LEARNING CURVE
GS JADE BARRETT
 
The quality of your partner's bidding decisions is directly related to the quality of the information you provide. If you decide to open your 14 HCP as a 15-17 NT, then expect your partner to act as if you have a 15-17 NT. Your agreement is to open a weak two only with a six-card suit, and your partner will drive you to game or slam based on that six bagger. Just this once, however, you elected to open 2H with a very good five-card suit. Down 1. Or worse, your partner decides to make that good save, only you don't exactly have the hand partner expects. Down 4 or 5 or 6. You have certainly observed one partner get upset when the other player makes an “anti-system bid”. Many times that aggressive action was based on faulty information, and the person who misstated their hand or values is the one doing the complaining. For some reason, we always think that our partner should work out that we are just kidding this time.
 
Old time computer programmers have a term for this kind of problem solving.
 
GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) is the surest way to destroy a good partnership. Adherence to your partnership agreements builds confidence and strength in both of your games. If your partners suggest that they are never sure what to do in a given situation, those are the situations that you need to discuss. If your partner does not handle random preempts or weak twos well, have a specific agreement regarding the nature of these bids. If your leads are confusing partner, clarify them by selecting a specific style (3rd and low, 3rd and 5th, 4th, attitude – whatever works for both of you) and stick with it for the most part.
 
The more comfortable that you can make your partners, the more successful your collective efforts will be. Bridge is a very interesting game; there is no need to make it more so. Consistently bidding and carding the same way may make the game dull upon occasion, but the thrill of victory will be yours all the more.