Mind Reading at Auction Bridge

A Few Hints Explaining How Experts Manage to See Through the Backs of the Cards

R. F. FOSTER

PSYCHOLOGISTS tell us that the untrained eye cannot count more than six things at a glance. What the practised eye is capable of is almost beyond belief. The spectators in a Chinese gambling house, who sit in the gallery overlooking the fan-tan table, can tell you how many beans will be left before the banker has counted more than half of the handful taken from the bowl. I have seen pupils of Catherine Aiken count sixteen chalk circles on the back of a blackboard that was turned round so quickly that I had not time to realize they were circles, much less to count them.

"Cavendish" used to say that the test of a good whist player was how far down the suit he could remember. He admitted that any ordinary player could count aces and kings, but very few could remember that a seven was the best left of a suit. To the majority of players, the small cards that fall to the tricks are just so many evidences that no one revoked, nothing more. If a player leads a king and his partner drops the jack, that means something; but the difference between following suit with the trey or the eight is not noticed, and certainly is not thought about.

There are a number of excellent bridge players who have the reputation of being able to see through the backs of the cards. This is because they are able to name certain cards in certain hands which have not been played, and very often to name the exact number of a suit held by a given player, although that suit has never been mentioned in the bidding and has not been either led or discarded, and in spite of the fact that you know they did not see the cards.

TO the average player, this looks like mind reading; yet he does precisely the same thing in a smaller way, and by the exercise of the same faculties, but in less degree. You lead a small card to your partner from a queen-high suit. Dummy puts on the jack, and your partner plays a small card. You do not need to be a mind reader to infer that he has neither ace nor king, and that both those cards are with the declarer. If you lead a suit twice to establish it, and your partner gets in and does not lead it, you need not be able to see through the backs of his cards to learn that he has none of your suit left in his hand.

It is nothing but the extension of these principles, joined to certain powers of analysis and elimination acquired by long practice at the bridge table, which enables the expert to read situations that are so far beyond the grasp of the average player that they seem like magic.

As all these "card reading" feats are based on inferences from facts which the average player does not observe, or, if he observes them, does not think about them, a few examples of how this apparently uncanny knowledge is acquired may be interesting. Here is a deal played at fifteen tables.

Z dealt and bid no trump. All passed, and A led the deuce of hearts; B played the seven and Z won with the king or ace. At most tables, Z started right in on the diamonds, instead of clearing the suit in which there was only one honour against him. The finesse of the queen held, and B discarded the encouraging spade nine. In order to prevent A from making both king and jack of diamonds, dummy led the jack of clubs, so as to retain command of both the major suits. The finesse lost to the queen, and A led the queen of spades, won by Z with the ace. The ten of diamonds was covered by the jack, and the ace won. Y then made his three clubs, but stopped at two odd on the hand.

The experts did not play the hand that way. The opening lead of the lowest heart marks A with four only, so B has four. Z led the club king, dropping the queen. This marks A with no more clubs; and as he had no five-card suit to lead against the no-trumper, he must have four diamonds and four spades. Therefore, B has no diamonds, five spades, and had four clubs.

With this information as to the exact distribution of all four of the suits, Z proceeds to make a little slam, instead of two odd only. Instead of going on with the clubs, he leads the five of diamonds; and when A naturally plays the trey, Z plays the four from dummy. B's discard does not matter now. Z continues with the nine of diamonds. Dummy will duck this also, if A does not cover with the jack, which the queen wins. Z gets in again with the ace of spades to lead the deuce of diamonds, and make both ace and eight in dummy. The heart lead puts Z in to make the fifth diamond and three more clubs, losing one spade trick at the end.

HERE is an example in which the bidding helped a little toward figuring out the situation.

Z dealt and bid two spades, overcalled by A with three hearts, which all passed. Y led the club king, following the usual convention to show an ace-king suit before leading his partner's suit. A t rumped the club, noting that Z played the nine.

Three rounds of trumps followed, dummy discarding clubs. Up to this point, probably every table played the hand in the same way. The usual play after this was to put dummy in with a spade and lead the jack of diamonds to coax a cover, as game cannot be lost, no matter how the cards lie. The result is that Y makes a trick with the ten of diamonds, and A loses a spade, stopping at five odd.

The players who knew how to read cards made a grand slam on this hand, and nothing could stop them. A reads the situation this way. Y did not assist the spades, in spite of his strong club suit, so he was probably short in spades, and Z's bid showed six or seven. Z's nine of clubs looks like the beginning of an echo to show the queen, as Y would probably have bid the clubs, if he had six of them, to the ace king queen, if only as a pusher. As Z held three hearts and it looks as if he had three clubs, he can not have more than one diamond.

NOW comes the reasoning out of the sit.uation. If Z's only diamond is the king, it will fall to the ace. If Z's only diamond is not the king, then Y's king is safe from attack, and must make a trick, no matter how A plays; therefore, A can lose nothing by leading the ace, the finesse being entirely unnecessary. It is easy to see that after dropping the king, all dummy's diamonds make, and A gets a discard of his losing spade, grand slam, instead of five odd only.

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Here is an example of the use of a very simple inference which comes up in almost every rubber, but passes unnoticed in too manY instances.

Z dealt and bid a spade. A passed, and Y denied the spades with two diamonds, B going to two hearts, which all passed.

Z led the ace of spades and followed with the queen. Dummy put on the king and Y trumped the trick with the seven of hearts. Y then led a small diamond, hoping to get Z in again for another rulT. B put on the ace second hand to prevent this, dropping the nine from Z. The next lead was the king of clubs, which dummy overtook with the ace, so as to give B a finesse in trumps.

It took four rounds of trumps tc exhaust Z, while dummy discarded spades. Y let go the clubs, as he saw dummy had no re-entry. B led a spade, hoping to save his jack of diamonds; but Z came right back with the spade and forced B's last trump. Now, the loss of three diamond tricks leaves B one short of his contract.

THE players who know how to read cards did not play the hand that way. The bidding and the leads were the same, but when Y trumped the spade trick with the seven of hearts, B immediately inferred that he had nothing smaller. That being the case, Z must hold the two four five and six. Z is already marked with having held five spades. Had he held five hearts to the king, with his partner showing the diamonds, he would surely have doubled B's bid of two hearts. Therefore, B argues that Y must have the king of hearts.

When Y led a small diamond so as to get another rulT, B took advantage of the fact that Y had bid diamonds, and should hold both king and queen; so B finessed the jack. The nine falling from Z marks him with no more, as Y must have had five. This marks Y with five clubs, by elimination, as Z must have three.

That being the situation, the first thing to do is to be sure that lie is right about the king of trumps. When that falls to the ace, the next thing is to lead the king of clubs and let it ride. The next play is smallest trump, which dummy wins with the ten. Now dummy leads out the three winning clubs, upon which B discards two losing diamonds and a losing spade, permitting Z to make one of his small trumps on the fourth club. No matter what Z leads next, the trump or the spade, B wins the game with four by cards' instead of being set on a contract to make two odd.

SO many letters have come to hand asking how it was possible for Mr. Playett to make that grand slam on the hand shown on page 76 of the February Vanity Fair that a brief explanation may be acceptable.

Dummy trumps the club lead, and leads a trump. Then he trumps another small club, the declarer still holding up the ace. Dummy then leads one round of diamonds, and follows with his last trump. This leaves the declarer with two winning trumps and the ace of clubs to lead, upon which dummy gets rid of his three high diamonds, so that all the diamonds in the declarer's hand are good.

Apologies are due to Mr. Milton Work for the statement made in the March number that he insisted that there should be something in addition to five cards to the ace king to justify a bid. What Mr. Work did say in his Auction Methods Up to Date (1920), was that it was not a bid to be proud of; though, at the same time he gives it his approval.

Answer to the April Problem

This was the distribution in Problem LVIII, which is a good illustration of defensive "ducking" tactics.

There are no trumps, and Z leads. Y and Z want six tricks. This is how they get them:

Z starts by leading the ace, jack, and eight of spades, and B refuses to win any of them. On the spades, Y discards the club seven first, and then the smallest diamond. It is obvious that A must discard a diamond on the third spade.

Z's lead for the fourth trick is the six of dubs, which wins, as Y has given up the seven. If A discards another diamond on this trick, T also discards a diamond. Z then leads the six of hearts, which A ducks, and Y underplays also. Z then leads the diamond six, and A loses a heart trick to Y at the end.

If A discards a heart on the club lead, Y also sheds a heart, and Z must then be careful to lead the diamond for the next trick, instead of the heart. Now Y makes both his eights.