Play bridge with friends and family.

Befriend those strangers whose play and table comportment agree with you, and develop those friendships into regular partnerships and competition.

Keep a record of those you did not enjoy playing with, and avoid playing with them in the future.

As far as high-level and tournament play, you are better off doing those in person, I would imagine (and leave online bridge as a recreation or training ground.)

I am a 63 year-old beginning bridge player who has just finished Audrey Grant’s book on bidding. I am currently not knowledgeable enough to understand all the bidding conventions, but did notice that some of the bidding documented by Judy Kay-Wolff and Danny Kleinman did not make sense to me. What saddens and worries me is the level of concern and frustration given to this discussion about cheating. This indicates to me that it is a major and long-term problem, and there was no indication that anything has been or maybe could be done to materially change what is going on. I hope I am wrong. Maybe as a beginner this problem will not affect me. Is there any indication that cheating is being reduced?

Richard’s recounting of his ugly experience on line is not an issue that I want to get into in
depth, but I will say the following:

Discovering cheating (as opposed to ‘bridge judgment’) is a very complex subject. Before accusing someone of such a heinous crime against the game, he or she should be 99% sure it was happening. Such an allegation cannot be judiciously based on one hand alone and would be irresponsible and subject to laws against slander — and mean-spirited as well.

For you to be called a ‘cheater’ or merely an implication that you were thought to be guilty of same must be based on a series of unusual bridge happenings — not one isolated board. Though the actual hand was never presented, I do not need to see it to already determine that your outspoken opponent had already gone over the edge — and by a significant margin. It has more to do with deportment at the table.

Perthaps bad blood had crept into your on line relationship caused by an earlier situation — which is not at all unusual in fierce competition. People react differently to adverse results.
Many cannot contain themselves after ‘being fixed’ by the opponents and adopt an immature attitude which seems to be what was evidenced here.

All my bridge life I have been a crusader to eliminate as much actual cheating from our game as I can. I am not a psychologist and certainly not equipped to deal with either gloating winners or, in this case, bad losers. Your situation should have been avoided but cannot be compared to the hand originally cited in Mental Telepathy which was substantiated by eight additional grotesque boards played the same day by the same pair.

The thing is, most of us aren’t dealing with videotape and careful analysis of past records. Most of us are dealing with rumor and innuendo and stupidity. I don’t mind experts with integrity undertaking careful investigations. I do mind if their activities promote an atmosphere where the ordinary player feels that every table is a minefield of unethical activity that he should expose at the first hint of a bad result.

I joined a table with three strangers (strange to me, anyway). The second or third hand, as the auction progressed, it became obvious that my partner and me could make at least 4 spades, maybe 6 or 7. However, my partner (who held the stronger hand) basically bailed out on me, refusing to take captaincy of the auction. At the five level after a cue bid, I was faced with what was essentially a guess: 5, 6 or 7? I chickened out and stopped at 5 spades.

You guessed it. 7 spades was not a ridiculous contract. 6 spades was an excellent contract. Due to bad breaks, eleven tricks was the limit of the hand. The table owner demanded an immediate explanation how I had known to stop at 5 spades, or else he was going to report me to OKBridge for cheating. What was my easy explanation for this situation? What was I supposed to say to him? He wasn’t about to believe “lucky guess”.

Too late. You hesitated for four or five seconds before typing your reply, and I don’t type very fast either. By then, the table had closed and he wasn’t on-line any more.

I reviewed the hand on the OKBridge website. If anyone’s bidding was dubious, it was my partner. At one point, he really only needed to know how many aces I held, and he was in a position to use Blackwood and find out. Since he didn’t do that, I later was in an impossible situation, not knowing exactly how good his hand was and if his suit was solid (it was), and if there really was a likelihood of 12 tricks.

Do I think anyone was cheating at this table? Not really – I think my partner just didn’t know what he was doing. Was the accusation of cheating unnecessary and toxic to the game? Absolutely. I reported my accuser to OKBridge, and maybe they can get him to keep his accusations private between himself and the authorities.

But that was the end for me. I had run into innuendo a couple of times before. Being flat-out called a cheat was too much. I don’t play on OKBridge any more.

One simple question: How often do you think easily-explained situations (need I say more?) such as yours would occur (and what would be the frequency of other always-on-target bids,
‘lucky’ defensive maneuvers or brilliant dummy play) — IF REAL NAMES WERE USED????? I have no doubt we would see a sharp Reversal of Fortune.

Thanks for your provocative response dealing with an insidious problem. Your personal reflections and experience were very enlightening and have a profound bearing on a very touchy subject.

Yes, you have suggested a serious and cruel aftermath which, at least in my not-so-humble opinion, is often a malicious byproduct of the overall travesty of general cheating at bridge. The human condition, being what it is, and in the defensive (embarrassed) mode after losing at anything, is to search out and relegate blame to another. What better copout is there but to deflect attention from the INJURED and assume the role of the ACCUSER!

And — what more effective entry to the niche of human distortions than to assume the cause of a coterie of malcontents. Prime examples in other sports are: ‘Kill the UMP;’ ‘The referees were on the take;’ ‘They pre-filmed our legal private football hand signals.’ In poker, you’ve heard: ‘There were confederates in the same game, cheating us.’ In golf and at many levels (from the duffer to the professional) — ‘ I’m sure he often improved his lie.’ In the Olympics — ‘Nationalism has no bounds with the judges.’ In all competitions — ‘Bribery has resulted in Team X sailing away to victory.’ Or how about the far-reaching affects of the steroids controversy concerning our national pastime — not to overlook the accusations against Lance Armstrong. Finger pointing is not uncommon in our society!

In the USA, we have lived through turbulent times revolving around the administration of justice — or perhaps more aptly said — the mis-administration of justice! We don’t have to go far to recall history-making headlines. Just start with “Say it ain’t so, Joe” (the 1919 reference to Shoeless Joe Jackson who apparently was guilty of improprieties in the Black Sox Scandal) — continuing with the horrifying point-shaving escapades in college basketball during the middle of the last century, Pete Rose’s gambling (especially betting on his own team’s games) — up to the present day conflicts involving the rogue NBA referee — and even touching on the peculiarly motivated acquittal verdict by the O. J. Simpson Jury over a decade ago.

From my perch, much of the above sums up where we stand today. Instead of overly obsessing on not doing anything for fear of touching on one or more innocent people’s rights, I believe the disease is worth acknowledging, acting upon and searching for the cure — not cowering under the table and hoping it either vanishes or someone else finds the antidote. We CANNOT remain idle or dormant and just hope it disappears. As long as miscreants try and find a way to beat the system, thereby ruining what is otherwise a pleasant, very necessary outlet for our competitive instincts, it is, at least to me, a compelling reason for battling the entrenched foes and — if you will — “March into Hell for a Heavenly Cause.”

Sure we need to be careful. Sure we need to be sensitive. But — what is even more certain is that we have to stand up and fight! Maintaining the status quo is not the solution.

From your description, it appears you have been a totally innocent victim — not merely the result of cowboy justice. Isolated instances like yours are unfortunate but a small price to pay (easy for me to say) in the overall endeavor to clean up the game.

While we are on this subject, how many of us who have been really beaten up by the current economic downturn and the unprecedented collapse of the stock market, think it might have been caused, even ever so slightly, by nothing more than American financial greed by those who made fortunes? Vibes from the new administration seem to indicate that we may be on the road to finding out.

Thanks for affording me (and hopefully others) the incentive and opportunity to express my feelings on a very crucial and timely subject.

After spending the better half of this morning reading and considering the various points of view expressed here, I will bet dollars to doughnuts that Danny gets the last word.

Thanks for a thought-provoking read, all!