One FAQ by people who are thinking of learning bridge is: ‘Do you have to be good at maths to become a good bridge player?’ The answer is you don’t need to be Rain Man but familiarity with numeracy will be an asset. Logic plays a big part in making a good player and, if all that fails you, there is the greatest asset of all – table presence! That virtually unnoticeable nanosecond’s hesitation or a slow player playing faster than normal at a crucial moment. But since lockdown a lot of matches are being played online: no table, no table presence.

This was a match on RealBridge I played last week:

Our team mates had also been in 5♠️x, down one after the lead of a top club and the natural Diamond shift.

At this table I was West. When I passed the second double, however, there was a pause from North of about a minute before he finally passed too. Now my legendary table presence came to life! Since North couldn’t be thinking about running, he could only be thinking about a Redouble!

I imagined he must have huge Spade support, a monster Heart suit and probably a void in Clubs. Having come this far, I confidently clicked on the ♦️K for my opening lead.

South wasted no time in accepting this gift; he won the Ace, cashed the Ace of trumps and played a Diamond to his 10… Now we had one trick in each suit for a gain of 5 IMPs.

I casually asked North if he’d been thinking about a RD. Turned out he’d been letting the cat in.