We gave a bit of it back but collected most of it, good for a 61% game in the afternoon to lead the 65 pairs constituting our half of the field. With our carryover that moved us from 65th in the event to seventh going into the final session.

We weren’t dealt as good a game this evening but I think we collected pretty much everything we were dealt. We scored 57% in the evening. I’d hoped that would move us further up the standings but that was not to be.

Still, I reached my goal of finally making the overalls of an open national event. And our 7th place finish meant I did it in style, with a top ten finish. When you reach the overalls you get the larger of your overall award and the sum of your section awards. In this case, that means the section awards we picked up yesterday and today were wiped out, replaced by our overall award of 41.67 platinum points.

Now I need to check whether I’ve become eligible to play the Platinum Pairs at the Spring Nationals. Later today, the first day of the Mitchell Open Board-a-Match Teams. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 2:04 am
by Bob78164
We finished slightly above average in our first session but had a terrible second session at both tables, so we’re out of the event. The afternoon session did get us a consolation prize of 1.12 platinum points, increasing my cumulative total for the tournament to 42.79 points.

Later today, a two-session regional pairs game. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:20 am
by Bob78164
We played yesterday’s two-session regional pairs game with a different goal in mind. I had an epiphany that I probably should have had ages ago. When we sit down at the table, our goal shouldn’t be to win the event. It should be to collect every bit of the game that’s dealt to us and hope that’s enough to win the event.

We didn’t quite achieve our goal but the new approach definitely worked. Partner and I had a 60% game in the afternoon and backed it up with a 58% game in the evening. That was good for second overall, and if we had achieved our goal of collecting everything we were dealt, we would have won the event. Second place was worth 29.51 gold points, bringing my cumulative total for the tournament to 72.30 points.

Today, with the same goal in mind, we play the Blue Ribbon Pairs for what I hope will be the first of three days. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:13 am
by Bob78164
We weren’t dealt much of a game in the afternoon, and we gave back far too much of what we were dealt. We were dealt a much better game in the evening but again failed to collect all of it. If we’d managed to avoid half of our mistakes we’d have qualified for the second day. Instead, we’re on the outside looking in, with a consolation prize of 1.29 platinum points for the evening session. My cumulative total for the tournament is now 73.59 points.

Today, partner and I will play in a two-day Knockout Teams event with James Holzhauer and his partner, who’s another of my regular partners. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 2:57 am
by Bob78164
We found ourselves in a three-way match in the first round of the event, with two survivors. We split our two matches, which was enough to advance because the team we beat also lost its other match. But in the evening session we faced a clearly superior team that simply walloped us. We picked up 1.64 red points for winning half a round, bringing my tournament total to 75.23.

Today partner and I will play another regional pairs event. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:01 am
by Bob Juch
Bob78164 wrote:
Thu Dec 05, 2019 2:57 am
We found ourselves in a three-way match in the first round of the event, with two survivors. We split our two matches, which was enough to advance because the team we beat also lost its other match. But in the evening session we faced a clearly superior team that simply walloped us. We picked up 1.64 red points for winning half a round, bringing my tournament total to 75.23.

Today partner and I will play another regional pairs event. —Bob
Tell James Holzhauer he needs to beware of last night's J! champion; I'm sure you were too busy to watch it.

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:08 am
by Bob78164
We were dealt a pair of games in the high 50s today. We collected almost all of what we were dealt but the combined scores were only good for 13th overall in the event. That adds 3.93 gold points to my tournament total, moving it to 79.16 points.

Today, if we can find teammates, partner and I will play the National Open Swiss event. If we can’t, I guess we’ll have to play regional pair events for the next three days. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:53 am
by Bob78164
Partner and I were able to find teammates, and good ones, for the North American Swiss. We won five matches, good for 2.65 platinum points. Our score of 91 Victory Points was good enough to put us in the top half of the pack that qualified for the semifinals, the first time I’ve ever done so in a three-day event.

So with my tournament total currently standing at 81.81 points, I will be playing today in the semifinals of the North American Swiss. Finishing in the top half of the field will be good enough to put us in the finals, which would guarantee an overall award. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2019 2:20 am
by Bob78164
My nerves got the better of me all afternoon so it was a struggle from start to finish. We entered the last match in 26th place with 24 teams qualifying for the finals. With the help of a little badly needed luck, we managed a convincing victory, so we’re in. Every team in the finals is guaranteed an award for a finish in the overalls, so I am now guaranteed at least another 26.44 platinum points, bringing my tournament total to 108.25 points.

Today we play the finals of the Keohane North American Swiss to learn precisely where we finish among the 24 teams in the overalls. —Bob

Re: Bridge report

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 4:41 am
by Bob78164
Neither partner nor I played particularly well yesterday, but we still managed to move up one spot in the standings, finishing 19th overall. This added 5.20 platinum points to the minimum we were already guaranteed just for making it to the last day, so I finished the tournament with 113.45 points, by far my best tournament ever.

Homeward bound later today. —Bob