I am 35-53 in National Tourneys (not counting Dayton where I was 16-15). My first Nationals was Reno in 1988. I had played in a couple of tourneys and done well enough to have an inflated rating and was able to play in division one (I think I was playing up). I had never played outside of the Twin Cities and I’m not sure why I would have decided to play in Division 1. I had not done any studying. At all.

My only real memory of Reno was learning the word NEROLIS while having a beer in the bar with Dave Lockrem. Hindsight tells me I should know NEROLIS before playing in division 1. I went 9-18 and didn’t go to another Nationals until San Diego (2002?). The 14 year hiatus had more to do with child rearing than with avoiding another humiliation. 2002 was division 2, where I started with two recounts….a two point loss followed by a one point loss (12/19). But I still had fun.

Since New Orleans (14-16), Nationals haven’t really interested me due mostly to the locations. I was pretty set on doing Dayton again since I did like that venue and the nice little restaurant row on the other side of the tracks. But now with an email just floating by about Reno, I’m thinking a better plan might be to do Reno, maybe taking a couple extra days to explore (I’ve never seen Tahoe) and then do Joey’s Maine tourney with an extra week to do the Maine thing. Not as a way of avoiding Nationals (I guess Dayton is a Nationals now), but just to see more country.

Some of my favorite tourneys are ones where I don’t even know where I finished; Taking the train to Seattle and back (I think I did ok there) and playing at the Grand Canyon (where I know I did just horrible).

So maybe it’s Reno and Maine for me this summer.