Keeping It Fun for All

Las Candelas Bridge Club wants play to be entertaining and fun for all, and actively supports the ACBL's zero tolerance policies when dealing with rude, discourteous or argumentative behavior, negative remarks, bad language or other actions that interfere with player enjoyment of the game. Promoting the fun aspects of bridge is an activity we can all share - especially when relating to the new or less experienced players we encounter.
 
Players are also asked to keep in mind that Bridge is a timed event. Frequent slow play disrupts the game for all! Directors have full discretion in taking reasonable corrective action to discourage recurring slow play.

Psychic Bids

The ACBL has included an extensive discussion of both psychs and bidding variations on it's website. See what follows in addition to the ACBL Website Page for more information.

In order to honor ACBL policies, psychs are not barred outright at Las Candelas.  But as the ACBL permits considerable lattitude to local clubs dealing with such issues, the Las Candelas policy is to strongly encourage players to avoid such actions. The primary reason is that psychs compromise enjoyment of the game for many players. We've seen numerous situations where psychic bidding has created ill will and has discouraged players - most especially less experience ones - from attending games.

Since our highest priority is to create a pleasurable playing environment for all, Directors are given wide discretion in adjusting a score that results from excessive or inappropriatepsychic bids. Directors may assign average-minus or (if such is the case) allow psychers to retain any resulting bad score, and will often hold non-offending pairs harmless from damage.  All psychic bids that are reported to the Director are recorded. And repeat offenses are likely to be met with further disciplinary action. While not all unusual bids are psychs (see the discussion of "tactical bids" on the ACBL website), players are encouraged to report a suspected psych, and to do so at the time it occurs.

It is true that psychs have been a part of the game of Bridge since its creation, and that they have a place in the game - even at the highest levels of play.  But they are "out of the mainstream" in club play, and when dealing with reported psyching or tactical bids, Directors will weigh player and partnership history more heavily than the occurance of any specific number of psychs-per-session or psychs-per-week. A pair psyching out of boredome, or to simply "have fun", or to create exceptional problems for a pair in contention when they themselves are not, may find their score adjusted even if they've never psyched before. Few players would deny that frequent or even occasional psychers or their partners are often in a stronger position to anticipate psychic actions, and better prepared to "land the partnership on its feet" after a non-psyching pair. This creates an unfair advantage, especially when relatively strong players face weaker opponents.  Even a non-psycher sitting opposite a frequent psycher often learns to "hedge his or her bet" or "tread cautiously" when responding to partner's bids.  Players may learn to routinely trust an opponent's bid or body language more than partner's calls - a poor basis for partnering. It's not hard to see that repeated psychs cannot avoid creating implicit partnership understandings that are clearly contrary to the letter and spirit of the game.

Deviating from Partnership Agreements

ACBL publications have stated that "bidding deviations" is not psychs per se, but are rather "a significant and deliberate distortion of one's values" as defined by a pair's partnership agreements. No player is banned from an occasional deviation, such as overbidding or underbidding by a queen or so, prempting at the 3-level with a 6-card suit, opening in notrump with an off-shape hand, or shading a weak two bid.  But the key is, once again, whether or not the opponents can be as prepared for your deviation as your partner.  Players who habitually stray from their expressed partnership agreements will inevitably find themselves in the same leaky boat with psychic bidders - they will create ill will, cause partners and opponents to distruct their calls, and reduce enjoyment of the game for all.  For this reason, the club asserts the right to treat extreme or excessive deviations with the same remedies applied to inappropriatge psychs.   Players are strongly encouraged to report serious or frequent deviations as they would a psych, and have them logged by the Director.