Character building holiday

I just came back from bridge holiday and I am still recovering. In fact, I am recovering from a cold as well as from psychological effects the holiday. Two recoveries wrapped in the same time period. No wonder I am struggling. The bridge holiday was my third experience of this type of the event and I must say again that this is not for a faint hearted especially if one is a beginner at bridge. I knew it was going to be challenging and I went anyway. Was I glutton for punishment? Maybe a bit, but in spite of some stress caused by my insufficient knowledge and novelty of the exercise I really enjoyed big parts of it. The people who organize the holiday are really very special people. Their bridge game is superior and this I find rather appropriate and I would not expect anything else from bridge directors. What I find impressive and surprising are their exceptional diplomatic skills. At bridge emotions fly high and there are plenty of opportunities for some exchanges to erupt into unpleasant situations, but this happens extremely seldom, at least this is my experience. This I attribute to calm, tactful and very sensitive approach of the directors who dissolve the fires not even acknowledging them as fires. Unemotionally, with a smile and kindness towards all involved.

                                                                         

The bridge room in Dormi House Moss Vale

Even if I considered the last event and in fact each one of them as rather traumatic, I am writing it with a smile on my face and that means that there were many good points in my experience as well. The first time I really did not know what to expect and quickly realized that I was out of place. Very much out of place. The people were kind and helpful though and I managed to go through four or five days packed with bridge games, lessons and clinics. I was scared, tired and I definitely did not know what I was doing there with all those clever bridge players who talked in the language I did not understand. Bridge language has many dialects called conventions and this is mainly a written language. The only conversation that is allowed in serious bridge company concerns alerts of unnatural bids. Except for that, one can say: “hello”, “thank you partner”, “thank you” and calling a director. I actually do not mind the shortness of conversation around the bridge table as there is so much to think about while bidding or playing that I am happy to concentrate only on that. One is supposed to be friendly and this means smile nicely at everyone around, not offend others by gloating, criticizing, instructing, offending. They are the general rules, as I understand them. The reality is a bit different. The room needs to be silenced from time to time as talks may get out of hand. Partners may get upset with each other game or game of their enemies and express their frustration. We are all human after all and bridge players can get emotional about the game.

I am told that it takes years and years to learn to play bridge well. There is a popular story told as an example of bridge realities and told to relatively inexperienced but ambitious players (maybe like myself?) to settle their expectations of themselves.

A lady proud of her progress and level of her game when asked how many years she has played, proudly and somewhat condescendingly answers:

     - I have played four years, dear.

And hears in reply:

- Oh, I have played eighty-four years, dear.

As I have been playing only two years after many years of the break following my student time bridge and I do not have eighty-two years of possibility to really catch up I need to dismiss the story and conclude that the second person must have been simply repeating the same year for many, many years.  

Remarkable lady 101-year-old on her way to the bridge room. She is the living proof of how true the story really is. She may not have been the best player in our group, but she displayed a really fighting spirit

Bridge Obsession

Since the February bridge holiday, my interest in the game increased significantly. I started to play intermediate bridge and this means that I was invited to play in the room where people play bridge without a social chit chat. It suits me as silence is necessary to really concentrate and I need that to be able to recall rules and conventions I should know and remember. This is not all that easy for me, at least not yet. I came across the statement that I like very much "One of the reasons bridge continues to fascinate players all over the world is that, in order to become even sort of good at it, you have to be willing to be bad at it for a long time".

This knowledge provides me with a great excuse and encouragement when I make mistakes, and I do make them plenty. Now I know that I am on my way to play well as I am willing to play badly. Only for some time, I hope.

My Monday partner, who invited me to play with her, is a very kind lady and a good player.  She points out my mistakes from time to time and since she is doing it nicely and constructively I do not get upset about it. I just learn.

This morning I woke up realizing that I had been dreaming about the last Monday memorable bidding. I must have been re-calculating the game points just before I woke up. In reality we played slam in hearts and I was bidding it! It was a simple bidding really, we had great cards and  almost all other players landed up in a slam contract. For me, however, it was the first time to lead an auction that finished with a slam. As I could not share my emotions until the game was over (I took all tricks – grand slam), my adrenaline was going up and up in silence. When we finished I said quietly – I almost got a heart attack. Partners laughed in a friendly way. They perhaps have not played for a while with such an honest novice.

                                           

Even if it was quite an achievement for me, I understood that it was not a maximum result. We got only 20%. We should have really played grand slam in No Trumps. This would bring the maximum points with our hands. The situation must have been stored in my subconscious and in my dream I was calculating points to figure out optimal biding. My partner first bid was 1NT and this means 15 to 17 points. I had 16 points so I asked for aces. My partner had two of them and this was enough for my poor heart, so I finished the bidding with slam in hearts.  All up, there are 40 honour points so as far as I knew we were missing 9. In my dream I was trying to figure out where the missing 9 points should have been. This is kind of crazy, but great at the same time. Now when somebody asks me about my passion, I can say without hesitation – bridge!  

My Bridge Adventure

This is not going to be about Sydney Harbour Bridge or any other construction but about the card game.  Quite coincidentally, a couple of years ago, I joined the local bridge club – Trumps. It was on recommendation of my neighbour who used the membership of the club to get cheaper travel insurance. Since I was about to travel I thought – why not… and I joined the club not intending to play. The insurance deal worked well.

As it sometimes happens, a coincidence may lead to something important. This is how it was this time. I used to play bridge when I was a student and then life happened. Marriage, changing countries, intensive work, setting a home, then setting another home… There was no time for bridge and nobody around me was interested in card games. I always loved cards so I played patience from time to time. And now I was a member of a bridge club and even got regular information on club activities. One day I thought, why not pay a visit to the club and find out what is going on there. I have been paying for being a member, after all.

I started to play as a beginner and realized that I do not know much about the game. It is not a rubber game that I knew years ago but something called duplicate bridge. The rules of play and behaviour are very different to the ones I remembered. But most of all bidding is done in a totally different way to the one I once practiced. It started as a confusing fun. For a year, I played once or twice a week not having a regular partner. My game was not to bad, I still remembered few things and using logic helped as well. For bidding I used my own convention called common sense and this of course is not type of bridge one plays in clubs. I did not know the language of bidding and I still know very little of it, but I am on my way to learn.

We stayed in Waldorf Leura Gardens. Nice old fashioned place.

                                     

Few weeks ago I came across information about a bridge holiday in Blue Mountains and again I thought - why not… I asked the club director if my current bridge level will be sufficient and if a lack of a partner would make me unsuitable and I got re-assurance that I will be fine and welcome. He is a very kind man. When I started to assess my move I got cold feet but my shy tries to get out of the deal met with reassurance that I will be fine. So, last week I went to Leura being very nervous. The nervousness was fully justified and in fact it was harder than I had expected. I managed, but the feeling of inadequacy was overwhelming and justified. The gap between me and the rest of the players was enormous. I guess it was OK in a spinach type of way. It did not taste decent but it was good for me. I was aware that at times I did not understand what I was told (in the bidding language) and that my answers were often surprising and confusing. I had my better moments when my brain was not cooked to destruction, but they were not that frequent.

On positive side, being exhausted I slept very well each night.

Have I learned a lot of bridge in the process? Not really, but I have learned a lot of bridge etiquette and made a good plan how to keep learning. I also met a lot of great people and found out things about Australians and their life style. I especially liked people from the country. Old fashioned, in the best way, type of people. Kind, down to earth, straight forward, with great sense of humour and, I would imagine, honest and trustworthy.

This is how I spent four days. Hmm...

                                     

But the most positive outcome is being invited as a bridge partner. My club is divided into two rooms. One for beginners as myself and one for bridge grown ups. I have been playing in the kindergarten but now, to my delight,  once a week I will be paying with a very charming lady and a good bridge player as an intermediate. I am thrilled and very proud.

I have jumped into deep water but I have not sunk. This is some kind of achievement even if my ego was seriously bruised.