Stardate: -317853.21

I went to the bridge club yesterday afternoon, and played about three hours of duplicate bridge with a bunch of mostly retired people.

It was an experience. Duplicate is a different format -- everyone plays the same hands, so it's entirely skill that determines who does the best -- and it took a little getting used to but I caught on pretty quick. The rounds were timed, so I had to play faster than I am used to but it didn't throw me off very much. Some of the bidding threw me off; my partner, who was a little old lady named Anna Mae, was a decent player. She bid a five-card major, a slightly weak one no-trump, a weak two bid, and a weak jump raise, all things that are not the same as I prefer and am used to. On the first hand, she bid her weak two hearts, I didn't know what it meant, and got into a contract that I couldn't make; everything went wrong during playing the hand and I went down four. Ouch.

It did get better from there. We made some, got set some, and had some nice defensive play to set a few contracts. I underbid two hands, both of which I should have pushed to a game contract. The oddity of the day was that I was dealt (and bid) four takeout doubles, one of which was a picture-perfect strong 4-4-4-1. I also doubled a preempt. The memorable hand of the day was one in which my partner opened a heart, a suit in which I had a void. I had near an opening hand, even if I didn't count the void as any points. I responded with two of my minor suit, and North overcalled at the two level. My partner jumped to four hearts (!) and of course, I had no viable option but to pass her misfit of a game contract. During the play of the hand, trump broke 6-1 and we went down two.

At the end of the day, my team was 13 out of 15 (thankfully we weren't the worst) and my percentile was 37.5, apparently better than some first timers.

I realize that all that I just said will mean almost nothing to most people who read it, outside of my family. However, if you do play bridge or would like to learn, let me know. It's a great card game.