Talk - Evil Will

Penalty Double?

Playing one day with some new opponents it became clear quite quickly that my left hand opponent was a much better player than his partner. He felt so too and had begun to let his feelings known by some ill-tempered comments.

Then came a hand where the good opponent opened 2NT showing a strong hand and his partner responded 3 (alerted) meaning a request to transfer to minors. It was my turn to bid, and holding a few good spades but not much else, I decided to double to at least show partner what to lead.

It was the good opponent's turn to bid and he paused for some time. To my dawning horror I suspected he must have some spades too, and was considering passing to penalize me. I decided it was time for a psychological ploy to avert a disaster for us, and so sent him this private message:

will to opponent: if you are thinking of leaving that X in, just remember it will be your partner

              who will be playing the hand

He replied:

opponent to will: lol the thought did cross my mind

He went on to bid, much to my relief.

The term 'evil' wasn't necessarily a bad one. If the opponents played something well, my partner or I might say:

will: well done evil opps

Once I joined the table of a Bridge professional who was, as the police say, "known to me". He greeted me as follows:

pro: well here is evil, spiteful, hurtful will

I felt honoured.