[qetzel]

Hi, I'm new to bridge and really enjoy it except that I've a lousy memory and just can't remember what cards have been played. Are there no tips anyone can give me other than just to practise? (I'm not finding that just practising is helping)....

[pescetom]

qetzel, on 2024-June-30, 13:59, said:

Hi, I'm new to bridge and really enjoy it except that I've a lousy memory and just can't remember what cards have been played. Are there no tips anyone can give me other than just to practise? (I'm not finding that just practising is helping)....

Yes, as I too am not great at memory (which initially involves cards played and then lots more stuff) but have worked on it and improved a bit.

Some tips:

1) practice memorizing a hand. Deal 3 cards, look at them, turn them face down and then write down what you saw. Deal 4 cards and repeat. Deal 5 cards and repeat... until you reach 13 cards and it is no problem (may take months or even years, do not give up. See also 5).

2) look at the key suit(s) once the dummy is down and don't just focus on number of cards and honours but figure out precisely which cards are unaccounted for and who might have each of them.

3) find a way that works for you of memorizing which cards have been played, and/or remain unplayed. This is probably the hardest of all, unless you are lucky enough to simply remember the precise cards played to each trick. Everyone has their own method and it's quite difficult to get the best players to disclose it.

4) during play, don't let anyone mess with your memorizing. Delay turning over your own card until you are comfortable with what has happened, have a stern word with partner if he auto-plays from dummy, call the TD if the opps insta-play.

5) study the possible distribution of of a suit in 4 hands (or 4 suits in a hand) and learn to recognise the most frequent distributions, have an idea of the frequency of each and start to form and refine hypotheses about how each suit may split around the table and how the four suits may split in a given hand.