Bridge ... to Monday
So at 10:05 am this morning J said "Oh, I'm taking the kids ... have fun!" So I decided to go to the local bridge club. (I thought about seeing if anyone was available, but I knew that Trinity had commencement and Rule #1 was still in force, I think).Anyway, I made a call to ensure I'd have a partner and moseyed over. And then "Oh frabjous day" ... today is the yearly free game. (Normally to play bridge you'll wind up paying 'card fees' which mainly cover rent, etc). Needless to say, it was packed.
Overall I did OK. Basically an average game, excepting one disaster caused by having only discussed bidding system with a new partner for five minutes, and a few errors of judgement. (So a 44% game). I'm still annoyed that the Turtle Creek Bridge Club doesn't have a Weds night game (when I could consistently play), but I think I'll try to get in a game every other friday or so. I know that Dennis and Michael play, but I've also got 3-4 others. If people want to learn I don't recommend going to a duplicate club to do it (unless you can make the novice game) but I can teach and recommend/loan a few books.
Anyway, the amusing story, during those five minutes my partner and I came up with the following conversation.
Partner -- "Are we playing Bergen raises?"
(FYI -- Bergen Raises are 3C or 3D over a 1 of a Major opening).
"Fine, but I normally play reverse Bergen raises."
(FYI -- This flips the meaning of 3C and 3D).
"That's OK. Actually, Bergen himself originally played reverse, but someone else reversed them and that's the one that got named Bergen, so Reverse Bergen Raises are actually normal."
.... 2 hours later....
I open 1 of a major and partner bids 3D. I alert.
Opponents: "What is that?"
Me: "Bergen Raise."
Opponent: "How many points?" (Which is equivalent to asking "Regular or Reverse?")
Me: (Thinking back) -- "Uh, I'm not sure. We agreed on Reverse Bergen but then partner said reverse was not reversed. I think she was just stating an etymological curiosity, so uh, Reverse."
Fortunately it didn't matter .... partners bid was enough to get me to game (and not to slam), no matter whether it was reversed (7-9 pts) or not (10-12). It did annoy my opponent though, mainly because we didn't suffer. (And partner actually had an ugly 10, but downgraded the hand).
For the curious, we suffered by not discussing our system to deal with NT interference where I wound up in 3NT down when 4H was cold for 5. All the other mistakes were real (bidding judgement or play). Anyway, I may actually go on BridgeBase more often. (I'm "TaoGaming"). There's a sectional in San Antonio the first weekend of June...
I'll be at DLair on Monday at the typical bat-time (around 5:30).
posted by Brian @ 7:41 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
And just to clarify for bewildered readers ... in Bridge, your opponents aren't allowed to confuse you with bewildering bidding systems. (They are allowed to confuse themselves). As you can see, I was supposed to explain what my partner's bid meant.
So don't feel that weird bidding systems must be learned. (Bidding itself is a weird language, but typically its a natural language for new players). Tinkering with bidding systems is fun, though.
I play bridge although I haven't played in quite some time but would probably enjoy playing some again. I will actually be there on Monday although my time will most likely be committed to getting in a baseball series with Sean.
I've always wanted to learn bridge. I love spades, hearts, tichu, etc- other trick bidding and taking games- but never could really grasp bridge. I suspect this was largely because I never was around anyone else who played. (Spades, hearts, even euchre, yes, bridge, notsomuch).
As an aside, I have tinkered with Brian's spreadsheet that he sent out a few weeks ago and developed a modified version for compiling stats that works pretty well, breaking down individual stats and team stats by game, series, and entire season. The only problem is that it requires the PC version of Excel 2007 to work (due to some of the ways its formulas reference individual cells), and I don't know how many people have that. So if anyone has Excel 2007 and has not yet compiled their stats, email me or drop me a line on BGG Geekmail and I'll email you the templates (one pitching, one hitting). You can also hand me your (legible) score sheets and I can type them in for you (like Dennis did last Strat season) and email you back a set of stats which should work on any excel program.
[/unhijack thread]
Barring disaster, I'll be at DL 5-830pm on Monday.
I may or may not make it Monday. Depends when I get back from my Jeopardy audition in Dallas. Surely fourth time is the charm!
fogot to put in a time
i should be there sometime between 5:05-5:20
Im a go for Monday.
Bridge sounds interesting. My parents played backalley bridge. I dont know how that compares to the regular game, but I always liked it.
My Monday will be spent lighting saint's candles for Game 7.
Michael and I salvaged a little gaming today by knocking out as many mystery setlists as we could find. He is not a fan of Boston, which fits well with his anti-Celtic bias.
I'd like to be there, but chances are I'll be putting coat #3 on the 1000 square feet or so that I'm painting this weekend in my house. I will probably nurse my aching muscles with liberal doses of pizza and Spurs.
Ben San,
Paint the house left-stroke right-stroke. Snap wrist, each stroke. Long boards right hand, short boards left hand.
Gone gaming, back later.
I should be there pending a Sean confirmation that he is going. I need to finish my series with Brian.
I'm there, looks like mostly baseball for me.
OH, and I'm more than willing to attempt some bridge. I've always loved trick-taking games, starting with spades, and moving on to stuff like 42 (ok, it's dominoes, but the same idea) and Bid Whist. I've got the basics down, just need a cheat sheet on basic bidding convention...
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