[jillybean]

I was approached last night by a team who had just lost playing in our bracket to a team who had a player who was, in their opinion, frequently psyching. I listened to him and advised him to talk to the TD, which he went away and did.

We may meet this team in the finals and I want to know what we can do to protect ourselves, if indeed we are facing habitual psyching.

We don't have hand records and I cannott afford the mental energy to remember my own hands, let alone those of the opposiition.

Under what circumstances could I ask for a recorder, could I request preduplicated dealt boards?

What can we do?

[Trinidad]

It's been a while since I have played in the ACBL, but as far as I know, you just call the TD and he will record the deal.

My advice: Just ignore the idea that they may be psyching frequently. Planting the idea in your head that they are psyching is the best that can happen to them. Don't let this idea get into your head. Bid and play as you normally do. Let them psyche, because in the long run, psyching is a losing tactic. About the only time that you should allow for a psyche is if you are 110% sure that a player psyched and you are the one who makes the decisions for your side (ideally when you are declarer).

Second advice: If the opponents 'had you' with a psyche, don't ask why partner didn't do X, Y or Z. Just shrug your shoulders and play the next hand.

Rik

[hrothgar]

Hi Kathryn

This all depends on just how much of an asshole you want to be...

Here's one option. I am not necessarily recommending it, but it is probably the simplest solution to the problem

Talk with the other teams that have played against this pair.
Note what "psyches" the player has perpetrated to date.

If the player repeats any of these - or even something close to these - call the director.
Find some what to recast the problem from one of a "psyche" which is allow to one where the opposing partnership is playing and undisclose and / or unlicensed convention.

Insist that the partnership's convention card does not properly disclose their actual agreements.
Therefore, the partnership is immediately required to switch over and play a standard system like SAYC (using the ACBL provided convention card)

At one stroke you will

1. Royally piss off the opponent's and (hopefully) throw off their game
2. Force the opponents to change their system from one that they presumably know / practice all the time over to that festering pile of ***** that is SAYC

This is taking gamesmanship to an extreme, however, its entirely within the rules.

[wyman]

Other than playing with friends, every time I've convinced myself an opponent outright psyched during an auction, I've been wrong.

Just play your game. Psyches, even when they fool you, are far from guaranteed to produce a good result.

[jillybean]

Thanks, I like your suggestion Richard. However I don't have a hope of finding the other teams, I don't know them personaly.
I was hoping there was something we could do before the game to record the hands so that I could put it out of my mind.

Time for breakfast & sightseeing, I will try to forget about it.

[BunnyGo]

wyman, on 2011-December-01, 09:33, said:

Other than playing with friends, every time I've convinced myself an opponent outright psyched during an auction, I've been wrong.

Just play your game. Psyches, even when they fool you, are far from guaranteed to produce a good result.

Except for that time in Cleveland where I thought about psyching a 1NT in 3rd seat, and Val did psyche it at the other table (successfully).

[wyman]

BunnyGo, on 2011-December-01, 10:07, said:

Except for that time in Cleveland where I thought about psyching a 1NT in 3rd seat, and Val did psyche it at the other table (successfully).

IIRC, it only worked because he psyched against fairly inexperienced players; even good I/A players should have revealed that one and bid their cold game (had the tables been reversed, we would have had no trouble with it, and we were at the time probably I+).

[axman]

jillybean, on 2011-December-01, 09:01, said:

I was approached last night by a team who had just lost playing in our bracket to a team who had a player who was, in their opinion, frequently psyching. I listened to him and advised him to talk to the TD, which he went away and did.

We may meet this team in the finals and I want to know what we can do to protect ourselves, if indeed we are facing habitual psyching.

We don't have hand records and I cannott afford the mental energy to remember my own hands, let alone those of the opposiition.

Under what circumstances could I ask for a recorder, could I request preduplicated boards?

What can we do?

The truth about high frequency bluffing is that there nothing wrong with it when the partnership conducts itself fairly. By fairly it is meant that for one thing both members of the partnership actively strive to maintain good tempo at all times. Which is to say that not very many individuals come close to such a standard let alone partnerships.

Even still, I can’t recall an instance in 25 years where I was inclined to call attention to an opponent’s bluff- let alone make an issue of it. And, if I were ever inclined to make an issue of it [as in I felt that UI was used tas a green light that it was safe to bluff, or UI was used to control the bluff] I probably would never seek a ruling because I expect the TDs to mangle it and cause me a lot more grief in terms of distractions on future boards.



As you asked for suggestions, here are a few:

1. stay focused, if you are looking for ghosts all the time you are going to find them instead of taking care of business.
2. If you find yourself getting bent out of shape because the opponents used UI unfairly wrt a bluff you had better take stock pretty quick and realize you have just lost the war and if your match was close it soon won’t be if you fail to start obeying rule #1 pronto.
3. If your system has conditional agreements [the meaning of your call depends on the meaning of the opponents’ call, you would be better off if you purged them.

[jillybean]

axman, on 2011-December-01, 12:12, said:

The truth about high frequency bluffing is that there nothing wrong with it when the partnership conducts itself fairly. By fairly it is meant that for one thing both members of the partnership actively strive to maintain good tempo at all times. Which is to say that not very many individuals come close to such a standard let alone partnerships.

It's not the tempo I am worried about. It is 1st seat bidder raising partners 1♠ to 2♠ while holding a limit raise because he knows his partner opens anything in 3rd seat.

[wyman]

jillybean, on 2011-December-01, 13:58, said:

It's not the tempo I am worried about. It is 1st seat bidder raising partners 1♠ to 2♠ while holding a limit raise because he knows his partner opens anything in 3rd seat.

No drury?

Also, everyone* opens anything in 3rd seat these days. As long as he holds spades for 1♠, it's probably not really much of a psyche. If responder has an 11 count with 5 spades and bids 2S, and opener bids 1S with a 6 count and 3 spades, just call the director and say that you're confused by the bidding and that there seems to have been some failure to alert both 1S and 2S.

* not really everyone, but a lot of people.

[blackshoe]

My third seat sub-minimum 1M openers require at least three honors on a four card suit. If I have a five card suit of that quality and not much else, I'm likely to open 2♠. I might well open 1♠ on as few as 9 HCP, but I can't imagine it on say ♠AKJT ♥xx ♦xxxx ♣xxx or worse.

[jillybean]

The crisis is over, we are in the finals and the psyching team aren't.

And, my partner got her LM

[blackshoe]

Dancing Rodents to you and your partner, Kathryn!

[Mbodell]

jillybean, on 2011-December-01, 19:01, said:

The crisis is over, we are in the finals and the psyching team aren't.

And, my partner got her LM

Congrats to you and your partner. Were there any dubious hands with respect to psychs? Often times a player isn't really psyching, they are just bad at bridge and making mistakes, and maybe if some of those worked out the earlier opponents might have been upset and felt fixed.

[jillybean]

blackshoe, on 2011-December-01, 20:13, said:

Dancing Rodents to you and your partner, Kathryn!

Does this translate into something abouts giving a rats ass?

Mbodell, on 2011-December-01, 20:17, said:

Congrats to you and your partner. Were there any dubious hands with respect to psychs? Often times a player isn't really psyching, they are just bad at bridge and making mistakes, and maybe if some of those worked out the earlier opponents might have been upset and felt fixed.

We didn't play with psyching team. I was getting myself into a tizzy in case we were to play them in the finals.

[blackshoe]

blackshoe, on 2011-December-01, 20:13, said:

Dancing Rodents to you and your partner, Kathryn!

jillybean, on 2011-December-01, 20:31, said:

Does this translate into something abouts giving a rats ass?

Nope. Certain rodents dance. "Dancing Rodents" = "Conga Rats" = congratulations. See? Easy-peasy.

[schulken]

I have played with a partner who still uses bidding practices such as minimum off-shape take-out doubles, overcalling with a 4-card major at the one level (and not necessarily a good one - xxxx is fine with him), Michaels cue bids and unusual NT overcalls with 5-4 frequently (once he was 6-4 and had 0 points), etc. He tends to be very successful at tournaments, where he's not known, but less so at local club games where his tendencies are well known. As one local player said, God invented to double card to punish people like him. While this doesn't help you in your situation, it does support your concern that there are strange bidders out there and in a brief encounter (such as a compact KO) you'll likely not be able to surface those tendencies. However, word does get around, even at NABCs. Good luck.

[wyman]

schulken, on 2011-December-02, 09:27, said:

I have played with a partner who still uses bidding practices such as minimum off-shape take-out doubles, overcalling with a 4-card major at the one level (and not necessarily a good one - xxxx is fine with him), Michaels cue bids and unusual NT overcalls with 5-4 frequently (once he was 6-4 and had 0 points), etc. He tends to be very successful at tournaments, where he's not known, but less so at local club games where his tendencies are well known. As one local player said, God invented to double card to punish people like him. While this doesn't help you in your situation, it does support your concern that there are strange bidders out there and in a brief encounter (such as a compact KO) you'll likely not be able to surface those tendencies. However, word does get around, even at NABCs. Good luck.

There is so much wrong with this, I am speechless. It is his partner's responsibility to inform the opponents of these tendencies, as they constitute an implicit agreement. After this, he will be less successful everywhere. This will actually benefit him, too, since he'll learn.

[schulken]

wyman, on 2011-December-02, 09:38, said:

There is so much wrong with this, I am speechless. It is his partner's responsibility to inform the opponents of these tendencies, as they constitute an implicit agreement. After this, he will be less successful everywhere. This will actually benefit him, too, since he'll learn.

Just to be clear, all of these were clearly marked on our card and under ACBL rules are not alertable or even announceable, with the possible exception of the 5-4 Michaels/UNT. TDs have told me that if I'm expecting 5-5, they wouldn't rule unfavorably as plenty of people will use 5-4 when conditions warrant and the opponents shouldn't be surprised to see it.

[S2000magic]

wyman, on 2011-December-02, 09:38, said:

. . . he'll learn.

Objection: assumes facts not in evidence.