Have you ever heard of an Anyway? Probably not. So here is what it is and how it might help your bridge game.

I have golfed for about 50 years and have had tons of lessons, tips, critiques, tournament play and on and on. One of the cool books I read taught this thing called Anyways. Here is an example of how it works on the golf course.

I stepped up to an approach shot and realized that the distance to the hole was 10 yards farther than I originally thought. I should go back to my bag and get another club. But nah…..I’ll just hit the shot anyway, with the club I have. Result: Ten yards short and an extra stroke on the scorecard. Grrrrr. The lesson is to keep score of Anyways and try to eliminate all of them.

How will this help your bridge game, you ask? Here’s an example. What if you open 1 Spade and through some sort of bidding process, your partner bids up to 3 Spades. You don’t really have any extras. You have bid your hand perfectly to this point. But enter an Anyway! You say to yourself (hopefully not out loud) “What the heck. Might as well try for game.” You bid 4 Spades. Did I mention you were Vulnerable? Result: Down 1 doubled.

Another situation might be that you are on defense. Your partner has clearly signaled for you to lead back a Club. But you had already decided to play your Ace of Hearts. So you did that anyway, even though your agreement with partner is to honor and trust those signals. Your Heart gets trumped and your partner never gets to cash their Ace of Clubs. Bottom board.

Anyways can appear in bidding, Declarer play, and defense. Those rascals are sneaky and can pop up anytime we are not paying attention or get lazy.

I challenge each of us to ban Anyways from our bridge game! All it takes is to pay attention and stay awake throughout the entire game. Keep track and see how many times you trip up. Before you know it, those pesky Anyways will be gone.

Enjoy the journey!
Susie Leo
District 20 I/N Coordinator