| Items commenting on the right way to play duplicate bridge inspired by various sources. |
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| The Shuffle |
Before play starts the cards need to be shuffled and the law says they should be 'thoroughly shuffled' This is important because a poorly shuffled pack spoils the game for everyone.
The shuffle actually began when the cards were returned to the board at the end of the last session. So don't pretend it doesn't matter because no one is going to play this hand. If one at the table can do a good riffle shuffle maybe best to delegate that  . I have a theory that its good to have a preliminary shuffle with three of the hands and then add the fourth for a final shuffle that ought to help break up any sequences that come from the four hands.
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| START OF PLAY |
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Player must not look at cards before the director calls start of play. Maybe the cards you have been asked to deal will not be the cards you will be using for round 1. If boards need to be moved to another table then if you have started play they will have to be dealt again. It can be equally bad just to write out the curtain cards as its possible you might play this board on an arrow switch and then you have seen an opponents cards.
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| You have revoked - what to do? |
A revoke is when you can follow to the suit led but play something else.
If you realise what you have done before your side play to the next trick you should own up straight away and play can be wound back and the revoke corrected.
But if it's later you notice that you revoked then as a defender you should keep quiet, this is because if you speak up now its telling everyone you have a certain card and among the everyone you have told is your partner and that causes problems. It would be fine to own up when you actually play the offending card but not before.
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| Unauthorised Information |
Bridge is a game of cards and the only way to convey information to partner is through the play of the cards. It is not allowed, for example, to indicate that you want partner to lead a  saying ‘please lead a heart’ or (worse) by putting your hand on your chest. The latter is worse because it’s a secret signal not allowed in the rules with the intention that opponents don’t realise. There are ways of indicating legally that you would like a led and there is quite a market in appropriate play conventions such as McKinney: these are legal and proper provided that its open and above board and opponents know.
Bridge is a complicated game and sometimes you are unsure as to the best play and pause to think. This pause tells your partner you have a choice to make and this information does not come from the play of the cards; it’s what we directors call UI (unauthorised information). It is quite proper for you to have a little think when you have a hard decision but the law says your partner must be careful not to make use of the UI.
Last week I was playing in the pairs at the Bolton Bridge Club weekend congress. I have a hand with no points but a 7 card  suit. Opponent opens with a pre emptive 3 and partner has a good long think and PASSes its clear to me she has a great hand but doesn’t want to double as not many spades and can’t bid NT because no stop so I deduce (correctly) that we would do well playing in 4 and I PASS because this is information that that I can not use.
This hand is from another club and the director there asked me for an opinion. The bidding goes 1 X 2 3 – the opener now has a ponder and eventually passes whereupon the partner bids 3 . The other side call the director. This is the hand – 10 7 3 2 A 9  K 6 5 4  10 6 2 You are vul partner opens 1S opponent doubles you bid 2S opponent bids 3H passed back to you – are you bidding on? Its actually not an easy decision and certainly the player was not a wicked person to bid 3S but you have to say many people would PASS specially as vul and seeing that partner was already thinking of bidding on themselves makes it more likely that bidding on would be best the director will give a score for 3H by the ops if that is better for them than they get for defending 3S.
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| When has a bid been made? |
The best advice in the June edition of English Bridge is in Jeremy Dhondy's 'in a nutshell'. If you play with the cards in the bidding box before picking one out your actions leak unauthorised information (at best). Instead decide on your bid and then reach for the box, pull out the card and place it on the table in one smooth motion.
When the cards have been pulled out of the box the bid is made and should not be changed without permission of the td. If you pull out a card different from the one intended and explain this to the table then although the td 'should' be summoned it is not unknown for players to accept that you can simply make your intended bid. However if you simply push the cards back in the box then opponents have no option other than calling the td to sort it out.
This happened to me recently - I had a good 6 card spade suit and was trying to convince myself to open 2 (weak) but eventually decided the hand was that little bit too good and opened 1 . Partner goes 2 and I'm still thinking about the weak opening when a change of suit would be non forcing and pull out the PASS card. I realised my error pretty much straight away in the bidding system PASS is not allowed here but in the rules of the game its too late to change I have pulled out the card I intended at the time and the law provides no option to correct. Hopefully I completed my call without a flicker :)
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| Thinking ? |
I have replaced my original article with this which is copied from BridgeClubLive. Several members have greeted it with acclaim and copied it for their club notice boards.
He who hesitates ... at he bridge table when he has nothingto think about can cause problems for himself, his partner and the oppositionand sometimes it leads to bad feeling. If you have nothing to think about then please try to play in normal tempo - neither too fast, nor certainly not very slowly,giving the impression that you are thinking.
Should you have a singleton, play it at your normal speed and give nothing away. Should you hold xxx infront of dummy's KJx then any speed other than your normal speed of play is very bad form. When you have no thing to say in the bidding, then pass at your normal speed thereby not implying that you might have had something to say. This is not poker where 'anything' goes, our game is the beautiful game of bridge where unethical deception is not allowed.
If you do need time to think about what action you want to take, that is fine. It is then up to your partner not to use the information that you had a close choice of actions.
He who doesn't hesitate ... will have much more fun because therewill be very little cause for anyone at the table to get upset!
Enjoy
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