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How would you gauge your psychic status?
This month we will throw caution into the
wind, marching where angels fear to tread. Enter the psychic
bid. Many players have bitter-sweet experiences with
psyches, be it by an unscrupulous opponent, cunning partner,
or self-inflicted from within. But before discussing the
details, let’s define the psych bid itself. Most would agree
a psych is a bid that is a gross misstatement of a player’s
honor strength or suit length. The Official Encyclopedia
of Bridge goes on, saying, “A bid that bears little
resemblance to a logical choice for the hand in either a
natural sense or as a conventional or systemic partnership
agreement.”
Interestingly, when it comes to a player’s
strength and suit length, beauty is in the eye of the
beholder. Back in February 1978, the ACBL Bulletin published
the famous “Don Oakie” opinion of what constitutes an
excessive deviation to
Law 40, Partnership Understandings. In essence, Don
defined a normal deviation as, “A bid in which the strength
of the hand is within a queen of the agreed or announced
strength, and the bid is of a suit of ample length or of
notrump; the length of a suit varies by no more than one
card from the agreed or announced length.” (See the
ACBL Duplicate Decisions, Law 40” for details). While
Don’s guideline was helpful for players and Bridge
Directors, over the years many creative bidders have pushed
the envelope with some success on Don’s restrictive ruling.
For instance, most seasoned players would relate to
significant player “deviations” on what constitutes the
proper strength for a strong 2 Club opener.
Consider these hands (the first featured on
our graphic heading):
A K Q J 10 9 7 6 5 7 5 4 2 --
A K Q 10 9 8 J 10 9 8 7 6 4 --
According to the ACBL,
opening 2 Clubs with either of these hands is acceptable if,
“in the view of the bidder, there is a reasonable chance for
game in hand with little or no help from partner.” Hmm, so
indeed the classic cliché has an element of truth, “beauty
is in the eye of the beholder!”
At any rate, for the purposes of our
discussion, let’s simplify the issue by agreeing that a
player has psyched when their strength falls under 50
percent of partnership strength agreements, or the suit
length is several cards less than expected.
Next, let’s explore the motivation of the
psych. Certainly the most common reason folks psych is to
obstruct the opponents from finding their best contract.
Some psyches are used as defensive countermeasures, such as
pre-escapes, dump Ogust, and the like (see below). Or
perhaps a player might stretch a bid for its merit on lead
direction. The classic example is the overcall; over the
years, the strength (and length) for the overcall seem to
get lighter and lighter. Today many players would happily
overcall 1 Spade holding A Q J 3 2 with little else,
especially considering favorable vulnerability. In fact,
those who do not see anything special about overcalling
based on no more than these values in total, might then
contemplate overcalling with nothing more than A Q 3 2.
True, these days players expect overcalls
could be light – duplicate players make this clear on the
back of their convention card. But what about opening 1
Diamond holding only K Q J 3 2 in honor strength with
favorable vulnerability? Definitely a psych! Now then, again
with favorable vulnerability, what might you open the same
hand in third seat? Those who like “action” might go
anywhere from 1 to 3 Diamonds, with some creative bidders
testing the water with a 1 Notrump call (hopefully with a
sixth Diamond). Let’s rate these bids:
1D
= clearly a psych, albeit nice lead direction
2D = definitely fits within Don Oakie’s normal
deviation
3D = at best a semi-psych (deceptive tactical bid),
even with an outside Queen or four card side suit and using
the “Rule
of 2-3-4”
In their book, “The
Art of Psychic Bidding,” Julian Pottage and Peter
Burrows identified two general categories of psychic bids:
Blunderbuss
– as we witnessed with the 3 Diamond bid above, the
Blunderbuss blasts a high-level bid, typically preemptive
with the intent to consume bidding space. As its name
suggest, the blunderbuss fires lethal projectiles over a
wide path, at best reaching the opponent but perhaps
inflicting mortal damage to friendly forces.
Rapier
– typically a low-level bid intended to deliberately mislead
opponents regarding the bidder’s suit shape. Recall the
psych bidder who opens 1 Notrump in third seat holding
something like:
3 2 3 2 K Q J 4 3 2 4 3 2
If the bidder’s intention was to ultimately
flee to Diamonds when doubled, the tactic would be
considered a rapier – thrust and retreat. An initial bid of
1S with the above holding would be a more classic
form of the rapier. Note: if the rapier was not already
dangerous enough, doing so with extreme shortness can be
especially disastrous since partner is more likely to have
length in the suit and make a monstrous jump in the short
suit! Some of those who say psyches are akin to the
boomerang (likely to come back and whack the perpetrator),
are probably in this category. Assuming a partnership does
not have the
Gambling 3 Notrump bid in their conventional arsenal, a
player might also try the rapier 1S third seat
opening bid holding:
3 2 4 3 2 2 A K Q J 4 3 2
If necessary, the rapier bidder hopes to
stall the opponents’ bidding. If the auction gets lively,
the rapier will repeatedly rebid Clubs, hoping partner will
eventually figure out the psych based on the opponents’
bidding. This illustrates the psycher’s dilemma, requiring
one’s partner to believe the opponents instead of the
supposed trustworthy partner. Perhaps this is the origin of
the tongue-in-cheek term “Center Hand Opponent!”
Yet the psych aficionado will go so far as to
provide gradations of the notorious psych.
Baby Psych
– This category is less obnoxious, yet still creating an
element of confusion. Perhaps partner opens 1H, with
right hand opponent doubling and you bid 1S holding:
2 5 4 3 2 5 4 3 2 5 4 3 2
Most of us are familiar with the (Garbage
Stayman). After opener's 1 Notrump, responder makes a
supposed Stayman call with a bust hand and short Club suit.
This practice is well accepted and not perceived as a Baby
Psych. Certainly responder's true motive was clear after
responder passes opener's 2D, 2H, or 2S
rebid. Yet on the next two scenarios, we will see
responder's charade may have a more nefarious intent...
Imagine you and partner are playing
"mini-Notrump", opening on 10-12 HCP. As responder, you hold
a near-bust hand and are obviously concerned the advancer
will double, setting your side for a big number. Many
mini-Notrump responders feign invitational values, again
bidding 2C Stayman. This facade is known as a "Pre-escape",
attempting to confuse the advancer to avoid a penalty
double.
The "dump
Ogust" follows a similar theme. After a preemptive weak
two bid, bust responder queries 2 Notrump, providing
opponents the illusion responder has game interest. Of
course, regardless of opener's rebid, the responder always
retreats back to trump. A word to the wise - this parlor
trick works best when opener's suit is Spades, allowing
responder to elegantly signoff in 3 Spades. Don't try this
when partner opens 2D unless you are prepared to
rebid 4D after partner's rebid in 3 of a major suit.
Mini Psych
– As we discussed above, our third hand opener with a short
2-3 card suit falls in the category of a mini psych, as does
the 3 level third seat opener holding a 5 card minor
(especially bidding 3 Clubs). Another classic mini psych
eluded to earlier was the 1D opener holding:
Q 3 2 3 2 K Q J 3 2 4 3 2
Another favorite rapier mini psych is the 1
Notrump response holding a bust hand with a great fit in
partner's suit. The mini psycer plans belated support of
partner's suit when opponents jump into the auction. To
illustrate this tactic, let's say partner opened 1H,
where responder bids 1N holding:
3 2 J 5 4 3 2 4 3 2 4 3 2
Maxi Psych
– While the maxi has enough strength to justify a bid, the
shape constitutes a distortion of the call. Perhaps you have
an 18 count and envision a jump rebid of 2 Notrump
holding:
K Q 2 A Q 2 4 3 2 A Q J 10
A normal opening bid would be 1C,
rebidding 2N. Yet an opening bid of 1D might
inhibit the left hand opponent from leading Diamonds when
the partnership winds up in a 3 Notrump contract. However,
be careful doing this with a doubleton, as the auction could
result in a passout around the table (a suicide psych?)
Incidentally, “walking the dog” technically
does not constitute a psych but is merely a bidding
strategy. Perhaps you overcall 1S with an 8 card
major that’s a two-suiter with a 4
Losing Trick Count hand; you intend to slowly bid up to
4S, hoping to draw a double and make game when the
bidding reaches a level perceived unmakeable by the
opponents. Walking the dog falls in the realm of everyday
bidding.
Making a third seat preemptive 2 or 3 level
bid when holding full opening values and a 5 card suit might
be either a strategic bid or a maxi psych, depending on your
point of view. Perhaps you are concerned the opponents will
find a Spade fit, so you choose to open 2H holding
something like:
2 A K Q 3 2 K 4 3 2 4 3 2
Okay, now that we’ve covered enough to get us
all into trouble, that’s enough on psyches for now. Next
month we will take a look at some psych hands found in the
wild. |
