What unusual quirks do you or partner have at the table?

[32519]

My F2F partner absolutely insists on sitting East whenever we are assigned E/W in a Mitchell Movement or move E/W in a Howell Movement, saying that, "It doesn't feel right if I sit West." :)

 

Another quirk is that she always carries the same green Parker Pen with her for filling in our our personals, saying that, "It's my lucky pen." :rolleyes:

[Cthulhu D]

I always sit the same direction with my regular partner because it makes discussing the results afterwards much easier, particularly when reviewing results several days after the session. Secondly, we both hate being the stationary pair, so it works out as I am east, he is west.

[GreenMan]

One of my regular partners hates to be East or North. I guess that really doesn't count as unusual after all these posts saying something similar.

 

I prefer to pull the bid cards out of the box one at a time instead of in a stack. People sometimes tell me I'm doing it wrong, as if I haven't been using bid boxes since 1983. :P

[Antrax]

I place my hand face down after memorizing it (to ensure a consistent manner regardless of what I have). For some reason people seem to assume this means I'm going to pass throughout.

[Zelandakh]

I always sit South or West. I have the bidding box on my left even though I am right-handed (try it, it is much easier). The bidding cards are sorted before play so that all the passes are together in front, followed by the doubles and then the redoubles. They are also pushed to the extreme right of the box and immediately set straight if a card is misplaced when pulling a bid. I always place my bidding cards in precisely the same spot on the table and with perfect spacing; same with my quitted tricks. The quitted tricks are also placed so that the bottom edge of the won tricks are a little distance above that of the lost tricks, making them quicker to count. In addition, I place the 7th trick won by Declarer a little above (if it is me) or below (if an opponent) and continue from there. Similarly, undertricks get the same treatment - both make it quicker to count the result at the end or see it at a glance during the play. I always hold my cards in my left hand and my right hand is usually resting on my thigh. That is uncomfortable if my wallet is in my pocket so I rearrange it when I sit down for the first hand. There are some more minor quirks too but this is enough for one post I think.

[manudude03]

Two things I used to hate doing myself.

1. Sitting North- I always got East and West confused.

2. Bringing a pen into a serious match or competition, I used to find it brought me bad luck.

[ggwhiz]

We take all 2 way finesses through the player we don't like to avoid losing the trick to them. A long pause means 0 or 2 jerks.

[Phil]

When using screens (hasn't been that often), I need to keep my bidding box placed on the edge of the screen, not in the corner next to my opponent. It's as though my box is my personal space.

 

I am AR when I'm at a table. The boards need to be aligned neatly on the table marker which needs to be centered. I also hate a lot of trash.

[Lord Molyb]

I always ask my opponents what the final contract is (or confirm it) after the bidding, even when I'm dummy/declarer. Preferably, quietly enough so people at other tables can't here.

[aguahombre]

I prefer to pull the bid cards out of the box one at a time instead of in a stack. People sometimes tell me I'm doing it wrong, as if I haven't been using bid boxes since 1983. :P

I assumed the notable players who did this developed the habit from screens and trays, where a stack of cards beneath the actual bid could get bumped when the tray is moved and cause problems ---and that unknown players just didn't know any better...because taking one out at a time and putting multiple bids back in order after the auction seem like a time-wasting pain in the butt.

 

The main reason the only tab of the bid cards which gets dog eared is 1C is because most players thumb their choice and pull everything lower out.

[bd71]

1. Red pen always

 

2. I seem to think best (such as it is) when hunched over, so I typically declare and defend with elbows on knees, cards held under the table, and face just a few inches from the table edge. Have received a few comments and more strange looks. I hope to some day play with screens, but fear that people will think I'm trying to sneak a peek at partner's face/reactions through the gap by leaning down like this.

[jillybean]

Unusual; At tournaments, there is a player who brings a dog with her, the dog sleeps on her knee in a shoulder bag.

I want to bring my Golden Retriever but I can't find a shoulder bag big enough.

 

Quirks; I hunt out the shortest pencil in the room. I think because short pencils are less likely to be taken by other players.

I must have an alert card in my bidding box, not a strip and I will swap my strip for a card in another bidding box.

At one tournament, sitting E/W, I carried an alert card around with me all session in my back pocket.

[GreenMan]

Unusual; At tournaments, there is a player who brings a dog with her, the dog sleeps on her knee in a shoulder bag.

I want to bring my Golden Retriever but I can't find a shoulder bag big enough.

 

Terry Michaels (widow of Mike Michaels of cuebid fame) trained service dogs and always brought her current charge to the club, often a GR.

[aguahombre]

Unusual; At tournaments, there is a player who brings a dog with her, the dog sleeps on her knee in a shoulder bag.

I want to bring my Golden Retriever but I can't find a shoulder bag big enough.

+++ :rolleyes: Extending the regulations on service dogs to include more than seeing-eye, in order to be politically correct has caused other players with allergies or morbid fears problems.

 

I asked the ACBL at one time for guidance when they expanded to include emotional support service dogs. They chose to ignore my request. Club management must choose between the allergic or fearful and the emotionally needy as a business decision.

[GreenMan]

I assumed the notable players who did this developed the habit from screens and trays, where a stack of cards beneath the actual bid could get bumped when the tray is moved and cause problems ---and that unknown players just didn't know any better...because taking one out at a time and putting multiple bids back in order after the auction seem like a time-wasting pain in the butt.

 

The main reason the only tab of the bid cards which gets dog eared is 1C is because most players thumb their choice and pull everything lower out.

 

Some newbies do do it that way out of newbieness. I find the extra effort putting the cards back to be negligible; for me it's preferable not to worry about my stack of cards going askew, and on those occasions when we start to pick up our cards and someone says "Please wait, I want to study the auction," I can just spread mine out again. Also, it saves wear on the 1C card.

 

These are small considerations, but they matter enough to me. Quirky, I know. :)

[barmar]

Unusual; At tournaments, there is a player who brings a dog with her, the dog sleeps on her knee in a shoulder bag.

I want to bring my Golden Retriever but I can't find a shoulder bag big enough.

You talking about Lynn Deas? I suspect she gets special dispensation just because of who she is.

 

I was operating Vugraph at a table with her last year. At one point she asked a TD to take her little dog out for a walk or something.

[barmar]

I don't think I have any notable quirks (but maybe my partners would disagree). But my regular partner always announces the contract at the end of the auction. He used to make a habit of using the phrase "in the" rather than "by" to refer to declarer's compass position, I think because it's somewhat ambiguous when the contract is doubled ("4 spades doubled by West" sounds like West is the doubler, not declarer), but I think he's changed to saying "by" consistently.

 

We have one right-handed player who likes to put his bidding box on the left. He also insists that it's easier; maybe I don't see the problem because I'm short and my arm length is proportional.

 

Regarding people who take out bidding cards one at a time, it's always seemed like an affectation to me: "look, I've got such great manual dexterity I can do this". However, when bidding cards get out of order, it's almost always because one of you was at the table recently.

[GreenMan]

Regarding people who take out bidding cards one at a time, it's always seemed like an affectation to me: "look, I've got such great manual dexterity I can do this". However, when bidding cards get out of order, it's almost always because one of you was at the table recently.

 

Manual dexterity? Please. I've already demonstrated that by pulling playing cards from my hand one at a time, without dropping (hardly) any.

 

AFAIK I'm the only one at the local club who manipulates the bidding box that way, and I'm careful to leave it in order, but somehow cards still get put in the wrong places sometimes by the grab-everything set. :P

[barmar]

Manual dexterity? Please. I've already demonstrated that by pulling playing cards from my hand one at a time, without dropping (hardly) any.

It's not pulling them out that requires extra dexterity, it's putting them back in.

somehow cards still get put in the wrong places sometimes by the grab-everything set.

Their mistakes are usually easier to deal with. For instance, sometimes some of the demonination cards end up in the slot for pass/double/redouble cards.

[ArtK78]

Quite a number of years ago, I used to play regularly with Arnie Fisher. Whenever we played NS, he insisted upon sitting North.

 

Subsequently (and this was still a number of years ago), I was sitting down to kibbitz Arnie playing with Dave Treadwell in the opening match of the Mens' Swiss Teams at the Lancaster, PA Regional (I told you it was a number of years ago). I noticed that Arnie was sitting in the South seat. When I pointed this out, his response was that "Treadwell invented the North seat!"

[blackshoe]

You talking about Lynn Deas? I suspect she gets special dispensation just because of who she is.

 

I was operating Vugraph at a table with her last year. At one point she asked a TD to take her little dog out for a walk or something.

I've never met Lynn Deas, and so I have nothing against the woman, and do have great respect for her bridge accomplishments. However, this sounds an awful lot like taking undue advantage of her reputation, at least. No one should get "special dispensation" just because of who she (or he) is, and no one should think it proper to ask a TD working at a tournament to walk her dog for her.

[barmar]

no one should think it proper to ask a TD working at a tournament to walk her dog for her.

It seemed voluntary to me. There aren't a whole lot of director calls in the late rounds of national team events, so the directors for those events are not extremely busy. They mostly just pop in every 15 minutes or so to see how the teams are doing time-wise.

[mycroft]

I'm sure it would have been voluntary.

 

I used to fight with my partner to sit South until we both realized that what we didn't like was keeping both the game score and a personal score. So the rule came in that South keeps the personal score, North explicitly doesn't, and everything was fine thereafter.

 

My partners, however, refuse to let me use the BridgeMates; with good reason, mind you, that's not a quirk.

 

It seems that most of my partners insist on sitting East; no worries for me.

 

It is easier (as a lefty) to use the wrong hand to bid; but it drives me nuts when the cards come out upsidedown. I have no idea why.

[Zelandakh]

It is easier (as a lefty) to use the wrong hand to bid; but it drives me nuts when the cards come out upsidedown. I have no idea why.

This is precisely the point as to why it is easier to draw the cards from the left. From the left you lift the card out of the box up and to the right and continue moving your arm to the right in a simple arc. The cards are automatically oriented correctly. When you pull from the right, the card comes out up and to the right. Now you need to bring it back over the box while twisting your wrist a little clockwise as your arm comes across your body. If you do not so this twist and instead bring the card across your body leading with the hand then the card ends up upside-down.

 

So, to avoid being driven nuts, either practise the clockwise wrist movement (your hand will now be behind (to the right) of the card as you place it), or simply move the box to sit on your left.

[paulg]

My partners, however, refuse to let me use the BridgeMates; with good reason, mind you, that's not a quirk.

nige1 likes to sit North to operate the BridgeMate. Everyone else in the country tries to get there before him however.