Saturday, September 16, 2006

Ways to reduce your life expectancy as a partner

Tichu
o Pass partner a bad card after they call Tichu
o Call Tichu on 975 points
o After failing a Tichu call because the opposition had the Dragon and three aces say to your partner "Oh I thought you had those"
o Play over partner's high card when partner has called Tichu (except if you have the Dog and even then you should think twice)
o Wish for a card that you did not pass
o Wish for a card that you did not pass and lead a seven card straight forcing partner to play the middle seven cards of his nine card straight
o Lead the one when your partner has called Tichu and your right hand opponent has only one card left


Non-Tichu
o Trump partner's Ace, unless you only have trumps left
o Lead a suit when the opposition have already shown that they are void in that suit
o Overtrump partner's trump when trumps have not been led
o Bid a different bidding convention than the one you have agreed on
o Complement the opposition on the card play and offer to swap seats with one of them

Mmm Meeples taste like...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A lot of these seem to indicate a fairly shallow grasp of strategy:

Leading 975 to 925, and holding both Phoenix and Dragon, I would be more inclined to call Tichu than if the score were 0 to 0; we're likely to lose on points, so making a Tichu is our best chance.

Calling what you wished for yields a small gain. Calling something else can produce a large gain or large loss, but the former is more likely. If LHO has called Tichu, and you judge your hand as stronger than your partner, for example, it's nearly always correct.

In Bridge, I've often led a suit the opponents were known to be void of, either as a passive defense, or as a forcing tactic, and had it be the only winning defense. Trumping partner's Ace or overruffing partner are rarer, but I've certainly seen hands in bridge books where this was the only winning play.