Month: January 2009

Pleasanton sectional

by

Hi all

Life is back to normal, well, as normal as it can get in Berkeley. I’m still on the lookout for a job, but recently CNN brought the news that the unemployment rate in California has risen to more than 9%. Combine that with the global economic situation and you can figure out that I’m in for a bumpy ride. Oh well, we’ll see what the future brings us.

Last weekend was exciting. On Saturday I played a sectional in Pleasanton together with Andrew G. The morning session we scored a fine 60% round, the afternoon session my lack of routine struck for a skinny 51something%. That feels good if you haven’t played a serious match in weeks… months. And on Sunday Sanne and I went to a Bay Area Quasi Juniors party in San Francisco. That’s quite the mouthful. Games and beer, you don’t need extra ingredients for a succesful party.

Here’s a deal from Pleasanton:

South
JT97654
96
86
Q8

 
Your sitting 3rd seat, vulnerable against not, pondering whether or not you should (or dare to) pre in . But to your surprise your partner opens 1 and your RHO overcalls 2. Right! You have maximum support but a terrible flat distribution. Maybe a direct jump to game obfuscates things best for the opponents, but I chose to bid a timid 2 intending to bid up to the five level if needed. LHO supports and partner makes a nice describing bid with 4. The auction ends with my 4 bid. Huh?

West
North
East
South
 
1
2
2
3
41
pass
4
a.p.
 
 
 

1. Natural, intending to compete to the five level if there is a double fit present

RHO starts with a top and I ask partner with a smile how many trumps he expects. I drop all seven of them on the table and I’m not surprised Andrew is set one trick.

North Dealer
NS Vul
North
AKQ82
J8
KQJT4
J
West
3
QT5432
73
KT72
East
–
AK7
A952
A96543
South
JT97654
96
86
Q8

 
Having seven trumps as support is a nice thing, just as bidding a timid 2. But I’m still wondering what East was looking for. Did he need another Ace to bid? Didn’t he hear his partner support? I know for sure that we would have reached at least small slam if we had held the EW cards.

Snow in New York

by

Hi all

Last weekend Sanne and I were in New York after three weeks of visiting friends and family in The Netherlands. A late kind of honeymoon you could say. There was some delay and a lot of turbulence involved, so by the time we got to our hotel we just crashed. The jetlag had an upside when we woke up before sunrise so we had a whole day to visit The Big Apple. Just before we took a stroll through Central Park it started snowing. Beautiful. I think I counted several hundreds of grey, black and brown squirrels there. I love those little rodents, Sanne thinks I’m suffering from the "Chip-‘n-Dale"-syndrome.

The little snow had turned into a real blizzard later. So when we were waiting outside for the rush tickets to the Fuerzabruta-show, we felt like a popsicle. But the wait and cold were worth it, it was a spectacular show. All action took place in, around and above the audience. People running through walls, walking the walls Matrix-style, adrenalin pumping dancing and music. The part where scantily clad girls were jumping and playing around in a huge plastic pool just centimeters above our heads was just breathtaking.

Oh, and there was another thing that struck us. We saw several hundreds of New Yorkers without pants. They were just wearing their nicest pair of undies. Maybe it was some kind of flashmob, we don’t know. But I do know that looking at them made me even feel chillier. What can I say, I’m glad I’m back in 20°C California.

Next week I’ll play a sectional in Pleasanton. There must be some material to craft a bridge story from.

2009!

by

Hi all

Here’s to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old
Here’s to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold