Meanderings

I haven't pushed blogging back into my routine, not yet anyway. But I have pushed bridge back into my life, and when I consider it, there are a few good topics that have cropped up.

Playing got started before directing, of course, but I have directed a couple of games at the Manhattan. It was noteworthy (to me, anyway) how much work seemed to be involved, and how stressful it all was. Overall, directing a game seemed to be quite an unpleasant assignment. I know I didn't feel that way before. Apparently, a break of nine months or so is long enough to introduce significant rust into the gears. Hopefully, I will shake it out and start enjoying directing again.

I have landed a decent client, and played several pro dates with her. She has accumulated about 600 master points, but almost all black points. My assignment is to play with her in regional and sectional tournaments, and win her enough gold and silver to be a life master. I could debate the proprieties of such a transaction, but suffice to say I think it is ok, from a theoretical as well as a practical standpoint. The truth of the matter is that I may be good, but if she plays like a bonehead we won't win much. If we win some points, she will have earned her share.

And playing as a pro has helped me focus on my game, also. The thing is, the client isn't a great player, so the partnership is certainly lop-sided. The pro is not expected to make any mistakes, because the client makes enough for the two of us. So all those things that people say (but so rarely do) - like paying attention to every trick, every board, and having a reason why that particular card, every card – all those things suddenly are real. For example, a couple of weeks ago, we played in a sectional. The client put me in 4S in a horrible 4-3 fit, as clients sometimes do. At first glance, the contract was hopeless, and indeed, the computer analysis gave 9 tricks as the limit. But the defence made a couple of mistakes, and suddenly I was racing for home. But then a careless error at trick 11 dumped it again, down 1. Time was, I could shrug that off – we were too high, and made the appropriate number of tricks. But this time, I see the difference as about 1.5 silver points that I could have – should have – won for my client. And weeks later, it still chaps my ass that I blew the hand at the last moment.

I'm also trying to get back into a regular playing rhythm with Agent 99 and, to a lesser extent, Elwood. (The putative partnership with Rose has bitten the dust, not explicitly but by tacit mutual agreement. Our personalities and styles just do not mesh very well.) I'll make a separate entry to talk about how we're bidding these days.