[pclayton]

White / White - last board of a swiss match. You have a really good card, but it's VP's and your team isn't doing so hot in the event.

You pick up as a dealer white / white ♠KT9xx ♥x ♦Jxx ♣Axxx.

It isn't your partnership style to open hands like this with a weak 2, especially at equal. As you wait for LHO to finish sorting his hand, you can't help but notice that your RHO suddenly straightens her back and draws her hand very close to her face and takes on a very serious expression.

Is this a genuine tell? If you say yes, do you trust your read enough to try something unusual?

[pclayton]

Jlall, on Mar 3 2008, 02:20 PM, said:

If you have a "really good card" in a swiss match why would you risk doing something? In swiss especially once you are already up say, 20, you really risk a ton of VPs for very little relative gain (for instance you may well risk 5 VPs to gain 2, or worse if your teammates are having a good set as well and you were already up THIRTY).

Where you stand in the event doesn't matter nearly as much as where you stand in the match since basically each match is individual, and if you feel you are already having "really good card" a blitz must already be in the picture, you don't need to do more stuff. In general if I'm playing for the blitz and I have even a +10 set already I will not do anything weird and I'll just hope my teammates have a +20 set.

As far as whether this is a genuine tell or not, yes it certainly happens esp against little old ladies.

Your partners aren't capable of anything big unfortunately.

You had a good card but not a monster. I'd say we were up about a game swing at your table.

[Fluffy]

2♠ is not very odd, I'd try it.

Anyway use your table feeling, when you are on a winning roll, you can feel anything you do will turn good. So do as you feel, not as you think

[mikeh]

wrong time and place for me to do anything contrary to style. For one thing, maybe rho has a weird hand, not merely a big hand. For another, maybe partner will go wrong... shouldn't he be playing you to be down the middle at this stage in a good match.

Finally, the heat is wrong. Their mistake, if you can induce one, won't cost them as much as it would were they red, while your mistake can still be expensive. Make me white v red and I'd be far more inclined to step out.

Bear in mind that I am a confessed chicken when it comes to acting on psychology rather than technique

[pclayton]

Turned out 2♠ worked well. RHO had a 19 count 2=2=3=6. Harv bounced to 4♠ on his 4=5=3=1 near yarb. -420 in 5♣ +1 looked like a good result.

But it wasn't. Teammates got to the 5-2 heart slam which failed when trump were 5-1 and the stiff club was put on the tracks.

Thats the kind of day (and weekend) it was

[whereagles]

I'd probably pass, but my pard would open it 2♠ 100% of the time. Go figure.. lol.