It was a long stay in Philadelphia—10 days of the tournament plus 3 of the ABTA conference. I really like the playing site at the Marriott in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Except the Reading Terminal Market—too chaotic for me! I had a great time, but I am glad to be home on the Cape for the rest of the summer.
Bridge-wise, things went pretty well. I played with Greg the whole tournament, which is always a treat. We started off with a disappointing showing in the Life Master Pairs, not making day two. We didn’t play badly, but nothing good happened. Some days are like that.
We actually played worse on the first day of the NABC+ Pairs—in one session we went 0/6 defeating doubled contracts!—but still managed to qualify. The difference in the quality of the fields in the two events is extraordinary. Coming from the premier game, the two-day event felt like playing in a club game. We didn’t have much luck on the second day and didn’t finish in the overalls. Not a great start to the tournament.
In the Spingold, we drew the number 18-seeded Dinkin team in the Round of 64. Our friend Owen Lien was coming off a big win in the LM pairs, and this team has had some very good showings recently. It was a close match, but we led the whole way and were able to hold on for the upset.
That was a great win, and a lot of people took notice and congratulated us. It certainly felt like our leveling up was working!
Unfortunately, that night Greg got violently ill and had to go to the hospital. It was some sort of viral infection that laid him out for about 48 hours. So he wasn’t able to play in our Round of 32 match, which was really disappointing. We got a substitute—thanks Ankur Rathi for playing with me! And we almost won that match—we were leading after the first two quarters, got blown out in the third, and almost staged a comeback in the fourth. It was a lot of fun, but I can’t help thinking about what might have been if Greg had been there. Ankur played great, but there’s no substitute for having a great player like Greg with whom you have an established partnership.
We weren’t sure whether Greg was going to be feeling well enough to play in the Roth Swiss, so we didn’t look for teammates until the last minute. We were lucky enough to find good teammates—thanks to Cenk and Selen—and we qualified easily for the semifinals. The second day didn’t go as well. We started with two losses and were near the bottom of the field. And drew the Zimmermann team! We beat them, and moved up to the middle of the pack again, but we lost our last two matches and were eliminated.
On Sunday, Greg and I played the regional fast pairs. We didn’t do anything spectacular.
I am still processing the tournament and our results, and Greg and I will be going over things in more detail in the coming weeks. We were good about going over the hands at the end of the day, so nothing major is lingering.
My plan to swim everyday ran into the reality of a pool with only two lanes and a hotel full of people who wanted to swim in the mornings. It seemed like the pool was full every time I went down there. I was able to swim a few afternoons, and I got some walking in when it wasn’t too hot. It was a good idea; I guess I just have to consider some of the practicalities as well.
I was good about meditating every day in the morning and between sessions. I bought a pint of blueberries and snacked on those every day. Thanks, Nabil! I had a glass of wine at dinner two nights, when I didn’t have a major event to play the next day. Otherwise, I abstained. It wasn’t too bad, since we weren’t doing fancy meals where I really wanted a nice glass of wine with my dinner.
I tested out an idea to help with focus: not wearing my glasses while playing bridge. I had Lasik surgery in my 20s, and I’ve had near-perfect vision since. But in the last couple of years it’s starting slipping a little bit. I’m probably around 20/30, so I don’t really need them, but wearing them makes the world a little crisper. Up close, I don’t need them at all. So at the bridge table without my glasses on, the table and cards are clear, and the rest of the room is a little fuzzy, which is perfect—I don’t want to be looking at the rest of the room! I don’t think it was a game-changer, but I think it helped on the margins.
In all, I felt very happy with how Greg and I played. There were a few close decisions we got wrong, and a couple of lazy bids or plays. But I felt we were very solid, especially in the Spingold and the Swiss. I felt very comfortable and confident at the table and was consistently doing the work of counting things out and working out the hands. It’s probably the best I’ve played in quite a while.
We both forgot system a couple of times, which is always frustrating. It seems there are only two solutions to this problem: have less system or practice more. We’ve discussed both options and want to go with solution B, though we might simplify a few of the esoteric things in the notes.
I revoked during our Round of 32 match in the Spingold. I don’t do that very often, which is good, but it’s very frustrating when it happens. I just got ahead of myself and ruffed a round too early. We were in a doubled sacrifice and it turned -300 into -500, which wasn’t great. Other than that, my focus was pretty good all tournament.
Thanks to all of you who came up to me and told me how much you’re enjoying the Leveling Up program and podcast. I’m glad it’s resonating with people!
I encourage you to share your progress in the comments. We’re all in this together!!
Have a great week.