HINTS ON AUCTION BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 868, 11 January 1930, Page 25

HINTS ON AUCTION BRIDGE

“Did Not Stop To Think” <Written for THE SUM by Caliban Copyright in Neut Zealand.} THE3JE is no more irritating type of Bridge player (whether as partner or as adversary) than the man whose mental processes are so laborious that the game is continually being hung up while he is deciding what to do next. As a matter of fact, his trouble, as a rule, is not so much that he thinks slowly (which is pardonable) as that he cannot make up his mind (which, in my opinion, is not). If Bridge is to afford pleasure those taking part in it, it must be played at a certain tempo; otherwise its rhythm becomes broken and the game develops into a very wearisome affair. But the opposite mistake—that of not giviug adequate thought to the hand which is being played—is of all too common occurrence. Every beginner should form a habit, before the worse habit, of which I propose to give examples, has grown upon him, of pausing before he plays to the first trick while he reviews the situation. The whole play of the hand may depend upon what he decides to do during that momentary consideration of the position. X do not mean, of course, that he should sit for five minutes with his head in his hands working out every possible combination of the chances; the play, as a rule, will develop on well-worn lines, and in such eases the necessary plan of campaign will suggest itself (to the experienced player) almost instantaneously. But it is quite legitimate, if the hand is at all a tricky one, for the declarer to give longer consideration to his play to the first trick than will subsequently be necessary; for the familiar excuse, “that he did not stop to think, ” is likely to meet with but grudging acceptance at the hands of a more experienced partner. Here are two rather instructive examples of what “not stopping to think’* can lead to.

In the seeond example, Z’s play was, if anything, even less excusable. It was the rubber game, the score in the third game was ZV 12, AB nothing, and Z had called Two Spades. A led the Knave of Clubs. Without pausing to consider the tactical possibilities of the hand, Z, seeing only that the Ace of Clubs was in Dummy, and the Queen in his own hand, decided to “take a chance” on the first trick. The blunder was irretrievable. B took the first trick with the King and proceeded to lead out the Ace of Spades and his small one, thus depriving Z of the opportunity he would otherwise have had of ruffing two of his Hearts in Dummy. Both these examples are based on instances actually observed a,t the card table, and any of my readers, no doubt, could add any number of others from his own experience. I have set them out in the hope that they may help to cure some at least of the bad habit of sitting with hand extended over the table waiting to pounce on one of Dummy’s cards and play it to the first trick thfe moment the hand is exhibited.