Psychic bid (also psych, pronounced to rhyme with ''like'') is a bid in
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...
that grossly misstates the power and/or suit lengths of one's hand. It is used deliberately to deceive the opponents. Normally, the psychic bid is made with a weak hand, overstating its overall strength, the length and strength in a particular suit, or both. (The noun is occasionally misspelled as ''psyche'', through confusion with Psyche, a character in a myth concerning Venus and Cupid.)
Origins
As an early frequent user of the technique,
Dorothy Rice Sims
Dorothy may refer to:
*Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name.
Arts and entertainment
Characters
*Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum
* Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...
is often thought to be the originator of the psychic bid; however, according to bridge player and writer,
Albert Morehead
Albert Hodges Morehead, Jr. (August 7, 1909 – October 5, 1966) was a writer for ''The New York Times'', a bridge player, a lexicographer, and an author and editor of reference works.
Early years
Morehead was born in Flintstone, Taylor County, ...
, "She did not actually invent the psychic bid, though it is generally credited to her, but she did give it its name and she wrote the first and only book about it." and is regarded as having coined the term "psychic".
Examples
After two successive passes, this hand might be opened with 1 as a psych, trying to stop opponents from reaching a likely game or even slam. Some might open with a 1 psych, to confuse matters further. Of course, there is always a danger that the partner will double the opponents on the basis of opener's presumed strength, or support the psychic opening at too high a level.
North opens 1 and South can see that game in notrump is probably the best prospect. South might support clubs directly, bid 2NT, or temporize with 1 or 1. But South might instead bid 1, a psych that attempts to talk the opponents out of a diamond lead against 3NT.
Right-hand opponent opens 1. Instead of
preempt
Preempt (also spelled "pre-empt") is a bid in contract bridge whose primary objectives are (1) to thwart opponents' ability to bid to their best contract, with some safety, and (2) to fully describe one's hand to one's partner in a single bid. A ...
ing in diamonds, South can bid 1NT to confuse matters, running to diamonds if doubled. This type of psych is referred to as the
comic notrump.
Some psychic bids are so common that they are often referred to as ''mini-psychs''. For example, many would consider a hand such as to be an automatic 1 bid after partner opens 1 and the right-hand opponent
doubles for takeout—it is made in an attempt to talk the opponents out of their likely spade fit, subsequently escaping to 3 if necessary.
Regulations
Per rules of the game, the partner of a player who has psyched must not take advantage of any special knowledge of the partnership's habits. So a partnership that uses occasional psychic bids must take care to ensure full disclosure — not only of its formal
bidding system
A bidding system in contract bridge is the set of agreements and understandings assigned to calls and sequences of calls used by a partnership, and includes a full description of the meaning of each treatment and convention. The purpose of bid ...
but also of its habits. For example, if a partnership tends to psych under certain circumstances, it is much better prepared to recognize a psych, and to cope with it, than are its opponents. The game's Laws and Proprieties therefore require disclosure of the partnership's tendency.
In
duplicate bridge
Duplicate bridge is a variation of contract bridge where the same set of bridge deals (i.e. the distribution of the 52 cards among the four hands) are played by different competitors, and scoring is based on relative performance. In this way, eve ...
, sponsoring organizations often impose a number of restrictions on psychic bids. For example, psychs of strong artificial opening bids (such as
strong two clubs
Bridge bidding systems that incorporate a strong 2 clubs opening bid include modern Standard American, standard Acol, 2/1 game forcing and many others.
In most natural bridge bidding systems, the opening bid of 2 is used exclusively for hands to ...
) are not allowed by the
American Contract Bridge League
The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain th ...
(ACBL).
[Some authorities disagree with this approach, stating that such a prohibition amounts to giving the force of law to the personal preferences of bridge administrators. However, to do so is not illegal, because the Laws give sponsoring organizations the right to regulate the use of conventions. How Would You Rule?, Bridge World Magazine, 1978, page 43.] In addition, if the partner is perceived to have bid abnormally due to taking account of a psych, then the score may be adjusted. Also, partnership agreements to use a "check bid" or
psychic control to verify the psych may either be banned entirely (as by the ACBL) or limited in their usage (as by the
World Bridge Federation, which designates them
brown sticker
Brown sticker is a category of contract bridge conventional agreements defined by the World Bridge Federation (WBF).The World Bridge Federation (WBF) definition of Brown sticker conventions in itSystems Policy manual, page 3 Brown sticker conventi ...
conventions).
See also
*
Bluff (poker)
In the card game of poker, a bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand which is not thought to be the best hand. ''To bluff'' is to make such a bet. The objective of a bluff is to induce a fold by at least one opponent who holds a better hand. ...
References
Further reading
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{{WPCBIndex
Contract bridge bidding