Just look at Martha Stewart or Bill Clinton. They did stuff that may or may not have been illegal. But what got them into real trouble was trying to hide the original misdeed.
The same thing applies at the bridge table.
You make a bad bid. Maybe you’ve forgotten some wrinkle in your partnership agreement. Maybe you were distracted, and didn’t notice that RHO had slipped in a double right before your bid.
Anyway, you’re staring at your last bid. You’ve realized your mistake, and you’re sweating it. But then it occurs to you that perhaps your bad bid might somehow lead to a good result, if only partner makes the right call…
Confused, partner goes into the tank and finally pulls out the one card from her/his bidding box that you didn’t want to see. Disaster follows.
In the post mortem, you immediately pin the blame on partner, conveniently failing to address your initial contribution to the bad result. Yes, maybe your bid was questionable, but partner’s bid was ridiculous!
Stop.
Apologize for your original misdeed.
Move on.
If you can do that, you’re a terrific partner. (Better than me…)
