Busy bidding

“I usually do what my wife tells me, but when she insisted that I stop acting like a flamingo, I had to put my foot down.” — graffiti “My regular partner likes to bid,” a club player complained to me. “I like 13 points to open; he needs 13 cards. He overcalls on a whim. I try to allow for his style, but after this deal, I put my foot down.” My friend and his bid-whenit’s-my-turn partner were EastWest, and when South opened one heart, West overcalled one spade with few values visible to the naked eye. “North bid 1NT,” I heard. “I would have raised to two spades, but since I figured my partner had his usual nothing, I passed. North-South bid four hearts.” West led the queen and jack of spades. South ruffed the next spade and had to play trumps for one loser. He figured that if East had held the king of hearts plus A-9-4 in spades and probably a club honor, he would have raised to two spades. So South did not finesse in trumps: He cashed the ace and led a low trump. When West’s king came down, South took the rest. “If my partner doesn’t overcall,” East grumbled, “I’ll bet declarer loses two trump tricks and goes down.” Light opening bids and uninhibited competitive actions are a modern trend. They can make it hard for the opponents to sort out their prospects. Nevertheless, nobody can predict the effect of intervention, and those who embrace an active competitive style tend to forget the deals in which it lost points. To each his own style, but I prefer some semblance of discipline.