[mike777]

Last update.

I see the title of the thread is punch drunk by the end of the tournament. Exactly how I feel.

Wednesday had the emergency Doc appointment; they gave me some meds and sent me on the way.

Feel bit better on Thursday, a nice pair invited us to play in some sort of bracketed teams, we won all our matches.

Friday played pairs, first half was excruciating. I was ready to go home after the third board, but we are not allowed to leave. It was so slow, opponents took all the time playing their contracts, leaving us negative minutes to play ours. Director spent entire morning hovering over us. I asked one pair to speed up, they literally said no and played even slower. The afternoon was slow but better. We somehow ended up a tiny bit over average, if you told us we scored thirty percent I would have believed it. I think they gave us a bit of red points as a participation trophy.

Saturday, today, a couple from the club invited us to play today in some team game called AXY I think. I don't really know the pair but they know my partner. Today we get to play against the pros. Meckstroth, Compton who was so nice, and many other famous names. I loved every minute of it. We won 2 out of 5 matches, came close in a third. I spent so much time talking with the pros, who were all so nice, we were late every match, and I didn't care. It was so much fun and listening to all the gossip and stories about Zia and many other names, it was a blast.

What is the difference, well....

I went down in one no trump, other table bid and made three, how??. I put my partner in an aggressive 6H, well let's just say I overbid the slam and knew it. Down one, other table bid and made it, how?? They bid 6NT, every finesse works, seems straight forward, our partners bid and make 3nt.They open 4s at favorable, down three at our table, other table in 3nt vul, making.

Stamina, none.

[jillybean]

I assume Friday was BCD, Saturday AX. Congratulations , you'll never go back to BCD

Sorry, sorry, I am not bashing BCD players, it's fine if you want to play in tournaments and stay out of the Shark Tank.

[mike777]

jillybean, on 2025-November-01, 20:27, said:

I assume Friday was BCD, Saturday AX. Congratulations , you'll never go back to BCD
Sorry, sorry, I am not bashing BCD players, it's fine if you want to play in tournaments and stay out of the Shark Tank.

BTW, my biggest disappointment was in my counting. I seem stuck on getting lost on defense in my counting. I am ok at trick one and two but
am stuck in my counting improvement levels. The pros over and over again knew every card it seemed, no surprise...

[jillybean]

mike777, on 2025-November-01, 20:46, said:

BTW, my biggest disappointment was in my counting. I seem stuck on getting lost on defense in my counting. I am ok at trick one and two but
am stuck in my counting improvement levels. The pros over and over again knew every card it seemed, no surprise...

Yep, it can be very humbling playing AX. I'm certain that I will never have comparable skills to the Pros but it's exciting and a lot fun trying.
Did you meet Itabashi?

[mike777]

He lives on other side of country, not here. However I met him numerous times when I lived in California. He would even come down from Orange county and play pro at our local northern San Diego County club.