[0_Ivan_0]

I have been reading this forums for a couple of years. I have noticed the difference in judgement and analysis of many posters. I have also seen these differences at the table. I have read enough bridge material to accept the statement that bridge is a game of mistakes: those who commit less mistakes are usually the winners.

I have defined two main mistakes at the bridge table: knowledge mistakes and performance mistakes. Solving knowledge mistakes is the easy part, it takes studying and hard work (I have read that talent is a myth and for the purpose of this question, I agree). Nevertheless, it is the second kind of mistakes that baffles me.

I have been wondering whether there might be a formula to prevent performance mistakes or at least to improve in that area. How can the mind be forced to concentrate on hands that look too easy? How do you force the mind to forget about the last hand or hands and keep focus on the one being played? How can you stop being nervous because the match you're playing is the most important and the final result depends on you performing well? How can you force yourself to remember your system all the time and not to forget that you play this sequence different with this partner than with another? How can you force your mind to be always as alert as when you saw and performed that squeeze or expert play?

I have been thinking there could be some help in psychology or maybe that's just what distinguishes us from the experts. But then it would be very sad, like running against top athletes when you have a limp.

I'll be really glad to read your two cents.

[hrothgar]

http://www.hulu.com/...version-therapy

[Vampyr]

0_Ivan_0, on 2011-February-07, 09:04, said:

I have been wondering whether there might be a formula to prevent performance mistakes or at least to improve in that area. How can the mind be forced to concentrate on hands that look too easy? How do you force the mind to forget about the last hand or hands and keep focus on the one being played? How can you stop being nervous because the match you're playing is the most important and the final result depends on you performing well? How can you force yourself to remember your system all the time and not to forget that you play this sequence different with this partner than with another? How can you force your mind to be always as alert as when you saw and performed that squeeze or expert play?

I think the answer is physical fitness, but I cannot answer definitively because I have never tried it...

[peachy]

Lot of negativity in your essay. IMO, there is no way to force your mind to do anything. You will end up in the looney bin if you try You say "stop being nervous", but try thinking of getting in the habit of being relaxed. You cannot stop one habit by just dropping it, adopt a new habit instead. Much of what is called 'performance' is like "fake it to make it" and "get back on the horse after you fall". Anyway, enjoy the game and unless you are paid to play, try to shift focus on the game instead of the scores!

[y66]

0_Ivan_0, on 2011-February-07, 09:04, said:

I have been thinking there could be some help in psychology ..

Golfers have gurus like Bob Rotella and Pia Nilsson for this problem. If I seriously wanted to improve that part of my golf game I would definitely seek one of them out.

In the bridge world, I suspect the best coaches have a lot of experience with this problem. Occasionally, I see stories that focus on parts of this problem -- Hamman's book At The Table has a fascinating chapter on this topic -- but I have not seen a book-length discussion of the coaching side of our game.

If I seriously wanted to improve this part of my bridge game, I would spend time kibbing pros who have the qualities I'm looking for and schedule some time to discuss problem areas with one of them. Here in the DC area I would seek out Peter Boyd.

Good luck!

[CSGibson]

Preparation for success involves a number of factors.
1) Making sure you are well rested going into an event
2) being able to "take time off" as dummy if you need short mental rests during an event
3) eating right and light on the booze
4) being disciplined enough to get up and take a water break after a disaster and then refocus on the next hand
5) having a routine which involved analyzing and counting on every hand before you play to trick one

and I'm sure some others as well.

[Phil]

Nice to see one of our lurkers checking in Welcome to the forums.

I think this is a great question.

Stamina is a big factor; not just keeping in shape, but playing enough face-to-face bridge where you stay accustomed to the rhythm and flow of the game, and also watching the cards. It is just too easy when you can peek at cards already played in an online game.

Keeping a good positive mental attitude is important. I have seen many matches lost when someone just didn't give a hoot about the result, or they thought that they were out of contention, so we might as well 'have fun'. Yesterday at a regional we had some 'unfortunate' early matches that put us out of contention, so in some middle matches, things started to get kind of loose and sloppy even though we were playing some soft teams. While we won these matches, we didn't blitz, and could have salvaged an overall finish had we played well.

Performance anxiety can be a problem for some, but I find that it tends to happen when you are totally intimidated by your opponents. Once you've beaten a good team, you realize that anything is possible, and you don't think about things like this as much. I find that even if I'm a little psyched by my opponents (which is rare nowadays), the more I focus on the play, then there just isn't any leftover energy to worry about who I'm playing, or matters like that.

I've read some of Rotella's books and the most relevant thing I took with me was never to focus on the result, and completely immerse yourself in the process. He talks about the golfer that has never broken 80 and stands on the 17th tee at five over par and thinks "wow, I can still finish bogey-bogey and break 80". So instead of being focused on a positive concept like "smack the drive down the fairway", negative thoughts dominate, like "don't hit it in the bunker", so he makes a bad swing and everything unravels.

[nigel_k]

I don't really believe there are 'two kinds of mistakes'. Players who have a lot of skill and experience don't have to think as hard to find the right bid or play because they already know what to do in many situations. Last year two promising intermediate level players came to me with a hand and asked me to explain how deep finesse makes 13 tricks. Clearly they had spent a lot of time trying different lines but after about 15 seconds I noticed there was a double squeeze but you had to cash the ♣A early as a Vienna Coup. This is not something that comes from concentration or attitude and I think the vast majority of problems are like this on a smaller scale. Just about any player can improve their results a lot more by increasing their overall skill level than by any change in mental approach.

Golf is completely different because your subconscious controls the swing of the club. Therefore knowing what to do is not the same as actually doing it. In Bridge, once you know what to do the problem is solved.

[dake50]

"Preparation for success involves a number of factors.
1) Making sure you are well rested going into an event
2) being able to "take time off" as dummy if you need short mental rests during an event
3) eating right and light on the booze
4) being disciplined enough to get up and take a water break after a disaster and then
refocus
*!*
on the next hand
5) having a routine which involved analyzing and counting on every hand before you play to trick one
*!* [I use acronyms ARCH: Analyze lead/ Review bids/ Count winners and losers/ How to amke the good score Declaring. And FARTP: Forcing lead?/ Attack?/ Ruffs?/ Trump lead to stop ruffs?/ Passive? That at least assures I thought to think of what I know] *!*

and I'm sure some others as well." -- CSGibson

[awm]

My experience is that a lot of people try to get themselves to "play up" for the big event. In other words, they decide that they need to play their best bridge on that day, and focus really hard on doing that. This is generally the wrong approach, and causes them to obsess over minor mistakes and become nervous or intimidated.

The advantage that many of the best players have is that they have played in a lot of very high-level events. They have beaten (and lost to) a lot of good players. Therefore the big event is just a "day at the office" for them and rather than try to play better than their normal game (and end up playing worse than their normal game)... they simply play their normal game (which is a very good game).

Other than getting a lot of experience in top-flight bridge (which is best, but not necessarily practical especially in the short-term), my recommendation would be not to do anything special on the day of an important event. If you normally exercise in the mornings, then exercise in the morning. But if you normally don't exercise in the morning... don't change your daily routine (regardless of what people say about physical fitness). Similarly, if you're used to eating a certain size meal, do that on the day of the event... sure, people say "don't eat a big meal" or whatever, but if you eat substantially less than you normally eat it will also effect your play. A lot of this is psychology: convince yourself this is "just another day of playing bridge" and try not to "get psyched out."

[tolvyrj]

Few years afo there couple of polish guys won european pairs championships. In this event after the first round, only thing they have an agreement left, was that this is the last time they r going to play together; first session didnt went very well . After the final round they were the winners though.
Its the art of forgetting and forgiving, whatever happend in previous deal its gone, if u prd or yourself made a mistake then what; its not like u r solving the cure fot cancer. Bridge is just a game, nothing more, nothing less.
Try to be playful and creative, keep u prd happy; go with the flow. Trying to force u self to stay focus and not make mistakes only drives u to second guess everything and overreacting. Shake the monkey from u back and in the end; whatever dosent kill us makes us stronger.
This shld be fun.