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What meager card play skills I possess were from hard labor. My point is simply that there is a certain amount of talent involved.
I certainly sympathize with your point, as I grew up in a household where playing cards were "forbidden" for religious reasons; probably why I'm so screwed up, LoL, but that is another issue.
There is something to be said, I believe, for growing up and playing games like Spades or Hearts to instill some sort of "card sense". Any skills that I possess came as yours did, through diligence and study, not "natural flair".
I take comfort in what Bob Hamman said about Paul Soloway in the book "At the Table". Without quoting, he said in his early days of rubber bridge in Southern California, Soloway was so bad that the other players would make up fake phone calls for him to answer when he was to play dummy. (Doubt this is 100% true, but it makes for a good story.) But Hamman also went on to say that through hard work and dedication, Soloway made himself into one of the best dummy players in the world.
I am not up to the standards of others on this post like Roland and Justin (and others whom I have not had the pleasure to meet or know through published reports), but I can tell you from my experience that dummy play to me is about a state of mind I call "clear thinking".
For the most part, declarer play is a logic problem it seems, and as such requires a solution. It's nice later on when you understand and can operate things like squeezes and combining chances, but it all starts with "placing the cards". I saw a BOLS tip once that said: "If you ever want to amount to anything in this game, you have to build up a 'picture of the unseen hands'. " I feel silly taking up so much room on this post but I have sympathy for your plight in that I do not consider myself a "great" dummy player - I am much more comfortable on defense and in the bidding. But I turned myself into an "adequate" dummy player and on rare occasions can dazzle.
And finally (just to end all this rambling, LoL) an example of what I mean. The bidding is bad (parner's of course!) but this is how it transpired.
Me Him RHO
1D 1H
1S 2C Double
2H 2S
3D 4S
AJ93
AQ104
64
Q92
KQ84
654
AQ852
10
Club 8 led to the 2, Jack, and my 10. King of clubs follows, ruffed (a defensive error, I know). Here is what I mean by "clear thinking". LHO has led "top of nothing" so RHO has AKJxx(x) yet failed to overcall 1H - surely he does not hold either red king else he would have bid the first time. Now knowing this much, it becomes almost a double dummy problem as to how to make. Looking at losers, I see in dummy a club that I can ruff, 2 diamonds, one of which is covered by my Ace, and the 104 of hearts after the "known" finesse works. This is one loser too many. Now it is simply a matter of finding the best way to eliminate that one loser. Another way to look at this that I find at times is better than counting losers is to count winners - 4 spades in dummy, 2 club ruffs, the Ace of diamonds, and the A and Q of hearts=9. I am a trick short. Where will the extra trick come from? Hearts offers the best chance, with either the 4th heart setting up or with the KJ onside. So at trick 2 lead a small heart and finesse the 10. If this wins (as it did) you are home free, but there is still more "clear thinking" to do. Ruff another club, and cash KQ of spades (LHO shows out on the second). Finesse the Q of hearts and draw trumps. We have played 4 trumps, 3 clubs, and 2 hearts or 9 tricks. 10 tricks are assured after cashing the Ace of hearts, but what cards does LHO have left?
There is room for only 4 cards: KJ (hearts) KJ (diamonds). Now all you have to do is play the Ace of hearts and lead your last heart from dummy, pitching losing diamonds from your hand. LHO is forced to win and is on lead with KJ of dimaonds while you still hold AQ. You have gone from 6 tricks at the start of the hand (4 spades and 2 Aces) to 11 tricks at the end.
Note, there was nothing particularly "hard" or "magical" about the play of this hand, but rather a fairly simple 1-step-at-a-time logical progression to the end that I do not believe is beyond anyone's ability to duplicate.
Again, I hope this is a help and I apologize to all those truly "great" declarers out there for rambling on so long.
WinstonM
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