It's impossible to have a conversation with anyone working a white collar job which doesn't involve AI. This year I've visited friends I haven't seen in years, relatives with huge life news, and met plenty of new and interesting people. All the conversations end with discussion about whether AI is the biggest technology leap since the internet, since  the industrial revolution, or since the wheel. 

For bridge, however, AI represents a common archetype. The person at the club who is confidently incorrect. Confident answers are dangerous in bridge. If you ask a bridge question to either that person at the club or (at least, at the time of writing this) AI, it will give you an answer that sounds correct and the way they say it will make you believe them. 

There are plenty of situations in bridge with a right or wrong answer. There are also many situations with no clear winning option. That means that when you ask a question like, "What should I bid here?" The answer should include a confidence rating. I sometimes say, "100 experts would all bid this way." Like 9/10 dentists recommending a toothpaste. 

You can almost divide this magazine into "confident" and "uncertain" sections. Most of the teaching articles like this one are confident. We want you to understand "correct" bidding and then you will be able to make reasonable choices when presented with an unclear situation.

Elsewhere in the Bulletin, you will find plenty of gray. Look at the various bidding panels and competitions and see that there are plenty of ways to bid two hands. Read a match report to see how experts in top competition beat each other up with creative bidding and play. Those choices are what make bridge interesting.

As a student of the game, you don't need to make the same choice as your favorite teacher or expert, but you want to be choosing from some of the logical options. 

Take a look at some of these problems. What is your answer, and do you think it's clear or not?

You are South. None vul matchpoints.

You hold: 

10432

AKJ76

K76

9

 

Here are some auctions and you tell me your degree of confidence on your answer. 

1) 

West	North	East	South
			?

2) 

West	North	East	South
		1	?

 

3) 

West	North	East	South
		1	?

4) 

West	North	East	South
	1	3	?

 

Answers (With confidence rating)

1) 1. I'd guess 90+% of experts would open this. If we open all 12 counts, this looks like an opening bid.

2) 1. Again in the 90% range. Might we miss a spade fit? C'est la vie.

3) 1. 100%. No other choices. Don't double with the wrong shape since you can't stomach a 2 response from partner.

4) No idea!  I'd choose between Double, Pass and 4, but this is a hand straight from a bidding challenge.