I have decided that I want to be the kind of bridge player who scores above 50 percent in every game. I think, if I ever get to that point, that I will then find even that unsatisfactory and want more than 60 percent in every game. I have to look back to the beginning to see that I have made any progress at all. Unread bridge books are still stacked next to my reading chair. I have sampled some of Mike Lawrence's book on doubles, finished Watson once, and, currently, I am making my way through Kantar's two books on defense but that is slow going. One of my favorites, at the moment, is 25 Bridge Myths. I like that one. I have always loved mythology but, sadly, this one is trying to teach me when to blow off rules and what the bridge teachers have tried to drum into my head and when not to. That is definitely a work in progress.
Husband/partner and I have decided that we get more bad scores defensively than offensively. Maybe that is because we are such offensive people. He is making his way through the first Kantar book while I am sampling the advanced one. He communicated something arcane to me about leading a 10 to show a higher honor. I, of course, immediately forgot it and heard about it from him when I didn't lead the suit, in which he had led the ten, back through declarer's hand. I thought the 10 showed attitude - i.e. he didn't like the suit. Back to the books.
So, if I read everything we have on bridge which would mean doing nothing else for about five years, and actually managed to retain the knowledge and THEN actually remember to use it during a game, maybe I can make my 50 percent per game goal. Probably not.
