Carolyn Siracuse and I were sure of it. The cards
were stacked against us all during the Saturday afternoon STaC game at the
Airport Bridge Club. It was a five-table Howell movement and we were on defense
more than what we thought was fair. On 24 boards, we were declarers only five
times. We finished with 37.94%, dead last by a large margin.
Generally,
over the course of a game, the law of averages evens things out. You can count
on getting about 10 points a hand if you’re sitting in one direction all the
time. So let’s do a little review of what happened Saturday afternoon as we went from East-West to North-South and back to the other side of the table again.
In
24 hands, I had a total of 177 high card points. That’s an average of 7.375. Needless
to say, I gave those green Pass cards a workout. Carolyn had the better holdings,
but hardly enough to compensate. Her high-point average was 9.46. She took the bid
twice. We were outgunned.
I held just five opening
hands all afternoon and only on three of them did I win the bid. They were 12
points (3 Spades making 4, average board), 15 points (1 No Trump making 2, a lucky
top, Carolyn had a 4-point hand) and 11 points (3 Diamonds making 4, average
minus, opponents fixed us by bidding a 3 Club opening preempt and kept us from finding our Spade fit).
So there’s the evidence, plain as day. The Howell movement can really turn the game against you.
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