The quote today reminded me of a supposed Victorian comment that “The burned hand learns best”. Ouch but, metaphorically, we’ve all had scorch marks from hands we’ve misbid, misplayed or misdefended I suspect.
Regards,
Iain
Bobby WolffFebruary 17th, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Hi Iain,
Yes, any way that bridge players look at it we all are guilty of all three of those words you mention starting with mis. Perhaps the key to reducing the damage evident from the first sentence is to accept more than one of those “distractions” on any one hand, therein increasing the number of “clean” hands to which we are unsoiled.
In any event, bridge being the really tough competition we all seek should direct us
to keep score of the number of hands we have bid, defended and/or declared in more or less a perfect manner, to which we need to be circumspect about disclosing. IOW, absolutely no errors on anyone of the 12 plays made (dummy gets a free, get out of jail, pass), taking for granted that the last card is what is left and is thus not subject to that kind of scrutiny. Also, the bidding needs to be severely subject to tough judgment so that even reaching the right contract can be prone to error, and my experience will likely be, significantly fewer than half the hands will qualify if we seek, and thus demand discipline rather than result, as our permanent guide.
Perhaps such a system of determining will be an exercise like no other in difficulty, but can anyone not see its advantages? At the very least the “scorch marks” to which you refer will be plentiful in number marking in time more pain present than “Carter” (or some long ago company) has “liver pills”.
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Hi Bobby,
The quote today reminded me of a supposed Victorian comment that “The burned hand learns best”. Ouch but, metaphorically, we’ve all had scorch marks from hands we’ve misbid, misplayed or misdefended I suspect.
Regards,
Iain
Hi Iain,
Yes, any way that bridge players look at it we all are guilty of all three of those words you mention starting with mis. Perhaps the key to reducing the damage evident from the first sentence is to accept more than one of those “distractions” on any one hand, therein increasing the number of “clean” hands to which we are unsoiled.
In any event, bridge being the really tough competition we all seek should direct us
to keep score of the number of hands we have bid, defended and/or declared in more or less a perfect manner, to which we need to be circumspect about disclosing. IOW, absolutely no errors on anyone of the 12 plays made (dummy gets a free, get out of jail, pass), taking for granted that the last card is what is left and is thus not subject to that kind of scrutiny. Also, the bidding needs to be severely subject to tough judgment so that even reaching the right contract can be prone to error, and my experience will likely be, significantly fewer than half the hands will qualify if we seek, and thus demand discipline rather than result, as our permanent guide.
Perhaps such a system of determining will be an exercise like no other in difficulty, but can anyone not see its advantages? At the very least the “scorch marks” to which you refer will be plentiful in number marking in time more pain present than “Carter” (or some long ago company) has “liver pills”.