Is that a great smile or what?
I've written before about our retirement avocation of playing duplicate bridge.
Owen, the handsome young man above is one of our favorite bridge partners in team play. At sixteen, Owen (young enough to be my grandson) has already earned his Life Master award and has been playing in duplicate bridge tournaments for years.
Last week, there was a 7-day ABCL Regional tournament in Greenville, SC . . . about an hour away from us. We commuted back and forth on Tuesday and Wednesday and then went down on Friday and stayed through the weekend. There were over 1500 tables of bridge played during the week by almost 900 participants.
The tournament was held downtown and Greenville's tree-lined main street was delightful for walking between afternoon and evening rounds . . . great restaurants, great atmosphere.
We have several favorite pairs we like to play with at tournaments. Owen and his partner, Sam, are two of our favorite partners. At sixteen, Owen has been playing longer than any of the rest of us. We had a very successful tournament, but we also had great fun playing with Owen and Sam.
Sam had work responsibilities on Thursday and Owen went home to be fitted for a suit for an event he is attending soon with his father. While we were at dinner on Friday evening,I asked Owen about his new suit and he offered to try it on and show me. He was not staying at the tournament hotel, but had his dad bring his suit. He went up to my room in the hotel and changed and came down looking really terrific as you can see above. We had never seen before him in anything, but pop culture T-shirts before. Owen ended up with no time to change before the evening round, so he played in his new suit and tie. He got lots of attention.
Owen is the kind of young person that makes you feel hopeful for the future. His energy and enthusiasm are contagious. And, he is so much fun. No one is a stranger to him. He knows and talks to all the pros.
This picture of the "winning team" 
was taken in January at a Sectional tournament, the second time we all played together as a team.
At tournaments, our favorite games are the team games. There are two different kinds of team games, Knockouts and Swiss. Which section or bracket you are assigned to depends on the total points of the team. The basic idea of team games is that we play a set number of hands against opponents whose team partners play the same hands we do. Our team partners are playing the same hands our opponents are playing. Score are compared after a round of boards.
In Knockouts, there are two twelve-board rounds in each match with one team being knocked out in each round. The fourth round is genenerally played between the two remaining teams for first and second place. In Swiss games, you play against players of all levels and no team is knocked out. You score Victory Points based on International Match Points for each round and the team with the highest score at each level wins in the end. A "D" rated team can win in "C," or "B" with a high enough score, but a "B" team can only win in "B."
Because of my health, we rarely play mornings. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we played an afternoon/evening Knockout event which we won. We started another Knockout event on Friday afternoon and ended up in a much higher bracket where we were almost the bottom team in total points standing. We won that event also. In the second round of one of the knockouts, we were down 33 IMPS (International Match Points) at the half. That is a huge deficit, but we ended up coming back to win in the second half . . . largely due to Owen's creative bidding and excellent play.
Then on Sunday, we played an all-day Swiss team event. Our points placed us as "D" players, bottom. The A/X event is for the REALLY big players (over 2000 points), including the pros. There is also a lower event for the novice/intermediate players (0-300 points) Everyone else, 27 teams, played in the B,C,D event. We ended up 1st place in D, 1st place in C and, 2nd place in B. We were all pleased since most of the teams we played in the 7 rounds were more experienced with more points.
Each of us ended up in the top ten in overall points for the tournament for players with up to 1500 points (triple the amount any of us had).
I'll fondly remember our success at the Greenville tournament, but the best memories are of the great time we had playing with our good friends, Sam, and Owen. Owen bought me a gift in one of the Greenville shops, a linen towel that says: "All I have learned about life, I have learned playing bridge!" One of the most delightful things I've learned is that you're never too old to have fun with young people.
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Posted by: Calvin Klein | December 21, 2011 at 12:25 AM