Toledo Blade – 26 Oct 1979 
Q. Despite the fact that I have a book in my library by the title. I am convinced that there is no “short cut to winning bridge” — it takes hard work to become a good bridge player. Can you give me a few precepts that you think are essential to good bridge? — F. Marcus, Miami Beach, Fla. (This question has been awarded the weekly prize.)
A. You are adopting a very sensible approach to the game. I can assure you from personal experience that the only way to improve your bridge is to play, read, and learn all you can. If you are also blessed with a degree of card sense, this regimen must improve your game. It is difficult to express more than a few principles that will help make you a better player in this short column, but here are some of those I consider most important:
1) In bidding, don’t look for complicated methods to serve as a crutch. You will obtain far better results by playing something you understand well and master fully.
2) In the play of the hand, try not to expend your high cards until your opponents have committed their high cards to a trick. Card play technique has one thing in common with billiards — it is a game of position. It is a distinct advantage to play fourth to a trick, and the person who has to lead to a trick is usually under a handicap.
3) If you are in a virtually unmakable contract, grasp at any straw that will enable you to get home (unless of course, you are doubled and that line would result in a bloodbath if it doesn’t come off). Similarly, on defense take whatever measures you feel are necessary, such as falsecards, if the contract appears to be impregnable. Conversely, if you are declaring a virtually sure contract, exercise the maximum amount of care. Consider possible distributions that might defeat you, then look for ways to foil the wiles of Dame Fortune.
4) Don’t take a finesse simply because it’s there. An alternative line might assure the contract without the need to resort to a finesse.
5) Trust partner! There is nothing more shattering to partnership confidence than to ignore partner’s bid or signal. and then discover that had you heeded partner’s directions, you would have defeated the contract. Besides, if you obey partner’s suggestion and something goes wrong, you can always blame him. (I’m joking, of course.)
6) Don’t lose your cool at the table For instance, suppose an opposing preemptive bid deprives you of space you need to describe your hand — after all, that’s what preempts were designed for, and from time to time, that goat will be achieved. Dont rashly enter the auction because you think you are being robbed —the money you could lose is not only your own: partner is responsible for an equal share of the damages.
7) Always remember to be courteous at the table. That might not Improve your bridge, but it will certainly help your game. Partner will enjoy cutting you as a partner, and will therefore make every effort to play as well as he can, certain that if he makes an error, no spate of recriminations will follow.
In the long run, playing the game in the right spirit is more important than playing the game as well as an expert!
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