In the summer of 2015, I was playing with a friend in a national pair event in Chicago. We had a slightly below average first half and only needed a solid game in the second. We started with eight straight catastrophes.

This is the session where I got most of my bridge stories. I was the only one doubled in a contract everyone got to, down one. Doubled by my mother. My partner bid so many times that when he eventually got doubled, I redoubled for spite. We wound up with 30%.

Even worse-- the bar thought that my ID looked fake and wouldn't serve me. So my partner and I took to the halls of the tournament hotel to share our tales of woe. It was a cathartic mix of therapy session and comedy routine. One of the people we regaled with our calamitous session was a lovely young woman from New York who would, after being sufficiently amused by these tales, go on a date with me. We got married a few years later.

You have to see the silver linings of bad games. They are going to happen, particularly if you are trying to improve by playing in better events.