Monday, August
29, 2005 3:34 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Partnership ( Level of Competition )
PITBULLS:
In Hockey & other sports you have often heard coaches & sports writers say that a team played down to the “level of competition” . What does this mean exactly ? In hockey , if a good team plays badly against a poor team it usually means that the caliber of opposition “lulled them to sleep” so they did not bring their normal game to the ice. It can mean that the good team was over confident , did not try hard enough . It could mean that the good team was adopting bad habits or showing a lack of discipline against the poor team. Sometimes just by osmosis the bad team drags you down to their level.
In Bridge , of course , the same scenario exists.
Playing against a steady diet of
weak opponents or with a weak
partner will destroy your Bridge game eventually if you allow it to happen. The single handed
aspect of the game which is declarer play will be the only part of your Bridge game not to suffer. Your defense will
deteriorate as partners signals or defensive plan of
attack are meaningless. Your
bidding suffers the most. You end
up playing down to the level of your partner
& the opponents. Forcing
passes do not exist. Delicate Q bidding auctions do not exist
. Bridge bidding is just straight Casino style “taking shots” as the partnership element of Bridge is missing.
You get fixated on your own
hand & mastermind thereby leaving partner out of the equation. It’s almost
like you have contempt for the
opponents as well as your partner.
Your bidding leaves the opponents & partner
out of the equation whenever possible as you rely solely on your own judgment.
Playing
in weak fields has this adverse effect
on your Bridge discipline. You
tend to take risks because the
caliber of the opponents has let you get away
with it in the past.
Your openers get lighter &
lighter trying to con the opponents
out of their rightful contracts & of course it works more often than not. You do not need quick tricks for openers as if
partner’s decisions are thrown off – who cares ? You make vulnerable pre-empts vrs not
on ♠x ♥Kxx ♦KJ10xxx ♣xx because all the years against weak competition you
have not been punished
by making such bids. You make undisciplined overcalls because again you can get
away with it as it confuses the folks. You do not wait until partner is a passed hand to make tactical
bids because partner is just the 3rd
opponent anyway. Bridge is not a
partnership game as I control this
table. You do not plan your
bidding to allow partner some
input but place the final contract
yourself. You guess partners
hand & bid it for her.
Match
points vrs IMPS is another factor to consider. You
take many more risks at matchpoints because a zero is just a zero. In IMPS , 14 IMPS may take half a match to recover against a
good team. A lack of discipline in
Matchpoints & in weak competition of course may
work but what will it do to your partnership
in the long run ? Like the hockey teams
, do these bad habits get ingrained
so the lack of discipline carries over to good competition ? I think it does. I have seen many good
players show the same lack of discipline with pre-empts ,
opening bids & overcalls at the CNTC level. These “errors in judgment” now costs the team big time. The partnership
does not trust each other so
numerous slams are missed. Opponents make many games because of bad leads due to undisciplined overcalls . Confusion
arises because these bids have always worked at club games ,
sectionals and regionals. These undisciplined players
make single handed decisions to
get bad boards back on the next hand
as they are so used to making decisions for
the partnership. These players need a reality
check ,
as a lack of discipline in Bridge
is a killer not an asset at higher levels.
You play so often in weak fields that you bid 2♠ with ♠10xxxx & hardly any HCP’s in a 1♦-1NT-2♠ auction. Just shooting dice as you get
doubled in 2♠ going for -500 but your team mates save you by getting to a close vul 3NT game for 600. Partner
had no say in this auction. You overcall 2♣ vul
after a 1♠ opener with ♠void ♥AJxx ♦Axx ♣AKJxxx effectively taking partner
out of the bidding. You leap to 5♣ hoping to get doubled as you hide the
strength of your hand both from partner & the opponents. Even if it works , are you not insulting your partner ? Playing in weak
fields is not a Bridge sin unless you let it become
your default
style of Bridge. Lapses in concentration will allow you to slip into your default mode of Bridge. Unfortunately your
default mode of Bridge has become weak fields with a weak partner. Your expert partner has a right to expect that you will acknowledge her presence at the Bridge table , so does not
appreciate this default.
In
any sport , you succeed if you develop good
effective habits. Unfortunately , bad habits
creep in also. The anti-dote of course, is to be aware of your bad habits & where
they originated.
To combat the single handed approach , look for
creative ways to include
partner into the
decision making process instead of doing everything yourself. Your expert
partners & team mates will approve of that message.
Have you ever watched Alex Fowlie ,
Gary Karst , Vince Nowlan ,
Lucile Barton try to determine who has
their bid at the table ? Who do
we trust ? Does partner have his bid this time ? I do not play
Bridge that way. When a modern bidder opens a hand with one or no quick tricks , 11 or 12 HCP’s with
queens or jacks or pre-empts vul against not with ♠x ♥Kxx ♦KJ10xxxx ♣xx, overcalls vul
between two nv opponents with ♦KJxxx ♥Kxx ♦xx ♣xxx I call it undisciplined & very bad
Bridge. It just means the caliber of opposition allowed him to get away with it in the
past & nothing more . It is the so called “modern
bidding”. Others who follow the same
style are the same undisciplined players
whose partnerships must & will suffer
in the long run. Bank on it.