[CSGibson]

I wanted to create a new years thread for the bridge players on the forum, both to state where they are now in their bridge life, and where they hope to move forward to in the future.

2013 was a great year for my bridge growth, personally. In mid-2012 I ended the most successful long-term partnership I ever had, and tried about 5 new ones for various levels and events. Of those 5 partnerships, one was a precision variant, three tried some version of weak NT with different systemic follow-ups, and one was a ham & eggs unsophisticated strong NT system which is the staple of American bridge. I found all of those partnerships to be too much memory work - I had more system forgets this year than I have in the previous 5 years combined, as I would not only be getting used to new systems, but also confusing some of the weak NT system follow-ups. By the end of the year, though I had worked back to a regular partnership (precision), a semi-regular partnership, and a semi-semi-regular partnership (both weak NT), which has turned out to be much easier.

As far as actual accomplishments, I represented my district in the open North American Pairs, but fell short of representing in the open Grand National Teams, settling for 2nd, and winning the right to represent District 20 in the flight B GNTs instead. In neither event did we actually bring honor to the district, failing to make it out of the first day in both events. This next year we earned the right to represent our district in the open pairs again, but declined the nomination because we only finished 3rd, where there is no financial assistance to go.

On the other hand, there was other significant success at national tournaments for me. I went to the spring and summer nationals this year, and picked up a top 5 finish in a NABC event (4th in the new 10K swiss in St. Louis in my semi-semi-regular partnership), I placed for the first time in a national open pairs event (41st in the Silodors with my semi-regular partner), and won my first seeding points (9-16 in the Spingold, beating the 11th & 22nd seeded teams before getting slaughtered by 6th seeded Gromov, the only national event I played with my regular partnership). The Spingold finish earned me the 50 platinum points I needed to play in the Platinum pairs this spring.

A "goal" of mine this year was to remove myself from eligibility to play in flight B events, which was a stretch goal because I started the year with something like 1650 masterpoints, having never earned more than 300 in a year (2000 was the cut-off for flight B eligibility). Well, I got to ~2100 points, but they moved the goalposts on me, having extended flight B to 2500. I'm out of flight B going forward by choice now, its more fun to play in open events.

Going forward into the new year I have the following goals: Make it to the final day of every national pairs or swiss event that I enter; make the top 10 of an open national pairs or swiss event; Win the right to represent our district in the open NAPs, and the flight A GNTs (open team having fallen through). Develop the partnerships I have kept, and make sure that my partners know that they are valued.


Anyone else?

[GreenMan]

I'm about to play our district's NAP qualifier in flight B with a relatively new partner (he made it to day 2 of last year's NAP flight C, but his partner graduated college and moved across the country, so he's stuck with me). We've finally gotten comfortable with a new system, with a strong club, 4-card Majors and light openings. We just played 4 sessions at a Sectional and did encouragingly well. So that's my goal for 2014: Qualify for the Nationals and then do well once we get there.

[kuhchung]

I just want to suck less arrrrrrrrrgh

[wyman]

CSGibson, on 2014-January-05, 17:21, said:

Make it to the final day of every national pairs or swiss event that I enter; make the top 10 of an open national pairs or swiss event; Win the right to represent our district in the open NAPs, and the flight A GNTs (open team having fallen through). Develop the partnerships I have kept, and make sure that my partners know that they are valued.

This is a really nice list, Chris. Your NABC goals are really lofty, and I like that. Achieving either of those would mark a really stellar year. A top 10 finish in an NABC+ pairs or teams, for example, is a life goal for me, not a 2014 one [although obviously once I achieve it, my life goal will update to winning something ].

One of my 2013 goals was to play more bridge, and I failed miserably.

However, there's a silver lining. I was 2/2 of making the final day of NABC+ events I entered: the open LMs (which was 3 days!) and the national Swiss (2 days), both in Atlanta. I played with one of my favorite people, let alone partners, and your comment about letting good partners know that they are valued hit very close to home for me. These were my first Q's in NABC+ events, so this feels like a very successful year for me, despite the fact that I hardly played at all. In fact, the only tournament I went to all year was Atlanta -- no regionals or sectionals. Pathetic.

I got married, and the officiant was another of my favorite people (and bridge partners). That alone makes 2013 a huge success.

I'll bump my 2013 goal, then, to 2014. I'm gonna play a lot more bridge this year, and that's starting with the (last 4 days of the) Las Vegas regional at the end of January (!!). I hope to make it to Dallas and Las Vegas as well. We'll see what life brings. And a continuing bridge (/life) goal is to become a zen-master at the table. I'm generally a person who wears his emotions on his sleeve, so I'm trying to achieve that state where nothing bothers me; I forget which eastern philosopher made the comparison to life being like a spinning disk -- if you're at the edge of the disk, things are chaotic, and you are being whipped around, but if you can find your way to the center of the disk, you can stand still, calm, and just watch the world rotate around you. That's what I want (in all aspects of life, but also at the bridge table. Maybe I need to move to California...).

This is a nice thread. Thanks for starting it.

edit: also I want to suck less, but I like my goals to be attainable...

[gnasher]

Got knocked out of the Spring Fours, losing to the evenual winners.
Got knocked out of the Gold Cup. Opponents reached the semifinals.
Came third in Crockfords, losing our last two matches to the teams that tied for first.
Lost first-round Spingold match, to the team that came second.

I'm sure there's a lesson in this.

[JLOGIC]

wyman, on 2014-January-06, 14:28, said:

This is a really nice list, Chris. Your NABC goals are really lofty, and I like that. Achieving either of those would mark a really stellar year. A top 10 finish in an NABC+ pairs or teams, for example, is a life goal for me, not a 2014 one [although obviously once I achieve it, my life goal will update to winning something ].

His final day of every swiss/pair game is a more ambitious goal imo (and would be more impressive to me if he did that).

I mean, even if you are 90 % to make the final day of any event, if you play 6 events you're probably around 50/50 to do it. And of course 90 % in any event means you're very very good. Add in that he plans to play the platinum pairs, an event that imo no one is 90 % to make day 3 of, even Greco-Hampson. If he does make day 3 he will have a good shot at a top ten since they cut to one section. Even the NAP, iirc they cut like 2/3rds of the field for the 2nd day which makes it hard to make the 2nd day (but if you make it, you have a good shot of a top ten). If Chris will also play the Blue Ribbons, no doubt the final day of every event would be more impressive than one top ten (and he will have a pretty good chance of getting a top 10 if he is in the last day of every event).

My 2013 was not great at nationals since I only went to 1.5 nationals due to personal reasons lol. Did quite badly at them also as well as the trials. My goal is to show up and play well and play hungrily in 2014, if I play well enough for long enough some results will come but easier said than done. Play slower, think more about hard hands, "don't move till I see it," etc. etc. Having no results for a year in big events is definitely a motivator, and I think motivation and confidence are the 2 keys to playing your best so hopefully this year will go well. Luckily my confidence is not shot yet

edit: Also, I wanna avg 100 points a regional. I think I was close in 2013

[wyman]

JLOGIC, on 2014-January-06, 15:58, said:

His final day of every swiss/pair game is a more ambitious goal imo (and would be more impressive to me if he did that).

Agree 100% (assuming he is going to play a bunch).

But that one's not on my list because, hey, I did that this year! [but I ran pretty good -- i was not 90% to make it to the final day a priori lol, and I only played 2]

I'll obviously be rooting for you to have a ton of success this year. See you in a few weeks I hope...

[JLOGIC]

gnasher, on 2014-January-06, 15:51, said:

Got knocked out of the Spring Fours, losing to the evenual winners.
Got knocked out of the Gold Cup. Opponents reached the semifinals.
Came third in Crockfords, losing our last two matches to the teams that tied for first.
Lost first-round Spingold match, to the team that came second.

I'm sure there's a lesson in this.

Draw better obviously You were probably the 2nd best, 3rd best, 3rd best, and 3rd best teams in those events, unlucky

[JLOGIC]

wyman, on 2014-January-06, 16:04, said:

Agree 100% (assuming he is going to play a bunch).

But that one's not on my list because, hey, I did that this year! [but I ran pretty good -- i was not 90% to make it to the final day a priori lol, and I only played 2]

I'll obviously be rooting for you to have a ton of success this year. See you in a few weeks I hope...

Thanks. See you in Vegas. FWIW, here's 2 hands to illustrate what I'm talking about with my goals. Both came on Dec 31st I think.

1. You hold red vs white xxxx ---- J9xxx Jxxx. Auction starting on your left goes:

(1D) 1H (1S) p
(2D) p (2H) p
(2S) p (4N) p
(5H) p (5N) p
(6D) p (7S) AP

1S showed 5, then keycard and specific kings. Your lead?

It is very likely that dummy has Hx of spades and 6 diamonds to the AK, maybe the queen also. You are not going to give your partner a ruff, since that would imply he's 1-0 in the pointed suits. However, if diamonds are 6511 around the table, a diamond lead will potentially kill their entry to dummy. If this contract is on a heart finesse, they won't be able to take it since they can't draw trumps and also cash the diamonds. Additionally, a trump lead does not seem like it will do anything constructive.

The actual layout was, RHO had AQT9xx AQJx x AK. LHO had KJ xxx AKQxx xxx. As you can see, a diamond is the only lead to set the contract. I immediately led a trump without any thought. Why would I lead immediately without thought against a grand? Horrible and I think I would have gotten it right had I thought about it.

2. You get to 4S with:

K
KQxx
xxx
AKQTx

QJT98x
x
A
Jxxxx

Auction starting on your right was:

(2D) 2S (3D) X
(P) 3S (P) 4D
(P) 4S AP

Obviously 5C is easier, maybe you should have bid 4C over the double, but this is pretty good also. They lead a diamond to your ace. You win and play a spade to the king which holds. What now?

A club to the jack obviously risks a ruff, cross to the HA, and another ruff. Is there any danger in ruffing a diamond? Well, if spades are 5-1, you will play the SQ to LHOs ace, they'll tap you again, and then cross to their partners HA for another tap and down 1. If you play the HK first, assuming they win and play a diamond, you will still be tapped if spades are 5-1 but they will just get 2 spades and 1 heart... LHO will be out of diamonds and will have to play a heart to dummy after ruffing a club. If they win the HK and play a heart, you can win in dummy and now play a club to your jack. Even if they ruff you are ok since they can't get 2 ruffs, and you have not been tapped yet.

On the actual hand, spades were 5-1 and clubs were 3-0. Fortunately on this hand I thought about it and played the HK but my goal this year is to get both of these hands right and not play on autopilot. Amazing things happen when you take a moment to think and be careful, who knew?

Sry for the hands in the goals thread but I realized I could easily see myself getting both of these hands right, or both wrong, or 1 and 1, depending on my mood/effort/etc which is really not good and my goal in 2014 is for me thinking and getting these right to be the norm.

[Fluffy]

I am guilty of the same play too fast Justin has, but mine is even worse due to playing too many match points.

my goal is to improve my webpage and make it really great.

[gnasher]

JLOGIC, on 2014-January-06, 16:07, said:

Draw better obviously You were probably the 2nd best, 3rd best, 3rd best, and 3rd best teams in those events, unlucky

In every case, "play better" would have worked too.

[GreenMan]

gnasher, on 2014-January-06, 15:51, said:

Got knocked out of the Spring Fours, losing to the evenual winners.
Got knocked out of the Gold Cup. Opponents reached the semifinals.
Came third in Crockfords, losing our last two matches to the teams that tied for first.
Lost first-round Spingold match, to the team that came second.

I'm sure there's a lesson in this.

When you sit down to play, ask an opp if you can trade places.

[Antrax]

wyman, on 2014-January-06, 14:28, said:

I got married, and the officiant was another of my favorite people (and bridge partners). That alone makes 2013 a huge success.

Congratulations! That being said, having a kid completely demolished my attempts at playing. So, depending on the next steps for you two, you may want to adjust your goals to "not quitting completely".

Which, incidentally, is my humble goal for 2014. About a month back my club called me, they had some eager young* player they wanted me to mentor, which is ridiculous seeing how at my best I was an eager young player and now I can't play a hand without losing count.
So the plan is to practice with GIBs to the point where my card play is better than random, then see what's up with my old partner and this new guy.

* 35 years old. Not a joke.

[helene_t]

not sure .... maybe I will quit bridge and take up backgammon

[PhilKing]

JLOGIC, on 2014-January-06, 15:58, said:

His final day of every swiss/pair game is a more ambitious goal imo (and would be more impressive to me if he did that).

I mean, even if you are 90 % to make the final day of any event, if you play 6 events you're probably around 50/50 to do it. And of course 90 % in any event means you're very very good. Add in that he plans to play the platinum pairs, an event that imo no one is 90 % to make day 3 of, even Greco-Hampson. If he does make day 3 he will have a good shot at a top ten since they cut to one section. Even the NAP, iirc they cut like 2/3rds of the field for the 2nd day which makes it hard to make the 2nd day (but if you make it, you have a good shot of a top ten). If Chris will also play the Blue Ribbons, no doubt the final day of every event would be more impressive than one top ten (and he will have a pretty good chance of getting a top 10 if he is in the last day of every event).

My 2013 was not great at nationals since I only went to 1.5 nationals due to personal reasons lol. Did quite badly at them also as well as the trials. My goal is to show up and play well and play hungrily in 2014, if I play well enough for long enough some results will come but easier said than done. Play slower, think more about hard hands, "don't move till I see it," etc. etc. Having no results for a year in big events is definitely a motivator, and I think motivation and confidence are the 2 keys to playing your best so hopefully this year will go well. Luckily my confidence is not shot yet

edit: Also, I wanna avg 100 points a regional. I think I was close in 2013

You should add "post more on the BBO forum" to you list imo.

[kuhchung]

Antrax, on 2014-January-06, 22:50, said:

some eager young* player

* 35 years old. Not a joke.

It's so nice to see young people playing bridge.

[MrAce]

PhilKing, on 2014-January-07, 04:17, said:

You should add "post more on the BBO forum" to you list imo.

Yea, i pm ed him about that long time ago. But now that he said he did not play nationals for reasons known to him, i do not expect this to happen anytime soon. But if he proves me wrong, i will be happy just like most people here.

JLOGIC, on 2014-January-06, 15:58, said:

My 2013 was not great at nationals since I only went to 1.5 nationals due to personal reasons lol. Did quite badly at them also as well as the trials. My goal is to show up and play well and play hungrily in 2014, if I play well enough for long enough some results will come but easier said than done. Play slower, think more about hard hands, "don't move till I see it," etc. etc. Having no results for a year in big events is definitely a motivator, and I think motivation and confidence are the 2 keys to playing your best so hopefully this year will go well. Luckily my confidence is not shot yet

edit: Also, I wanna avg 100 points a regional. I think I was close in 2013

This is what happens if you stop practicing vs Master Haspel and his pd Timo

[awm]

Last year highlights: 1. Winning our district's GNT Open flight 2. Finishing 7th in the summer LM pairs 3. Picking up good teammates for a B1 KO (Michael Rosenberg and G Venkatesh) and winning it.
Last year lowlights: 1. Crashing and burning in GNT Open at nationals 2. Losing my best partnership for family reasons, and getting mediocre first results from a new partnership 3. Realizing Elianna and I cannot really play Wednesday night club games after a full day's work, and racking up a bunch of lousy results to prove it

Goals for this year: 1. Make day three (at least) of this summer's Spingold 2. Play more weekend sectionals/regionals with good teams and results (and less club games) 3. Improve my new partnership with Howard to where we can both play our best.

I suspect that I play less bridge than many of the posters to this board! For example, I'd love to get another top ten finish in a national pairs game (or even win one), but I'm not sure that I will even play a national pairs game this year.

[kfay]

In 2013 the only real bridge I played was in the ACBL Spring NABC in St. Louis. I played the Mixed Pairs, the Silodor Pairs, and the Swiss, and made the finals in every event but did terribly. A sectional top in the Silodor was probably my biggest accomplishment. Still, I'm in school full-time and am not extremely disappointed, though I'm still disappointed.

This year I only expect that I'll be able to play in the Life Master Pairs at the Summer NABC in Vegas. I have a good partner so my only goal is to place in the top 20 in that event, and hopefully win it. Winning may be far-fetched but I know it's possible.

I wish I could say I had more goals. I'll be getting my MD by December of this year or possibly within the first month or two of 2015; consequently, I think this is the last year I can really hope to play in something big for quite some time. Perhaps I'm wrong, I hope so.

[Mbodell]

awm, on 2014-January-11, 11:56, said:

3. Realizing Elianna and I cannot really play Wednesday night club games after a full day's work, and racking up a bunch of lousy results to prove it

FWIW I know this is true for me as well for the most part. My weekday evening bridge player is a good 2-5% worse than my weekend bridge player (who is in turn a good 2-5% worse than my national bridge player [at least for nationals that don't start at 7am PT]). Lack of sleep + fatigue from work + stress etc. definitely impacts my play. I'm enough of an addict to want to play anyways.

My highlights result wise last year was probably playing with a non-regular partner of approximately my ability in my first Platinum Pairs (hers too) and almost making day 2 (very top pair not to advance to day 2). Second would probably be the cross field section top with Elianna on the afternoon of day 2 of the LM pairs or ending up in the low overalls in the NABC+ mixed pairs (with the PP partner). Non-results wise I did have a lot of fun at various decently serious social bridge at 4 different people's houses plus working on getting more youth bridge players (more than 200 so far this year) through silicon valley youth bridge has been good.

Low lights from last year include Phoenix where I was 0/4 in advancing in national events. Playing terribly in the evening of day 2 of the LM pairs to turn a 99%-likely qualification into a non-q was not very good either. Not qualifying for any flight NAP or GNT (especially GNT where I had good teams in the final of GNT B and semi-final of GNT A but no Q) was annoying too.

My main results goal is to play more days of national events, preferably by having more of my regular partners go to nationals and play with me and/or establishing more regular partnerships with people who do. Qualifying in NAP or GNT or both would also be good.