August 2018 - 58

Advanced Players

Bidding Matters
BY KAREN WALKER

kwbridge.com

Table feel - part 6
An asset for all bridge players is the
ability to make decisions smoothly,
without giving away hints that they
were considering other choices. There
will always be situations where you
need time to think - even robots slow
down when they have extra information to process - but the more of these
breaks you can avoid, the more unreadable you'll be to your opponents.
One of the best ways to reduce
thinking time during the auction is to
anticipate problems and have solutions
ready before they occur. As discussed
in the previous issue, if you can plan
your possible rebids in advance, you
won't have to stop to think - and contribute to your opponents' "table feel" -
at your next turn. Here are some other
strategies that will help you improve
your tempo.
Create a steady tempo. Get into
the habit of pausing for 2-3 seconds
before every call, even an "automatic"
pass. If you can maintain this consistent, deliberate pace when making easy
decisions, you'll have an extra - and
unnoticeable - second or two to think
when you have more difficult ones.
Use idle time to think. Try not to
give any signs that you have a difficult
choice when on opening lead. If the
opponents are doing all the bidding and
you have no critical decisions, use your
"passing" time to plan ahead. Create a
mental picture of the bidders' hands,

58 Bridge Bulletin August 2018

adjusting it as the auction develops,
and begin forming a plan for your
opening lead and defensive strategy.
Don't interrupt your opponents'
auction. Unless you need the information to make an immediate decision,
wait until the auction is over to inquire
about the meanings of opponents' bids.
Even innocent questions may provide
clues about your interest in specific
features of their hands.
Some players believe they can avoid
drawing attention to any one question
by asking about every single bid. This
is not a good solution. The frequent
interruptions waste time, annoy the
other three players and may be seen
as an attempt to break the opponents'
concentration.
What about skip bids? Although
bidding boxes no longer have Stop
cards to enforce a break, you are still
required to pause after your RHO
makes a skip bid. The rules state you
should wait 10 seconds before making your call, but that can seem like an
eternity. Five seconds or so is usually
sufficient.
During that time, don't gaze at the
ceiling or act bored. Just look at your
hand, then make your call. Intense
study isn't necessary or ethical if you
aren't considering a bid, but don't make
it obvious that you didn't need time to
think.

If you do have a problem: When
you stop to think, the other players' attention naturally goes to you. Take care
to control your facial expressions and
body language. Don't put your hand
anywhere near the bidding box until
you've made a decision.
What is not allowed: It's legal and
desirable to pretend you don't have
a problem when you do - to make an
in-tempo call when you actually had
something to think about - but the opposite is not ethical. You aren't allowed
to mislead your opponents by hesitating when you don't have a legitimate
reason to think.
You may encounter players who try
to mask their tempo problems with
a blanket disclaimer: "My partner
huddles at random times. I take no
inference, and neither should you."
Unless the player has a disability that
causes him to bid slowly, this is not
an acceptable excuse. Bidding and
playing in tempo is a bridge skill, and
those who haven't mastered it (which
includes virtually everyone) can't
demand that you ignore evidence that
they had a difficult decision. How you
interpret an opponent's hesitation is
at your own risk, but you're entitled to
honest behavior.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018
