May 2018 - 58

Advanced Players

Bidding Matters
BY KAREN WALKER

kwbridge.com

Table feel - part 3
You
1♥
4♥

LHO
2♣
Pass

Partner
2♥
Pass

RHO
2♠
Slow Pass

What do you make of RHO's pause
for thought before his final pass?
This is an opportunity to use your
table feel - a subjective form of card
reading that relies on good observational skills, psychology and bridge
logic.
The starting point for developing
table feel is paying attention to your
opponents' behavior. The more difficult aspects are analyzing the context
and interpreting the clues they give
you. Here are some tips for judging
these situations.
Be patient. In the auction above,
don't automatically assume your RHO
was leaning toward a 4♠ bid. At this
point, all you really know is that he

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58 Bridge Bulletin May 2018

was considering something other than
pass. It could be 4♠, 5♣ or even a
penalty double.
To make an accurate inference, take
note of the break now, then recall it
when you're analyzing other information. You may need to see dummy and a
few tricks of the play before you know
what type of hand RHO has.
The length of the hesitation may
provide a hint. An opponent who wants
to bid will usually take all the time he
needs. One who passes after considering a penalty double will tend to make
that decision quickly, in the hope that
he won't give away his trump holding.
Keep an open mind about subconscious tells. Body language, facial
expressions and other mannerisms
are often related to how a player feels
about his hand and the current auction.
Sometimes, though, a sigh is just a sigh
and means nothing. To correctly read
emotional reactions, you have to figure
out the cause.
If a player seems inattentive - looking away from the table, folding his
cards - it's often a sign he has a weak
hand and no interest in bidding. He
could, however, be lost in thought
about a previous board or just having a
bad game. An opponent who plays his
bidding card with extra gusto might be
revealing a strong hand - or he could be
annoyed with his partner or frustrated
by how the auction has developed.
Look for extra information to determine if these behaviors reflect your op-

ponents' feelings about their hands or
something else. Pay attention to their
demeanor and conversation before the
bidding begins. Analyze the current
auction and try to construct hands that
might elicit these reactions.
Size up your opponents. Make
your best guess about their playing
experience and assess their behavior
from that perspective. Is your opponent acting nervous because he's
worried about his bid? Or is it a sign of
a general lack of self-confidence?
Analyze what did not happen. Put
your table feel to work when an opponent makes a quick decision in a situation that would typically require some
thought. Ask yourself why he seemed
to have no problem making his opening
lead, responding to a slam try, taking
the push in a competitive auction.
Build your knowledge base. Table
feel is most reliable when you're playing people you know at club games and
local tournaments. With practice, you
can learn to detect and interpret tells
from other players, too. Make a note after a hand where an opponent huddled
or exhibited mannerisms you couldn't
read. Consult the hand records later
and try to figure out what bid he was
considering, why he was shaking his
head, what made him laugh. The more
you learn about how bridge players
think and react, the better you'll be at
identifying the types of hands that trigger these tells.
◾

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2018