WWTBAM Bored

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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