Macon Winter Sectional

I'm gonna need a lot more practice before making a regular habit of playing online poker for money. With Robins AFB closed this Monday and part of Tuesday due to icy roads, I took that time to play dozens of sit-and-go's on Poker Stars. It looks like I played about 30 of them with a $3 buy-in and $.25 entry fee and ended up some $40 in red.

Anyway, the Macon sectional starts Friday. This is the 4th year I've been living here and it looks like I'll be continuing the streak of bringing different young players for this tournament, at least the one in January. For the tournament in August, I tend to play with locals or my dad. In 2008, before he started playing and teaching full-time, Robert Todd came for the sectional and we had very mediocre results. In 2009, my GT friend (and best drinking buddy I've ever had although Alli and Mike are close now) Ramesh took the Greyhound bus to spend a weekend playing with me when my canape system was still in infancy. In 2010, Sean, who many of the locals already knew, came to play with me but grabbing all the attention was Dana Berkowitz playing with pick-up partners. From time to time, people here still ask me about her and if there is/was romantically involved with either me or Sean (awkward), and I'm kind of thinking that when the locals see me playing with Meg Myers this weekend, they're gonna think she's Dana. Now, they don't look alike to me, but really - how many attractive white 20-something year old bridge-playing ladies with long black hair very fashionably dressed could I have as friends who would come to a sectional in Macon? They did mistake Sean for another kid last time he was here, even though most of them had seen Sean at least a couple of times before. To be fair, Sean does actually look like John Albanese.

Reno recap and the impossible 2S bid

So much for getting caught up on sleep and playing midnight games with Dana, the two things I was looking forward to the most.

It was a very very frustrating time for several reasons, mostly surrounding the difficulties in getting along with dana and mila, our varying expectations and unclear communications, but it was very action-packed and I had many good times - just not the good times I was expecting. I remember when I used to be content just hanging out with my partner and/or parents for dinner and after the games and have only brief interaction with others during the bridge games. But it takes a lot more to satisfy me nowadays, which I tend to view as a good thing. I kind of want those days back instead of this sort of associating with lots of people but mostly being lonely.

I did play 2 midnight games and won them both and picked up another 7 or so points for the 64% session Mila and I had in the red ribbon pairs. The other 3 sessions of the Red Ribbons were pretty bad. In the next to last round of day 1 of the open Swiss with my dad, I picked up: Ax, T, KTxxxx, ATxx. Partner opens 1H and I start thinking "yay, i hope i get to use the impossible 2S bid here." Sure enough, he rebids 2D and I rebid 2S, showing basically a strong diamond raise.

What else could 2S be here? Anyway, it went all pass and partner came down with xx, KQJxx, Qxxx, Kx. They didn't lead a trump and I managed 6 tricks in the 2-2 fit for a push, against 3NT
down 2 at the other table.

Some things I learned this weekend

Okay, so this is actually about relationships, but it kind of is entirely about bridge. Bridge players need to be with other bridge players. They are a strange set of people. In a way, I feel like bridge has stunted my growth socially. In another way, I feel like bridge has made it easier for me to be sociable and fit in somewhere. I don't know. Yes, I have tennis but there's something about the mutual intellectual stimulation and the ability to always have something to say about bridge. I like tennis and many other things a lot but many days or even weeks there just isn't much to say about it, but there's always a bridge hand or bidding sequence or new convention that I want to discuss. I can't imagine what I would be like without bridge. Regardless, trying to hang out a whole weekend with a fellow bridge player without playing any bridge, especially someone I know almost entirely in a bridge setting, is not a good idea. While in the long run, getting along away from the bridge table is important, it should start at the bridge table because bridge is one (and maybe the only) part of life in which we are truly comfortable and confident and functioning like a normal person (well, normal for a given activity).

Bridge as a Social Game

I’ve met a lot of people (mostly non-bridge players) who claim that bridge isn’t a social game, or that is isn’t a social game for young folks, because who really wants to socialize with people 2 and 3 times their age. I used to think the same thing because bridge would be like a hobby to me but I would still have a normal social life. As I have grown older, I have noticed that almost all of my friends are now bridge players. And they almost all live far away from me. It’s not that I’ve played more bridge lately – I’m just getting along with bridge players better now, especially that I’ve found several other young bridge players.

Would my life be really dull without bridge? Yes, probably. I don’t fit in with a typical early 20’s group of people, certainly not the group that resides in Middle Georgia. I mean, I like to go out to bars and work out and watch shows and sports as much as the next person but somehow I never fit in with my peers here or growing up in Valdosta. At Georgia Tech, yes, there were many social groups I could fit in, but they went to the opposite extreme and are too nerdy for me. Maybe it’s an intellectual difference. The bridge players I now consider my best friends - Ramesh, Emory, Sean, Megan, Patrick, Dana, Gio, Joel, dad - include people born in 6 different decades of brilliant people who aren't totally consumed with the game or with work, like many super smart people are. Maybe that’s what draws me to them and vice versa. My friends from GT were largely too serious about studies and work to suit me while the friends from home are maybe too conservative to suit me.

But, seriously, playing bridge has allowed me to meet lots of fascinating people. Even though going to a tournament involves 7 hours a day (3.5 hours for a club game) of sitting at a table nearly silently, there is a lot of social interaction, probably more social interaction. You are bound to find someone you can get along with. And bridge kind of gives you something to talk about. Bridge player are notorious for going on and on talking about hands and bidding systems. I try not to do that but if you get a lull in the conversation or need an ice breaker, “What would you do with this hand…” is a good way to start.

It’s not very often that someone comes to a small sectional tournament without a partner, especially someone the caliber of Dana Berkowitz. But it does happen, and that’s precisely why tournament organizers have people on standby to make sure people who show up without a partner or whose partner stood them up can still play. For that, Sandy Barrow and Tom Wight deserve some credit.

I’m so glad Sean brought Dana down from Atlanta, and I’m glad I had room for them both in my house. It was a fun 3 days. I just wish I could have gotten Dana a better partner. But still 7+ masterpoints in 2 days playing with pick-up partners who I must say are below average, even for middle Georgia standards. I was thoroughly impressed with Dana. Hopefully it’ll be the start of something great.