Evening star., 1932-03-20


logic which causes newspapers to in
clude so many queer bids and plays in their
reports of bridge contests; the unusual is news
people do not wish to read about the ordinary
things.
The preponderance of such tactics in the
published accounts however has confused
many earnest students of bridge, who feel
naturally that they would like to pattern their
game after those of the champions.
why is it." asks one of them, that those
who claim to be experts and champions bid
their hands so entirely contrary to these teach
ing the game who also claim to be experts?"
The fact of the matter is that they don't,
except rare occasions, but the rare occa-
sions furnish the interesting news to relate.
On the overwhelming majority of hands held
by players of the top flight the bidding and
play are exactly according to the leading books
the game. To violate the eternal principles
of soundness, learned through the years, would
be to commit costly error. Most of the cases
in which hand is bid or played differently at
different tables are due to the fact that close
questions of judgment arise in which it is hard
to decide just how to apply the principles
affecting the situation.
When star player decides to depart def
initey from the routine procedure his success
depends upon the unusual nature of the cir
cumstances, combined with the element of sur
prise to upset his opponents And it is unde-
niable that efforts thus to outsmart the oppo-
siton more often results in the trickster out
smarting himself. The monkey business gener-
ally proves boomerang.
OF the leading 10 or IL man players in the
country it is frequently said that their games
would be improved by reducing the number of
fancy" things that they do. In nearly all
cases they admit it. Their plea is that it is
human to try to get away with something"
and strive to get some result which is H6t in
the cards. Among the foremost stars them
selves there probably is only one whose game
would be improved by increasing the frequency
of his departures from the natural, sound thing
He hardly ever does it.
The particular reader already quoted, Ber-
tram G.. Fisher, indicates the earnestness of
his inquiry by saying it is the first letter he
wrote to the press.
1T seems to me- he adds that either the
teachers are wrong the champions are bid
ding with the idea of taking chances, either
by fooling their opponents or partner Of making
larger scores than by using the systems which
some of them have approved and even spon-
sored.
"A friend of mine who is learning to play is
befc gged entirely and is beginning to wonder
what it is all about. He claims to play bet
ter game. and to bid and play more correctly
than those taking part in the championship
contests"
If this friend entered some of the cham
ponship tournaments in which he would be
more than welcome, he would find that
times out of 10 the famous players making
bids and plays of which he would thoroughly
approve. The best advice that be given
him is to remain sound and, if he is tempted
at times to violate some basic principle for the
purpose of deception, he limits his depart
tures to less than l hand out of 10; l out
of 80 would probably be better, as is the case
with most outstanding performers.