Two Big Deals

There were definitely more than a few moments yesterday where the thought, "I think I'm just going to quit bridge" crossed my mind. There's no doubt in my mind that we have the best team here, but I probably played most poorly. There is a thing about these championships--the age limit--that makes them so crucial to win for guys like those who are on my team. In other big events (like the Bermuda Bowl, or the Spingold) there will usually be another chance, if you keep going. Here, though, there is a short and overshadowing time limit to take home gold. On this particular event, my time has now run out.

To be a great champion in anything, you can't just love to win, you must hate, hate, hate to lose. It's this hatred, especially, that helps you reach down to places unknown when your back is up against the wall. And no matter how many times it happens, losing matches like these still burns horribly, even if there was really nothing more you could have done.

Here are two deals from the first half of the Italy match that I wish I could have back:

In her book, "I Love This Game," Sabine Auken talks about there being a crucial juncture in every hand where, the fate of the contract after that point has passed is already sealed. If you play bridge long enough, at a high enough level, you develop a 6th sense for when this "kill point" has come and gone. See if you can follow me:

Here's another baby bid that I botched:

Well what do we know at this point? For one, partner is 100% to have both major suit aces. There is no chance he would bid 5NT pick-a-slam missing AK in both hearts and spades. So we can count 12 tricks at this point... but wait, there's this annoying blockage in hearts and spades. I was thinking at the table, "a kingdom for the 2 of hearts!!!" but you still have to decide what to do. If partner has CQJ, we're cold for 6, if he has the Q and the K is onside we're still cold. If he has the club K we're cold for 7. There are in fact quite possible cards that he can hold that make us cold for 7, and many that give us obscure squeeze chances or finessing options. At this point there's no particular reason for me to believe that we're only making 6 of anything, so I should just man up and bid grand. If we go down, hey, we go down.

These two hands cost our team 21 IMPs. If I get them right we're up 9 at the half. If I get just one of them right we're down 1 or 2.

But there are a few things I've learned at this tournament. One is that my cardplay is actually much better than I thought it was. The other is that, I at least have a sense of these bids at the table... maybe just a little more experience will fill out that part of my game. Today we play the Dutch, and I told Howie, "I'm playing Drijver." So this is the matchup I jokingly wanted, even if it is just for the bronze medal. But I'll be damned if we bring home nothing.