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by Barb Hemerson March, 2015
Last month after her partner made a doubled contract my opponent clenched her fist and said YES! Seriously... am I the only one who read the very first question on page 51 "Ruling the Game" by Mike Flader in the June, 2014 ACBL bulletin? The question related to whether or not "card snapping" and "gloating" were off limits. I've been thinking a lot about this so I started writing down some things as they were said at the bridge table. Any sound familiar to you?
“No double no trouble”
"If they would have led a heart we'd be down"
"That was a top for us!"
“They can make 3 spades, that was a good bid. We only went down one.”
“I only opened that hand because I was not vulnerable. I think we stole that bid”
“Yes! My singleton King"
" Kantar says that anyone who leads a singleton trump should burn in hell"
“Thank you” (When the trumps split evenly)
“We got them up there”
“I’m sure there is something their way”
"I'm surprised you didn't double"
"If they would have doubled I would have had no place to go"
"That was a good double...FOR US!"
"That was an interesting play. How many were you down? Were you down one? You should have been down more!"
"God you really blew that hand!"
"Why don't you just fall into this contract too?"
And my very favorite after I said, "I think you were down two"...."I don't give a sh** what you think"
The last paragraph of Mike's reply was this:
"These types of things may seem as if they belong in a Miss Manners column, but Law 74A2 (Conduct and Etiquette;Proper Attitude) does back this up: "A Player should carefully avoid any remark or action that might cause annoyance or embarrassment to another player or might interfere with the enjoyment of the game." Good words of advice.