”I just had a feeling the guy on my left had a monster hand."
“I sacrificed because RHO seemed so pleased with his contract.”
"The opponents were obviously unhappy with each other’s bids, so I made a close double.”
When bridge players tell stories about hands, they often include details about how the “table action” influenced their decisions. Opponents’ hesitations are a common source of this extra information, but it can also come from subtle changes in their behavior.
Body language, facial expressions and other mannerisms are difficult to control because they're unconscious responses. They reflect what you’re thinking and feeling, and at the bridge table, that can reveal valuable information about the type of hand you hold.
You can’t stop emotions from forming. It’s natural to feel regret after making a mistake, worry when you have a crucial guess, annoyance when you've been outbid. If you want to avoid starring in an opponent's story, though, it's important to conceal them.
That doesn’t mean you have to be a sphinx at the table. You just have to be sure that your conversation, demeanor and behavior communicate only what you want to communicate.
First impressions. When you meet new opponents, be friendly, but don’t say or do anything that hints at your state of mind. That includes comments about having a good or bad game, reactions to the hand you played the previous round and signs that you're tired or discouraged.
Confidence. The best way to appear confident, even if you aren’t, is to adopt a relaxed posture – straight back, head up, shoulders down, arms unfolded. Breathe slowly through your nose (not your mouth) and be aware of any involuntary hand and leg movements that can signal nervousness.
Toughness. Everyone wants to be known as a tough opponent. A critical test is how you deal with bad results. After a disaster, never comment or offer any other reaction. If you can move on to the next board as if nothing unusual had happened, you'll gain your opponents' respect (and possibly perplex them).
Facial expressions. Ask your partners about how successful you are in keeping a poker face. If you have problems with this, try maintaining a half-smile. This will prevent expressions that reveal worry, confusion, surprise and other emotions.
Extraneous comments. When you’re declarer, never react to dummy. Even a casual joke can provide a hint about how you feel about your contract. Offer a dispassionate “thank you” when dummy comes down, then stay silent, no matter how pleased, surprised or horrified you are by what appears.
Kibitzers. Many declarers have made their contracts by reading kibitzers’ emotions. Watch your kibitzers to be sure they aren’t reacting to your hand or anything else they observe.
Anxiety. You’re defending a slam and declarer has stopped to think. You know he’s trying to decide how to play the trump suit and that your queen will be the setting trick if he misguesses. If you’re concerned about giving off a nervous “vibe” in situations like this, focus on returning to the relaxed pose you assumed when you started the round. Shift your thoughts to anything but what declarer is thinking about. Don’t stare at the ceiling or fold up your hand, no matter how long you have to wait.
You may be able to trick yourself into believing you don’t hold the queen by hiding it behind your other cards. If you can’t see it, you won't worry about winning it (but you have to remember to uncover it later).
Don’t try to hide tension by pretending to be
bored or disinterested. It will come off as false and forced and be a bigger
giveaway than your natural behavior. And never put on the opposite act. If you
don’t hold the queen, feigning nervousness is unethical.
Like poker players, good bridge players watch people as well as the cards. Almost all have stories about how their “table feel" helped them interpret clues from their opponents’ behavior and achieve remarkable results. Besides being entertaining, these deals offer insight into how to use your table feel and, most important, how to keep the opponents from using theirs.
Late in a high-stakes money game, John Crawford (1915-1976) reached 7C holding ♣AKQ10xxx opposite a singleton. If he made the contract, the deal would be the last of the evening. When play started, though, none of the kibitzers had left the table, which convinced Crawford that his slam was not laydown. Trusting his judgment, he took a first-round club finesse and picked up ♣Jxxx on his right.
I was kibitzing a friend who turned and smiled at me as she showed me her hand. It was
only a second, but her opponent, Atul Jain, took advantage of it when he
became declarer in what appeared to be a hopeless 6NT. He figured the only
reason she might have found her hand amusing was if she held a true Yarborough,
so he played her for it. He was right and scored up +990.
The lessons: Never interact with your kibitzers during the bidding or
play. If you’re kibitzing, be aware that you're being watched.
Barry Crane (1927-1985), widely regarded
as the best matchpoint player of all time, knew his opponents were often
intimidated by his reputation. After an admirer expressed awe about his penchant
for bidding on every hand, Crane found himself passing as his opponents bid to a
cold 6NT. He doubled holding zero high-card points – partly to entertain his
fans, but mainly because he knew his star-struck opponent was nervous. Sure
enough, declarer saw dangers that weren't there, took needless finesses through
Crane and went down.
The lesson: You give your opponents an edge -- and set yourself up to
fail -- if you let them know that you think you’re outclassed. Always present a
confident, relaxed persona and act like an expert, even if you aren’t.
Golf great Arnold Palmer (1929-2016) was
a master of the psychological game on the golf course. That talent served him
well at the bridge table, too. In a rubber game at his golf club, he bid up to
7NT missing two red kings. A successful finesse of the ♥K through his RHO
would yield 13 tricks, but Palmer remembered that his LHO had made a slow final
pass. He decided he must have both kings, so he rejected the finesse and played
for a squeeze – the only way to make the contract.
The lesson: He who hesitates helps declarer. Unless you're seriously
considering other calls, pass in tempo and think later.
Playing France in the world championships,
Bobby Wolff was in 4H with a trump suit of ♥AJ874 opposite
♥K103. As reported by Alan
Truscott, after the opponents took the first three tricks, Wolff noticed that his
world-champion LHO became more relaxed, as if he now had no worries about
beating the contract. Wolff thought this player wouldn’t be so confident if he
held just ♥Qxx, so he played him for ♥Q9xx.
Wolff led the ♥J, covered and
won by dummy’s ♥K, then
returned to his hand to run the ♥8 and win a game swing.
The lesson: Even experts have to concentrate on controlling
subconscious tells. Be aware of your body language and aim for consistency in
your demeanor, posture and facial expressions.
The stars of these stories were playing a bit of poker, but they were all making legal inferences and acting on them at their own risk. There are, of course, important differences between bridge table feel and the almost-anything-goes gamesmanship of poker. World champion Michael Rosenberg explains the ethical limits -- and the appeal – of using poker strategies at the bridge table:
As long as your “'reading” is of the opponents
only, and as long as your “bluffing” is via legal bids and plays, and as long as
you give no extraneous information to partner, then poker is a legitimate and
(for me) interesting part of bridge.
© 2018 Karen Walker