Welcome to the Hand of the Day. At least, that is what I would be saying if I had been collecting Hands of the Day while I was in Detroit. All you can do in this section is click here to see what events Gene and I chose to play or you can click here to see how well we fared in these events. As an added bonus, you can right click here to save this file and play (if you have a program that allows you to load and play .PBN files) hands 1-8 from my tough hands file. Try playing the suggested contract with the lead I got and see if you are good enough to make it. In most cases, that will make you better than I was when I first tried it.
What Happened) I joined the ACBL back in January 2007 with only one goal in mind, winning trips via the North America Pairs (NAP). In September 2007, I played in my first NAP district final with Gene Froc (who I considered the best C player in the Regina club not named Jason). Our 76% in the first session and 67% in the second session were by far the best 2-session score I have ever had in any event. Our success lead me to believe that we were going to do well in Detroit. How naive I was. Would you believe that we did not even make it through the first round of qualifying? Detroit turned into the worst bridge tournament (from a Master Point/Results basis) that I have ever been to. Allow me to share with you the lessons and understandings that I have gained since then.
1) The strength of the the field at an NABC depends to a large part on how desirable the destination is. Every person who decides to make it a vacation/bridge trip is one person who is probably going to make the field a bit weaker. If the destination is not desirable, (for example Detroit in March) then the only people who go there will be people who believe they have a good chance to do well at bridge. I have now been to 6 NABC tournaments and I would rank them based on difficulty as:
a) Detroit, March 2008 (Downtown Detroit is a bit scary and the weather is cold compared to much of the United States.)
b) Louisville, March 2011 (A bad case of food poisoning is probably making it seem harder than it was.)
c) St. Louis, 2013 (Even though I plan on going to a lot of Nationals in the future this is the last one making this list.)
d) Seattle, November, 2011 (As my skill level changes over the years it is becoming harder to make this list accurate.)
e) Reno, March 2010 (I was surprised that the field was not easier. Perhaps the cooler temperatures (it did snow) kept people away.)
f) Houston, March 2009 (We went swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Sounds pretty nice when you are qualifying for the NAP in the winter.)
g) Las Vegas, July 2008 (The weather was hot making the hotels cheap. Who doesn't want to take a summer vacation in Las Vegas?)
2) Being a good player in Saskatchewan does not mean much in the big picture. Ever since our Detroit disappointment, (our scores ranged from 47%-52%), I have been casually following the results of players from Saskatchewan at NABCs. In the open, platinum point events, making it through qualifying to the second day is about the best result that we can hope for. (Update: At the Seattle NABC, my Saskatchewan partner and I placed in the overalls of the open, platinum point, Nail Life Master Pairs. Does that mean we are the best pair in Saskatchewan?)
3) I am not good at getting someone the last gold points they need to become a Life Master. In the last 3 years, I have partnered or teamed up with 5 people who needed 3 or less gold to become a Life Master. I have managed to come through for 3 of the 5 but in every case it took longer and seemed harder then I thought it should be based on our skill level. I don't think this was the reason Gene and I did poorly in Detroit but it is something that I watch for and take note of now. Actually, I thought that Gene and I were playing the best bridge we were capable of and I thought that we got better and stronger as a pair as the week went on. (Update: Since I wrote this I have partnered or teamed up with 4 people who needed 3 or less gold to become a Life Master. I have to come through for 3 of the 4 so either I am getting better at it or luck is a larger factor than I would like to admit.)
