A bridge story I may have told
One of the reason I like to play in the NAOPs Flight A is that its the strongest game in town1. At the last one I played in there were ~20 tables. There were roughly thirty tables when 10-15 years ago, and it’s been dwindling. Not just because bridge is dying (it is) but because even many experts don’t want to play in a game where they know they are very big underdogs, because the national/world class players show up. But when I looked around the field the last time, I figured “Well, we’re probably the 18th best pair here” (and in fact we finished 18th).
But the reason to play in this game is that your mistakes will be almost instantly revealed — sure you could get lucky, but most likely if you make an average play but miss the expert play, you will get a bad score, because all the experts will find it.
There was one hand where I was in 3NT and it was obvious that I was making five or six. I found what I thought was a relatively routine expert squeeze play and made six, and later said “In a club game, that’s a top. Here, that’s an average and possibly played exactly the same at each table.” I was right about the first and wrong about the second — one pair bid to 6NT and got a top when the (lucky) squeeze worked, and one declarer missed the squeeze and was in 3NT making only 5 for a bottom.
But during the play the international-caliber expert on my left made a joke along the lines of “Sure you don’t want to try a different line of play?” before conceding that the squeeze had worked and saying “Nicely played” before putting his cards away. (If a play is obvious to me, it must have been super-obvious to him).
That expert was Finn Kolesnik, looking even younger than his picture in this online AMA style article. He will be the youngest player to represent the US in the Bermuda Bowl.
- Literally, in town (or the next town over). I could play in strong games by travelling, but don’t care for the expense.
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