BY JEFF RUBENS
COME TO THE PARTY
BY JEFF RUBENS
Jeff Rubens , editor of The Bridge World magazine , shares ideas from his book , The Secrets of Winning Bridge . In this article , he opens the idea that we really don ' t need to know double digit conventions to enjoy a game of bridge , whether it is duplicate , social duplicate , or social bridge .
One of the aspects of bridge that is most significant in distinguishing it from other popular games , such as chess , is that more than just technique is involved . Of particular importance is the cooperation between you and the person across the table : your partner . Whether you are playing in an informal rubber-bridge game at the local club or a world championship match , you can ' t win unless you take your partner into account .
Let ' s suppose you have a new partner with whom you will be playing a considerable number of deals . It is valuable to have as perfect a partnership understanding as possible , and an obvious question that arises is which conventions you and your partner should use .
My advice on this topic is general and simple : When in doubt , leave them out . In other words , if there is the slightest doubt as to whether or not you and your partner should use a particular convention , don ' t use it .
The Secrets of Winning Bridge
Advice on Using Conventions
This is not to say that you should not have any partnership discussion . In fact , the more situations you are able to discuss beforehand , the better off your partnership will be . But when it comes to deciding whether or not to use any particular convention , if it isn ’ t absolutely clear to both of you that it should be used , don ' t use it .
I want to make it clear that I am not knocking conventions in general . I believe that a successful partnership may require a large number of conventional understandings to win . When a regular partner and I play in a tournament , we use a list of conventions a mile long . ( I probably use more conventions than any three people you know .) But I do not believe the prolific use of conventions is a good policy for any but a firmly ( and I do mean firmly ) established partnership . By a firmly established partnership , I mean one that counts its time spent discussing methods in the hundreds of hours .
In fairness , I should state that as far as I know , I am virtually alone among bridge writers in this negative view of conventions . Most writers are endlessly discussing conventions . They either recommend them or describe them as used by others . Perhaps this is because many authorities try to gain adherents to their own personal favorite system ; perhaps it is because the bridge-playing public is fascinated by conventions ( there is no doubt of this , by the way ) both when used by others and by themselves . Whatever the reasons , almost every book about bidding recommends the use of conventions ; some books compare one possible convention against another .
Yet , although I believe conventions in general represent " good bridge ," I advise against their indiscriminate use . Here is why .
The great danger of adopting a conventional treatment with your partner is that the partnership ' s understanding will be imperfect . Note that I said the partnership ' s understanding . That is , you and your partner will have differing ideas about when the convention applies , or what values and / or hand type should be held to justify its use , or the meanings of actions following a conventional bid , or the negative inferences from failure to employ the understanding .
True , each partnership can ( and should ) work out its own detailed agreements on each of these matters , but unless you have a very regular partner , you will not be able to do this . Furthermore , it is important to consider a bidding convention within the context of the other methods used by the partnership .
So I recommend that , if you do not have a well-established partnership , eschew all but the most basic conventions . You may show some loss when a situation comes up that cannot be handled correctly without the use of a convention . But you will be a big winner in the long run .
Most tournament players have been bitten by the convention bug . It is also quite normal for an improving bridge player to experiment with many different bidding conventions . In fact , it is healthy for one to examine , perhaps even
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