V N Ramamoorthy
Ladies and Gentlemen
"The greedy pursuit on the baize"!
Simplistically put, the effort of any player is just to earn tricks. By hook or by crook - does not matter!
The declarer is supposed to be on the offensive, but this is not always necessarily true. In abnormal circumstances, one has to be defensive if the situation so demands.
There are hands aplenty when you see 28-30 hcps in the combined holdings, but you are still in searching for the 9th trick in a 3NT contract 🙃
A bridge player has to think - not only vertically, but also laterally 🙂
"If you don't know what to do after winning a trick ", what should you do? Simply don't win it!
The case in point is well articulated in the column by Bob Jones (The Hindu , Sunday, April 02, 2023). With a combined holding of 28 points in a 3NT contract, the declarer ducks thrice to earn his 9th!
Yes, you need guts and foresight to boldly duck the first 3 tricks 😌. On occasions you need to play-act like a Houdini or Mandrake in your greedy pursuit 😂
Apart from the systems, gadgets and the six senses - you need the seventh sense on bridge table! And that too at the appropriate time and moment!
Sometimes you can do it by "Not doing" 🙃. Similar to the advocacy by the famous Alfred Sheinwold - "Mistrust the obvious"!
So much for the negative thoughts for positive results on a Monday morning!
Nevertheless, go on, continue your greedy pursuit in all earnestness 😆
Happy bridging,
Cheers
VNR
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.