Posted 2015-October-21, 10:52
Barmar explains it already very well but since I can't upvote him I need to reply as well.
Again, there is a very big difference between the following two situations:
a) It goes (in perfectly normal tempo)
1♦-p-1♥-p
4♥-4♠-5♥-p
p-???
I'm sitting there, slowly growing irritated, partly due to partner's "imaginative" bidding (which usually shows a lot of spades and a self-deception about his ability to "get more information by passing), and partly that apparently he doesn't care about my decision to pass over 5♥. I'm sitting, waiting, knowing that the more time passes the less likely partner is going to pass out 5♥ (I have something like an 1354 4-count so would really prefer partner to pass. we may even set 5♥). I'm getting pissed off and doing my best not to show it. I don't know how well I manage. {Eventually, as you may imagine, he does bid 5♠ and goes for 500 against -420 at matchpoints, and bemoans that he "couldn't have known whether I have a singleton or a trebleton." Well, at least we are not cheating.}
b) I have AK of hearts and I put down the board on the side of the aperture on the screen. I continuously do this and arrange the board when I see that the board is not at the side enough.
There might be middling cases, such as "I led a singleton, my partner won the ace and I'm waiting for his return. I don't understand what he's thinking about and I really just want him to do the <<normal>> thing, i.e., returning my lead." This is perhaps more related to the case of "specific holding in a suit" but this is still a question of me wanting to have partner do something that is somehow the default action in a hand.
So maybe that is what I am saying: is there a "default action I expect partner to do?"
In the case of Clever Hans, yes, there is. I want him to neigh at a specific time. I know that the owner did not think he was giving Hans this information, and he did not think he was passing a message, but there is no doubt that the owner did want to see him neigh at a particular moment (much like I want my daughter to do well in gymnastics, I am eager to see her succeed). When partner is sitting there thinking what to do, clearly there are only two (or three) options available, and the default one is pass. I just want him to do what he's supposed to (i.e., not bid his hand twice) and maybe I give away this eagerness. But this is still not a very well encoded message about a particular suit or who knows what.
Of course, it is possible that there is some sort of evolutionary mechanism where I scratch my head every time I have 5 hearts, and I play with a lot of bridge with a lot of partners, and the ones who unconsciously always play me for 5 hearts when I scratch my head unconsciously, I score a tiny bit better with those partners so I will tend to those partners, and so on. But do you really think this is a plausible scenario? We can theoretize all we want, and I cannot prove to you logically that B/Z aren't the people who show 5 fingers whenever the number "5" enters in their minds, but this doesn't quite add up.
... and I can prove it with my usual, flawless logic.
George Carlin