A bridge player uses his brains so furiously that he's danger of getting overheated and exploding if he picks the wrong time of the year for his exercise.
Partner bids a strong 2NT, and you have a moderate hand with 5 spades and 4 hearts. This shape has always been a bugbear: it seems impossible to construct a method that allows a choice between 3NT, 4H and 4S.
The partner who yells the most or the loudest doesn't necessarily win the argument. It just means that they are a bully, or that they are more strong willed.
A philosopher may spend his whole life distinguishing between the important and the unimportant. Bridge players have a simple test: important tricks are those that have a bearing on the contract; all others are unimportant.
We have frequently stressed the thesis that the ideal trump holding is four trumps faced by four in the dummy, particularly where there is a five card suit on the side that may be used for discards.
