After Spring Fours, I did not play bridge for nearly 2 months thanks to exams. In between I fell sick, but that’s another story. Since then, I’ve played a few games at CBC, but rather poorly. Besides, the cards don’t seem to be going my way much. (Although this is all very subjective I admit!)

Planning the trip was rather hectic. Qunxiang agreed to play 2 weeks before, and then I had to find accommodation. Due to the clash with the Gay Pride Festival, almost all the hotels in Brighton were gone, thus I ended up finding a hotel in East Croydon, for less than half the price of what was available in Brighton…

Friday
First session was easy, and we actually finished the night in the top 1/3 of the field.

Saturday
Second session saw us moved up to the other room, where we started facing tougher opponents, and the cards starting going against us…what can you say when opponents bid their cold slams and get good matchpoint scores for it? Admittedly, I wasn’t playing at my best, and I probably let 2 or 3 contracts through.

Third session saw us back in the smaller room again. A bit of a mixed set, but 2 good wins out of 3 rounds was very welcome.

Sunday
The last session was probably about the only time I felt I was in “the zone”. Unfortunately, 2 out of the 4 rounds did not go our way, so we ended up slightly below average with 126 VPs and 7 wins out of 14.

	♠ 2 ♥ J87652 ♦ KQ65 ♣ A5
♠ AQ85 ♥ 43 ♦ T84 ♣ 9732

(2S shows spades and clubs, at least 5-5)

Partner kicks off with the Heart Ace, then a low spade to your Ace. What do you continue? A heart? Then well done.

Dealer S Vul N/S Scoring Imp Lead ♥A	♠ T9743 ♥ A ♦ 2 ♣ QJT864
♠ KJ6 ♥ KQT9 ♦ AJ973 ♣ K		♠ 2 ♥ J87652 ♦ KQ65 ♣ A5
	♠ AQ85 ♥ 43 ♦ T84 ♣ 9732

Of course, I did not have that problem as I was declaring 5H! However, teammates failed to find the right defence in 5D.

	♠ AQT32 ♥ Q762 ♦ Q84 ♣ 4
♠ 987 ♥ KT5 ♦ KJ65 ♣ AJ5

North opened 2S, which got doubled by partner in the balancing seat and of course you pass. Now what do you lead?

Suppose you lead a low heart, won by partner’s ace and he now cashes Ace diamonds and returns another one. How would you play now after declarer plays a trump to your ten?

Poor defence by me. A diamond return earlier would have killed the contract instantly.

Not spotting declarer’s discard of the spade 8, I returned the 7 later in the play when the 9 would have clarified the position better…

The auction at our table stopped in 3NT after South opens 1N and North transfers to hearts. Would you want to be defending or declaring?

Will post more updates then.

My batch in RJC bridge club consisted almost entirely of people I have known since RI. Most of us had just barely learnt bridge. Andre, who was partnering me, was different though as he had played the game for a far longer period of time.

Andre and I only played in one tournament together in 2004 though, which was the NUSS Tournament. Of course, we didn’t do very well, but everyone had fun which was perhaps the most important. Psychologically and emotionally, I was not in the frame of mind for a tournament, having gone through a very demanding schedule due to chorale for the previous 2 months and having suffered a personal setback barely 3 weeks before which affected me badly in emotional terms. This setback would haunt me for quite some time thereafter. It is pretty interesting thinking back about it – it is something I have gotten over a long time ago – but I still recall it with mixed feelings, and feel amazed that I actually managed to play bridge under those conditions!

In any case, Andre left for the UK 2 months after and I was without a partner. The rest of my time in RJC was without a fixed partner, which was alright as I was too busy with chorale to make much of an impact in bridge anyway. I continued to read and learn by myself, but did not get much chance to hone my skills.

I would say the highlight of this period was having Poon Hua coach us. This was before he won the bronze at the World Youth Team Championships. I think the most useful stuff I was taught was Losing Trick Count and 2/1 GF.

Of course, being ignorant, I did not really see the mistakes made at that time. However, looking back I would say that the batches after us fell into the same mistakes. On hindsight, I think some of these could be avoided.

Firstly, there was a wave of obsession with bidding systems. We had pairs playing Relay Precision. Having only learnt the gist of what Relay Precision is a year back then do I realise that it is perhaps a tool that beginners shouldn’t even be touching! This is something not lost on the batches after us. I notice that it is the male players (not that there are that many females in RJC Bridge club!) who are the ones falling into this trap. Perhaps this has to do with male ego and the fact that we often out-smart ourselves? I can only look back wistfully as I see the futile attempts: MONK, multi 2D (imagine how dangerous this is when one doesn’t even know how to pre-empt), the possibilities are endless. And honestly, how much is system going to gain at beginner level?! What is the point of right-siding a 3NT if you lack the declarer techniques to bring it home? Bridge is a game of mistakes, and learning to make less mistakes is a lot more important at the beginner levels than trying to gain through system.

Which brings me to the next point – cardplay. I did not touch any squeezeplay until 2 years ago. Even now, I probably can’t execute a double squeeze properly. The number of times where I have seen a squeeze being the legitimate correct line of play to bring home a contract is definitely countable with 2 hands. However, some of my contemporaries decided to delve into the world of squeeze play. This is not to tar everyone with the same brush, there were a few individuals who were very gifted in card play and thus they went into squeeze play after they have mastered the basic techniques. For the less gifted like me, learning something easier like choosing the correct sequence of finesses or endplay technique would be a lot more beneficial. I recall at a weekly game a few months ago during summer break where my table opponents were the juniors who are still currently in RJC. Well, they were in 6NT, and declarer decided to pull it off on a squeeze. No luck. What disturbed me was the fact that during the post-mortem, they were discussing what kind of squeeze would possibly bring it home. There was no legitimate line of squeeze play at all. I would hope I have to chance to address this unhealthy obsession with squeezes!

The very big drawback is, having learnt all the wrong stuff, you have to unlearn them. Thankfully, this process was not very painful for me! A similar situation in chess would be learning all the book moves of the Sicilian Najdorf and not knowing any real tactical play etc. My worry is, will the juniors unlearn all these bad habits?

The big problem is, at this stage in learning, most people are still in the unconscious incompetence stage. It is at this stage where one thinks one knows everything, but one hasn’t learnt enough yet to know that one actually does not know anything. Perhaps the best policy is to stay humble throughout one’s learning process. I think this is best applied to anything. I myself have been guilty of making wrong assumptions of knowledge!

Back to my own story: After I graduated and started National Service, I stopped playing for months. However, I would soon restart again…

I mean this to be an objective and constructive piece. No personal offense is meant towards anybody in this. Where possible, I will try not to name names if I feel that I am referring to something not very glorious. In any case I will try my best to make this as positive as possible. Yes, this is a disclaimer.

I would like to think of my bridge career as being split into:
1) RJC Days (2004-2005)
2) Restarting in NS (Jul 2006-Sep 2007)
3) Between NS and Uni (Oct 2007-Sep 2008)
4) Life in Uni thus far (Sep 2008-present)

Each section is rather different, and in fact I would say the first part has contributed very little. This is the objective truth – it is not to say that I did not learn anything during those 2 years, but it would be more right to say that for practical purposes, I “started” in July 2006.

How did I start bridge? I learnt what is commonly referred to as “floating bridge” in 2000 in RI Choir. So in 2003, right before graduating and going onto RJC, I heard of the bridge club where they play contract bridge. Thus towards the end of 2003 I started picking up contract bridge. 2004 came and I joined the bridge club in RJC. The main problem I had at this point in time was having a partner and I ultimately ended up with Andre.

(to be continued)

Partner leads the 8 of clubs after bidding goes 1H-2D-2H-3C-3NT. Dummy’s clubs are QJT76 and you hold K954. What do you play on the first trick after declarer plays an honour from dummy?

You hold 9874 in a side suit in 4H. Declarer leads the suit from dummy and partner rises with the Ace. Which card do you play to show standard count? (You are in a situation where you have to tell partner which winners are cashing before declarer discards his losers on an established suit.)

Again you are in 3NT. You hold Jxx, partner leads the spade 2 (playing 4th best leads) and declarer holds up his ace until the 3rd round. Declarer cashes a winner in dummy and leads a diamond from xxx. You hold AKxx in diamonds. Your play?

Believe it or not I got all 3 wrong.

Thankfully, my declarer play was not too bad…or was it? What would be the optimal line to play this hand?
xx
QJxx
Jx
AQ98x

Kxx
Ax
AKT9x
Jxx

After an auction which went 1NT(15-17)-2C-2D-3NT, opponent leads the spade 5, which goes to the T and K. Your play now?

I am not convinced the best line was found at the table: club to the Q, J of D to the A on which RHO plays the 8, now club to K and A, and then a diamond back, which RHO plays the 2. I now go into the tank and produce the K which drops the offside doubleton Q! My reasoning now was that I can only make the contract if the Q doubleton drops offside so I played for it. 10 tricks and 13 imps in. Darren suggested I could have played the Q of hearts first to tempt a cover.

Well, at least this meant our car trip to Bessingham and back wasn’t futile.

The first half was a dull affair, ending 11-13. The second half though, threw up 2 interesting boards. How would you bid these 2 sets of hands?
(RHO passes)
Q973
AK4
Q
AKJT6
facing
K
Q96
AKJT7542
4

and
(RHO passes)
AK
K9432
AQ986
A
facing
T95
AQ8
T5
QT765

I find it quite funny that I only saw the post now, and the fact that I’ve just played chess yesterday for Warwick Singsoc at the Nottingham Games. What a coincidence then to see something linking chess to bridge today!

Since I quit competitive chess more than 7 years ago, I have never had any tournament play until this year – first One World Week where I got second against a relatively easy field and then yesterday where I only had one opponent. Despite this, I am rather surprised at how little I have depreciated in playing ability compared to what I would have expected. I still remember thinking on the coach back to Coventry if this is somehow linked to the fact that I’ve been playing competitive bridge instead.

A small aside to yesterday: Psychologically, my opponent lost almost as soon as we started. He started showing signs of nervousness as soon as move 3, when it became apparent that I was playing the Scotch Game. I have to say that I did not handle the opening perfectly and almost had my queen trapped but this was soon turned around when he left his bishop hanging! I quickly exchanged off the major pieces (he was getting some counterplay from generating mating threats) and he lost the endgame pretty quickly thereafter, resigning when I promoted a pawn after another mistake of his. The second game had the same idea, lost on the 3rd move after I had responded with the Budapest Gambit after he opened d4. This time round he left his Queen hanging and it didn’t take me very long to come up with checkmate after that!

A few points I realised:
1. Instinct DOES count for a lot. I faced the danger of getting my queen trapped as mentioned, however a possible reply suddenly popped up in my head, I checked through it, it works and so I played it. In the second game, I tried to play for a checkmate, but it was not possible, and a few moves later, I suddenly “saw” checkmate in one move. That saved me the trouble of playing it out any longer!

2. Discipline and routine of thought processes. This was actually drilled into me at chess by my coach John Wong 8-9 years ago. Of course, I was nowhere good at anytime, but I would like to think that this was the difference. I don’t claim to have a perfect routine, but one thing I did do was to check before making any move if I had left any piece/pawn hanging without good reason. My opponent didn’t…

3. Keeping your cool. Discovering 4-0 breaks are almost part and parcel of everyday life in bridge. What happens when opponent plays out of your opening book in chess? Of course, having good preparation to deal with most openings should be part of the preparation, but if you’re out of your book, losing your cool should be the last thing you should do!

Regarding “the zone”: One of the things I enjoy when I’m bored doing work in the Statistics department is to walk around the ground floor offices and see what the various faculty members put on their doors/noticeboards. Outside one of them is the model of learning, which consists of 4 steps – Unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence. Therefore, it would make perfect sense to say that if you’re really at it, you will be doing the right things unconsciously by “instinct”. From my experience, this is definitely right be it at doing maths, playing the piano, singing, playing chess or bridge!