Your mental toolbox to a better game
A few years ago, I ran a survey of Australia’s top bridge players asking them to rank bridge skills. In that survey, concentration was ranked most highly as an area that players wanted to improve. This finding was confirmed by a great many of the leading players who were interviewed in Samantha Punch’s recently published […]
Deciding whether to take a save or defend on a board can be one of the more difficult decisions in bridge. For example, calculating whether your 3♠ contract vulnerable going 1 off is going to be better than their 3-level contract making requires good judgement. When it comes to the game zone and the decision […]
Years ago, I was at a shooting competition overseas and I took the opportunity to speak with one of the German shooters at the event to talk about a tendency I had to hold onto shots for too long. This top-ranked shooter called this ‘chicken-finger’ and told me to believe in myself and to “not […]
Several years ago, Mollo & Gardener wrote a fabulous book called ‘Card Play Technique – The Art of Being Lucky’ which is still widely read and admired today. There is no doubt that good card play technique will help bring you ‘luck’. However, often in bridge being lucky or unlucky can come down to the […]
Bridge players are notorious for discussing the boards where imps were lost. While it is important to learn from our mistakes, dwelling on them will do little to help our overall confidence levels. Those who have read my book will have noted my acknowledgement of the Olympic champion Lanny Bassham whose work on mental management […]
As my home state of Victoria entered the third month of its second lockdown due to the pandemic, online bridge events have played a bigger part in my life. I thank the organisers of the various structured games that have taken place as life would have been quite dull without them. Bridge post-mortems are still […]
Having confidence in your skill and ability is a key contributor to success at the bridge table. Hence using a methodology to help identify the areas we want to work on improving is a great way of targeting our bridge practice. It will also gain the most benefit. In my book ‘Gaining the Mental Edge […]
I had planned to contest the Asia Pacific Bridge Federation Championships, which were to be held in Perth in April 2020. Everything was booked. Without warning, my plans were thrown into disarray because of a little bug which has created a world-wide crisis – Covid-19. The disruption to my plans pales somewhat when compared with some […]
I contested the pairs event in shooting at my first Commonwealth Games. In that event my partner was having a poor day. The format meant all competitors shot their match at the same time, with the scores for the pair added together. I was a quick shooter so finished ahead of most, and was thus […]
As an international shooter, my most memorable matches were events where I performed well against opponents who were also playing at the top of their game. I know of very few athletes who are excited by beating opponents who are not playing well or who are having an off day. It is much more exciting […]