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Pauses and tempo

#1 User is offline   thepossum 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 23:22

Dear all

I understand many of the issues around pauses and tempo, either in terms of disadvantaging yourself by giving information to opps, or by giving information to partner with a pause. Clearly it is desirable after trick 1 as declarer to play a fairly constant tempo and desirable for defenders to play a constant tempo.

However, I don't have real experience in real tournaments etc where I have had to think about it much until I came to this site and people at tables preferred much faster play than my less formal experience. I have a few questions for more advanced players

1. On leads is it acceptable for first lead to be slightly slower than other leads. Is it acceptable for later leads to have different pauses
2. Obviously declarer can take a reasonable pause when dummy goes down. I assume they have to try and forumlate as much of their plan as possible in that first pause
3. When is it acceptable to take slightly longer pauses during play. Obviously a declarer cannot communicate anything to advantage their partner dummy, and genuine pauses simply give information to defence, but defenders pauses can advantage or disadvantage the defence. I assume deliberate manipulation of pauses to mislead is frowned upon or is that part of the legitimate psychology of bridge??
4. Is it acceptable for each player to have their own tempo of play. That is not be forced into a tempo by declarer and play their own consistent rate all the time

Any thoughts on these and anything else I may have missed. I've read discussions from more advanced players on other forums relating to use of and interpretation of pauses and the ethics one way or the other of doing so

regards P

PS Just by way of light hearted comment I started observing and noting GiBs variety in pauses - based on various things including complexity of simulation but also obviously server load :) . But mainly I kibitz tables to see how people go.
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#2 User is offline   spotlight7 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 23:41

View Postthepossum, on 2019-February-16, 23:22, said:

Dear all

I understand many of the issues around pauses and tempo, either in terms of disadvantaging yourself by giving information to opps, or by giving information to partner with a pause. Clearly it is desirable after trick 1 as declarer to play a fairly constant tempo and desirable for defenders to play a constant tempo.

However, I don't have real experience in real tournaments etc where I have had to think about it much until I came to this site and people at tables preferred much faster play than my less formal experience. I have a few questions for more advanced players

1. On leads is it acceptable for first lead to be slightly slower than other leads. Is it acceptable for later leads to have different pauses
2. Obviously declarer can take a reasonable pause when dummy goes down. I assume they have to try and forumlate as much of their plan as possible in that first pause
3. When is it acceptable to take slightly longer pauses during play. Obviously a declarer cannot communicate anything to advantage their partner dummy, and genuine pauses simply give information to defence, but defenders pauses can advantage or disadvantage the defence. I assume deliberate manipulation of pauses to mislead is frowned upon or is that part of the legitimate psychology of bridge??
4. Is it acceptable for each player to have their own tempo of play. That is not be forced into a tempo by declarer and play their own consistent rate all the time

Any thoughts on these and anything else I may have missed. I've read discussions from more advanced players on other forums relating to use of and interpretation of pauses and the ethics one way or the other of doing so

regards P

PS Just by way of light hearted comment I started observing and noting GiBs variety in pauses - based on various things including complexity of simulation but also obviously server load :) . But mainly I kibitz tables to see how people go.

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#3 User is offline   spotlight7 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 23:46

A TD should issue a severe warning for a first offense 'of trying to mislead by a pause.'

Second offense should be 50 lashes.


It is against the LAW and spirit of bridge to cheat. Pausing in an attempt to mislead is never correct.
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#4 User is offline   Stephen Tu 

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Posted 2019-February-17, 00:40

You are allowed to think whenever you legitimately have to on defense. *Partner* on the other hand may be constrained by your pause; he is not supposed to use your changes in tempo to deduce the location of cards. Sometimes when partner tanks then ducks you can basically 100% place him for the ace of the suit. Then in subsequent defense, you are required to try to hypothesize hands for him that *don't* require him to have the ace and cater to those layouts if they are possible (unless he revealed the location of the ace with a clear signal and not just the tempo). Only if you can work out that his having that ace is the only plausible layout for the defense to succeed can you play him for it.

So it's best to try learn to defend in tempo so that you don't handcuff your partner. But some hands are hard and you should take your time to get it right and just hope that it doesn't matter for partner's later decisions, or that he won't have a later decision at all.

You are not allowed to pretend to think to attempt to fool the opponents. You should not pause before playing a singleton, except at trick 1 if declarer insta-plays from dummy you can take a stance of always pausing regardless; defender is allowed to study dummy at trick 1 also. Nor can you pause with something like Qxx when dummy has KJx over you and declarer leads up to dummy, pretending like you are thinking about whether to fly ace. If you did so, declarer is entitled to redress.

If you hitch inadvertently by accident you can do something like say "sorry I don't have a problem".
You don't have to play fast if declarer plays fast; keeping slower even tempo is fine.

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#5 User is offline   rmnka447 

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Posted 2019-February-17, 01:05

1) Certainly on the opening lead, you have a lot to consider. First, you have to consider the auction and the implications of what the opponents bid and DIDN'T bid. You have to decide whether to defend passively or make an attacking lead. Then you have to pick a suit, and finally a card to lead. So if you need to take time to do that, so be it.

Later in the hand, if you are on lead and need to think things through, it's OK to do so before leading.

2) Definitely, declarer should pause and formulate a plan of play BEFORE playing any card from dummy. The first play from dummy may be every bit as important as any other in the hand. Probably one of the biggest reasons hands go down is declarer playing too quickly from dummy and using a card that will be needed later in the hand.

3) Deliberately pausing to mislead declarer is a no-no. But you can pause as required with the caveats that you mention.

4) Some players play fast, some play slow. So yes you can play at your own tempo of play as long as its consistent.
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#6 User is offline   thepossum 

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Posted 2019-February-17, 19:07

Thanks all

P
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#7 User is offline   Vampyr 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 08:12

View PostStephen Tu, on 2019-February-17, 00:40, said:

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You should not pause before playing a singleton, except at trick 1 if declarer insta-plays from dummy


Another time you may have to hesitate with a singleton is when declarer has led from the wrong hand; if you don’t have a preference as to which hand she leads from, partner may, so you should give him a chance to speak before playing.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones -- Albert Einstein
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#8 User is offline   Vampyr 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 08:12

View PostStephen Tu, on 2019-February-17, 00:40, said:

.
You should not pause before playing a singleton, except at trick 1 if declarer insta-plays from dummy


Another time you may have to hesitate with a singleton is when declarer has led from the wrong hand; if you don’t have a preference as to which hand she leads from, partner may, so you should give him a chance to speak before playing.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones -- Albert Einstein
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