Keeping It Simple

Bridge is a partnership game and it helps if you and your partner are on the same page - or at least are reading the same book. I play bridge with the same partner on a regular basis. Once a week my partner and I play duplicate bridge competitively. We have a wonderful "working" relationship but even at that things can go wrong. When they do we always wonder what to say that may help one or the other of us to save face or add a little humor to the proceedings. I just read an article in Bridge Bulletin the official monthly publication of the ACBL (American Contract Bridge League). In "Viewpoints," the editor Brent Manley applies a number of quotes attributed to Yogi Berra to the game of bridge. I think a few of these could be applied to some of the situations my partner and I find ourselves in. A few examples:

Last night my partner put me in 3NT (3 no trump) when a Pass would have been more appropriate. As my partner said, hopefully, "maybe my 8's will grow up," she might well have used Yogi Berra's famous phrase, "It ain't over till it's over." As a matter of fact she was right and we made the game.

One of the things that is constantly amusing to us is that my partner's "finesses" never seem to work. If she guesses a king to be in right hand opponent's hand it is always in left hand opponent's. Perhaps I will try this Yogi phrase next time, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." That should make her feel better!

In this world of duplicate bridge my partner and I occasionally win - that is, we are scored as one of the top pairs for that club game. Many times we are "in the middle." But, just once in awhile, much to our chagrin, we come in dead last. Ah, yes, perhaps now with Yogi we can say, "It's not the heat, it's the humility." Or, maybe then we can say, "we made too many wrong errors."

Yes, my partner and I just need to learn to keep the game simple.