Tonight at the club was one of the most fun sessions I've had in a while. The boards just seemed set up to do interesting things, most of which I got right (this doesn't hurt the fun level), and I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever seen: out of 24 boards, partner declared... none. According to his count (I haven't checked), I declared 9 boards and the opponents declared 15. The weird thing is that it's not like he had no cards -- he had 9.9 hcp per board, and I had 10.5 (well, those deals are for a 30-set, so the actual 24-set are a bit different, but he certainly had points.) Yet somehow the fates always made me declarer. I did a pretty good job for the most part. Here are some fun hands:

On the second hand of the night, I held x A AK7xxx QJ98x white/red. I opened 1D in third seat, and lefty doubled. It went pass, 1S on my right, and I chose to make an aggressive 3C call. When it went 4S on my left I planned to keep bidding, but partner made an aggressive double on J9xx Q9xxx J9 Tx, which was fantastic. 4S went down one while of course I wasn't coming close to making 5D. Great double by partner there, really.

On the last board of that four-round set, I bid 2D red-red holding Jxx void QT97xx KQxx in first chair. Lefty doubled and partner bid 3C, lead-directional raise. Righty passed and my hand couldn't really be any more offensive, so I tried 5C in case partner had a real club suit. I sort of regretted this when lefty bid 5D (I guess 5D would have taken up more room, but I wanted to inform partner of save possibilities), but when righty bid 5H and lefty raised to 6, and then tabled... AKQT9x AKQT8x void x ... I was pretty sure I wasn't keeping them out of that one.

The next set brought a phenomenal hand. I held void AKxx JT86xx AJx red/white, and my RHO opened 1H. I was sort of awkwardly placed, but it's not hard to envision us cold for even 6D and not getting in the auction, so I bid 2D. Partner now bid 3C, good diamod raise, and righty bid 3S. This was exciting to me, and I bid 4C, trying for slam. Lefty raised to 4S and partner bid 5D, and obviously partner had little wastage in spades, so I raised to 6. This was promptly doubled, and I was a little worried, but on the spade lead dummy tabled Qxx Txx AQ9x KQx. Perfect! The diamond was expectedly onside and I wrapped up a +1540. The 6D bid was a feel bid; I admit I didn't know who was making what, but it felt so right, and it worked out well.

The next set, I held 9 JT AQJxxx AKxx red-white. Partner opened 2S in second seat, righty doubled, and I passed. Lefty bid 3H which was passed back to me, and I figured, hey, matchpoints, partner should have something for his red/white second seat bid, so I hit it. When the smoke cleared, we were +800; +200 would probably have been fine, but +800 was pretty fun. Emboldened by the good work on my table feel, I deropped a doubleton queen offside (with clues), wrapping up another good round.

The next set brought plenty of fireworks. On the first board I held xxxx KJTx KTx A9 white-red, and overcalled 1H over 1C. I've had good experiences with this, and it worked out okay (although on the layout, not much mattered.) Partner got me back on the next hand by opening a four-card major; holding xx 98xxx QTx 9xx I passed his 1H after a double, and lefty, eventual declarer, couldn't work it all out and went down a couple in a 3S contract (which to be fair I had given to them by not playing partner for his actual hand.) On the third hand of the set, I picked up AKQT8x void xx Jxxxx with everyone vulnerable. Lefty opened 2H and partner overcalled 2NT. Righty raised to 3H, and I really didn't know what to do. I figured partner probably had some wastage in hearts, and I couldn't figure out how to bid scientifically, so I just bid 6S. Partner had crossed me up again: my dummy was J9 Jxx AKJ AKQ9x. Nice stopper, huh? I took thirteen tricks, laughing at partner all the while. The fourth board -- I suppose we were tired by the hijinks -- was passed out.

Two sets left. On the second to last set, I held Kxx ATxx Kx J98x. I passed in first chair and partner bid 1C in third seat. Over my 1H bid, partner returned to 2C. Aha, I thought: he failed to open 2C weak! A system win -- he must have a pretty good hand. It was easy to envision nine tricks opposite a minimum (say xx xx Axx AKxxxx), so I contracted four them. They led a diamond and partner somewhat sheepishly tabled JT9 x xxxx AKTxx. It... rolled.

Things were going well. Last set, more goodies. This was a fun play problem: I held void AQ97xx KQxx J9x white-red. Lefty opened 1H and partner bid 2H michaels. After some thought, righty passed, and I bid 3C pass or correct and played it there. Lefty led the ten of spades and partner tabled Axxxx x Jx A8xxx. Plan the play...

On the next board, I held KTxx x KQx A9xxx. Righty opened 1H and I made the obvious double. Partner bid 1NT, and righty persisted with 2D, which lefty corrected to 2H. Your lead.

On the next board, I held T98xx A9xx xx xx. Righty bid 1C and I passed; lefty bid 1D and partner bid 1NT. I knew he would think this was natural and thought we had the agreement, so, confident I was on the same wavelength, I informed righty of this when she asked, and then tanked about whether to garbage Stayman (and if it was on), or bid 2H transfer. I eventually settled on the latter. Of course, I was wrong: partner held Jxxxx QJTxx Q 9x. The opponents, bless their hearts, landed in 5D making 6 and didn't call the director (not that I think we did anything wrong.)

Quite an eventful set, wouldn't you say?

Last night I played with Elena (who I've played with maybe once or twice before) in a STaC game at the Cardinal Club. Everything went right -- we ended up with a 66 percent, probably in the overalls. Along the way there were some fireworks. This hand I was utterly baffled by, and still don't know... you are white/red 3rd seat. Partner opens 1C and RHO overcalls 1S. You hold:

A86xx AQJ AJT Kx.

I sat in shock for some time -- if I didn't want to go for penalties (and I decided I didn't), I searched for a bid that remotely described my hand.

Eventually I emerged with a sketchy double (I figured this only mis-stated my hand by 1 card and a 4-3 heart fit could play okay) whereupon partner surprised me by jumping to 3S. I interpreted this as a splinter in hearts, but I figured she had to have good clubs for this bid and... I don't know, I bid 7NT. To recap, the auction proceeded: 1C (1S) x 3S 7NT.

Partner tabled void Kx KQx AJTxxxxx and clubs were 2-1 so I had 15 tricks. Making nine... I still don't know what I was supposed to bid.

Late in the evening, I held KT9xxx void KJTx Jxx red/white. Partner opened 1D and I responded 1S, whereupon lefty interjected 2H. Righty raised to 4H after partner did not make a support double, and, hell, everything I was touching was turning to gold, so I tried 4S. This was doubled by righty and I bought A8 Qxx Q9xxx Axx. After the defense failed to switch to clubs in time, I lost only a trump and a diamond and a trick in the wash: +790.

Some nights, everything works out. I still don't know what to do with that 19-count...

Our slaughter in the Spingold match put us in a position I've only been in twice: a position where we needed to produce some action to win the match, being behind by a lot. Swinging is interesting; the most obvious thing to do is outright psych, but this tends to be pretty antipercentage. Indeed, this is what we tried to do a bit of the first time, and got pounded (in the first round of the Vanderbilt last year.)

In The Bridge World (a fine bridge magazine), they detailed the Nickell team's comeback in the Bermuda Bowl from down 80 (?) in 16 boards, and when I was in Thailand, the Italians almost pulled an even more impressive comeback (100?) on USA1 before falling short. In both cases, there was no psyching, just good bridge with a couple calculated risks involved. Here are a few good deals to sanely swing on:

-- You hold QTxx Qxx T97x xx, and the opponents bid 1NT on your right, 3NT on your left. The normal lead here is a spade or a diamond, depending on your philosophy, but a good swingy lead is the heart queen. This is not very antipercentage (opening leads are reasonably random), and certainly could be the only lead to beat the contract. I pick the queen because it has a greater variance/deceptive value, in that it is slightly more likely (not as much as you might think) to blow a trick, but also (in a very rare case) may cause declarer to misplay the hand and go down in an otherwise cold game (e.g. he may think you have the jack, or may take a safe hook into you assuming you have Qx), which is the sort of thing you'd love to have happen.

Underleading aces is another small-loss thing which can hit the jackpot.

-- You hold KJTx void AKQJxx xxx. Partner opens 2S in first seat.

Try 7S. Assuming partner's suit is better than Q9xxxx, you should make 7S on a non club lead. Partner probably doesn't have the club ace (or a void), but think about what lead you're likely to get: there's no real reason to believe you are more likely to get a club lead than a heart lead. If lefty has neither ace, he may even randomly guess to lead a diamond, so the odds of a club lead should be less than 50 percent. At IMPs, not a percentage bid, but a nice chance to pick up a swing. This looks like a 4-or-5-or-7 hand, so you might as well bid seven, not six.

-- You hold AKQJxxx Ax xx xx. Try opening 2NT or 3NT. You may get to 3NT where 4S fails. Of course, partner might propel you to a no-play slam, but if partner is a passed hand this is less likely.

-- You hold AKx x xxxxx xxxx red/white and hear the bidding go (1H) p (2H). Try throwing in 2S. Partner is unlikely to hang you, and the spade lead against 4H may be just what the doctor ordered (if, for instance, you can cash two spades and then lead through declarer's honor in a minor.)

-- Try not preempting on some normal hands. This will work especially well if the opponents think you're swinging and will be preempting everything at the other table to try to match you. If you hold KJTxxx xx xxx Kx, try passing instead of bidding 2S. Especially against high level opponents (remember, you're behind a lot), they may never play you for such a hand since you didn't preempt.

-- Conversely, throw science to the wind sometimes. Make random leaps to slam instead of cuebidding. Open 4 of a major when it seems appropriate, even if you have a better hand than you should. Bid 1N-3N instead of using Stayman or transferring; you may get a more favorable lead.

What happened in the Spingold? Well, we lost the second and third quarters by less than the first, but we weren't really swinging in the second quarter and sat out the third. So I can't give you any empirical evidence. But these are some not very antipercentage, high-variance tactics to try to come from behind.

We did, in fact, have another excellent session last night, and again we did a lot of good things. Going into the last round we were 21st in a bunch, but on the last board of the evening the defense compressed a trick and Ari pulled off a nice double squeeze, and we came all the way up to ninth.

I'm very happy with this result -- if we had played well during qualifying, we could certainly have come in higher, but we put two good if not perfect sets together. The competition was weak -- I totally see how we could win this so-called national event. The ninth place is our highest finish ever in a national event, surpassing the 10th in the North American Swiss (also a second-tier event), so that's good.

Unfortunately, today in the fast pairs... what can I say. We played well. Our opponents gave us nothing, nothing. We scored 52-47 to barely miss qualifying for tomorrow's final, and that was that. I'm flying home tomorrow evening for a wedding, so barring some spontaneous side game, that's it for Vegas for me. Great times -- I really feel like Ari and I played well, even if we only have the one result to show for it. And the setting can't be beat, of course -- I wish every nationals were here.

See you in Boston!

So having been knocked out of the Spingold, we've been playing the 2-day open pairs starting on its second day, which is the easiest open national event by far, since all the best players are still in it. We didn't do ourselves any favors in the first session, sadly, simply making lots of outright mistakes to end a smidge over 50. With confidence at a low, we managed to pull it together somehow in the evening: we were sloppy, but also did a large number of good things to post a 57 and qualify with plenty of room to spare. This is weird, of course: most of bridge is not making mistakes, but we made some nice leads, had some nice bids and defenses, and put pressure on the opponents at the right time.

Coming into today, we were 84th out of 182 pairs, and we had a nice first set. I thought we'd be around 25th or so, but we ended up 42nd -- it's not out of the question that we could win, but it'd have to be a huge game. So I probably won't win my first open national championship tonight -- nonetheless, if we play solidly, we certainly have a shot at top 20, which would be nice.

The thing is, I don't feel like any of the pairs we played against were better than us. This is encouraging in some sense, but also it feels like kind of a missed opportunity -- if we'd been playing well the whole time, we could be doing much better (admittedly, we haven't played that many pairs, a small fraction of the field, but still.) Oh well -- it's still fun to be doing decently in a national event.

Today we participated in the annual feeding frenzy known as the Spingold. Attendance here has been great; 108 teams signed up for it. We were seeded 84th and drew the #23 seed, so of course we were heavy underdogs.

We actually didn't play that badly, I thought, but after one quarter we were down 50 or so -- some unlucky things, but mostly the opponents were really, really good. It's the first time I've really played a knockout match against a really good team (okay, second), and seeing that level of consistency for 32 boards makes me realize how far I have to go as a bridge player. It's sobering, but at the same time it was actually really fun to play high caliber bridge, and I don't feel like we were horribly outclassed.

The second quarter was like -25, and after three we were down by 90 and withdrew, which was good. Ari and I had some fruitful system discussion, played some creights with the Crank, gambled a bit (low low stakes), and then it was onto the midnight. I was slated to play with the caddy team, but the teammates vanished, so I recruited Ari and Carlos Pellegrini (an Argentine ex-junior*) to play with me and my caddy partner. Amazingly, we managed to win the midnight, which was really neat. This was my favorite hand: I held T9xxx x KT8x AQx. Partner opened 1D, I bid 1S, and now partner jumped to 4S. Without methods, I decided to just bid 6S. They led a heart and dummy tabled AKQ AJxx AJ9x xx. I won the first heart and proceeded to run a dummy reversal: ruff a heart, spade to ace, ruff a heart, spade to K (J dropping, nice), ruff a heart (they were 4-4), diamond to the ace, draw the last trump. When I led a diamond off dummy, righty followed with the queen, eliminating any guesswork. The icing on the cake was that the club finesse was on: a fun +1460. Who needs science?

Back to the high-level battlefields tomorrow with the easiest national event on the schedule, the 2-day pairs with all of the top teams still in the Spingold (presumably.) Hopefully we can get a result after failing in our first two tries.

So we entered the A/X swiss today. I am not making this up: there were two hundred teams in the field. With it being eight sessions, this made it odds on that some team would win all of their matches. TWO HUNDRED TEAMS.

Hilariously, in the first twelve boards, Steve and I had four accidents, but we did okay, had 19 VPs through two matches, just a smidge behind average. Then in the third match, our opponents bid a grand on a finesse which made, and then something unethical happened at the other table (our opponents, not our teammates.) The directors ruled against us, which was sad. These two boards were 30 IMPs, and in a six board match, this adds up to a blitz.

Amazingly, with 19 out of 60 VPs, we played a team of pros in the fourth round. Again, two boards were our demise, and with 22 out of 80 at the break we called it quits and downgraded our entry to the 1-session BAM. Or maybe IMP pairs. I won't know, as I called in a substitute for the evening, which I'm taking off.

These results have been pretty bad so far. Hopefully I can play better, starting tomorrow with the real Spingold. We're going to be seeded pretty low, as usual, but I'm hopeful of making it to the second day. There's no reason we can't do this -- after all, with a partner I've never played with before, we had a great set in the second match of our four-way in the Vanderbilt last year, and came within 11 IMPs of advancing.

Time to rest up, now. In other news, +70 dollars at the tables today.

Summer nationals start with a bang: a three-day pairs, the second hardest pair event on the calendar after the Blue Ribbons. A year and a half ago, I managed to make it to the final day of the Blue Ribbons and acquit myself admirably there, with two 49-plus games. My goal here was to make it to the final day again.

Ari and I hadn't played live bridge in a while, so I was a little nervous, but in the first session we played really solidly and really well, which added up to a 56. This took some of the pressure of the evening off, and we didn't play great, but good enough with some fun moments mixed in, to qualify for the second day with plenty of room to spare -- in the top half of the field even. So we had some carryover to spare.

Unfortunately, in the first session of the second day, the wheels came off. I simply couldn't concentrate -- it was some of the worst bridge I'd ever played. Amazingly, it only added up to a 46, but it was enough to drop us well out of qualifying position (they were qualifying 104 of 234 pairs, so one needed to be somewhat above average to qualify.) In the evening, we played a bit better, but so did the opponents, and we missed qualifying by quite a bit.

There were, of course, some interesting hands along the way. The two moments I'll remember most of all:

-- One of the world's best players mis-claimed in a four-card end position against us. In the end position in 2S, I held a small heart, small club, and two good diamonds. Dummy had the good heart, a club, and two big spades; declarer had two good clubs and two big spades; my partner held three small spades and a club. He claimed, saying, I'm going to get my club and a high crossruff (after I had been in the tank a while, and he looked at my partner's hand to speed things up (don't try that at home.)) My partner pointed out that if I made the weird play of a heart, he could pitch his club and declarer had no recourse!

-- On one of the later hands, I held a totally normal hand, Kxxx Qxxx Jxx xx. My LHO opened 1S, and partner, white-red, pulled out the 6C card. I thought this was a swingy, funny thing to try to get us up a bit, but in fact he held void AJx A AKQJTxxxx, and it was totally reasonable (many people I gave this problem to did the same thing.) What a hand, huh?

Anyway, after failing to qualify, I was planning to take today off, but somehow got roped into a two-session Swiss instead. It's hard to pass up bridge with fun people at nationals, so here we go -- a bit of relaxation before the hard national events start off. Hopefully it'll be a bit of a confidence builder.

On a social note, things here are fantastic. Pretty much everyone I wanted to see is here (with a couple of exceptions -- hi Jenny!), and it's simply a blast. And I haven't even had the chance to exchange money for fun at the casinos yet!