"Pervert, Pervert, Pervert" yelled newest bridge hall of famer, David Berkowitz, who, at that moment, was standing behind husband/partner's chair looking at his hand and what he had bid. All heads turned toward our table and everyone started laughing. We were below decks on the Voyager of the Seas in a conference room taking a lesson from David and his wife, Lisa, both very fine teachers. Several days prior, David had stated emphatically that anyone who bid a five card suit twice was a pervert. This was the second time he had caught husband/partner doing just that. David picked up husband/partner's 2 diamond bid, put it back in the box and slapped down one no trump. He walked away shaking his head.
By far the coolest bridge classes are on cruise ships. No contest. Hands down winner. My cruise loving daughter thinks I'm nuts to go on a cruise and play bridge in a room below decks with no view of anything except fellow bridge nuts. What she doesn't get is that I'm almost beyond the point of zip lines although I might try the rock wall next time. I wonder if I can hold my cards with a cast on one arm?
Prior to the cruise, husband/partner and I had been having a bit of a point drought again. We were scoring points with other partners but not with each other. My theory is that we came along at the same rate, learned the same stuff, didn't learn the same stuff and therefore have the same weaknesses in our game. Playing with others who can offset those weaknesses allows us to score more frequently. It's only a theory.
I was anxious about playing together for a whole week and, sure enough, at the first round, we had a dismal 32%. We had played in the open pairs and after that performance, moved into the 299er group and started placing. Directors for the games were Steve and Darlene Shirey from Ft. Worth; wonderful, funny, warm people with great judgement and terrific interpersonal skills. Steve planned the last game of the trip so that each pair would play one round with either David or Lisa. He asked us to move to the open pairs so that the numbers would work out. I always do what directors' request and have found that I am usually rewarded. We had a 57.5% game and felt really great about that.
The next day, Saturday, Swiss teams were scheduled. We teamed up with fellow 199ers Jackie and Ben. Ben is in his 80s and a killer player with about 150 points but lots of rubber bridge years behind him. Jackie, an extremely bright woman, had a birthday while we were cruising but I'm not giving out her age. She had just topped out her masterpoints at 5 the week prior. She played well but Ben was patiently teaching her duplicate bidding throughout the week. Their obvious affection for each other was lovely. Husband/parnter and I made our way down to deck 2 having a conversation about limited expectations and that we had done so well already that today didn't matter - we just planned to have fun.
Director Steve had stratified the field to start but after that it was the usual Swiss pairing - winners vs winners etc. Our team won the first round easily. Then, we won the second round and again the third. This brought us up against the best team in the room; 2 guys from Iowa practicing for the GNTs and a 92 year old woman and her son who were straffing the open all week. We lost by only 13 which we explained to our partners was unbelieveably good. We placed 1st in C and B and second in A. Jackie and Ben want to meet us at some sectionals or regionals. Sounds great to us.
David and Lisa Berkowitz are wonderful instructors and have a great interaction and division of labor. David tells laugh out loud bridge stories and answers questions from the previous day's rounds about bidding or play of the hand. Lisa teaches theory in excellent small bites with great clarity. I still don't get the giving count lesson though but that is more my denseness than her teaching. That said, Lisa got the biggest laugh of the week from the class. She explained that bridge is a sport which takes repetition and practice. As an example, she said "I couldn't play a round of tennis with Martina Navritalova or go a round with Tiger Woods". Some wag said, "sure you could" and for the only time in the week, Lisa lost control of our raunchy class.
I want to put in a plug here for John Sobol of Go Away Travel. This is our second time to cruise with him and we signed up for next year's January cruise with Eddie Wold and Bob Morris. John does everything - plays with people needing partners to fill out a round, makes boards, talks to ship staff to get video and snacks in place and a multitude of other things I am sure are invisible to me. He is a neato guy and runs his business hands on.
It's good to be home and I'm looking forward to playing again at our clubs. Maybe our newly reinvigorated partnership skills will continue. Remembering Director Tom's sine wave theory though, I'll wait and see.
