UK Open Riichi is Tomorrow
Jun 25th, 2010
by Gemma
Sitting in the Premier Inn in Guildford waiting for the tournament… It seemed like a good time to write about pre-tourney rituals.
I’m quite a superstitious person anyway so it’s not a total surprise that I like to maintain a few rituals before a tournament.
1) No playing mahjong 24 hours before – This has some sanity to it. Because I’m superstitious, if I throw a tile and lose big, I have a grudge against that tile for several games later. It makes no sense and is detrimental to my game.
2) No fruit – Everytime I eat fruit before a tourney, I don’t do well. So now I like to eat junk ^^
3) No tea – Similar reasoning to (2)
4) Charm – I have a cornish pixie charm that I like to put in my pocket (but I forgot it today!)
5) No talking about mahjong – I hate talking about strategy before. It always makes me overthink my game.
Not all of them are superstitious but for some reason I feel they sway my luck/performance. Do you have any pre-tourney rituals?
Well, I just hope I don’t make a total fool of myself tomorrow. I’m feeling a little rusty at the moment so I’ll have to hope that fortune smiles on me! Look forward to seeing some of you tomorrow!
Posted in Columns, Gemma's Journal, Tournaments
