V N Ramamoorthy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have often heard the old adage of not leaping to conclusions. But tell me, how often have we rued not having thought again?
What is actually better: going with your instincts? or stopping to consider and be considerate of others?
The hand below illustrates some of the thoughts that went through my mind as I was playing.
On the face of it, the bidding appears pretty simple right? Not so simple, my dear Watsons🙃
My first thoughts after hearing the 6 D bid from partner :
1. If partner can jump to 6D, knowing that I held 18/19 with may be xx or even singleton D, he must have a solid / near solid D suit with slam values
2. He didn't know I held DQ
3.Why he didn't attempt to bid a grand slam? Obviously he was missing DQ and may be a side Ace
4. He didn't check for Aces, so he is sure Grand is out
5. So I mentally concluded and decided to bid 6NT which may be better than 6 D, given my hand and holding DQ.
Now stop press. My mind now played the devils advocate, meaning the Second thought :
1. Partner has heard my bids. He is a player with equal or better proficiency
2. He has a reason to close at 6 D
3. How can I become trigger happy and over rule partner and shoot 6 NT?
So I succumbed to the second thought and passed. Kaput! 6D went -1 whereas as you can see 6NT is a sitter 😂
I silently kicked my own bottom for going against my own proven theory " First thought is the best"
In the ultimate analysis, this one board pushed us from first / second spot to fifth 😢
Moral of the story? Come to think of it, never have second thoughts on the bridge table! Even if you get a second thought, just ignore and go by first instinct 🙂
And if you thought that I made up all this, THINK AGAIN!
Happy bridging ( with no second thoughts)
Happy bridging, rain or shine.
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.