IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD
 
GS JADE BARRETT
 
Have you ever noticed that our early boards are often not as good as they could be? Usually this happens because our body has arrived at the game ten minutes or so before our mind has. It is particularly true at our local games, since we know that we are only a few minutes away from the club. This allows us the opportunity to attempt to complete one more ten-minute task in the six minutes we have before we have to leave for the game. So we rush through our chore, in order to rush to the game where we will arrive four or five minutes late (if we manage to avoid the speeding ticket). As we grab a cup of coffee (another thirty seconds or so), and a convention card (ten seconds), say hi to a couple of friends (five seconds as we fly past their table), we sit down just in time to make the boards because our opponents are unconscionably late. Wait, here they are now. On the very first hand as we anxiously notice that there are only nine minutes left in the fourteen minute round and we have not started the auction yet. After a quick glance at our cards, we fling the 1H card on the table and now start sorting and counting. Just about the time our partner bids 2N as a forcing heart raise we realize that we actually have four hearts and five diamonds and a fairly ugly twelve count. As we breathe a sigh of relief when our 4H bid gets passed out we take comfort in the fact that partner has at least four hearts since he never has fewer than that when he bids 2N.
 
 Except when he is late.
 
 In his haste to get into the game, he glanced at his hand and with eight red cards and thirteen HCP he knew that there had to be enough hearts in his hand to force to game so he bid 2N while he organized the details of the hand. Upon discovering that he had only three hearts, he was relieved that we did not make a slam try and figured that everything would work out alright since you never have fewer than five hearts when you open. He was right. Everything worked out fine - for the opponents.
 
The game begins for me about a half hour or so before the session starts (often earlier when I am on the road). This is the time when I start thinking about the methods I am playing, what auctions mean what and what the carding I will be using is. Sometimes I just consider whether I want to sit NS or EW (I prefer to play NS in the afternoon since the stationary pairs I will face in the second session often become sedentary towards the end of the evening). I wonder who I am going to see at the game today or what partnerships I might face. I endeavor to arrive early to the game (something I accomplish about half the time) since late starts that I am responsible for invariably raise my stress level. I seek out my partner so we might clarify our agreements or discuss new thoughts or even the weather. I want to be in our partnership's space before the game commences.
 
All of these things help bring me to the environment that I will be playing in, and that is the first step towards my good games. By emotionally preparing to play, you will be ready to take advantage of the competitors who do not.