Before the subject of “lost tricks” is abandoned it is well to call attention to what may be sacrificed by bad makes. Players overanxious to win will attempt declarations which they know to be unsound, being influenced by a speculative impulse rather than by sound judgment.
Countless rubbers are lost—not tricks, but rubbers—because players do not know the score and, because they lack that information, are not playing with an intelligent idea as to how many tricks are absolutely essential to save the game.
In conclusion bear this in mind for it is a justifiable loss of a trick: Do not hesitate to lose when the only chance is to find in your partner’s hand the card that will save the game; you may be astonished to ascertain how often this will happen during the ordinary course of play.
Play so to perfect your whole game as to take care of the “lost tricks.” The winning tricks, it will quickly be discovered, take care of themselves.
“YOUR PARTNER.”
HIS IDIOSYNCRASIES, AND SOME OF YOURS
All games of cards, even the simplest—those that require but little thought or mental analysis—afford an excellent field for the study of human nature.
Players frequently permit little mannerisms and idiosyncrasies to intrude, and, if not corrected at the start, the habit is likely to grow.
For the most part such offenses are, of themselves, but trivial breaches, as it were, of the etiquette of the card-table; but at times they are intensely irritating and the cause of some displeasure that finds relief in word or action, both of which may quite seriously disrupt bridge harmony.