Bridge is a great leveller: at some point, it makes fools of us all. As a result, it’s probably best to steer clear of any definitive pronouncements — ‘I couldn’t make the hand’, or ‘there was no way to beat it’ — as there’s almost always someone who can prove you wrong. Even experts end up being out-thought on a regular basis. The one really safe way of avoiding embarrassment is to be like Socrates, who declared: ‘All I know is that I know nothing.’
Of course, it’s impossible advice to follow: I’m forever blurting things out which turn out to be rubbish. Just the other week, I was watching the Bermuda Bowl on BBO, and saw Tony Forrester bid to a slam. ‘Oh no — too high, you are going dooown!’ I yelled at the screen. Three minutes later he’d made it on a non-simultaneous double squeeze.
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