Reading about Justin and Josh’s bet inspired me to try those BBO Robot Race and Robot Reward tournaments; I’ve played a zillion of them (mostly using my favorite Alias) and found them spectacularly useful tools for practicing declarer play and defense. I win some, I shank a few, and once in a while I sign up in advance and forget the darn thing entirely, the results don’t matter over much. Increasingly, cards register in my mind as information where once they were more like clues in a bewildering riddle.
Everyone’s giving me advice this week, I’m taking it all in and doing the best I can. Just relax, they tell me. Have fun. Don’t play any bridge at all on Thursday. Get extra rest. Try and stay up late to get yourself on West Coast time. Keep playing your practice hands, stay in The Zone. Go for a run. Take a bridge book and read two hands before you play. Empty your mind completely and breathe. Slow down.
And so I’m off to Six Flags with my children and our dear friend Caroline, where I’ll be slowing down. At 90 miles per hour.
Last month in Lake Geneva I picked up a copy of David Bird’s new book. I haven’t yet read it, but George just finished it and after many requests was kind enough to furnish us with a review.
“Somehow we landed in Six Notrump” by David Bird
Reviewed by the Husband of Stacy Jacobs
The title alone is catchy enough to make you want to read this book, but once you start you will be intrigued by the content. The book sets the scene with every hand being played at 6 No Trump. Usually the declarer prevails with the defenders having their occasional day in the sun.
A unique feature of this book is that the first half is filled with real hands played by players we know, while the second half is filled with hands played by some of Bird’s most fun, interesting and rueful characters, including the Abbott, the Witch Doctor and Miriam. There is no blank space in the book as he fills every page with quizzes that challenge the readers to play a 6 No Trump contract.
The only downside to this delightfully written tome is the repetition. After all there are only so many count rectifiers, so many end plays and so many squeezes that a mind can absorb. However, the characters, their conversations and foibles, the real hands and players, the strange and unusual settings and the occasional forcing the pre-emptor to duck an Ace followed by purposely losing a trick to the other opponent, makes this a worthwhile adventure.
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Published by stacy on May 21st, 2009 tagged Bridge
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