Bridge | 24 August 2024

Anyone who plays bridge competitively knows how stressful it can be. If you wonder how world-class players cope, you should read The Art of Becoming a Top Bridge Player by Samantha Punch. Sam is not just a Scottish international, but also a professor of sociology. She interviewed scores of well-known names on topics ranging from how they recover from their mistakes to how they become better partners.

Quite a few lesser players were also interviewed – as it happens, I was one of them. I talk about not always being able to control my emotions at the table – which is bad, but in mitigation, I’m not alone. Zia Mahmood says he’s just ‘red-blooded’, and points out that the Italians, whenever they have a bad board, lift the screen and scream at each other. At the other end of the spectrum are those with perfect sangfroid, like Bob Hamman, who never speaks during play.