We’re at the Detroit NABC. We played in the Vanderbilt KO Teams, which is a really big event. Our first team was the top women’s team in the country, hired by another woman to play with her. For those who don’t know, in bridge, the only way to make money as a bridge player is to get really good and thus convince rich bridge players to hire you to help them win tourneys. Players with cash will commission a pro team and play as the fifth member. The sponsor does have to play in a certain number of matches, but a good pro team can compensate well enough for that. Often, one of the pros and the sponsor will play a specific transfer-based convention system that puts the majority of hands in the pro’s control. The sponsor does this to get his/her name “up in lights” as the winning team and possibly for the good of the game. It really reminds me of how Elizabethan playwrights made money. So, if you do more reading about the Vanderbilts on the ACBL site, the team we played in the first match was the Fireman team (ironic name for a women’s team).

So, we got killed in the Vanderbilts, but that’s what we would expect. We also played in the Red Ribbon pairs and got killed there. We’re currently playing in an open pair event and doing alright. Oh, and we’re in the morning KOs. The finals for that are tomorrow. If all goes well, I’ll have all my gold masterpoints for life master by the end of this week.