[CSGibson]

Have you ever been in a bridge funk, where you went through a period where you were just not seeing things that you would normally see easily, or playing up to your own standards? If so, how have you worked your way out of it?

[JLOGIC]

Yes for sure, just play through it, it will go away. It's like batters going through a slump.

[fuburules3]

I'm not a particularly high level player (which I only add since I know the first two posters are), but I have noticed this in both bridge and poker and to some degree chalk it up to variance. Certainly there are times I am playing better than other times, but there are times everything I do works out perfectly and I feel like a bridge god and there are times where nothing works and I think I am absolutely miserable at bridge. I don't think this type of variance can be attributed entirely to how I am playing and think that I tend to be more critical of my mistakes when they work out poorly.

So this is just a long winded way of saying what JLogic said in one sentence, keep on playing and I think eventually you will get your normal results.

[Zelandakh]

I get this often. It is not just a slump but just not being able to visualise the hands - everything comes out blurry. I tend to end up playing the hands from general principles then rather than calculating in detail what is best. For me, this tends to happen mostly when I have not had enough sleep, have other things on my mind, have spent too much time away from bridge, or am simply unhappy or stressed about life for whatever reason. So my advice would be to clear your mind - finish up any niggling tasks or problems, etc - and get a good night's sleep every day for the next week. Then play as much as you can and see if your sharpness comes back.

[SteveMoe]

Absolutely -
Fatigue is almost always at the root - I look to 1) Exercise, 2) Diet, 3) Rest, 4) talking with partner(s) and 5) Distraction in about that order. Getting a 1/2 hour aerobic exercise between sessions can get your brain back to center. Finally, I reassess my approach and look for breaks in discipline. Rereading favorite bridge books and reaffirming the analytical approach at the table always helps.

[ggwhiz]

I have a really good book on sports psychology but I don't know where it is or the title off hand. It had some great direction on the mental framework you need to break out of a slump.

Different strokes for different folks, ie. before our team trials I didn't play a hand of bridge for 2 weeks, just blackjack and ended up more focused than usual.

[Yu18772]

Yes, EVERY learning process (doesn't matter what you are learning) is like that. On a long time scale you are progressing, however if you examine short time periods its two steps up one down. The fact that you are aware of this is the best indication you are becoming better......

Yu

[dustinst22]

SteveMoe, on 2012-May-25, 15:39, said:

Absolutely -
Fatigue is almost always at the root - I look to 1) Exercise, 2) Diet, 3) Rest, 4) talking with partner(s) and 5) Distraction in about that order. Getting a 1/2 hour aerobic exercise between sessions can get your brain back to center. Finally, I reassess my approach and look for breaks in discipline. Rereading favorite bridge books and reaffirming the analytical approach at the table always helps.

After going through a recent slump, I found the same -- fatigue was absolutely the cause. This normally isn't a problem for me because I'm used to playing very long sessions. My slump was mostly bidding-related and making poor judgment calls. Solution for me was to take a break from playing and just do some reading and kibitzing.