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At the Table: The Autobiography of the World's #1 Rated Bridge Player
Bob Hamman, nine-time world champion, recalls his life and times in a fast-paced journey through the four decades of his career. At the Table is chock full of candid discussion of friends and foes. Look inside the mind of a bridge superstar to see how he cultivates winning habits and gives his very best every time he sits down to play.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
314 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2023
Fascinating to see into the mind of indisputably the greatest bridge player of all time.
Major takeaways:
- When you make a mistake, don't a) explain your reasoning or b) beat partner to the punch. Put it away and move on. No way to go back in time. Wait until after the session and ask yourself honestly: was my methodology sound? If I had seen another player do this, how would I feel?
- When partner tries to do either of these, respond, "I haven't thought it through yet. Let's discuss later. For now, let's move on to the next hand." Or when they ask if I'd do it the same way: "I haven't thought about it. Save your energy. Worry about it later. Let's play this one."
- Remember it's key to stay present as bridge requires such an intense presence of mind. No face-saving. No ruminating. The hand is over. What's done is done. On to the next hand. Don't get trapped into a dialogue.
- The Aces' Seven Deadly Sins:
1. Bidding without values.
2. System violations.
3. Unilateral Actions.
4. No-win declarer play.
5. No-win defensive play.
6. Impulsive plays.
7. Mechanical errors (pulling the wrong card, revoking, etc.)
- Must avoid the first three in particular for partnership harmony.
- Hamman never viewed partnerships as the key component of winning at the highest level. He won his first 7 world championships with 7 different partners.
- When you make a bad lead, don't dwell on it. Don't allow yourself to think on it. You have to move on to the next board. This is what makes you mentally tough. You can't change the past, you can only learn from it.
- It doesn't matter whether you should or should not have gotten it right. You got it wrong. Don't dwell on it- this same hand won't come up again. Unless it's a brief system misunderstanding, which should be a five second chat, don't discuss after the hand. Smart players don't flog themselves - this lands you on the shrink's couch.
- I like 2D as weak in hearts or a strong hand with any 4441 dist. Look into this. But overall, Hamman thinks system stuff is generally a waste of mental energy. I'm happy with my system with WCS.
- Touring pros can get softened up from being the best players in tournaments as well as from playing with clients, which gives you bad habits.
- Wacky preempts like Bergen's are losing practice at high levels. Remember my goals when I'm training, and it's not to do well at low levels of competition.
- I love the hands in this one. Hamman's lines of reasoning are great - incredibly clear and not bizarre. Really captivating hands make up for the flaws in the plot of some of his stories - that's why I like this book so much. I zipped through it, too.
- Play one board at a time. There's no 40-IMP play in bridge, and if you go looking for one on every hand, you'll only bury yourself deeper. Just grind it out.
- When a player gives lots of info about his hand through an elaborate auction, he's pretty much showing you his hand.
- Don't think about how badly you want pard to play you something. Think about how you can still set it if p doesn't. That's winning bridge and how Hamman is the greatest. Don't waste time on futile lines of reasoning! Most pards often don't find the right defensive line, and that's OK. Spend your mental energy searching for ways to recover or ways to still find success.
- Concentration means avoiding distractions. You won't learn to pull off a compound squeeze between the 3rd and 7th boards of a set! If it's beyond your skillset at the beginning of the set, it's likely still so at the end. Move on.
- You improve concentration by practicing good table habits - like keeping your mouth shut. Get over hands quickly - don't spend any energy on it.
- The right question isn't "what should I do now?" but rather "What in the hell is going on?" Unless you know what's going on, it's v hard to figure out what to do.
- Learn from your mistakes. Don't flog yourself. Try to figure out what really happened.
- In a game like bridge, you're going to look like a fool a certain % of the time: count on it. It'll be embarrassing. Don't let it bother you. Don't say anything. Get on to the next hand.
- If you're paying attention to what's going on and not screwing up the easy ones, it's much easier to get the hard ones right.
- Most players spend way too much time tinkering with system. This makes you use lots of mental energy remembering system and modifications. Overrated.
- Sportsmanship and class: when Bob smacked down the editor, Bob said, "well, you weren't very lucky." That's class. He also said after an OT win: "I wish they didn't have OT and could send two teams." This was the only thing he could say that wasn't bound to upset the other team. Just a thoughtful, deliberate, incredible guy.
Major takeaways:
- When you make a mistake, don't a) explain your reasoning or b) beat partner to the punch. Put it away and move on. No way to go back in time. Wait until after the session and ask yourself honestly: was my methodology sound? If I had seen another player do this, how would I feel?
- When partner tries to do either of these, respond, "I haven't thought it through yet. Let's discuss later. For now, let's move on to the next hand." Or when they ask if I'd do it the same way: "I haven't thought about it. Save your energy. Worry about it later. Let's play this one."
- Remember it's key to stay present as bridge requires such an intense presence of mind. No face-saving. No ruminating. The hand is over. What's done is done. On to the next hand. Don't get trapped into a dialogue.
- The Aces' Seven Deadly Sins:
1. Bidding without values.
2. System violations.
3. Unilateral Actions.
4. No-win declarer play.
5. No-win defensive play.
6. Impulsive plays.
7. Mechanical errors (pulling the wrong card, revoking, etc.)
- Must avoid the first three in particular for partnership harmony.
- Hamman never viewed partnerships as the key component of winning at the highest level. He won his first 7 world championships with 7 different partners.
- When you make a bad lead, don't dwell on it. Don't allow yourself to think on it. You have to move on to the next board. This is what makes you mentally tough. You can't change the past, you can only learn from it.
- It doesn't matter whether you should or should not have gotten it right. You got it wrong. Don't dwell on it- this same hand won't come up again. Unless it's a brief system misunderstanding, which should be a five second chat, don't discuss after the hand. Smart players don't flog themselves - this lands you on the shrink's couch.
- I like 2D as weak in hearts or a strong hand with any 4441 dist. Look into this. But overall, Hamman thinks system stuff is generally a waste of mental energy. I'm happy with my system with WCS.
- Touring pros can get softened up from being the best players in tournaments as well as from playing with clients, which gives you bad habits.
- Wacky preempts like Bergen's are losing practice at high levels. Remember my goals when I'm training, and it's not to do well at low levels of competition.
- I love the hands in this one. Hamman's lines of reasoning are great - incredibly clear and not bizarre. Really captivating hands make up for the flaws in the plot of some of his stories - that's why I like this book so much. I zipped through it, too.
- Play one board at a time. There's no 40-IMP play in bridge, and if you go looking for one on every hand, you'll only bury yourself deeper. Just grind it out.
- When a player gives lots of info about his hand through an elaborate auction, he's pretty much showing you his hand.
- Don't think about how badly you want pard to play you something. Think about how you can still set it if p doesn't. That's winning bridge and how Hamman is the greatest. Don't waste time on futile lines of reasoning! Most pards often don't find the right defensive line, and that's OK. Spend your mental energy searching for ways to recover or ways to still find success.
- Concentration means avoiding distractions. You won't learn to pull off a compound squeeze between the 3rd and 7th boards of a set! If it's beyond your skillset at the beginning of the set, it's likely still so at the end. Move on.
- You improve concentration by practicing good table habits - like keeping your mouth shut. Get over hands quickly - don't spend any energy on it.
- The right question isn't "what should I do now?" but rather "What in the hell is going on?" Unless you know what's going on, it's v hard to figure out what to do.
- Learn from your mistakes. Don't flog yourself. Try to figure out what really happened.
- In a game like bridge, you're going to look like a fool a certain % of the time: count on it. It'll be embarrassing. Don't let it bother you. Don't say anything. Get on to the next hand.
- If you're paying attention to what's going on and not screwing up the easy ones, it's much easier to get the hard ones right.
- Most players spend way too much time tinkering with system. This makes you use lots of mental energy remembering system and modifications. Overrated.
- Sportsmanship and class: when Bob smacked down the editor, Bob said, "well, you weren't very lucky." That's class. He also said after an OT win: "I wish they didn't have OT and could send two teams." This was the only thing he could say that wasn't bound to upset the other team. Just a thoughtful, deliberate, incredible guy.
March 28, 2025
The autobiography of Bob Hamman who was one of the greatest bridge players of all times.
The story tends to be too much of we beat xyz team by xx IMPS and there is too little bridge.
The most interesting angle is Bob's mental attitude to the game and how that helps him to win.
The story tends to be too much of we beat xyz team by xx IMPS and there is too little bridge.
The most interesting angle is Bob's mental attitude to the game and how that helps him to win.
February 22, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It is about one of the very best Bridge players of all time who was involved with the game at the highest level for a very long time. He played against the best players in the world and won many championships. While the Bridge is good as he describes some of the most interesting hands he has seen, what I thought was the best was how he was very frank in his assessment of the talents of many of the players. I also thought his telling of the Dallas Aces story was very interesting. These were some of the best players in the world put together to take the World Championship from the strong Italian teams of the 1960's. If you are the least bit interested in Bridge, this is a very insightful book.
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