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Caveat Emptor, or “Let the Buyer Beware of the Psychic
Bidder”
This month we conclude our two-part series on
psychic bidding. On the conservative side of what
constitutes a psych, last month we mentioned the “Don Oakie”
opinion. In the February 1978 ACBL Bulletin, Don offered his
opinion of what constitutes an excessive deviation to
Law 40, Partnership Understandings. Don defined a normal
deviation as, “A bid in which the strength of the hand is
within a queen of the agreed or announced strength, and the
bid is of a suit of ample length or of notrump; the length
of a suit varies by no more than one card from the agreed or
announced length.”
In today’s environment, many players have a
more creative approach to hand evaluation. According to the
Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, a psych is “A bid
that bears little resemblance to a logical choice for the
hand in either a natural sense or as a conventional or
systemic partnership agreement.”
Yet this is not to say psychic bidding grows
over time. The matriarch of the psychic bidding dates back
to 1931 by Dorothy Rice Sims. Bridge was in its heyday
during this era, as psychic bidding swept the Bridge
tournament circuit. All this was followed by millions of
avid Bridge readers who followed the psychic pros in
newspaper columns. To fuel the fire, in 1932 Dorothy
published her works, titled “Psychic Bidding.” Even the
legendary Ely Culbertson, who professed to be opposed to the
psych, occasionally found its strategic use in tournament
play. Yet aside from Ely’s Bridge prowess, he was arguably
the most successful Bridge marketer the game has ever seen.
Thus, in Ely’s official “Culbertson System” that made him
millions of dollars during the Great Depression, Ely
stressed the importance of partnership harmony. Good advice
Ely, and with that let’s examine psyches in the wild.
Even before Dorothy’s movement caught fire,
the great Sidney Lenz wrote about the evils of the “Shift
Bid.” The opener tried a bizarre 1 Notrump opener holding:
A K Q 9 3 2
A Q 6
A Q 7
5
Sitting to the left of the opener with a
solid 7 card Club suit, Lenz passed as did the table. The
result was down one instead of a cold Spade slam!
Surprisingly, the declarer tried to chide Sidney for not
bidding his long suit! Ah, how times have changed.
Returning to Dorothy Sims, in the famous Culbertson- Sims
match, she held:
A 9 7
J 10 5 4
A K J 4 2
J
Back in those days, players opened a four
card major, so Dorothy had a tough decision choosing between
the weak Heart suit and the honor bound Diamond minor.
Certainly the hand is not suitable for a Diamond-Heart
reverse call. Instead, Dorothy got creative, opening
1 Club - Dorothy was noted for bidding in such a way to
ensure her husband Hal’s strong declarer play would prevail.
We’ve previously spoken here about the “Rule
of Anticipation” and, sure enough, Hal jumps to 7
Clubs. This time the luck was with Dorothy as Hal
presented a beautiful dummy:
5
A Q 6 2
--
A K Q 9 8 6 5 3
With the Heart King onside, Dorothy
pulled trump and easily made the grand slam.
Let’s jump forward to the 1966 Bermuda Bowl.
In third seat with favorable vulnerability sat Eric Murray,
who ventured a mini-psych holding:
9 3
Q 8 7 6 5 4 2
9 6
10 6
Certainly the stars were in ideal position
for the mini- psych. Eric had to know his Left Hand Opponent
held a proverbial rock crusher, and Eric’s seat and
vulnerability provided an irresistible temptation to do
something. And although one might argue the Heart suit does
not conform to the standard definition of “self sustaining,”
many would agree the hand is 7- 8
Losing Trick Count. At any rate, sitting to his left was
the Italian’s Walter Avarelli who jumped to 3 Notrump
holding:
A K 7
A J
K Q 10 7
A K Q 8
Unfortunately, Walter’s partner did not
realize he was a “card rack,” missing the slam bonus found
at the other table where the auction was not impeded; Bob
Hamman began 3 Notrump, bidding 4 Diamonds
after Lew Mathe’s Stayman bid, who subsequently signed off
in 6 Notrump (making 7). Today many bidders overcall
using the following step sequence with stoppers:
15-17 = 1 Notrump
18-20 = Double followed by Notrump
21-23 = Double followed by jump in Notrump
Speaking of Notrump overcalls, recall last
month we covered the “rapier,” a low-level bid intended to
deliberately mislead opponents regarding the bidder’s suit
shape.
10 9 7 6
K 8 2
7
K Q 10 6 4
J 8 4 A K Q 2
J 10 3 A 9 7 6 5
Q 9 8 2
A J 8 7 9 5 2
5 3
Q 4
A K J 10 6 5 4 3
3
West North East South
1H 1N
2H X P 3D
P 3N P P
X XX AP
Here our psycher was Pamela Granovetter, not
known to attempt a rapier. Unfortunately, hubby Matthew
didn’t recognize the psych after Pamela pulled his Double
to 3 Diamonds. After the smoke cleared, Pamela
was down six for a whopping 3600!
While Matthew was not a stranger to an
occasional psych (having earlier opened 1H with zero
points), pointed out it only makes sense to psych in the
first seat before the opponents get in the bidding. But as
the saying goes, imitation is the most sincere form of
flattery. From Pamela’s perspective, Matthew ignored the
aggregate bidding. But as often happens, the psychic bidder
mistakenly assumed partner is at least as creative as the
psycher – a fateful conclusion. Pamela felt Matthew
mistakenly deduced she had the requisite points to overcall
Notrump but not the requisite shape (perhaps a 3=1=5=4
hand). Thus, hubby Redoubled 3 Notrump to show a
Heart stopper and, never having seen his bride psych,
figured their contract was secure (ignoring West’s freebid).
We close with Matthew’s immortal words, “I'm beginning to
think that for partnership bridge, psyching is self
destructive.”
Perhaps Matthew would relate to this psych,
taken from “Psychological
Strategy in Contract Bridge” .” (pg 107)
A Q 2
8 2
K 6 5 3
Q 7 6 4
K J 9 5 4 3 10 6
A 7 K 4
A Q 7 9 8 4 2
J 9 A K 10 8 2
8 7
Q J 10 9 6 5 3
J 10
5 3
West North East South
1H
1S 1N 2C P
2S AP
Despite the offside SA-SQ and HK,
East-West missed their Spade game. Chalk one up for the
psycher. Earlier we saw how Matt couldn’t believe Pam’s
psych. Next, we will see how the converse is doubly (sic)
true. We have all heard the story about the little boy who
cried wolf one too many times. Sure enough, Bridge players
may suffer the same epitaph:
A K Q
7 6 2
A K 10 6 5 3
5
J 9 7 5 10 6 4
K J 9 8 5 A 4
9 8 7 2
3 2 10 9 8 7 6 4
8 3 2
Q 10 3
Q J 4
A K Q J
This hand comes from the 1997 McCallan Pairs
held in London. Most players bid 6D, going down.
Michael Rosenberg and Seymon Deutsch were among the lucky
few that made slam, even though Zia Mahmood sitting East,
doubled Hearts for lead direction. So why didn’t Michael go
down, you ask? Well, a few boards earlier Zia made a psychic
lead directing Double with three inconsequential
cards when the opponents cuebid a suit. That time it worked
well, seducing the opponents to misplay the hand. So Zia’s
partner, Gabriel Chagas, figured his partner was up to his
old tricks. Thus, Gabriel led a Spade instead of his
HA to set the contract after Zia’s HK. As the
saying goes, “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away!”
Most advanced Bridge players are aware of the mantra,
“anything goes in third seat.” (especially with favorable
vulnerability) Witness the Blunderbuss in action – akin to
the shotgun spewing projectiles in every direction (heads
down, partner):
10 8 7 6 4 3
A 10 6
K Q 6
7
A K Q 2
K J 9 8 7 5 2 Q 3
A J 10 8 7 5 4 3 2
A K 4 2
J 9 5
4
9
Q J 10 9 8 6 5 3
Playing in the 1967 Vanderbilt Team
Championship, Martin Cohn opened 3H sitting in third
seat, definitely earning the “Gross Misstatement” award!
West hoped his Pass would be converted to Penalty
Pass but East passed out the auction. At the other table
South proved not to be a shrinking violet and opened 5C,
overcalled 5H by West. North could not resist
doubling the contract, but alas, the contract made with
an overtrick. And who said Bridge can’t be as risky as
poker?
Those who follow international competition
have seen psyches like this one, albeit usually not with
such a devastating result:
K Q 8 3
A J 3 2
10
8 5 3 2
J 10 7 6 3
K 10 8 5 Q 7
A K 7 Q J 8 6 2
A 9 6 K Q J 10
A 9 5 4
9 6 4
9 5 4 3
7 4
West North East South
P P 1H
P 3H P P
X AP
It was 1957, the United States playing Italy.
Koychou, sitting South tried a risky 1H with all
vulnerable. Sitting West was Walter Avarelli who smoothly
passed, awaiting a positive development. Apparently Koychou
and partner Harold Ogust did not play
Drury, so Harold’s 3H seemed like the perfect
bid. Walter could hardly believe the gift, Doubling
the contract and was awarded 1100 points for his patience.
As we said last month, sometimes the psychic boomerang hits
the wrong target. One could easily imagine dinner
conversation was strained for the U.S. team that evening!
Now let’s view an Appeal of a psych, taken
from the
Spring 2003 Philadelphia NABC. First the hands:
K Q 3 2
J 10
A K Q 5 4 3
Q
J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
A 8 5 K 9 6 4
-- 9 8 6 2
10 5 2 K J 8 4
A
Q 7 3 2
J 10 7
A 9 7 6 3
West North East South
1C* X 2C
2D X P P
2S X AP
North’s 1C* was Precision, showing 16+
points and East’s Double ostensibly showed Clubs and Hearts.
When the dummy came down, the defenders summoned the
Director, claiming East had “fielded” West’s 2D
psych. The Director ruled there was not any evidence to
support the assertion (Law
40), letting the score stand. Afterwards, the defenders
persisted, filing an Appeal. While the Committee ascertained
East/West had played Bridge together in excess of 20 years,
North/South’s bidding promised game-going values. Thus,
West’s 2 Spade bid could not be interpreted to show
interest in competing to win the auction. The Committee
noted North’s Double of East’s 2 Diamonds
demonstrated they had a method to expose the psychic bid.
Their confusion in follow-up bidding was not the fault of
East/West – it was North/South who did not appear to know
their best follow-up action. The Appeal team went on to note
that given East’s poor holding, the pair aggressively
competed with favorable vulnerability against the strong
Club system.
For a comprehensive book on the psych, we
encourage you to read “The
Art of Psychic Bidding,” Julian Pottage and Peter
Burrows. Fred Karpin’s “Psychological
Strategy in Contract Bridge” also has many illustrative
hands showing beneficial and detrimental psych hands
including some wonderful humor. In the 1950 Master Pairs
Championship, South opened 1H with 6 Hearts and
A-K-Q-J. No, the honors were not in Hearts, instead one
in each suit (a nasty holding, regardless of the fact
Matthew Granovetter might understand the semi-psych, since
the bid was made in the first seat).
Unfortunately, North made a strong jump
shift, inviting slam. Rather than Pass (see next
article), South rebid Hearts and North bid 4N,
Ace-asking. Sometimes a lie gets out of hand and so South
bid 5C, showing no Aces. This time South figured if
North could signoff in 6N when South held no Aces,
certainly South could be a hero by bidding 7N.
Apparently North read the conventional response as showing
two Aces and jumped to 7N without assistance!
Holding the trump Ace, East found an easy Double with
South going down 800. Next, our psycher asked partner to
fetch a Coke. Returning with a Coke and a beer, psycher
South grabbed the beer. Again befuddled, North chortled , “I
thought you wanted a Coke.” Not missing a beat, South
chimed, “Gosh, partner, can’t you recognize a psych?” |
