Card Sense
(or how to finish a marathon)
by Bernard Marcoux, Ste-Adèle
How many
mistakes are made in a bridge session at your favourite club?
Let’s add:
let’s say one mistake for each player on each board (in the
bidding, defence or declarer play, mistake meaning any inferior
choice or a real blunder), which makes 4 errors par board.
We
multiply by 15 boards (for 15 tables) and we arrive at 60
mistakes per board, then you must multiply that figure by 2 (2
boards per round) and you obtain 120 mistakes per round.
You
then multiply that number by 13 (13 rounds) and you arrive at…
1560 mistakes per session.
You
think I am exaggerating? I don’t
think so.
The
number of mistakes is probably even higher, closer to 2 errors
for each player on each board, which makes (brace yourself) 3120
mistakes per session at your local bridge club, roughly 1000
mistakes an hour !!!
We are
closer to the truth. Why all those mistakes ?
The main
reason, I think, is that the immense majority of players are
sleeping at the table.
They hold
their cards, they hear the bidding, they see dummy, but they
don’t listen, they don’t look, they don’t think.
Why
is that ? I don’t know. Probably
they don’t believe they can control what is happening at the
table. I would say at least 8 or 9 players out of 10 think that
way.
Basically,
those 9 players out of 10 believe bridge is pure luck and that
they can’t do nothing about it.
They don’t
believe they can count the hands. They don’t believe they can
know, for sure, the exact distribution of declarer or a
defender.
And
you see that in the way they play : they hesitate, choose a
card, put it back, pick another one, go back to the first one,
then throw it on the table, quickly, curious to see what is
going to happen, like they have absolutely no idea of what can
possibly happen.
The cards
falling on the table are for them a constant surprise. For
them, bridge happens all the time in the dark and the players
who enjoy repeated successes are magicians who access a superior
world they will never see.
Those 9
players out of 10 will tell you that the successful player has a
‘’card sense’’, that he was born with that sense, and that his
first words, when he was born, were probably: ‘’I open 1NT and I
will make 8 tricks on a club/heart squeeze against West’’.
Or they
will say that player is lucky, which means they are not,
obviously.
Let’s make
an analogy: can we say a marathon runner has a ‘’marathon
sense’’? And if he finishes the race, will we say he was
lucky?
If we
accept that a bridge player can have a ‘’card sense’’, then we
have to accept also that a marathon runner who finishes the race
has a ‘’marathon sense’’, or he is lucky, obviously!! That
reasoning is evidently totally absurd.
How can a
marathon runner run 40 km? He trains for months, if not years.
And you think you can play bridge without training? 9 players
out of 10 think they can.
North
xx
KJ9xx
xx
K963
West
East
AQ10xxx
xxx
10xx
Q
Jxx
KQ10xx
4
QJ105
South
KJ
A8xx
Axx
A872
West North East
South
2
p p (!!) 2NT
p 3
X 4
(!)
all pass
West opened 2,
North passed and East also, 1rst big mistake, that we see
everyday in every bridge clubs all over the world.
All those players pass, even if they
have every reason to bid: they have a fit, only 1 heart
(opponents have at least an 8-card heart fit and probably a
game; so they have to try and make life difficult for them) and
only 7 losers.
After passing, if opponents reopen the
bidding, they will now, of course, raise their partner, but it
is too late. You have told them time after time to raise
immediately, to rob opponents of space, they will never do it.
In 4th seat, you reopen with 2nt, instead of
doubling, to protect KJ of spades.
Your partner transfers with 3,
doubled.
You decide to jump to 4 (you also can make
mistakes
J)
and everybody passes.
If you look at the hand, 4 has no
chance… but…
West leads the J of diamonds, his 1rst
mistake. This lead shows generally shortness, but theses
players play that a small card promises an honour. For them,
the J is obviously not an honour.
You play small in dummy, East ducks (his 2nd
big mistake), and you duck also, to sever communications.
East, if he listened, knows his
partner has opened 2,
he knows his partner has 6 spades, he knows
declarer has 2 spades. He knows he has to try to win the
diamond in order to play back a spade, but he ducks.
WHY ? Mystery.
I can’t explain and, if you ask East why, he
won’t be able to explain either. And if you take the time to
explain all that to him, he won’t put into practice what you
told him. WHY ? Mystery again.
West comes back diamond (2nd
mistake by West), instead of a club maybe.
You win and play a heart to the King, picking
up East’s Queen.
So West has 6 spades, 3 hearts and 2 or 3
diamonds.
East has to know you have 2 spades, 4
hearts, and that his partner has 6 spades and 3 hearts.
How did declarer discover all those
informations?
With his ‘’card sense’’?
And if East has not discovered the same
things, is it because he doesn’t have a ‘’card sense’’?
You extract all the trumps and play a
diamond, ruffing in dummy.
West follows!! Thus he had 6 spades, 3
hearts, 3 diamonds and only 1 club.
East also is supposed to know the same
things you know: your hand is 2434 and West is 6331.
You know you are going down. You can’t avoid
losing 1 or 2 spades, 1 or 2 clubs, added to the diamond already
conceded. You can maybe save a trick by endplaying West with
his singleton club. In hand, he will concede a spade or give
you ruff and sluff.
So you play a club from dummy, East plays the
5. 3rd BIG mistake : he knows, if he is not sleeping,
that you have 4 clubs; he has only to play the 10. You play the
7, which wins!!!
The rest is easy : club to the king, small
spade towards your Jack. West wins, cashes the Ace and play
back a spade, giving you ruff and sluff : +620.
Let’s add : West has made 2 mistakes and
East, 3 big errors.
So 5 mistakes between them on one board:
let’s multiply by 26 boards and we arrive at 130 mistakes for
this pair on one session.
Let’s multiply then by 30 pairs, 15 tables,
and we arrive at almost 4 000 mistakes in one bridge session.
Astounding, no?
And you thought I was exaggerating at the
beginning of this article.
What is even more astounding is that those
players play 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 times a week and they never ask
themselves why they generally play 45%, and why, one day, they
score 60% and, the day after, they go back to 35 %.
Why don’t they ask themselves those
questions: that is the real question, it seems to me.
|