Talking Bridge
....
Things
a lot of people don’t know
- If you make an insufficient
bid, you do not have an
automatic right to 'make it good'. For starters, the
opponents can accept the bid if they want to. This is
frequently a good idea - for example after 1H overcalled
by 1C you could accept it and bid 1S! It might be
difficult otherwise to show your Spade suit if your not
playing Sputnik or Negative Doubles. Next, you don't have
to 'make it good' (a phrase that appears nowhere in the
rules!) - you can make any sufficient bid you like (or,
indeed, pass), provided you're prepared to accept the
penalty of having partner silenced throughout the rest of
the auction. Finally, if either the insufficient bid or
the minimum sufficient bid in the same denomination are
artificial, then you suffer the above penalty in any
event. Much better to let the Director sort it out.
- You intend to bid 4H and when
you glance at the table you find to your horror that you
have in fact bid 4S. Don't panic, this is what's called a
'mechanical' error. It can be rectified without penalty
right up until (but not after) partner has made his next
bid even if your left-hand opponent has
already bid over you! This has to be a slip
of the fingers though - not a change of mind.
- If you drop a card
accidentally during the play, then provide it's below
honour rank (9 or less), it only counts as a minor
penalty card. The rules for this are much less severe -
make sure you get the full gen from the Director.
- Everybody knows (don't they?)
that asking questions during the auction can give partner
unauthorised information, but did you realise that
reading the opponents' convention card is exactly
equivalent? You shouldn't look at it unless it's your
turn to bid and doing so implies that you are considering
a bid. (Oh, that there were convention cards to
look at at our Club!)
- Most people regard an alert
as an open invitation to ask the meaning of a bid. It is,
but you shouldn't do so unless it affects what you intend
to do. Save your questions for the end of the auction.
- You're dummy and partner
calls for a card from table when he should be leading
from hand. Do you say, "No, you're in hand partner"?
You shouldn't! If you see him about to lead from
the wrong hand, by all means stop him (this is trying to prevent
an irregularity), but if he's already done
it, you should say nothing (you may not draw
attention to an irregularity). In any
event, it's in your own interests to say nothing - all
you would be doing is alerting the defenders to your
partner's mistake. They can accept the play from the
wrong hand anyway if they want to! In general, dummy
should never be the first to draw attention to an
irregularity. Another common mistake is for dummy to
point out a revoke from the defence. Save it for the end
of the hand!
- 'Declarer can do no wrong'.
Ever heard that? Ever said that? This is
one of the great myths of the game - I'm afraid it's
complete twaddle! I'm living proof that declarer can do lots
of things wrong! For example, he can revoke, he can lead
from the wrong hand (or when he hasn't won the last trick)
and be held to it, he can be penalised for hesitating
unnecessarily in an attempt to fool the defence, in fact
just about the only thing he can't do
wrong is to incur a penalty card.
Email
us with your opinion:
brambledown@blueyonder.co.uk