Overbidding To Game

A common blindness of bridge players.

I tend to judge how my partner and I performed in a club duplicate by how many mistakes I feel we made. Needless to say, my partner is a better judge of what percentage score we got - but even he was surprised at our undeserved 73 per cent score recently.

The reason for the good score was nothing we did - just the opponents overbidding on 9 of the 24 hands.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, slivers of gold were frequently taken from gold coins as a means of theft. This became known as debasing the currency.

Some bridge players do the equivalent in a routine manner when bidding at the club duplicate. They open 1 club say with their 17 point hand, partner shows at least 6 with a 1 Spade bid and instead of asking partner to co-operate by bidding 2NT for partner to bid 3NT if he has 8 or more points, they debase the bidding currency, and gamble 3NT themselves. They think they are ever so clever as often partner passes and has 8 or more points and would have raised to 3 anyway or the lead or the lie of the cards mean that 3NT makes.

Of course they do not remember the hands that they go down in 3NT for a bottom.

Nor do they notice the times partner passes 3NT when 6NT is on because they know the overbidders style.

Even less do they notice that they play in 3NT when partner is unbalanced and could have said so over 2NT but is forced to pass 3NT and the partnership are in the wrong contract.

Why do they not notice? Perhaps because those who bid blindly tend to be a little blind themselves.

Similar behaviour exists when raising 1 heart or 1 spade. They are many club players who appear unable to play in 3 of a major, it is 2 or 4 and hope.

My partner calls this "poker bridge".

Enjoy your bridge.
R. Wells Simple Tips with Big Impact

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