The Iniquities

Prior to my Swiss Game (and multiple Double Pushing Finesses), I played a few sessions of the local sectional. This was the North American Open Pairs weekend. I played in the NAOPs in 2024, but didn’t play any of the qualifier games this time, so I just played in the sectional. When talking with Sam Dinkin (who had a new Junior International Player taking a gap year before college as partner) I wished him luck in the upcoming game and he said “I look forward to the NAOP, because when I lose there I know it’s probably my fault.” Ah, the iniquities of having novice or intermediate players deliver a terrible result to you and often not even knowing that it happened. It’s a rite of passage, and a source of good stories. When I first came back to playing Bridge in San Antonio (a few years after moving back) I remember messing up the play of a suit against Diane Olsen (who has since passed … we named this weekend’s tournament after her) and having no recourse but to play for a miracle…