A Simple Game?

A friend of mine and onetime regular partner used to say, "Bridge is such a goddamn simple game" with a rather pained expression. Further he was a pretty spiffy player, not a duffer trying to camouflage ineptitude with condescending commentary. I didn't say a word. Indeed, I was largely in agreement though not totally, for I felt two asterisks were necessary: one on each extreme, to wit: novices and experts (the real experts, not the puffed up would-be experts found on OKBridge).

However simple hands might seem to a player with years of experience, they simply don't look simple to novices. Indeed, I had this belief re-inforced with a group of ladies I was mentoring at the request of the wife of my regular partner.

I picked what I thought was about the easiest and most transparent of hands one Friday, mentioning off-handedly that this was an easy hand and was a little surprised to hear two of 'em state flatly that the hand wasn't simple to them. I can only thank them for their honesty, for though common sense told me that novices aren't going to see the most productive pathway on hands with moderate complexity, I confess that I thought the hand couldn't be difficult for anyone with even a few months of experience. And these ladies had been playing with each other happily for years before I appeared on the scene.

And as for experts, I think they -- the real ones -- deserve all the accolades they get. They see deeper than than the rest of us, up to and including about 95% of Life Masters. They see patterns taking form, opportunity budding about 2 or 3 tricks ahead of the general run of players. If I'm wrong here, then I guess my partner and I should be competitive against the top Barry Crane 500 players. And you too, huh? Whoa! The real experts thrive on complexity and trounce the would-be experts who've achieved Life Mastery on up to Silver and Gold but don't come near grasping the complexity I think we might presume to be there even if we don't see it.

But having said all that, I'll hafta return to my basic position and the reason why I didn't argue with my partner, which is that the great majority of hands are really rather simple, requiring, basically, common sense, the ability to count to 13 and a willingness to take the risks you must.

And indeed, this website is based on that premise. I'll hafta make an exception with my small collection of double squeezes. They are part of the 5% of hands that aren't simple. The rest, I believe, are amenable to the criteria just mentioned: count, common sense & take risks -- well, take reasonable risks. Hm-m-mmm. Maybe that belongs in common sense.