It is a maxim in bridge that the weaker hand should always consider itself subordinate to the stronger, ready to sacrifice the high card holding so that it will be a gain to the partner in the end.
How selfishly and at what cost partners will decline to unblock because it appears to them to mean the sacrifice of too high a card. Too long they cling to their Queens and their Kings only to see the great army of “lost tricks” obtain fresh recruits because they would not, or could not, read what their partners were vainly trying to publish before them.
Another rather cool invitation and one bound to be fraught with disastrous results is when you request your partner to play for a suit in which you have neither length nor strength. It would be just as logical to ask him to play for cards in your adversaries’ hands.
It is always good practice in bridge not to attempt to play for too much. To bring in two suits is, of course, a very delightful sensation, but it is a great deal better to confine your efforts to bring in one sure suit than to attempt two with the result of getting neither. Bear in mind that when one is a bit greedy, “lost tricks” are likely to foot up rapidly.
Before the subject of “lost tricks” is abandoned it is well to call attention to what may be sacrificed by bad makes. Players overanxious to win will attempt declarations which they know to be unsound, being influenced by a speculative impulse rather than by sound judgment.
Countless rubbers are lost--not tricks, but rubbers--because players do not know the score and, because they lack that information, are not playing with an intelligent idea as to how many tricks are absolutely essential to save the game.
In conclusion bear this in mind for it is a justifiable loss of a trick: Do not hesitate to lose when the only chance is to find in your partner’s hand the card that will save the game; you may be astonished to ascertain how often this will happen during the ordinary course of play.
Play so to perfect your whole game as to take care of the “lost tricks.” The winning tricks, it will quickly be discovered, take care of themselves.
All games of cards, even the simplest--those that require but little thought or mental analysis--afford an excellent field for the study of human nature.