V N Ramamoorthy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Wysiwyg is management jargon for "What you see is what you get". Nowhere is it less true than on the bridge table.
The corridors of bridge educators are ringing with the phrase "Mistrust the obvious! "
How often have you heard this conversation on the table "Why don't you trust me, partner?" And "Why do you trust the opponents? "
Your eyes and brain are accustomed to trust the obvious. Well, it is just obvious, my dear Watson! ( a- la- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
When a player (be it defender or declarer) manages to pull the wool over the eyes of his nemesis, it is so exhilerating. He just makes an "Obvious" play to lead you up the garden path 🙃
Truth is, all is fair - in love, war and Bridge 😌. Set the trap, the rat will trust!
It is the duty of a defender to short- change the declarer, and vice versa 😅
An innocent looking card play - also known as ' false carding ' is an art. One needs to learn it painstakingly.
The great Zia illustrates this succinctly when he narrates about some of the great hands he played. He holds J9 of spades when the opponents are in a spade slam. He cashes his side Ace and exits. Declarer holds KQT86 facing Axx in Trump suit. When he plays SK, Zia drops the Jack in a flash! Declarer trusts and takes a spade hook to catch the 9 and Zia produces it to set the unbeatable slam!
But the most important thing is - Zia says - to play a false card in "Tempo" 🙂
Where did I get the title "Mistrust the obvious" , you may ask?
Well, I purloined it from my all time favorite bridge writer, Alfred Sheinwold. One of his illustrations in his book of bridge puzzles has the same heading.
( It is a set of 6 books - all gems, Trust me!)
So my bridge pals & gals, isn't it time you start mistrusting?
And if it is "Blog" day, it must be Sunday, quite obviously, Right?
I can feel the eyebrows going up in mistrust 😉
Happy bridging
Cheers
VNR
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.