CAN BIDDING AUCTIONS EVER BE PURE AS THE DRIVEN SNOW ?....... ( Professor Hu Chi Ku Chi investigates )

The sad answer to this question is " No ". In theory when a player opens 1S then the bid covers a multitude of possibilities ,  such as a hand 10-19 points say with with 4 or more spades. It is only when a rebid comes in that more information about the hand can be revealed.

Yet is the game ever played where it is only the subsequent bidding that reveals a fully picture about the hand ? I think not because communication of information IS NOT limited to the bids made during the auction. The players' senses are on high alert. The subconscious is non-stop automated factory of the mind ,  which constantly processes every scrap of visual and oral information given out during the auction. 

Information in the form of ......

-  grunts , coughs ,  sighs,  change of breathing
-  frowns , grimaces , frozen shock-horror stiffness  

-  posture, such as sitting more upright or slumping backwards 

-  looks that very from the extremely tense to incredibly relaxed

-  hard , glaring or soft  loving eyes

-  lip shaping, smiles or tightly closed mouth ( clenched teeth )

-  quick or slow response time , variation in tempo

-  length of delay/hesitation BEFORE a bid is made

-  the degree of force used to place the bidding card on the table

-  odd out-of-context questions raised about the opponents' bids

-  hand movements ( table strumming, neck stroking, ear/head scratching for instance )

-  degree of body movement and all round fidgeting
-  the intonation in the humming , whistling and card snapping

Most of the above is never meant to be intentional but these subtle nuances of communication are endless , such is the infinite number of body language gestures and non-linguistic sounds available to feed off. And what's more..... we are all experts in reading the tell-tale signs. The subconscious does this automatically feeding through any results or conclusions as fleeting moments of intuition, insight, instinct......what many authors might euphemistically refer to as table presence. Oh yes .....we also have that ability to tap into the opponents' unauthorised communication gadgets as well . 

For  bidding auctions to be clean and pure we must ask the impossible : players to bid in perfect tempo , with dead pan, impassive expressions on their faces ,  using repetitive , identical movements , and all done in absolute total silence. This will guarantee that it is only the bids which can provide and glean information about the shape , distribution and strength of particular hands.

So now we are left with a dilemma. Continue as we do with flawed ,  impure , laissez -faire bidding auctions , or play the game in a regimented way like a scene from the  film " I, robot ".