November 5th, 2007 ~ linda ~
2 Comments
After hours of discussion and lots of pain and even a few tears we finally have our CWTC team. I am playing with Isabelle, Francine and Julie and Diana Gordon and Sharyn Reus. We also have an NPC who will take us to the CWTC, Paul Thurston. Paul is going to be great but there is one problem. If we win and go on to Beijing Paul may well join us there, but as a player. He has a terrific CNTC team this year. All of us don’t know whether to wish Paul well in Montreal or try to get a vodoo hex doll.
It was very hard for those of us who played in Shanghai to form new teams. We had a great time there and did so well. I probably started things off because I wanted to play with Isabelle. I love her willingness to learn and there is a lot of teacher in me. She is a great player who grew up in bridge very fast and so she has some gaps to fill. I am also love to learn and she is teaching me a lot along the way. I hope that all the talented women bridge players in Canada form teams and challenge us in Montreal. I hope we win too.
Sunday was the first time Isabelle and I played together. Up to now we have been practice bidding and working on our system. We decided to pick for our very first opponents Jeff Smith and David Sanbourn, two of the winners of last years CNTC. They were playing a dynamic system with lots of bidding and lots of relays just to give us an added challenge. It was great fun. Isabelle and I both want to play against the very strongest opponents we can find.
The men did some good things against us and we had some tough problems to solve. However in the end I thought it was a very good first attempt. Here is one hand Isabelle and I bid. I am interested in whether you think I did the right thing.
I had S AQ9xxx H AK10x D Kxx C void
I opened 1S and Isabelle bid 2C which is usually game forcing. I bid 2H and she bid 4S. This showed a minimum game force with 3 card spade support. Do you bid on and if so what do you bid.
I know I know I had a void in her 2 over 1 suit. But she really doesn’t need much to make a slam. I bid 5S. I think this should ask about trump quality but it is undiscussed. Isabelle bid 6S and she had the perfect hand.
S K10x H Jxx D xx C AKxxxx
With a reasonable lie of the cards this hand was no problem and we may have been the only pair to bid it. What do you think? Was I lucky or smart.
November 2nd, 2007 ~ linda ~
3 Comments
Since we got back from Shanghai Isabelle and I have been working on a bidding system. This has been a lot of fun for me. I told Isabelle she was like spring. She has so many new ideas, she is really taking me out of my bidding rut.
One interesting new element is Nagy Game Tries. These are named after Peter Nagy a Canadian expatriate from the Montreal area for any of you who don’t know him. The idea behind this convention is to provide responder with many ways to make a trial bid since some hands work better using short suit game tries and some using long suit why not do both.
For example after 1S-2S
2NT asks about support for long suit game tries. Responder now shows what suits he would accept a long suit game try in starting from the lowest
1S-2S-2NT
3C I would accept clubs (does not deny diamonds or hearts). After this opener can check on a red suit by bidding it.
3D I would accept diamonds but not clubs
etc.
3S I wouldn’t accept any game tries
3NT I would accept all game long suit game tries
All suit bids over 1S-2S are short suit game tries in that suit. 3NT shows a balanced hand and is a choice of contracts and suits at the 4 level are long suit slam tries.
This is not a new convention but it is new to me. What I like about it is that it is versatile, it allows you to do a lot of things but it is not complicated and it is easy to remember. You can use it in other auctions too such as after Drury auctions or even after 1D-1H-2H.
This is not to say we haven’t had some lively discussions about some topics. I would interesting in hearing your thoughts about this one. We had a discussion about overcalling 1NT after an opening bid and in the sandwich position. The questions posed are:
Is 1NT too dangerous after someone has opened the bidding on your right especially if you are vulnerable. Is it important to get in the auction on flat balanced hands and how does that outweigh the risk. In the end we decided for now to bid 1NT in the direct chair but raised the range 1 point when vulnerable from to 16-18. The argument for this is that you often need to get in on the auction and it makes it easy for partner to come in on many hands facing a strong notrump. Playing a good rescue system it isn’t very likely to go for a number. It seems strange that we who open light 1NT are so worried about overcalling a 15 count but we are. We did decide that in the sandwich position it is just too risky. So (1C)-P-(1H)- we will stay quiet with a balanced 16 count and wait for developments. But we do want to come in on shapely hands. The sandwich notrump seems a good choice but wait… we now have so very many ways to bid spades and diamonds. What does 1NT,2C,2H,2NT and double all mean! So far our idea is that 1NT shows a weak 2 suited takeout, 2NT 5/5 intermediate or better, DBL shows a more balanced hand but has support for the unbids suits (sort of like the balanced 15 count we were talking about but at least 4/4) and the cue bids are natural. I am not sure this is a great solution. Does anyone out there have any ideas?
October 19th, 2007 ~ linda ~
No Comments
I am finally feeling better after recovering from a horrible cold and asthma and the worst jetlag I have ever had. My experience in Shanghai was incredible; it was so much better than I had ever expected. After we finished our last match against Germany in the quarterfinals I was very disappointed. I felt that we could of and should have one the match and at the time that was all I could think about. But a few days later I sat back and realized how very well we had done under the circumstances and I felt a lot better. Also like most of our team I felt that we could do very well in this event and win a medal. I was determined to see if we could qualify in Canada and come back and do even better.
This was the third time I had played in a world championships in the last four years but this was the first time I really understood that Canada could put together a team that had an excellent chance of winning a medal. This was my most enjoyable experience playing in an event like this; we had a wonderful compatible team and an excellent and sexy captain. Thanks guys for the opportunity to be part of Team Canada.
Next year should be very interesting since the event will be part of the World Mind Olympics which will include chess, draughts and go. They will be many more events and many more participants. I expect there will be a lot more press as well. The participants will be able to stay in the Olympic village which would be a lot of fun (I think).
I have started a partnership with Isabelle Smith. She is reintroducing me to the fun and adventure that bridge is when you are young. We are working through our system right now and we are planning to play some fun stuff although perhaps old hat to some players. These include 10-12 notrump not vulnerable and 12-14 vulnerable, multi 2D with 2 of a major being a weak bid showing the major and a minor. Having made the decision to play 10-12 not vulnerable, 12-14 vulnerable seemed like a good idea since it meant that we could use the same basic notrump structure throughout. Ray and I have played 12-14 for years and almost never gone for a number. Having made that choice I did find an old magazine article where Eric Rodwell said he was too chicken to play 12-14 notrump vulnerable (not in exactly those words).
We are also going to be playing a defense against notrump called HELLO. This was Isabelle’s idea. Oddly Master Point Press had published Jerry Helm’s book on this topic but I had never really paid it much attention. Left to my own devices I would probably have picked multi-Landy which seems to be the “system d’jour”. But now that I have read the book I am quite impressed with HELLO and I am happy to play the system. If you are interested there are some descriptions on the web of the system but the book is much more thorough.
I heard the controversy about the American Women holding an anti-Bush sign up during the medal ceremony. While I think it was completely inappropriate I can’t imagine doing more than making sure that next time they understand what is expected of them as representatives of their country. I am sure it seemed a good idea at the time and now they realize how wrong it was. I was thinking about what I would do if I was ever so lucky as to win any medal. I know what I would do. I would cry. It wouldn’t help if Ray told me that there “is no crying at bridge”. The tears would flow. And if I won and they played my national anthem I would want the moment to last forever, then I would sing and cry at the same time. I would be so proud to be a Canadian, I can’t imagine that I would want to make any other political statement than that.
I was thinking about sponsorship and I have nothing against it. It does seem weird to me that a sponsor would want to play on his national team and make it much more difficult for his country to win a medal. I can’t imagine being that egotistical. I understand that some sponsors are as good as the rest of the team but that is very unusual. I would like to see world championships being contested by the very best players. Perhaps in some way we are fortunate that there is almost no sponsorship in Canada on our national teams. Although it is very sad to see so many of our good players leave the country. I wish they would earn their living most of the time in the U.S. and come home and play in the trials and represent Canada. That happens in other sports.
Finally a little about Shanghai. I could not believe the energy of the people in China. Everyone seemed happy; everyone was selling something, bargaining ferociously, cooking street food of all kinds, scooting around on endless rows of bicycles. The city is beautiful; modern, old, flashy even gaudy at times. The city is built around a river, the Bund. There is huge gardens and pathways all along the river. At nights the sides of the river are lit up by many lights and the boats pass by with lots of beautiful lights as well. A big boat drives up and down the river with a huge digital screen showing moving clips advertising products. Everywhere there are restaurants along the river. Across the river is the old city. It is huge, much bigger than I thought and very beautiful. It looks like a movie set of what you think China was like in about 1800. There is a tea shop where they perform an elaborate tea ceremony. You can drink endless cups of tea. Just across the way is Starbucks China. There is a huge market in the old city where they sell lots of junk and lots of crafts as well. I watch a paper cutter making elaborate pictures and then bought one of them. Everything is very very inexpensive since our currency goes a long way. Should you go to China? Yes, for sure.
October 10th, 2007 ~ linda ~
No Comments
Going into the semifinals my cold/bronchitis/asthma had gotten so bad that sitting up for any length of time was difficult. Nevertheless I played one set against Germany before it became clear to everyone that I was not fit to continue playing. I was not really much better the next day so Ray decided to spot me in for one set which turned out to be number 6. When we started this set we were about 33 imps down. We needed a good win but it seemed something we could achieve. We gained a few imps, not nearly enough and we lost. I felt at the time that we could have won. I was still feeling quite sick and it wasn’t until today that I had a good look at the 16 boards we played. As I suspected there were enough imps available at our table that we could have the match if we got more of them right. There were two deals that accounted for most of the deficit. Both these deals illustrate the way that the many decisions you make in a bridge match affect the outcome. The first one is a simple decision to open or not to open. Your hand is
♠ K J 7 4 3 ♥ A 10 5 2 ♦ J 9 ♠ Q 7
With everyone vulnerable it goes pass, pass to you. Do you open this hand in third chair? Decide.
If you opened then you will have an easy job of beating 3NT. The hand will probably be played be West so you will be on lead. Even if you lead a heart you will get in on the ♠ Q and see the stiff ♠ A in dummy and find the shift. If the hand is played the other way partner is on lead and will lead a spade. You can find the spade shift anyway but it is much harder.
Here is the whole hand.
|
 |
K |
J |
7 |
4 |
3 |
 |
A |
T |
5 |
2 |
 |
J |
9 |
 |
Q |
7 |
|
|
 |
Q |
T |
8 |
2 |
 |
J |
6 |
3 |
 |
T |
6 |
4 |
 |
K |
3 |
2 |
|
|
 |
A |
 |
K |
Q |
8 |
 |
A |
K |
Q |
8 |
7 |
 |
J |
T |
9 |
5 |
|
|
 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
 |
A |
8 |
6 |
4 |
|
Without a spade opening South led a heart. West won and ran the ♠ J. North has to switch to a spade now but looking at the Q10xx in dummy it was a tough decision! So in the end making the decision to pass the hand cost 12 imps.
The next decision seemed a bit bigger at the time. This is one of the high level decisions you face on a competitive hand. You have
♠ A ♥ J 10 ♦ J 10 7 6 5 ♠ K J 9 6 5
This is the auction
East You West North
Pass Pass 3 ♠ 4 ♥
4 ♠ ?
Do you press on to 5 ♥ pass or double. Think.
If you chose to bid 5 ♥ then you push the board. This is what happened to us. However if you double you will collect 1100 and win 10 imps. Here is the whole hand.
|
 |
Q |
5 |
 |
A |
K |
Q |
8 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
 |
Q |
8 |
 |
A |
7 |
|
|
 |
K |
J |
T |
9 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
 |
4 |
2 |
 |
9 |
 |
T |
4 |
2 |
|
|
 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
 |
9 |
6 |
 |
A |
K |
4 |
3 |
2 |
 |
Q |
8 |
3 |
|
|
 |
A |
 |
J |
T |
 |
J |
T |
7 |
6 |
5 |
 |
K |
J |
9 |
6 |
5 |
|
Well if you got them both right you would have finished within 8.7 imps of winning. However there was more than that available at our table in a number or smaller swings.
We did of course have some good boards. We had three numbers which were good wins for example. But still looking back on it a few decisions made differently would have allowed us to win.
Ray and I were chatting to Glen Holman formerly of Toronto who is now playing on the amazing South African team that dethroned Italy and is fighting hard against USA 1. Glen was talking about the 100’s of decision that you make in a bridge match and how all your years of playing and experience help you to make the right one. He talked about how his partner who was a professional had so much experience well we amateurs have it much tougher.
Go Glen go! Go South Africa!!!!
This was a wonderful experience. I loved every minute except when I played the very sick first match against Germany and when we walked out of the last match and I knew we had lost when a friend cheered the German players
I thank the original team that first asked me to be captain and then allowed me to play. I also thank my partner Pamela who was a wonderful partner, played her heart out, put up with the having to change partners at the last moment and just did her best. Pamela you were a real trooper.
I know that Canada can win this next year. We are so close. There really aren’t many teams much bettr than us. We just had to put out 6 good players and work hard.
A little sponsorship would help too.
October 7th, 2007 ~ linda ~
3 Comments
It was so great that the team pulled together and did so well against Germany. I was feeling horrible when I sat down against Dani and Sabine. I could barely sit at the table and I couldn’t seem to get enough air. I warned Sabine who was my screenmate to ignore my big sighs. It was simply me trying to get more air. I think that was the worst I ever felt and still played bridge. In retrospect I would have done a few things differently. I should have taken the heart finesse in four hearts for the overtrick. But my biggest mistake was my bid on this hand.
S AJ103 H void D AKJ9 C AKQJ9.
As East I opened 2C not vulnerable and Dani, South bid 3H. Pamela passed as did Sabine and I doubled. We played the hand in 4H doubled for 500 into our nonvulnerable s6C slam. Looking at the field a look of other pairs did the same thing. But I think that 4H is a better bd on my hand. I need so very little to make a slam.
We can still win this match but even if we lose I think that the team did wonderfully overcoming huge obstacles to make it to the final eight and to play hard against Germany who are clear favourites.
Playing bridge in a world championships is a tremendous experience I wish all of you could share. It is stressful and demanding. It requires strong desire, competitiveness and stamina It is exciting and challenging. I remember now why I love it. I can see why it is addictive.
So no matter what I will always remember Shanghai.
October 4th, 2007 ~ linda ~
2 Comments
Thanks for so many good wishes. I am going to need them all today. Pamela and I were originally scheduled to play 3 matches but I am feeling pretty terrible so its more likely to be 2. I have a bad cold which has gone to my chest but Ray says stop whining, just play.
My goal is to stay focused on the China match right now and see if I can play my best just for that one match and then worry about future matches afterwards. We had a nice match against Croatia on China First (a Chinese Internet Vugraph feed). This made me feel good because in Estoril when I was on Vugraph (in the closed room) I had a terrible match. I was just too nervous. This time I could think that noone I knew was likely to be watching!
Pamela has been wonderful to play with. I hope I can hold my own today. Sorry I am too tired to write up some hands now although there were many interesting ones yesterday.
Cross your fingers for us today.
October 3rd, 2007 ~ linda ~
No Comments
I was feeling quite sick when we sat down against England. Pamela was feeding me cough drops and I had a big bottle of orange juice and another grapefruit juice at the table. We arrived just in the nick of time (which I usually hate). The English women were very nice and Pamela was friends with her screenmate so they chatted happily. Most of the action was East-West so it was going to be primarily Pamela and I against the East-West pair in the other room to see who came out on top. The action started on the very first board. North opened 2♠ and you have ♠ void ♥ A J 10 4 3 ♦ A 5 4 2 ♣ A K J 4. You double and the bidding continues 3♠ by South, 3NT by partner. I chose to bid 4♠ over this and partner bid 5♣. Do you bid on? I bid 6♣. The whole hand was:
|
♠ Q J 7 6 5 2 |
|
| ♥ Q 9 7 |
| ♦ Q J T 6 |
| ♣ void |
| ♠ A K T 8 |
 |
♠ void |
| ♥ 8 2 |
♥ A J T 4 3 |
| ♦ K 9 8 |
♦ A 5 4 2 |
| ♣ Q T 5 2 |
♣ A K J 4 |
|
♠ 9 4 3 |
|
| ♥ K 6 5 |
| ♦ 7 3 |
| ♣ 9 8 7 6 3 |
Pamela was able to make the contract on a crossruff despite the 5-0 trump break. The match continued in much the same vein and we bid and made 3 slams altogether along with some other good scores. This is another favorite slam hand. Pamela held ♠ A K 3 ♥ 10 8 7 6 ♦ 9 ♣ 10 9 6 3 2. This was the start of the auction:
Me Pamela
1♦ 1♥
3♠ 4♥
5♣ ?
What is partner doing? Do you have the right hand to go on? Obviously I had a very big hand and Pamela deduced that I likely had a spade void. I had to have something like 0-4-5-4 or maybe 0-4-6-3. The double fit improved her hand despite the wasted spade honours and she bid 6♣ — choice of slams. I bid 6 ♥ to end the auction. Pamela made it despite a bad trump break on a well timed dummy reversal. Here is the whole hand.
|
♠ Q J 7 5 4 |
|
| ♥ 4 |
| ♦ J 10 7 2 |
| ♣ K 8 5 |
| ♠ A K 3 |
 |
♠ void |
| ♥ 10 8 7 6 |
♥ A K Q 5 |
| ♦ 9 |
♦ A 6 5 4 3 |
| ♣ 10 9 6 3 2 |
♣ A Q J 7 |
|
♠ 10 9 8 6 2 |
|
| ♥ J 9 3 2 |
| ♦ K Q 8 |
| ♣ 4 |
.Our partners had a great card and we blitzed England to move up to a more respectable position. Later that evening our teammates had another great match to win 22 more VP and end a lovely day.
October 2nd, 2007 ~ linda ~
1 Comment
Pamela and I get along very well and under the circumstances I think our results have been very good. However the fact that we have had little partnership discussion and no experience playing together does cause some difficulties. I think that a significant amount of the error we have made come from our inexperience together. A lot of the rest is some poor decisions or judgment on my part. Sometimes you make a bid that seems reasonable but when you look at it in retrospect it was clearly the wrong choice. Here is a case in point.
I held: ♠ 6 ♥ AKQ8 ♦ J84 ♣ QJ1084
Partner opened 1♦ and I heard 2♠ on my right. I had clubs and hearts so I made a negative double. The problem with this bid is it tends to show hearts more than clubs and it definitely doesn’t show the strength of my hand. It is a lazy bid (as Ray pointed out later). 3♣ is a better choice. I did get punished a lot for this decision. The next hand passed and so did Pamela. The whole hand was
|
♠ K Q 8 5 4 2 |
|
| ♥ 7 5 |
| ♦ Q 10 6 |
| ♣ 3 2 |
| ♠ A J 7 3 |
 |
♠ 6 |
| ♥ 10 |
♥ A K Q 8 |
| ♦ A K 7 3 |
♦ J 8 4 |
| ♣ A K 7 5 |
♣ Q J 10 8 4 |
|
♠ 10 9 |
|
| ♥ J 9 6 4 3 2 |
| ♦ 9 5 2 |
| ♣ 9 6 |
As you can see Pamela has a very awkward bid over the negative double and like many others in the field she decided to take her plus (in this case 500) but 6♣ is the right place to play the hand At the other table we continued to have some misfortune when our opponents bid 7♣ which happens to make as the cards lie.
If you do decide to travel to China then if, like me, you have asthma make sure you start taking medicine before you come. The climate in Shanghai is very polluted and I have already developed a cold/asthma. The biggest problem is that I can’t talk. So a quiet Linda may make Ray happy. Some peace at last.
October 1st, 2007 ~ linda ~
No Comments
Okay I don’t want to tell you that everything bad that happened yesterday was because of luck but it did feel that way in our match against Indonesia. I thought by and large we had a rather good set but on two hands the opponents arrived in 3NT with a good 6-2 heart fit. Spades were raised on 3 small and hearts were never bid. Here is one example. The hand was
|
♠ A K 4 |
|
| ♥ A K 10 8 7 2 |
| ♦ 9 8 |
| ♣ J 6 |
| ♠ 10 |
 |
♠ Q 9 7 5 2 |
| ♥ Q 8 3 |
♥ J 4 |
| ♦ K Q 10 7 6 4 3 |
♦ 5 2 |
| ♣ Q 10 |
♣ K 7 5 4 |
|
♠ J 8 6 3 |
|
| ♥ 9 5 |
| ♦ A J |
| ♣ A 9 8 3 2 |
West North East South
1♥ Pass 1♠
3♦ Dbl* Pass 3NT
all pass
* Support Double
As you can see with the lucky 7-2 diamond break 3NT is cold while the more normal 4♥ does not make. Twice in one match! Ugly. You see what I mean when I say luck is not on our side.
In the match against the US we were also unlucky. For example one slam requires a 2-2 trump break which works. However this time we did make a bit of our own misfortune and we were clobbered. I will give you a few chances to do better. This is an interesting problem and I wonder what you would do. Let me know. I set the conditions of contest. You are playing 2/1 so 1NT is forcing and over an auction like
1♠-1NT-2♠-3♣ You may still have 5 spades and 3♣ is invitational. All minor jump shifts are spade raises.
You have
♠ void ♥ 6 ♦ QJ10754 ♣ QJ10754
Did you notice that even your baby minor spots are the same! All vulnerable partner opens 1♠ and it goes pass. Do you bid 1NT? If you do partner will bid 2♥. What now? Think about what will happen after that, If you bid 3m invitational and partner bids 3NT or 3M what is your plan?
The action that works best on the hand as it turns out is to bid 1NT. Partner will bid 2♥ and you now have to bid 3♣ which partner will pass. Did you do all that?
The whole hand is
|
♠ A Q J 6 5 |
|
| ♥ A 10 |
| ♦ A K 9 8 2 |
| ♣ 2 |
| ♠ K 8 4 3 2 |
 |
♠ |
| ♥ J 8 7 5 |
♥ 6 |
| ♦ 6 3 |
♦ Q J 10 7 5 4 |
| ♣ A K |
♣ Q J 10 7 5 4 |
|
♠ 10 9 7 |
|
| ♥ K Q 9 4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
| ♣ 9 8 6 3 |
As you can see you better have guessed to bid clubs and if you bid diamonds and get doubled there as you will you better run to clubs. What did I do? I played the coward hand and passed. Looking back on it I think that I should have bid 1NT because there is at least some chance that things will go right from there. I think I might have bid diamonds just in case partner bids over it though.
Pamela has just come in so more later. By the way this place is so inexpensive you need to come here some time.
September 30th, 2007 ~ linda ~
No Comments
I would like to thank everyone who sent their good wishes. I received several posts and emails and I really appreciate it.
While Day 1 did not go as well for the team as we had hoped there were several encouraging components. Foremost for me was that Pamela and I were able to play quite well together. We have made our system as simple as we can handle (we still have more thatn 50 pages of system notes!) and we somehow find that you can bid over notrump using Landy and so on. We did a lot of system review before we played yesterday including some quizzing and by the time we started I think we both felt that we at least had a fair understanding of what we had agreed. Still when I was asked some questions about bids deep in the auction I think the woman from Denmark didn’t really believe me when I said more than once – not discussed.
Our first match against the Philippines was a bit of a warmup. Pamela didn’t make one mistake or misjudgment that I noticed in the entire set. When I told her this I think she initially thought I was being sarcastic, but I really meant it. Our match against Denmark was much tougher. It wasn’t really that we did so much wrong as that they seemed to land in the right spot against us a lot of the time and there really wasn’t all that much we could do about it. The hands were mostly running the other way and the Danish ladies seemed to have a nose for smelling the very aggressive games that made. They did however miss 2 of them so that looked like it might be some help to get things back. The only hand I really regret is this one, the first one we played. What do you think?
Noone is vulnerable
I held ♠KJxxx ♥109xx ♦x ♣A10x
Partner opens an 11-14 notrump. In our methods I can bid 2♣ Stayman and over 2♦ I can bid 2♥ as a get out – bid your better major partner. 2♠ would be invitational.
I decided that the changes of game were remote, we were not vulnerable.and if I bid Stayman and partner responded 2♦ I didn’t like my choices so I just bid 2♠. On Vugrpah they were playing 13-15 notrump and bid Stayman (as I would have) and then invited. Partner of course has a fitting 14. Here is partner’s hand.
♠xx ♥AJ87 ♦AJxx ♣KJx
As it is you still have a lot of work on this hand with a club guess, 2 potential losers in both hearts and spades. So you need to have have enough go right that you cut those 5 losers down to 3. Most people didn’t get to game but I felt pretty bad about it at the time.
My biggest problem right now is sleep. For some reason someone decided to play karoke loudly nearby at 3 in the morning, thoroughly waking me. It feels like I haven’t slept in days. The best thing is that so far I much less nervous than usually. I am tense but just the right amount.
Let’s hope that the team can have a good day today.