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Wielding the Axe: |
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$14.95 |
July 2008 |
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Preface
Social bridge is played primarily for relaxation and entertainment. Tournament bridge may be entertaining but it's anything but relaxing. Tournament players seek stimulation from competition. Witness a regional or national event and you'd typically find a large hotel ballroom filled with hundreds of tables playing in cathedral-like silence. The intensity inside the room is palpable.
Nothing exemplifies this keen competitive spirit better than
the penalty double. Anytime a final contract is doubled, the stakes are
raised―not just the score but the implied mano a mano challenge.
If you shrink from this challenge, my premise is that it
impairs, in a broad sense, your ability to compete. Tournament bridge is not for
the faint-of-heart; it requires guts. Once you embrace the challenge of the
penalty double, you have climbed a mountain. Overcoming fear is liberating.
When you acquire a feel for opportunistic penalty doubles,
you have added a potent weapon to your arsenal. Your courage to double freely
and wisely will make you a respected and feared opponent. And if the opponents
occasionally make a doubled contract against you, be consoled by what a mentor
taught me: if they never make a doubled contract, you arenā“ doubling often
enough.