BRIDGE (13)

On Sunday I played in my first ever gold tournament. In Denmark, you get bronze, silver and gold points for winning various things, with silver being worth 10 or more times bronze and gold ten or more times silver. At the weekly club meeting, you can only win bronze points, so you have to play a tournament outside the club if you want to earn the other goodies.

After accumulating a certain number of points, you get a different title. and a different coloured etui for your bidding system card. My partner and I used to be Club Masters, then 1* Club Masters, then 2* Club Masters, all green. Now we are District Masters and have a red etui.

Some years ago, we won a tournament that was worth 15 silver points. Back then, the system was not digitalised, so I received a piece of paper. Not really knowing what it was worth, at some point I must have thrown the piece of paper away. So although my partner only ever really plays with me, he has a higher ranking because of those extra 15 silver points. I am currently ranked 2,999 in Denmark; he is ranked 2,775.

In the gold tournament, there were 36 pairs divided into three groups of 12. We were in the top group, which was both good and bad. Good because we were up against some strong players, who were challenging; bad because everybody else had a different coloured (and higher ranking) etui. 55 boards over a day is quite taxing, but we did OK, with 6 top scores, more than the average would predict. Unfortunately, we also got 12 bottom scores, and ended up last.

Still, we came home with a bottle of wine for our efforts, having won a "sprint" prize. On one board, we were the only people to bid and make 6 spades, whereas everybody else in the room bid 4 spades, which made with two overtricks. I enjoyed that hand.

Walter Blotscher