(Updated 18 March, 2020)
Psyching is part of Bridge. This page describes psyches, deviations and mis-bids, when you may psyche and what to do if you think your opponent has psyched
A psyche or psychic bid is a deliberate and gross mis-statement of honour strength and/or suit length.
A deviation is a deliberate but minor mis-statement of honour strength and/or suit length.
A mis-bid is an inadvertent mis-statement of honour strength and/or suit length.
A psychic bid is a legitimate ploy as long as it contains the same element of surprise for the psycher’s partner as it does for the opponents. (Law 40C refers.) Frivolous psyching, for example suggesting a player has lost interest in the competition, is a breach of the Laws. (eg. Laws 74A2, 74B1 and 74C6.)
What do we mean by “the same element of surprise”? If a player makes the same psychic bid more than once with a partner, the partner will become less surprised than opponents when the player makes the same call on another hand.
How does BCL know how often a player makes the same psychic bid? If we receive an Incident Report when a player makes a psychic bid, we build up a pattern of a player’s psychic tendencies, but we also apply a TD ruling for each report. Our TD looks at the actions of the psycher’s partner to see if the partner has made allowance for their partner to have psyched. If a player psyches and their partner calls in such a way as to make allowance for such a psyche, irrespective of whether there is any intent, then our TD will adjust the score if the offending side has scored more than 40% on the board.
We strongly recommend that if you think an opponent has psyched, you submit an Incident Report. This allows us to determine whether a psyche, deviation or a mis-bid (or whatever) has occurred, and to log as appropriate, to advise players as appropriate, and to give a TD ruling which, occasionally, will lead to an adjusted score.
At the table, please do not accuse opponents of deliberately doing anything they shouldn’t do. Please do not presume at the table that an opponent has psyched, as they may have unintentionally mis-bid or simply made a poorly judged call, but please do feel free to submit an Incident Report at least for advice.
Please do NOT psyche at all in the Social or Coaching Rooms where Guests and beginners may be confused and/or upset. We would consider that psyches in these rooms, where there are no Master Point awards and PPI is unaffected, as frivolous, and thus in breach of the Laws as described above.
In all other rooms, we recommend that when playing against weaker opponents, you are much more likely to score well by normal play.
If a partnership, or even a single player, psyches with any significant frequency, our TD will advise the player or partnership (on avoiding breach of Law 40C). In an extreme situation, BCL will ask a player or partnership to play elsewhere as we would terminate their membership. This has never happened.
Psyching in BCL is actually fairly rare.
The English Bridge Union White Book, the current version of which may be accessed via https://www.ebu.co.uk/laws-and-ethics, provides (in its section 1.4.4) more information on this subject and a guide for TDs to rule in accordance with the Laws. Our TD uses these regulations, which are probably the most comprehensive of their type anywhere.
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