Bridge Blog 683: STaCking down, STaCking up

            Saturday partner Dotty May complains about her bad luck and in our morning Sectional Tournament at the Clubs (STaC) game at the Airport Bridge Club, I saw what she means. Where other people overbid, our opponents wisely stayed within the realms of possibility. We made tough, sensible contracts only to find it for naught because other pairs had gone wildly off the rails. To that we added a few of our own mistakes, like not taking an Ace when I should, and we wound up last among the 10 pairs in the Howell movement with 41.81%.

            The afternoon five-table Mitchell game went a little better, despite the three disasters I noted on my score sheet – failing to set a contract by setting up a ruff for my partner, losing an extra trick in a contract that should have only gone down one, neglecting to knock out the opponents’ Spade stopper in a 3 No Trump game. Nevertheless, we emerged with a 55.38% game, second North-South, first in the B strat, fourth overall, earning 0.98 silver points at the club. Is this worth something district-wide? We’ll see. For the moment, my silver point total for the week is 7.72.