Amy Mitura, the winner of the 28th WBF Women's Online Festival

Amy did an incredible job, leading the overall leaderboards at the last WBF Women's Online Spring Festival 2024 in April. It's her second win in the festival, this time she earned the free entry to the Women's National Pairs Championship in Buenos Aires. We got a chance to speak with her and here's her story.

I was very surprised to win because I started a new job this year and my hours are not as flexible as they used to be, so I didn't think I would be able to participate in the tournament much if at all. The new format and times gave me the opportunity to play just enough to be successful. I am very grateful for that.

Because of the win, I earned an entry to the Women's Pairs in Buenos Aires. I am particularly excited about that. The last time I won was during COVID and there was no such prize as there were no face-to-face tournaments.

Can you tell us a bit about your experience playing the Women's Festival?

I don't remember exactly when or how I came across the Women's Festival, but I have played as many events as possible since then. It has become a constant part of my life and I look forward to playing each year in the spring and fall.

This year festival has some changes. I first noticed the changes when I logged in expecting to participate in a tournament starting at 8:30 a.m. EST as in previous festivals, but there was no tournament. I was quite confused. 

I think the new format and times are wonderful for people who work and for people from all over the world. I love daylong tournaments and I think those are a great addition, but it seems as if a large percentage of a player's points can come from just the daylong, so maybe some adjustment to the scoring would be appropriate.

I love the new daylong tournament. I also like matchpoint pair event. I usually play it with a robot, but I always enjoy talking to the other women participating in the festival and seeing what trivia questions the directors have for us.

Did you face any particular challenges during the tournament?

I don't recall particular challenges during the tournament specifically, but there are always challenges with robots. Even the alerts will say they have one thing, but they do not have that at all. A challenge that seems to occur every festival is that I will have a disaster first board or first round even. By putting that out of my mind, I am able to salvage the rest of the game and finish with a decent result.

How do you prepare for a tournament? Do you have some tips for your fellow players?

Talking about preparation, I suppose my preparation has been years of paying to play with robots. As for rituals or routines, I like to do yoga before playing bridge because it helps me focus. A cup of tea while I play is calming. With the number of tournaments in the festival, sometimes a nap is necessary after one tournament ends and before the next begins.

This is the tip for beginner bridge player: I am a big proponent of reading to learn anything. Also, with bridge, and I don't do this nearly enough, is practice declaring hands. The Bridge Master on BBO is helpful.

What excites me about bridge is analyzing all of the information from the bidding and the play and trying to solve each of the deals like a puzzle.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I'd like to thank Ralph Katz for telling me to "COUNT" some number of times per day. He would say, "Not enough times per day," but it was enough times that I could hear him in my head and I achieved better results because of it.

Thank you Amy for sharing your experience and your tips. Here's hoping you'll do well at the Women's Pairs in Buenos Aires next October. Good luck!