0 for 9
One of my goals for the summer is to become a Junior Master at the bridge club. Since the last time I wrote about bridge, I’ve needed about a third of a Master Point to get there. Sadly, try as I might, I can’t seem to do it! Jim and I played together this past Thursday at the club. Thursdays they have a 49er game (for people with less than 50 Master Points) and an open game (for people with more). Since Jim has 180 or so, we were in the open game, and got a 3-way tie for 2nd out of 4 partnerships (there was a winner, and everyone else tied; it was kind of weird). It was my first IMPs game (slightly different scoring system), so I was thrown off a bit. Still, no dice. Jim and I then played in St. Paul on Sunday and came in slightly below average out of 14 or so tables. Finally, we played tonight. We had been doing OK but not great, and I thought that we could certainly get points in the C stratification. With 31 of the 32 boards scored, we were tied for 3rd in C, which gets half a Master Point. However, that last board came in, and bumped us down to 4th, which gets nothing. This entry is called “0 for 9” because at each of these games, there are 3 things I’m trying to do: successfully use Smolen Transfers (we’re playing them, but the situation hasn’t come up to use them yet), successfully pull off a squeeze play (I’ve found 2 situations where I tried, but I messed up one and got a bad trump split in the other), or become a Junior Master, which still hasn’t quite happened. Argh! We’re giving it one more shot tomorrow, and I fear that will be the end of bridge this summer. I’d really like to be 1 for 12 in my goals here (preferably 2 for 12, but I can’t be picky at this point). There were at least 3 boards that I should have played better this evening, including 2 cold slams that I considered bidding but shied away from in the end. Well, we’ll see what tomorrow holds, I guess…
With the dealer on my right, I pick up 7 clubs to the 10-9, 4 diamonds, and singletons in the majors. My only honor (aside from the Ten of Clubs) is the Ace of Diamonds. RHO opens 1C, which I pass, expecting LHO to respond. However, LHO passes! Jim makes a Takeout Double, which RHO passes. With 7 clubs, I am thrilled to pass this, too, when LHO bids… 1D! Again, Jim does a Takeout Double, showing a huge hand with both majors, and RHO passes again. I pause for a moment, and realize that I’ve got a runnable suit, ruffs in both of Jim’s suits, and trump control all in my measly 4 HCPs. So I pass again! Jim got a little freaked out, but we set them 2 tricks for 300 points. This gave us our only 2nd-from-top board of the night (though we did get 2 tops elsewhere). Weird!