It's been a terrific Bermuda Bowl in Veldhoven and the Netherlands are worthy winners. Time will tell whether this is where the revolution started, but the young guns seem to be running the show now. Both the Dutch and USA2 teams in the final are young and then, to cap it all, the Israeli Juniors won the Transnational Teams against an Australian team who had a 19-year-old in the team.
I've watched a number of Bermuda Bowls on BBO and this was the one that I've really felt part of, aside from the distance of course. Naturally being in the same time zone helped; doing voice commentary on BBO almost every day of the championship let me chat with other enthusiasts whilst watching the bridge; bridgewinners.com, well Steve Weinstein, did some great interviews; Jan from bridgetopics.com had a couple of good interviews (I especially liked the one with Weinstein); last but not least Justin Lall's contributions to the BBO Forums and his own blog gave us all a player's insight ... which maintaining a very high level of play.
Finally I thought the standard of bridge throughout the event was higher than previous years, particularly in the later stages.
It was a good one. Congratulations to all that played.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Final insight
Three sessions down, five to go, and the Netherlands team has a slim 22 imps lead over USA 2.
A number of people have suggested that the young USA 2 team might be getting tired and, to be fair, I have commented on whether this would be a factor in earlier rounds. But I had a good chat with Justin Lall yesterday evening and he made a number of pertinent observations.
But first it was clear that he was very excited to be in the final. Not only is he playing with good friends, he played good friends in the semifinal and is playing good friends in the final. If you watch any of the live video stream, it is obvious that this match is being played in the best spirit - I don't think we'll be seeing any dubious appeals this time.
Back to tiredness, or not. In the Bermuda Bowl a team plays 48 boards a day. Many teams, like the Netherlands, Italy and USA 1, tend to rotate their pairs evenly so each pair plays only 32 boards a day. Even to the most unfit amateur this is not a gruelling schedule. USA 2, Justin's team, has tended to play Grue-Lall and Wooldridge-Hurd more often, but even then this is still only 48 boards if they play the full day.
This is bridge at the highest levels and they have been playing for almost two weeks now. But, as Justin pointed out, this number of hands is just not an issue to a top player. In one of the US nationals, the top pros are playing 50-60 boards a day at a high level for a week; in regional events, the mainstay of their day to day work, they will be playing 72 boards a day perhaps for three consecutive weeks. In contrast, 48 boards really is not a lot. As Justin said, "I think I could play 48 boards a day for the rest of my life".
For someone like me, who really does not play much bridge, the sheer number of boards that these top players get through is just mind-boggling.
So I don't think tiredness will play an issue in the final. Justin's final comment was that he liked this format and number of boards - at least the title will be decided by who plays the best bridge under pressure, not the one who is least-tired.
The match is still finely balanced - may the best team go on and win it.
A number of people have suggested that the young USA 2 team might be getting tired and, to be fair, I have commented on whether this would be a factor in earlier rounds. But I had a good chat with Justin Lall yesterday evening and he made a number of pertinent observations.
But first it was clear that he was very excited to be in the final. Not only is he playing with good friends, he played good friends in the semifinal and is playing good friends in the final. If you watch any of the live video stream, it is obvious that this match is being played in the best spirit - I don't think we'll be seeing any dubious appeals this time.
Back to tiredness, or not. In the Bermuda Bowl a team plays 48 boards a day. Many teams, like the Netherlands, Italy and USA 1, tend to rotate their pairs evenly so each pair plays only 32 boards a day. Even to the most unfit amateur this is not a gruelling schedule. USA 2, Justin's team, has tended to play Grue-Lall and Wooldridge-Hurd more often, but even then this is still only 48 boards if they play the full day.
This is bridge at the highest levels and they have been playing for almost two weeks now. But, as Justin pointed out, this number of hands is just not an issue to a top player. In one of the US nationals, the top pros are playing 50-60 boards a day at a high level for a week; in regional events, the mainstay of their day to day work, they will be playing 72 boards a day perhaps for three consecutive weeks. In contrast, 48 boards really is not a lot. As Justin said, "I think I could play 48 boards a day for the rest of my life".
For someone like me, who really does not play much bridge, the sheer number of boards that these top players get through is just mind-boggling.
So I don't think tiredness will play an issue in the final. Justin's final comment was that he liked this format and number of boards - at least the title will be decided by who plays the best bridge under pressure, not the one who is least-tired.
The match is still finely balanced - may the best team go on and win it.
Monday, 24 October 2011
The Alan Truscott Award
The International Bridge Press Association is a strange organisation. Considering it's an information body it has a poor web site with little 'press' on it, perhaps reflecting the fact that it likes to keep its copy for paying customers of national and local newspapers. The IPBA Annual Awards are always reported in the bridge press, but again no mention of them on the front of the web site and finding previous winners takes you to directory listing on their web server. Not a great advert for them, I'd have thought.
But the awards are its thing and this year I thought I'd comment on the most deserving of this year's.
"The Alan Truscott Memorial Award is presented periodically to that person whose contribution to bridge, in the opinion of the IBPA Executive, would be most appreciated by Alan. This year the award goes to Roland Wald from London (ex-Copenhagen) who, in his spare time from teaching and playing, arranges for and organizes the Vugraph commentators for Bridge Base Online transmissions."
As one of his commentary squad, which numbers hundreds of people, I appreciate more than most the time and effort that Roland has put into the BBO Vugraph over the past decade. This is entirely a voluntary effort, but it appears to be a full-time job as others will have noticed as Walddk2, Walddk3, Walddk4, ... Walddk16 run around BBO whenever there are a large number of Vugraph tables in play.
Over the years, from Bermuda Bowl, to the Spingold, to the British Junior International Series, to a small local match in Italy, Roland has been tirelessly and successfully arranging commentary teams. He is not the sole reason that BBO Vugraph has been so successful, but he is certainly one of the foundation pillars on which it stands.
Congratulations Roland, a hugely deserved award.
But the awards are its thing and this year I thought I'd comment on the most deserving of this year's.
"The Alan Truscott Memorial Award is presented periodically to that person whose contribution to bridge, in the opinion of the IBPA Executive, would be most appreciated by Alan. This year the award goes to Roland Wald from London (ex-Copenhagen) who, in his spare time from teaching and playing, arranges for and organizes the Vugraph commentators for Bridge Base Online transmissions."
As one of his commentary squad, which numbers hundreds of people, I appreciate more than most the time and effort that Roland has put into the BBO Vugraph over the past decade. This is entirely a voluntary effort, but it appears to be a full-time job as others will have noticed as Walddk2, Walddk3, Walddk4, ... Walddk16 run around BBO whenever there are a large number of Vugraph tables in play.
Over the years, from Bermuda Bowl, to the Spingold, to the British Junior International Series, to a small local match in Italy, Roland has been tirelessly and successfully arranging commentary teams. He is not the sole reason that BBO Vugraph has been so successful, but he is certainly one of the foundation pillars on which it stands.
Congratulations Roland, a hugely deserved award.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Interlude from the Bermuda Bowl
As the comprehensive vugraph coverage of the Bermuda Bowl closed down for the evening, the Edinburgh team leapt into action in the second match of the InterCity League. Our same warriors as last week took to the stage against Split and had soon established a lead of 23 imps with just four boards to play.
Unfortunately this was the highlight of the performance as we eventually lost a high-scoring match, 42-52 imps, 13-17 VPs.
It is difficult to see the best line in six spades on this hand. Any suggestions?
We'll be back next Wednesday for the next round.
Update: full hand shown now Michael and Jim (in comments) to see if their lines work
Unfortunately this was the highlight of the performance as we eventually lost a high-scoring match, 42-52 imps, 13-17 VPs.
It is difficult to see the best line in six spades on this hand. Any suggestions?
We'll be back next Wednesday for the next round.
Update: full hand shown now Michael and Jim (in comments) to see if their lines work
Defend like a champion too
Did you see this defence at the Bermuda Bowl yesterday?
No? Not watching Duboin, Versace, Levin, Wolff?
Perhaps the real reason is that Berwick Bridge Club has yet to make it to vugraph. North was Reg Drysdale and South was Malcolm Copley. Unfortunately it's too late for them to enter the Scottish Camrose trials, but perhaps they are now looking for team mates for the European trials?
As a bonus question, can you see how I (West) could have made it?
No? Not watching Duboin, Versace, Levin, Wolff?
Perhaps the real reason is that Berwick Bridge Club has yet to make it to vugraph. North was Reg Drysdale and South was Malcolm Copley. Unfortunately it's too late for them to enter the Scottish Camrose trials, but perhaps they are now looking for team mates for the European trials?
As a bonus question, can you see how I (West) could have made it?
Monday, 17 October 2011
Bid of the day?
Sometimes players do something that you do not expect. Ilan Herbst faced this problem:
His Indian counterpart passed in this position, but Ilan bid three spades. This is not risk-free, but at least you'll find out quickly when it's wrong if West doubles.
But the more you look at the bid, the more attractive it becomes. Doubling risks partner bidding clubs. Despite holding short diamonds partner has not overcalled, so probably doesn't have six hearts. If East has length other than diamonds it will be in clubs, so partner may well have some spade support.
There are no guarantees in this world, but bidding three spades is not as wild as it looks at first glance. In this case it was worth a game swing when his brother was able to raise, while his team mates made nine tricks in diamonds.
His Indian counterpart passed in this position, but Ilan bid three spades. This is not risk-free, but at least you'll find out quickly when it's wrong if West doubles.
But the more you look at the bid, the more attractive it becomes. Doubling risks partner bidding clubs. Despite holding short diamonds partner has not overcalled, so probably doesn't have six hearts. If East has length other than diamonds it will be in clubs, so partner may well have some spade support.
There are no guarantees in this world, but bidding three spades is not as wild as it looks at first glance. In this case it was worth a game swing when his brother was able to raise, while his team mates made nine tricks in diamonds.
Defend like a champion
I'm not going to blog every day during the world championships, but I did not think this was an everyday defence.
Play through the hand and face the same decision as Giorgio Duboin. He got it right, naturally, will you?
Update: Bobby Wolff also got it right, but he's a champion too.
Play through the hand and face the same decision as Giorgio Duboin. He got it right, naturally, will you?
Update: Bobby Wolff also got it right, but he's a champion too.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Can You Hear Me, Mother?
Finished my first day of audio commentary on BBO and I hope that listeners are enjoying as much as I am. Importantly the bridge has been excellent which has made commentating enjoyable - no euphemisms ("perhaps I would not have done that" really meaning "I think declarer has lost his mind and should be led out of the room as he must be a gibbering wreck"), just bridge of the highest order.
Audio commentary has a number of advantages over typing. First there is no archive, so any stupid comments are not preserved; more seriously, it is easier to talk than type and you can get your view across before the player actually does something.
The biggest downside is that we sometimes talk over each other, which is more of an issue than two typists posting the same comment. In both the matches I covered I was accused of talking over people (and vice versa), but I think that time delay is a big issue that we need to be aware of. In the first match I was commentating with Bill Jacobs from Australia: depending on your perspective he has a lag, or I have a lag for him, so we don't see when the other starts talking. However this was our first day and I'm sure we'll improve - hope so as Bill and I are on first thing tomorrow for the Israel versus India match. The second match was not so bad, but even so there is also a delay, albeit smaller, to the North Americans.
Most people tell me that they are enjoying the voice commentary - why not give it a try?
Can You Hear Me, Mother?
Audio commentary has a number of advantages over typing. First there is no archive, so any stupid comments are not preserved; more seriously, it is easier to talk than type and you can get your view across before the player actually does something.
The biggest downside is that we sometimes talk over each other, which is more of an issue than two typists posting the same comment. In both the matches I covered I was accused of talking over people (and vice versa), but I think that time delay is a big issue that we need to be aware of. In the first match I was commentating with Bill Jacobs from Australia: depending on your perspective he has a lag, or I have a lag for him, so we don't see when the other starts talking. However this was our first day and I'm sure we'll improve - hope so as Bill and I are on first thing tomorrow for the Israel versus India match. The second match was not so bad, but even so there is also a delay, albeit smaller, to the North Americans.
Most people tell me that they are enjoying the voice commentary - why not give it a try?
Can You Hear Me, Mother?
Young guns
Just finished my first audio commentary of the Bermuda Bowl, watching the young guns of USA 2 complete a 58-38 imps (20-10 VP) win over the friends and rivals of USA 1. As Justin Lall has already blogged "a set of crazy hands", but I thought they thoroughly deserved the win.
Early in the match Bobby Levin asked for a time monitor. This seemed a little strange as Hurd and Wooldridge are two of the fastest players in the event and Levin/Weinstein two of the more 'thoughtful', so perhaps it was fate that Bobby himself would end up with the longest 'tank' of the match.
This was board 9, rotated for convenience:
Although it might appear that Weinstein could have forgotten that Levin would be playing notrump contracts, as well as spades, his coach, Kit Woolsey, said it was likely to be to protect against a ruff.
Which card do you play from dummy?
There are a few points worth considering. How do you get to the king of clubs for a discard even if you get this decision right - what if spades are 3-0? If you play the jack of diamonds and it holds, are you home?
Much to consider. You have ten minutes. What do you do?
Early in the match Bobby Levin asked for a time monitor. This seemed a little strange as Hurd and Wooldridge are two of the fastest players in the event and Levin/Weinstein two of the more 'thoughtful', so perhaps it was fate that Bobby himself would end up with the longest 'tank' of the match.
This was board 9, rotated for convenience:
Although it might appear that Weinstein could have forgotten that Levin would be playing notrump contracts, as well as spades, his coach, Kit Woolsey, said it was likely to be to protect against a ruff.
Which card do you play from dummy?
There are a few points worth considering. How do you get to the king of clubs for a discard even if you get this decision right - what if spades are 3-0? If you play the jack of diamonds and it holds, are you home?
Much to consider. You have ten minutes. What do you do?
Friday, 14 October 2011
Resting my voice
The 40th World Team Championships start in Veldhoven on Sunday morning and run for two weeks of intense bridge.
Although the focus will be on the Bermuda Bowl, one of my Premier League team-mates, Susan Stockdale, is playing for England in the Venice Cup and we'll all be watching their progress carefully.
All three events, Open, Women and Seniors, feature a full round-robin for the 22 teams from which eight qualify for the knock-out stages.
Bridge Base Online is expecting to cover six matches, or twelve tables, for each of the three daily sessions. Not only will it be a strain for the players, all the commentary staff will be kept busy too.
I have signed up to provide some of the live audio commentary on BBO, known as Vugraph Voice. This is available for anyone watching using the web client - so follow the full and simple instructions to hear my dulcet tones.
Excitingly I am doing Vugraph Voice for the first match - USA 1 against USA 2 - so set your alarm clock for 9.30am (UK) and see these two exciting teams, and favourites for the KO stages, clash. I am also doing the Italy versus Bulgaria match in the final session, another match between two top teams.
With England and Scotland out of the Rugby World Cup, at least I can rest my voice tomorrow.
Although the focus will be on the Bermuda Bowl, one of my Premier League team-mates, Susan Stockdale, is playing for England in the Venice Cup and we'll all be watching their progress carefully.
All three events, Open, Women and Seniors, feature a full round-robin for the 22 teams from which eight qualify for the knock-out stages.
Bridge Base Online is expecting to cover six matches, or twelve tables, for each of the three daily sessions. Not only will it be a strain for the players, all the commentary staff will be kept busy too.
I have signed up to provide some of the live audio commentary on BBO, known as Vugraph Voice. This is available for anyone watching using the web client - so follow the full and simple instructions to hear my dulcet tones.
Excitingly I am doing Vugraph Voice for the first match - USA 1 against USA 2 - so set your alarm clock for 9.30am (UK) and see these two exciting teams, and favourites for the KO stages, clash. I am also doing the Italy versus Bulgaria match in the final session, another match between two top teams.
With England and Scotland out of the Rugby World Cup, at least I can rest my voice tomorrow.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Road to Victory
Gavin Wolpert has completed his series of videos describing every board of his win in the 2011 Silodor Pairs in Louisville last March. You can find all the videos on bridgewinners at http://bridgewinners.com/index.php/lessonvideos, but why not being with the first round.
A must for players of all levels.
A must for players of all levels.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
InterCity League
The sixteenth season of the BBO InterCity League started this evening. There are now two Scottish teams participating, Edinburgh (us) and Glasvegas (a mix of Scotland, Canada and Israel).
Our first match was against Dubrovnik and Harry, Adrian, Phil and Miro won by 58-28 imps (22-8 VP). Normally I'd produce a hand or two but I've yet to find one that was interesting enough. Hopefully we'll find something in the weeks to come.
Information on the event can be found at the ICL web site.
Our first match was against Dubrovnik and Harry, Adrian, Phil and Miro won by 58-28 imps (22-8 VP). Normally I'd produce a hand or two but I've yet to find one that was interesting enough. Hopefully we'll find something in the weeks to come.
Information on the event can be found at the ICL web site.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Using the partnership bidding on BBO
I have discussed this before but a new request arrived for help so I thought I'd share the technical details again.
The partnership bidding area on BBO is excellent and, on the web client, there is complete flexibility in creating hands to practise with. Complete flexibility does not come cheap though and the format can be daunting if you are not a programmer, but it is a lot easier to plagiarise the work of others and this is the principal reason for this guide: feel free to take the process and modify for your own non-commercial purposes.
The overall process is:
Using the web-based client, there is no specific partnership bidding area. The process to open a bidding table is:
When at the table, sit in your seat and you can then click on the Robot button on the East and West seats to use the robots. They play 2/1 and will only understand your bids if you are playing 2/1, but don't worry about that too much!
Setting the hand constraints
There is a Deal Source button that allows you to control the hands that are dealt. You can control the number of points your partnership has and/or the hands for each player. There is also an advanced tab that I suggest you use for practising competitive bidding.
For this example, the partnership wish to practise bidding strong hands after their opponent had opened. I thought of various complicated programs to do this but, as you'll see, settled for something pretty simple.
Enter the following text into the window:
And with the robots you can actually practise alone, with a robot as your partner. This may, or may not, be advisable :)
Robots are free to use for this purpose.
The partnership bidding area on BBO is excellent and, on the web client, there is complete flexibility in creating hands to practise with. Complete flexibility does not come cheap though and the format can be daunting if you are not a programmer, but it is a lot easier to plagiarise the work of others and this is the principal reason for this guide: feel free to take the process and modify for your own non-commercial purposes.
The overall process is:
- Log into BBO and start a bidding table
- Set the hand constraints
- Bid with your partner or robots
Using the web-based client, there is no specific partnership bidding area. The process to open a bidding table is:
- Click on Start Table (top left corner)
- Click on Start a Bidding table
When at the table, sit in your seat and you can then click on the Robot button on the East and West seats to use the robots. They play 2/1 and will only understand your bids if you are playing 2/1, but don't worry about that too much!
Setting the hand constraints
There is a Deal Source button that allows you to control the hands that are dealt. You can control the number of points your partnership has and/or the hands for each player. There is also an advanced tab that I suggest you use for practising competitive bidding.
For this example, the partnership wish to practise bidding strong hands after their opponent had opened. I thought of various complicated programs to do this but, as you'll see, settled for something pretty simple.
- Click on the Deal Source button
- For this exampe, clear the appropriate check buttons so that East is the only dealer. This is to ensure that the opponents always open.
- Click on the Advanced tab
- Enter the hand constraint program (see next section) into the box
- Check the checkbox for 'Use this input for Dealer program'
- Check the checkbox for 'Randomly rotate generated deals 180 degrees' - this is a really useful feature: after the hands are generated, they will be rotated so that both partners are able to practise holding the strong hand.
- Close the Deal Source window
Hand constraint program
Enter the following text into the window:
# Set dealer to East using BBO commands and do 180 switch
## define constraints for East
## East should have a one club or one diamond opener but not a strong 1NT
east1m = hcp(east)>12 and hcp(east)<18 and
shape(east, any 4333 + xx45 + x4x5 + 4xx5 + xxx6 + xx54 + x45x + 4x5x + xx6x)
east1nt = hcp(east)>14 and hcp(east)<18 and shape(east, any 4333 + any 4432 + any 5332)
## define constraints for South
## South has a strong hand that will either overcall or double
southdbl = hcp(south)>16 and shape (south, any 6xxx + any 5422 + any 5431)
## Define the hands to be dealt#
(east1m and not east1nt) and southdblThis is a very simple script. It will not always generate the hands required, but I reckon it will do so about 80% of the time.
Bidding
When the North-South seats are filled, the first hand is dealt automatically. Place robots in the East-West seats and hope that they bid as you wish. When you have bid a hand, you must click Redeal to move on.
And with the robots you can actually practise alone, with a robot as your partner. This may, or may not, be advisable :)
Robots are free to use for this purpose.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Split personality?
Currently I am plugging away in the English Premier League, trying to get promotion to the top division and represent England as a player - okay, be careful, don't want to fall off your seat laughing.
But it seems that my leadership skills have been noticed in Scotland - okay, be careful, falling off the chair at your age wasn't good the first time - and I have been appointed captain of the SBU team for the Camrose Trophy.
I believe that this will be the first time that Scotland has provided the sixth team since the five-nation event was expanded to avoid sit-outs. Alan Goodman has been appointed as NPC for the Scotland team, which is officially the #1 team, and I believe we get to comment on the teams prior to the selectors making the final decision. Naturally the trials will provide the Selection Committee with the bulk of the input, but they do have to make a decision on the composition of the two teams and consider how the teams may change (due to form or illness) over the two weekends of the event.
To give an idea of the decisions that they have to grapple with, consider the fate of the top six pairs in the final who will be guaranteed at least one match in one of the teams. Do you place pairs finished first, second and third into the Scotland team, and fourth, fifth and sixth into the SBU team? If so, what happens if a pair in the Scotland team falls ill for the second weekend - do you put the seventh placed pair in?
One option, I think used by Wales last season, was to say that pairs 1-4 would play for the first team over the two weekends, in essence forcing a change even if the team was doing well after the first weekend. Over the last few years this is what Scotland has done, but there is a difference from choosing to change a pair rather than being forced to.
I have no strong opinion on the best approach and it is very likely that the trials will indicate very little difference between the Scotland and SBU teams. The selectors also have the option, especially if the trials are inconclusive, to select pairs 'out of order' for the teams: for example, they may feel that pairs 2, 4 and 6 are a 'natural team'.
To be honest, I don't envy the selectors' decision as most of Scotland will think they've done the wrong thing :)
We'll just have to wait and see what the final trial, on 29-30 October, delivers. Whatever the teams, I know that Alan and I will be working hard to help them succeed.
But it seems that my leadership skills have been noticed in Scotland - okay, be careful, falling off the chair at your age wasn't good the first time - and I have been appointed captain of the SBU team for the Camrose Trophy.
I believe that this will be the first time that Scotland has provided the sixth team since the five-nation event was expanded to avoid sit-outs. Alan Goodman has been appointed as NPC for the Scotland team, which is officially the #1 team, and I believe we get to comment on the teams prior to the selectors making the final decision. Naturally the trials will provide the Selection Committee with the bulk of the input, but they do have to make a decision on the composition of the two teams and consider how the teams may change (due to form or illness) over the two weekends of the event.
To give an idea of the decisions that they have to grapple with, consider the fate of the top six pairs in the final who will be guaranteed at least one match in one of the teams. Do you place pairs finished first, second and third into the Scotland team, and fourth, fifth and sixth into the SBU team? If so, what happens if a pair in the Scotland team falls ill for the second weekend - do you put the seventh placed pair in?
One option, I think used by Wales last season, was to say that pairs 1-4 would play for the first team over the two weekends, in essence forcing a change even if the team was doing well after the first weekend. Over the last few years this is what Scotland has done, but there is a difference from choosing to change a pair rather than being forced to.
I have no strong opinion on the best approach and it is very likely that the trials will indicate very little difference between the Scotland and SBU teams. The selectors also have the option, especially if the trials are inconclusive, to select pairs 'out of order' for the teams: for example, they may feel that pairs 2, 4 and 6 are a 'natural team'.
To be honest, I don't envy the selectors' decision as most of Scotland will think they've done the wrong thing :)
We'll just have to wait and see what the final trial, on 29-30 October, delivers. Whatever the teams, I know that Alan and I will be working hard to help them succeed.
PL 2
This was always going to be an important weekend in the English Premier League. We had started well but would be playing two of the teams that be contesting the second promotion spot, on the premise that Ewart's all-stars were going to run away with the division.
Alex and I did not have a good Saturday. In the first set I misdefended a doubled part-score, gaining +500 when +800 was easy, and found a losing line in the inelegant contract of four notrump. The opponents also bid a good slam and then their eclectic choice of pre-emptive opener caused us to overreach to a slam and they found the only lead to beat it. Despite all this we were only four imps down - we did do some good things but Susan and Bryony had an excellent card.
We sat out the second set and the team gained an imp. However a score of 62-61 imps over 20 boards suggests that the match was not the highest quality.
In the final set we played poorly, misdefending for no really good reason. A few good boards probably disguised how poor we really were from our team-mates. I'm not a huge believer in public post-mortems and luckily they had plenty of other hands to discuss at dinner - not to mention the fact that our captain ordered five starters and so the table was full of food. Overall we lost by 32 imps and that was a disappointing 11-19 VPs.
The second match of the weekend was against the Cope team. The two teams know each other really well and a big win for either side would put them in the driving seat for promotion.
We played the first set and we emerged with a 30-25 imps lead, probably the lowest scoring set of the event to that point. We'd taken a phantom sacrifice when I didn't appreciate that J10x would be worth a trick in their trump suit (Alex had singleton king), but the rest of the card was solid. At least it felt like some decent bridge was being played, unlike the previous day.
Again we sat out the second set and we would be 20 imps down going into the final set of twenty boards.
Alex and I playing against Andy and John was a concern for both captains, but it was our choice and being down it clearly made sense for us to play them. Although they play a Polish-style one club system and we play 2/1, the similarity of our one club openers and responses meant that we would often bid the same way. As we were down in the match and looking for swings, we did not wish to sit the same direction as them.
The concern of the captains was time penalties. We are the slowest pair on our team and they are probably the slowest pair in the event. But I think there was at least two minutes left on the clock at the end.
We had a reasonable card. We went down in one game that could have made, but, from what I've seen, everyone who played it had the same 'blindspot', but we did bid and make one very thin three notrump and were rewarded for not overbidding on another hand, so we emerged with 41-19 imps on the set to win by 2 imps, albeit a 15-15 VP draw.
The bridge was far better in this match and it was pleasing to only lose 44 imps in the 40 boards that we played.
Overall we are still second in the table, 8 VPs clear of Cope, but we still have to play the leaders. The final three matches are next month.
Alex and I did not have a good Saturday. In the first set I misdefended a doubled part-score, gaining +500 when +800 was easy, and found a losing line in the inelegant contract of four notrump. The opponents also bid a good slam and then their eclectic choice of pre-emptive opener caused us to overreach to a slam and they found the only lead to beat it. Despite all this we were only four imps down - we did do some good things but Susan and Bryony had an excellent card.
We sat out the second set and the team gained an imp. However a score of 62-61 imps over 20 boards suggests that the match was not the highest quality.
In the final set we played poorly, misdefending for no really good reason. A few good boards probably disguised how poor we really were from our team-mates. I'm not a huge believer in public post-mortems and luckily they had plenty of other hands to discuss at dinner - not to mention the fact that our captain ordered five starters and so the table was full of food. Overall we lost by 32 imps and that was a disappointing 11-19 VPs.
The second match of the weekend was against the Cope team. The two teams know each other really well and a big win for either side would put them in the driving seat for promotion.
We played the first set and we emerged with a 30-25 imps lead, probably the lowest scoring set of the event to that point. We'd taken a phantom sacrifice when I didn't appreciate that J10x would be worth a trick in their trump suit (Alex had singleton king), but the rest of the card was solid. At least it felt like some decent bridge was being played, unlike the previous day.
Again we sat out the second set and we would be 20 imps down going into the final set of twenty boards.
Alex and I playing against Andy and John was a concern for both captains, but it was our choice and being down it clearly made sense for us to play them. Although they play a Polish-style one club system and we play 2/1, the similarity of our one club openers and responses meant that we would often bid the same way. As we were down in the match and looking for swings, we did not wish to sit the same direction as them.
The concern of the captains was time penalties. We are the slowest pair on our team and they are probably the slowest pair in the event. But I think there was at least two minutes left on the clock at the end.
We had a reasonable card. We went down in one game that could have made, but, from what I've seen, everyone who played it had the same 'blindspot', but we did bid and make one very thin three notrump and were rewarded for not overbidding on another hand, so we emerged with 41-19 imps on the set to win by 2 imps, albeit a 15-15 VP draw.
The bridge was far better in this match and it was pleasing to only lose 44 imps in the 40 boards that we played.
Overall we are still second in the table, 8 VPs clear of Cope, but we still have to play the leaders. The final three matches are next month.
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