The new website for Adventures in Bridge

 www.advinbridge.com 

will be open to the public soon.  I'm sure we will make a big announcement here.   There is so much to tell everyone about, we are extremely excited.    

I'm off to the Cavendish on Friday to play the WBP Pairs with Roger Lee.   I'm excited about this idea and expect that we have a great chance of doing well.   I'll update from there... 

Sunday morning we were ready to go.   We had 3 matches to play.  2-1 with two good wins would be enough to get us through to the KO phase of the event.   We managed to go 2-1, but our wins were small -- and we didn't quite have enough firepower to pull of the comeback once again.   We played well, but there places for everyone one of us to win it (which is true in every event... )   

We weren't immediately satisfied with our results, but we have received many great compliments about our play and looking back we know that we did well -- better than most people expected.   I'm sure that we will be back to do battle at this event next year and for many years to come... 

The matches are being played in one of my favorite event venues - private hotel rooms!   Each room has a table with screens and all the boards you will play for that match.  It's a quiet, peaceful, and secure way to play great bridge again tough opponents.  The atmosphere at each table was tense to start the day. Everyone wanted to play their best and each decision was being struggled over by all the players in the room.  

As the day went along players (as well as us) started to get into a rhythm and play better and better bridge.   Then, just as the 4th match was getting underway an unforeseen event -- a wild storm that killed the power all over the hotel.   We finished our first board in the dark (vs. Jacob Morgan and Marty Harris) and then spent the next hour back in our room waiting for the power to return (there wasn't enough light to see anything at the table!)   Everyone seemed a bit disturbed by the power outage -- and it certainly took many of the players out of their rhythm and off schedule for the days play.   

After a solid start we (McKenzie-me and the Bart's) weren't quite at our best in the 4th round and had a disastrous series of event strike at both tables in the 5th round.   The 6th round was our bye and  we finished the day not quite as strongly as we would have liked.   We are currently one place out of qualifying -- we need to win at least 2 of our 3 matches tomorrow to make it to the next round of play!

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

I'm off to Aspen for the weekend and I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time visit with my students and teaching a great group of bridge players.    See you all in Reno!

I also enjoyed a few days of great teaching -- in Naples and Tallahassee.    Everyone seems like their bridge is coming along well, and I'm very excited to see it...  I was sorry that Jacksonville didn't work out this week -- but I'm sure we'll be able to get that going again in the not too distant future.  

I'm in Atlanta now doing some training with Mark.  He has very little experience and I'm hitting him with a ton of things to think about all at once.   We have ups and downs, but in general he is progressing incredibly quickly (much more than he recognizes) and I'm sure he'll do great the rest of this year!

See everyone in Colorado or Reno -- if not before!

I'm in Aspen for Monday-Thursday...  My schedule is amazing - skiiing in the mornings, teaching bridge in the afternoon, and having great food and wine at night!   I'm excited about seeing my friends and students here in Aspen!

On Friday I head back to Denver to spend some time with the gang there!   Garth and I will be doing some work with his Spingold Team -- Relay Precision (Z-ert Style) for everyone... :)

See everyone soon...

• continuing to grow my partnerhsip with McKenzie Myers,
• repeating much of my playing success from the last couple of years,
• exploring new opportunies to play with some of best players in the country,
• leading a growing cast of fabulous students (see 2010 Bridge Lesson Series),
• teaching many workshops and seminars all over the country.

I'm especially excited about my relationships with many bridge players in Aspen, CO and Bermuda -- what wonderful places to get to go and teach the game I love!

Orlando Regional

Orlando is always a nice start to the bridge year.   We didn't have a fabulous tournament as a team -- but the tournament itself was a wonderful success.   18% growth from 2009 to 2010 and over 3500 tables!   That's amazing.

Also Orlando started a new trend for 2010 -- that is players learning and playing my system (ZERT - invented by McKenize Myers and myself.)   Z-ert is an ultra modern relay precision system that incorporates ideas from many of the top bidding theoreticians of the last 20 years.   I had a great time post-morteming hands with my friends who were learning to play the system.   I especially enjoyed some valuable input from the Granovetter's -- who also play relay precision!

Bermuda Regional

The Best of the Best!   Go to www.bermudaregional.com and check out this wonderful place.  

The results of this regional didn't quite measure up to last year -- but I enjoyed getting to know even more of the bridge players on the island and I'm excited about being involved in the Bermuda Bridge community for years to come!  

Houston Regional

To kick off February I made my first trip to the Houston Regional.   This tournament has been an amazing success - over 110 points (over 130 for some members of my team) and a team of fabulous players and people that I greatly enjoy being with (Paul Fireman-me, Phyllis Fireman-Shannon Cappelletti, Michael Seamon-Gary Cohler.)   I'll post a few interesting hands from this tournament next week!

Monday morning I'm off to Denver and Aspen for next week - Teaching, Skiing, Playing, and Visiting with Friends!! 

Almost 13,000 tables is also an amazing turnout!   Well done ACBL!

I'm in Atlanta this week working on some teaching documents for my students and writing other articles and book material -- but I'll update a hand or two from the tournament soon...

I'm playing the first 6 days with one of my good friends in the bridge world -- Garth Yettick.   We are playing the LM Pairs, 2-Day BAM, and the Mini-Blue Ribbon Pairs.   After that I'm playing some KOs for the last 4 days (looking forward to that as well... )

After finishing up in Lancaster and Daytona, I had some much needed time at home with my friends and family.   Thanks to everyone for all the help during a long month -- I really appreciate it....  

Two Things to remember from recent tournaments
-- First, you can win 3 IMP when you decline a Grand Slam Try holding AKQJx of trump by going down 1 in 6S, while the opponents go down two in 7S... (Lancaster)
-- Second, an opening lead can cost you 30 IMPs and you can still win a 12 board match against a very good team! (Daytona)

For Details you'll have to see my next article in the SBN!