PUTTING THE GAME INTO PERSPECTIVE.................(By Johnny Supremo ) Lesson 6 : To be a good bridge player, you do need to take the game seriously.......but not to the point where results become a matter of life and death. The reality is that even if you and your partner's really get your act together, results on most boards remain outside and beyond your control. You can do nothing about the brilliance and/or idiocy taking place at other tables. Learn to keep things in a philosophical perspective, by taking on board the following maxims:

• You're not alone when it comes to making mistakes. Even top class pairs who notch up 69% will reflect on errors that cost them some of the missing 31%.
• Gifts handed out to opponents are often given back ( plus more ).
• If good players have bad days, so it must be OK for you to have some.
• Fortunes in bridge always tend to fluctuate. If you're at the top you can only go down. And if you're at the bottom, you can only go up. And there's nothing you can do to avoid that. So why not experience and enjoy the wonderful roller-coaster ride called bridge.
• When a mistake has been made, why beat yourself ( or partner ) up about it. The past cannot be changed, and crying over spilt milk is a pointless, wasteful and counter-productive exercise. Just mop it up and start again.
• Some mistakes are so calamitous, so farsical and so comical, the only proper thing to do is share a laugh with partner, and smile at the prospect they will make great bar room stories in weeks, perhaps years, to come.
• If mistakes help to move your learning curve on, then you and your partner should regard them as both valuable and effective teaching aids.