My biggest frustration lately is making mistakes that I feel that I shouldn't be making.
Playing in a very close team match, the last hand looks like this:
Get it right, you win. Get it wrong, you lose.
At the table, my mind went "if partner doubles, I have to pull - I have less controls than I've shown, and double will just be showing extras". So I pulled.
This is of course completely wrong. That thinking is the old me, back before I started reading, asking questions, and thinking. What's really going on? Opponents are likely no better than 4-4 in hearts. With my short hearts, partner rates to have some hearts. Also, my 4 diamond bid didn't show anything more than what I have really, even vulnerable. And while I had never played with this partner before, 11 previous hands had shown him (her?) to be completely competent.
All I have to do is trust partner, not rescue him/her, and we win.
The team captain was very gracious after the match, but our opponent, my Monday partner, had some sage advice. Just play more often.
There are a thousand good reasons why I can't play 100 hand a week, or devour a bridge book a month to further my game. All that is fine, but maybe, just maybe, I know enough now that in order to jump to the next level I need to play a few hundred (thousand?) hands. I feel like I'm becoming more aware, and that my head has much more good bridge knowledge in it than it did a year or two ago. Maybe if I just start playing, and playing with confidence rather than fear, the patterns that I should already know will influence my thinking at the table, for the better.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
There's no substitute for playing. I was playing twice a week for a while, and my bridge improved a lot. Counting just becomes easier with practice.
I stopped playing regularly for months (you can see from my post-less period) and my bridge has suffered a lot for it.
After playing bridge for a considerable amount of time (10 years and counting), I learn that you just need to trust your partner, or else you will lose for sure. At anytime if you break the trust between partnership, you will often find yourself playing with 3 opponents! Not good.
Is this really about trusting partner? Why do you think he doesn't know 100% that 4D promises zero defense against 4H?
Let go of the fear man and your game will soar. Maybe that's what you fear most.
Well said, anon.
Post a Comment