“How many Master points did you get?” or “I got x number of master points.” The number of attendance points, I mean master points doled out is not the be all and end all of an experience at a tournament. Bridge is one of the few sports where one can play against and learn from the best for the price of admission. A letter to the editor in the June 2016 ACBL Bridge Bulletin p.8 does a wonderful job describing what it means to participate in a tournament for the experience.
Mind over masterpoints
So we lost at the Reno NABC and had a rewarding time doing it. Playing against more skillful and experienced players, it was my most successful “losing” effort to date. Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset” discusses the difference between approaching challenges of all kinds with a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. She writes that a fixed mindset is defined by an outcome. Challenge and interest go hand in hand and challenge is why so many of us initially got hooked on this fantastic game. With a growth mindset value comes from the challenge and from learning, regardless of the outcome. Success and thrills come from learning but not from being flawless or winning it all.
Success by points and outcomes at the table is not the way any of us started learning bridge. The ACBL’s effort to make masterpoints more available at all levels of play is catering to the notion that we all have a fixed mindset approach to the game. Dweck feels it is important to ditch the notion that validation comes from success (masterpoints won).
My partner and I made it to day two of the Silodor Open Pairs and the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams. I did not expect either. We did not end up in the overalls in either event, but we did have a full four days of experiences. We had a “Meckwellian response” auction against Rodwell and Meckstroth. Team Zimmermann told us they played everything standard but, of course, with a variable 1NT. I declared a tough 4ª against Team Garozzo. We defended a hand against Kit Woolsey whose book on defense I was reading on the way to Reno. John Kranyak gave me a comment about a suit combination that I now know. Fred Stewart bid a lovely grand slam against us. All the teams on day two knew we were strangers to that event, and they could not have been more cordial or well-wishing.
A fixed mindset thrives when things are safely within its grasp at the local club, in gold rush pairs or playing only in your bracket. A growth mindset puts itself out there and grows. The stars of the world in tennis, soccer or gold do not welcome you to their venue. All of our national and local stars are willingly and cordially there to play against you in NABCs, regionals and sectionals if you want to play against them. The ACBL invites us all to sit at the table with the pros. This offers all bridge players a unique opportunity to rediscover the growth mindset that engaged us in the first place and banish that fatiguing and strangling fixed mindset.
Move up. Play up and take pride in your accomplishments that are never going to be measured by masterpoints, trophies or your name in the Bridge Bulletin.”
I am so happy that I cut my teeth when events were flighted. This means that all the As Bs and Cs played in separate events, not together. One never had to leave their flight and could always play against similar master point holders. But and this is what makes bridge so special, one was always allowed to “play up”. A C player could enter a Flight A event. As a new player I played in Flight A events as soon as I learned that I was allowed to do so. I rarely took home masterpoints. Instead I learned, got trounced and learned some more. I learned to measure progress as beating one pair on one hand.
Playing bridge is so much more than masterpoints. Next time ask someone returning from a tournament to tell you about a lead they made, or a hand they played. Ask them if they played any of the greats. Put the focus back on bridge.
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