Bridge report

[Bob78164]

I arrived yesterday in Memphis for the start of the Spring Nationals. Last year, I played 5 days in Louisville and had the worst tournament of my life, collecting 0 points in 5 days of play.

This year will be a different story. The first event is the North American Open Pairs. I qualified for the national finals in the event in October, when partner and I won the District finals. (The top 3 pairs in each District get an invitation to the national finals.). Winning the District finals outright was a first for me in this event, but I’ve qualified several times before. However, I’ve never made the cut after the first day to earn the right to play the second day of the event.

Until now. Partner and I put together two solid but not spectacular sessions, and we qualified 14th for the second day. (The top 28 pairs made the cut.). Our performances were worth a total of 3.18 platinum points. More importantly, we have the chance to play for overall awards tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the finals of the North American Open Pairs, Flight A. —Bob

[Bob78164]

Partner and I had a couple of decent sessions in the finals. Both came in a little above average. Combined with our carryover, that proved to be good for an event total of 25.00 platinum points, which replaces (rather than supplements) the session awards we earned yesterday and today. As an added bonus, those 25 points pushed me over 200 lifetime platinum points, which is the threshold I needed to hit to be eligible for the premier pair event of the tournament, the Platinum Pairs.

So tomorrow, my most regular partner and I will try our luck in the Platinum Pairs. —Bob

[Bob78164]

It’s a tough field. Our morning session was below average. Our afternoon session was downright wretched. We did not reach the second day of the event, nor did we acquire any additional master points.

Tomorrow we will play the first day of the NABC+ Open Pairs, another national event. And I certainly hope we play better tomorrow than we did today. —Bob

[Bob78164]

Well, we did play better today than yesterday. Unfortunately, our morning results were quite bad. We had a better set in the afternoon, good for 1.58 platinum points, but it wasn’t good enough to get us above the cut line so we’re out of the event. Cumulative total so far is 26.58 points.

We’re not eligible for any more national events until Thursday (other than the Vanderbilt, which is a premier team event that would require us to find teammates who are willing to play with us), so tomorrow will be the first of four straight days of regional pairs competition for us. —Bob

[Bob78164]

The competition wasn’t quite as tough today, and it showed. Partner and I played pretty well, and unlike the previous two days, the opponents were making mistakes at our table. We had a solid game in the morning, good for a section top, and our afternoon game was even better. Combined, the games were good enough to take 3rd overall in the event, good for 13.50 gold points. That moves my cumulative total for the tournament to 40.08 points, with a full week left to play.

Tomorrow will be another regional pairs game. It’s opposite the first day of the Vanderbilt (the tournament’s premier team event), so we don’t expect to face many of the top players tomorrow. —Bob

[Bob78164]

Our morning session was another good one, leaving us comfortably in contention for the event. Unfortunately, we failed to back it up. Our afternoon session was slightly below average. The two sessions combined were still good enough to sneak into the overalls in 28th place, good for 3.09 gold points. That brings my tournament total up to 43.17 points.

Another regional pairs game awaits us tomorrow. Looking forward to Thursday when partner and I will finally get the opportunity to resume competing in national events. —Bob

[Bob78164]

Our morning session was mediocre, and not enough to collect any points. The afternoon session was downright poor, so we picked up nothing today. Tomorrow will be another regional pairs game, and then we get to resume competing in national events. —Bob

[Bob78164]

Both sessions today were a little above average. The morning session was good enough, barely, to get us some master points. The afternoon session fell a little short of that standard. We ended up earning 0.74 red points for the event, raising my tournament total to 43.91 points.

Tomorrow will be the first day of the Silidor Open Pairs, a two-day national event. Here’s hoping we make the cut for the second day. —Bob

[Bob78164]

We had a good morning session today in the Silidor Open Pairs. We backed it up with a slightly better afternoon session. We easily qualified for the event’s second and final day, sitting 23rd among 104 qualifiers. We picked up 5.12 platinum points in the process, so my tournament total is now 49.03 points.

Tomorrow we play the finals of the Silidor Open Pairs, where I get to try for my second finish in the overalls of a national event in this tournament. —Bob

[Bob78164]

We were dealt a monster game in the morning. Unfortunately, we didn’t collect everything we were dealt, but what we did collect was enough to leave us sitting 13th in the event going into the last session. Unfortunately, we came back to earth in the afternoon, finishing somewhat below average. Our combined scores were still good enough for us to finish 39th overall, which added 6.24 platinum points to yesterday’s winnings. My tournament total now stands at 55.27 points.

Tomorrow begins our last national event of the tournament, the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams. It’s another two-day event, where roughly half the field makes the cut for the second day. —Bob

[Bob78164]

We came, we saw, we were conquered. Well, it wasn’t actually that bad. We won four matches and lost four, but our losses were bigger than our wins so we failed to qualify for the second day of the event. Our four wins added 2.12 platinum points to my total, moving me up to 57.39 points for the tournament.

I may leave the tournament a day early — it’s been a while since my girlfriend and I have seen each other and I’d like to change that. But she’s traveling too and I’m not sure I can catch up with her before I have to go back to work. If I do play tomorrow, partner and I will play the regionally rated Fast Pairs event. —Bob

[Bob Juch]

Are your opponents young whippersnappers or old farts like us?

[Bob78164]

Are your opponents young whippersnappers or old farts like us?

Both. We played Kevin Rosenberg, a kid in his 20s who won a national title earlier this week. We also played Bob Hamman who just won his 55th national title yesterday at age 86. —Bob

[Bob78164]

I did play yesterday. Partner and I played the regional Fast Pairs game. We had a very good morning session and backed it up with a solid afternoon session, but that was only good for 7th overall. That earned us another 4.75 gold points, so my final total for the tournament is 62.14.

Flying home today. It feels like I lost some weight while I was here. I’ll find out tomorrow morning what my scale has to say. —Bob