While I’m sure very few players would say they enjoy doing it, we’ve all lost games.

Losing is a natural part of any competitive endeavour. Statistics dictate that a Grand Slam is rare, and that losses will happen. A perfect score at any game probably means the player is cheating (or the game is rigged).

We’ve all started games imagining our supreme victory, but that’s not always how they go.

I’ve come to learn that loss can be useful.

Loss can be there to teach, and if you like, losing can teach you plenty of new tricks.

Once you’ve walked away from a lost bridge game, consider yourself more experienced for it. Then turn your game’s loss into something useful for the future.

Here’s a look at 4 things you can do with a lost bridge game.

1. A bridge video

Very few things in life are really a “win-win situation”, as the saying goes. But a lost bridge game can easily be turned into something useful as an online bridge video.

Record games for future reference. Upload them for other players who can learn from your virtues (or in this case, your mistakes). Add commentary, even if you’re poking fun at what you were thinking with that move.

One player’s win can be another player’s experience. Uploading is an excellent way to share yours with the world.

2. An expert’s opinion

A lost game can go from a liability to a strength whenever it gets used as a teaching mechanism. Have you just lost a particularly tough bridge game, and want to know more? That’s the spirit!

Games can be presented to bridge teachers and experts for their thoughts. Find out how they would have played it (or how you should have).

Forums have open threads for bridge discussion, though some clubs also have appropriate ask-an-expert pages for their groups. There are also bridge blogs with live puzzles where you can ask.

3. A File upload

If your game was played online, then you have the benefit of being able to export your bridge game as a common bridge format (e.g. .LIN).

What this means for players is that the game in its entirety is contained in the bridge file. The file can be shared with other players, or uploaded directly to bridge platforms that include Bridge Base Online.

Boards can be re-played again in electronic format, or you can mouse your way through the game move-by-move.

If you’ve just lost a bridge game, see if you can grab the file. It’s one of the things that makes online bridge cool.

4. A Rematch

We wouldn’t have tie-breakers and rematches in sport if losses didn’t bother humans as an entire species. When we’ve lost at something, it tends to dig at us (and might for quite some time).

Entire trilogies have been filmed just on this premise. Hollywood has made billions on the back of the rematch (and subsequent sequel).

Apply it to your bridge game. Challenge the same player to the same game for a second take. Duplicate bridge means you can even challenge other players to the same boards.

Best of luck!

How have you learned from your losses through your time playing bridge?