Book Review and The Lew

Today I finished reading 'Calf,' one of Krzysztof Martens' books from his 'University of Defense' series. I originally picked it up because of a recommendation that advertised it as an expert/world-class book on defense. While the plays in the book may well be of that caliber, the way in which they are presented sometimes obviate the plays from a problem perspective. So, while I would certainly recommend the book as an instructional piece on how to think as a defender, I did not find it to be on par with, say, Kelsey on Defense in how the text and plays are organized.

The book is so named because Martens compares the average player to a calf, wandering aimlessly through the wilderness. 

Here is a hand from the 4th quarter of the recent Vanderbilt in which my old coach, Lew Stansby, defended a hand that seemed to have come straight out of Martens' book (accurate defense would have ensured victory):

Well, I could have done with a lighter warm-up post, but hopefully this wasn't too bad, and hopefully I'll be able to posts some hands with mon ch00 soon.

Last Chance?

I received a call from Jason two days ago informing me that I've oficially been added onto the USA1 roster for the World Junior Teams in Philadelphia, this October. Needless to say, I am happy and honored that my friends and peers would choose me to play in this important event.

Whether I will be able to play is still a little cloudy, but hopefully that will all be resolved very soon. In the meantime... maybe I should try to take it to the next level? That's what my brother Pat would advise anyway. This year is my last cycle as a Junior, and after having come so close to gold in Istanbul... I really want to run it back and put the US back on top.

Recently, Jason and I have been playing a series of matches against Val Kovachev on BBO. In general these matches keep me up really late since everyone is going by GMT-8 while I'm at GMT-5 (now -4 on account of daylight savings) so I don't play my best bridge. However... considering recent developments I'm going to put a renewed energy into them and really start to hammer out some definitive agreements with Jason -- limited though they may be.

Hopefully I'll be able to post a few of our more interesting problems on here as a run-up to Philly. Vugraph from the Vanderbilt begins today... so maybe I'll try to get back into the swing of blogging by posting some of the hands played by the best.

Cheers!

Parting Shots

Well last night was the awards ceremony and banquet. It was held on the rooftop of the playing site, which looks down over the hillside through several miles of Asia and eventually down to the Bosphorus. It was a beautiful view, and the skyline was highlighted by a crecent moon that turned blood red before it set, which seemed a fitting sign of the end of our stay here. There were cocktails and a live band and everyone was dancing, it was a lot of fun.

Today we went on a tour of the city. We saw the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace (where the sultan kept the harem), and a very old Greek Orthodox church, the Kariye, that had some stunning mosaics. Finally we went on a cruise up and down the Bosphorus, which is like a real-life episode of The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The houses are out-of-this-world and everything is set in perfect order as if there were going to be a big party at each house at any moment. They had sailboats, yachts, pools, and there was even a private club set on a floating island in the middle of the straight. It was pretty incredible. Here are a few of the better photos I was able to take last night and tonight before my battery died. Actually I didn't have my memory card in last night at the ceremony so those pictures may have to wait until I get home, where I have the cables that can transfer everything. I just posted a lot of photos of the trip on Facebook, so you can have a look at them there. Anyone should be able to see them!

Again I must thank my teammates and my captain for a wonderful tournament. It is always an honor to represent your country, and to be on a team of great friends is very heartwarming on top of that. I hope to play with you all again sometime, I know you'll have great successes and hopefully maybe one or two of those will be together again. Cheers!!

Finished!!

Well... it's all over. Maybe with a stellar session today Jason and I might have been in medal contention, as it was we came in 15/54, about 3 boards back of 3rd. If you remove our 2nd session, in which about a million and one things went wrong, then it probably would have happened. Justin Lall and Jeremy Fournier came back from 29th to be in 4th place with 3 rounds to go, but 3 Polish pairs put paid to that. Alex Hudson and John Marriott won Gold for the U21 category. Justin and Jeremy had the top result for the Americans, taking 10th. I managed to win a couple side bets, so it wasn't all bad.

Here were a few interesting hands from the final set:

Exhausted

Non-players probably wouldn't believe how exhausted playing bridge all day will make you. I've been trying to eat right and sleep right for this whole tournament, yet waking up after a full night's rest at ~8:30am only takes me until about 8pm before I'm totally spent.

This evening there's an exhibition match between some of the Turkish organizers, two Dutch girls, and Adam Kaplan, Howie Weinstein and Matt Meckstroth. I'm kibbing Howie and Adam, here was one hand:

It's hard to pick out one good hand from a match when you don't have any hand records, but this one was funny because nobody at the table really had any idea of what was going on, yet I think that N/S found a pretty nice defense.

None of the hands that we played today are really worth mentioning. Both Jason and I didn't play particularly well, and we had a 1st set that was a total wreck. We're in 18th, I believe, with 26 boards to play and need a pretty healthy set plus some luck to medal. But I'd be happy with a top-10 finish.

I'll be happy to arrive home and get back to school... bridge is just too hard!