TALKING BRIDGE
The usual advice given to beginners at Contract Bridge
includes any or all of:- take lessons, read books, or play duplicate
bridge. The theory behind the latter being that, if one sees what others do on the same
hands, one will quickly grasp where one needs to improve one’s game. That is true.
The difficulty comes when one tries to improve. During an actual duplicate game, extensive
post-mortems are discouraged. Copying
hands for later examination would also take time, and remembering hands is hard
for the inexperienced. Indeed, one of
the major difficulties that most beginners have is remembering anything at all. More reading, more lessons,
will no doubt help, but largely they benefit individuals. Bridge is a partnership game. The key to success is improving partnership
understanding.
I wonder if, when you were at school, you learned your
“times-tables” by rote, by chanting in unison say. If so, I would wager they have never been
forgotten. There is a form of practising
Contract Bridge which I claim would improve your game dramatically and quickly
at almost any level, but particularly for beginners. It is a form of self-coaching I call “
One needs a favourite four gathered together for a few
hours playing the game under somewhat unusual constraints. During the bidding the next bidder is not
allowed to speak until your partner has correctly explained the meaning of your
current bid. This would include the
basic shape and strength that your bid indicates. If necessary, you are allowed to change your
bid until agreement is reached. Then the
auction proceeds. To begin with, this
will be a slow process, but as the session proceeds there will be less need to
go into detail. Pass, for example may often
require no explanation. 1NT should
become an agreed limit bid in no time. A
brief remark will become sufficient, but should still be made. Even making such cursory comments will
impress upon the mind the agreed meanings of sequences in your system, much as
did your rote repetition of your “tables” at school.
Eventually a contract will be reached. Play proceeds, duplicate style but with the
cards played remaining face up on the table in front of each player. Moreover, every time a defender’s card is led,
or played, that could or does send a message, the partner must explain it. For example, 4th highest, highest
of equals, top of nothing, discards, signals etc., again, if appropriate, changing the lead or
play until the explanation fits. This
will help defenders defend, and it should also help declarer to read the hidden
hands. The primary object of this
procedure is not to make, or defeat, the contract, although both sides will be
trying their best in that regard. The
primary object is understanding what is happening.
Once the hand is completed, the cards are retrieved, and
the whole hand is re-bid and replayed.
This time, however, with no explanations allowed, (other than when the
“alert” mechanism is employed), and cards played turned face down after each trick. There may then follow
a post-mortem if required, but generally the lessons of the deal will have been
learned sufficiently well for the time being, so that the next deal can go
ahead.
Each pair should keep score. There will of course be two scores: one for
the “talking” session, one for the “silent”.
They should be accumulated separately,
When one reverts to normal sessions, during club
duplicates, say, one should continue the mental exercise of explaining, to
oneself, silently, the meaning of each and every of one’s partner’s bids and
plays. Initially it may make you appear a
little slower than previously, but soon I would expect that most common
sequences would be so self-explanatory to you and your partner that you will
wonder why your opponents are being so slow!
Copyright
© David N King 2003