COMMON SENSE IS THE MOST UNCOMMON

COMMON SENSE IS THE MOST UNCOMMON


Most players take long time to come out of their habits which they develop while learning the bridge. A beginner is told several things when he /she ventures into the idea of learning bridge or someone forces him to learn .These several things as listed below are definitely good guidelines to a beginner but if the common sense is not used while using the guidelines a player finds himself in the loosing position .Below are some guidelines for the beginners. The most important thing is they are only guidelines and need not be followed every time.
Guidelines
  Second man should play the lowest              
  Third man should play  the highest
  Honor must be covered            
 While playing trump suit , first remove the trumps of the opponents
 Repeat partner’s lead         
 In difficulty play trump
 If you are on the right side of dummy play highest of the dummy
If dummy is on your Right side play lowest of the dummy.
In No trump contract  lead 4th from the top of the best suit
 In No Trump lead the partner’s suit if he has bided
Never under lead an Ace in the suit contract
 Perhaps every guideline  mentioned above can  be used most of the time……. but not always. I repeat not always . What helps one to be on the winning side is  not “use of these guidelines meticulously”  but an ability to identify the situations in which  these guideline should be ignored.
It may sound funny but a bridge player is  unlikely to get satisfactory results just by  mechanically following  only the guidelines. without  applying mind and analyzing the  situation in a  particular deal.
A typical bridge player  while discussing with the partner  spends negligible time on the errors committed by either him or his partner when the errors occur as a result of following certain guideline. They only blame and curse their partner instead of  explaining the logic to be followed to avoid similar  mistake in the future .  In fact  more than half of the energy  and time is spent on talking about bidding .
 During bidding there are two situations.  In one situation opponents don’t take part in the auction and always bid Pass.. The second situation is “competitive bidding “ in which opponents are not quiet and make your life difficult by actively participating in the auction and try to  upset the communication . Often it is observed that the discussion with the partner is mainly related to first situation .The tough opponents however don’t keep mum. When the discussion is related to the second situation it is observed that  one person  lectures other person who  either keeps on arguing or simply accepts whatever is said  without ever making any attempt to really  understand the point. Competitive bidding related discussion has no conclusions and understanding variations are beyond the  natural limit of  patience or intellectual  capacity of an average bridge player. The person who gives  lecture  is reluctant to accept that the best thing is to use the common sense.
   As such ,bidding , though  a very important and basic ,is only one part  of the game and there are other two important  parts  namely  “ Conduction” and “Defense”.

 It is therefore advised by one of the greatest masters of the game  that bidding system should be as simple and  as natural as possible to save the energy which can then be effectively used during actual play. If only this is accepted and practiced there will be more serious fun. The person who advised this was none other than Charles Goren who invented the point count system and revolutionized the bridge game.

Unfortunately  not much time is spent on the  “Defense “ part of the game though roughly half the time a partnership finds itself  defending the contracts  conducted by  their opponents . A sharp and accurate defense upset the contracts which otherwise  become  ice cold. If a pair is excellent in its defense during play it is likely to find itself in the top half of the results of any tournament
 The fact is any bridge  Pair on the earth succeeds  because of their immaculate skill of card  handling during conduction and defense and not because of any extra ordinary ability of reaching to the correct contract by using some  complex bidding system. If some pair is loosing, then  nine out of ten times  it is not because of any severe mistake  during  bidding in one or two  odd deals  but it is because of many  errors committed while card handling  during defense and conduction. In spite of this, not as much serious focus is given on the defense and conduction compared to the bidding part.  No doubt certain level of good bidding is required but  “how do you perform  during actual play” is far more critical . The irony or tragedy is very few bridge players agree  that the reason for their  failure is their inferior skill of card handling and most other pairs point the fingers at  each other .Perhaps that is easier option than accepting the fact.

Having said that it is important to understand about trump management during conduction of the suit contract and ,strategies while conducting No-trump contract. It is equally important to know  about some  standard leads and signals while giving defense. The trump management and how to conduct     “no-trump “ contract demands good card handling skill and for good card handling skill, sharp mind and intellect is required …..people call it common sense but it is said that common sense is the most uncommon! 
 I wish I have this  common sense every 
 time I play this fabulous game !!

R J Phansalkar 
17 th March 2014
                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                     

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