REBECCA ROOD'S MAILBAG...................................................................................... Dear Rebecca, I appeal to you in your capacity as agony aunt for bridge players in crisis to offer me some reassurance. It's been 43 weeks now since I scored over 50% in club du[plicate events. Is it because my partners are not up to task, or am I the victim of a sustained run of bad luck? ......Yours getting increasingly concerned Ken Hartley-Cope Dear Ken, Yes, you should be worried about this succession of sub-average scores. If this happened to me I would seriously consider topping myself. It seems that you have played with a multitude of different partners ( I wonder why ) but assuming that some were of equal or superior ability to yourself, most people would arrive at the same conclusion as myself. It is you alone that must take resonsibility for this wretched run because you were the common denominator. This is turn may suggest that bridge is not really your game, or to use kitchen parlance " you're a prune". Moreover, luck doesn't come in to equation at all. Players make their own luck, by creating umpteen situations for opponents to make mistakes both in their bidding and play. For instance, religiously giving partner count signals all the time is bad bridge. If the situation arises whereby declarer has much more to gain from the information than your partner, then play to give false and deceptive signals. So take my advice: either give up the game, or give up the bad practices that you have adopted in the way you bid and play the cards. Trying to give it to you straight.......................Rebecca