by Harry Lamer

Created on: July 05, 2009

When you have played Bridge for long enough, you'll realize just how volatile the game can be, not least because of the complete imbecile across the table - or wait, are you the nincompoop?

You may think it is funny, but I've witnessed first hand the likes of irate players berating their partners for all and sundry. I've seen even married couples falling out over a misplayed or misbid hand - frequently.

For all the shouting that it's worth, I sometimes wonder why these people even bother playing at all.

Indeed, there are a whole repertoire of Bridge partner jokes strewn across the web - all involving having one's partner killed, maimed, tortured or [add unpleasant fate] in one way or other.

When you are playing the game, you either play with a regular partner (of which there may be a few) or with a relative stranger.

Obviously you will tend to perform better with a regular partner, but expectations will differ dramatically also.

The beauty of Bridge is that you can meet someone for the first time and still experience an engaging partnership in the first game - thanks to the various common bidding systems available.

Standard American? Short Clubs? Precision? Strong Twos or Weak? No problem.

The problem does arise however, when each player subsequently assumes he knows a system better than the other. The result, as aforementioned, can be quite explosive.

Patience is a virtue that in Bridge, is often in short supply.

The value of a good partner cannot be understated, and is about as rare as a four-leaf clover. Like a marriage of sorts, you might in your lifetime meet just one partner you can really click with - if you're lucky.

It does seem strange that a good partnership should be considered of utmost importance. After all, once you bid a contract, your partner only becomes dummy right?

Ah, but how did you bid to your wonderful mini-slam to begin with? And what about the two sods defending the contract? How do they find the elusive ruff that will bring your contract down?

When I talk about having a good partner, I don't just mean in terms of skill, but also in terms of attitude towards one another.

Compatibility is a strong point. The best players may have very different bidding styles, systems or ideology. They may not make the best partners, especially if they're both too arrogant to give way to each other (and they can be, arrogant that is).

On the other hand, I personally find that pairing strong with weak players, which, while leveling the

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