Opinion: Why Meckwell Bid Well

It is surprising to me how many players at my club are ignorant of the  continuing success of the partnership of Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell, known to aficionados as ‘Meckwell’. It is something of a mystery to many why there are players, like myself, who haven’t joined the crowd and switched to 2/1 Game Forcing methods. Now I can excuse my persistent deviation by pointing to the recent success of Meckwell, who in November spear-headed the Nickell team that won the Reisinger Trophy.

This has been a banner year for Eric Rodwell who won both events in the Cavendish playing Precision with Geoff Hampson and 3 national events in the recent Boston NABC with regular partner, Jeff Meckstroth, as well as placing second in a pairs event with a third partner. He is the ACBL Player of the Year, just ahead of Meckstroth, a frequent winner and the leading candidate for Player of the Decade. I wonder how much weight will be given in the ACBL Bulletin to the fact that Precision must have played a key role in these successes.

I can remember when, before Meckwell became Meckwell, an article in the Precision Newletter in which they stated that their favorite convention was Precision 2♦ . This bid primarily shows 11-15 HCP with a 4-4-4-1 shape, singleton diamond. It does not come up very often and there is a long list of follow-up bids that must be maintained in the memory banks. Thirty years ago that preference struck me as odd, but today I feel it gives good insight into the approach that has made them so successful. The keys are aggression (opening light, competing vigorously) and discipline (keeping to their agreements). The world now has come to see the advantages of a light opening bid, but they have not yet fully embraced the idea of discipline.

Larry Cohen, who maintains a successful Precision partnership with David Berkowitz, has written that consistency is more important than system in determining success. I can see his point, but consistency is no more than assurance that one’s bids are informative to the highest degree possible within their definition. An informative system will outperform a vague system in the same way that a consistent bidder will outbid one who bids what he feels best fits the current circumstances known only to himself, a ‘master-mind’ in common parlance. As I often advise an erring partner, ‘let the system make the mistakes’ but many continue to try to improve on the results by adjusting their bids as they see fit without informing their partners. The vaguer the system, the more freedom they feel they have to adapt unilaterally to circumstances, a practice which only serves to reduce the information content of their bids. Tight definitions increase information by imprisoning the wayward will, and that is one of the advantages of Precision as it demands partnership cooperation.

Meckwell are not entirely mechanical. Jeff Meckstroth will step out occasionally, if for no other reason than to introduce uncertainty in the minds of the opponents. It doesn’t pay to be entirely predictable in a long match against good opponents, however, partner should always act as if the bid is genuine. This is where discipline comes into play. Here is an example of a disaster that resulted from an undisciplined overcall, during the WMSG in Beijing. One is reminded of the debacle created by the so-called ‘The Best and The Brightest’ when they began a war they couldn’t win.

Dealer: East Vul: EW		North: Rodwell
		♠	QJT6
		♥	T62
		♦	A82
		♣	742
West: Pazur				East:  Zawislak
♠	5			♠	A972
♥	KQ764			♥	3
♦	J95			♦	KT74
♣	KQJ5			♣	AT93
		South: Meckstroth
		♠	K843
		♥	AJ98
		♦	Q63
		♣	86

Losing 500 against a game that was going down in the other room cost 12 IMPs. What did Meckstroth think he was doing? Perhaps he was creating a diversion, or maybe he thought it was Rodwell who had opened a nebulous 1♦ . Rodwell made his normal aggressive raise on 3 small hearts without exploring other possibilities. Once having committed to a contract arrived at using normal procedures, Rodwell did not attempt to correct. Partnership trust must be maintained.

As with the sinking of the Titanic, the result was entirely predictable with hindsight, but it is human nature to plow on regardless always prepared to shed copious tears of regret when the inevitable happens, as it inevitably will. The trick lies in minimizing the long-term damage from our reckless pursuit of short-term gain.

I myself would have jammed on the breaks by bidding 1NT with the North hand, because I don’t like raising on a poor tripleton with 4-3-3-3 shape and no ruffing potential. Meckwell think otherwise. Support with support! The immediate raise is intended to keep the pressure on the opening bidder who is prevented from rebidding in a minor at 2-level. The single raise is both informative and in keeping with the Law of Total Tricks. Partner will know better how to react if the opponents do compete further. Next hand.

Dealer: East Vul: EW		North: Meckstroth
		♠	AT852
		♥	6
		♦	965
		♣	AJT9
West: Berkowitz				East: Cohen
♠	9			♠	KJ76
♥	AJT43			♥	Q5
♦	432			♦	QJ8
♣	7542			♣	K863
		South: Rodwell
		♠	Q43
		♥	K9872
		♦	AKT7
		♣	Q

Another example of partnership discipline shows Meckwell playing in a poor contract that one of them must have felt was wrong. The scoring was BAM, so playing in 2 of a minor with a combined total of 23 HCP doesn’t looks far from promising. Rodwell may have been tempted to raise immediately to 2♠ as he has good support under the restriction of his limited opening bid. However, system requirements are such that he must not raise on just 3-card support, so he bid descriptively in his second suit. Meckstroth must have wanted to correct to 2♠, but he made a disciplined pass, even though there was little hope that Larry Cohen would come to the rescue in clubs.

The result was a disaster. In the other room, ironically Zia, playing unlimited opening bids, felt free to open 1♣ on his aceless 12-count, whereas Cohen, playing limited opening bids, passed. This resulted in Stansby playing the contract in the correct strain, making 170 after the following auction in which the lengths of the major suits were better defined.

So far the reader might consider this the faintest of faint praise and not a very good advertisement for Meckwell methods, but the examples show the restraint they apply which allows them to bid their hands to the full when the appropriate opportunity comes along. Players who are always making adjustments on their own will often fall short in situations when trust is required. Finally, here is an example from the 2008 Reisinger where restraint paid off. Rodwell is our hero.

Dealer: South Vul: NS		North: Meckstroth
		♠	T
		♥	KQT52
		♦	—
		♣	AQJT843
West: Kujarski?				East: Kujawa?
♠	Q965			♠	J732
♥	AJ98			♥	754
♦	AK976			♦	J
♣	—			♣	K9765
		South: Rodwell
		♠	AK84
		♥	6
		♦	QT85432
		♣	2

On misfit hands the side that passes first is the winner. Rodwell had a hand that somewhere in the world is deemed an underbid at 2♦ , but the Precision system wasn’t prepared for the risk. West had a good opening bid and Meckstroth chose to show the 2-suited nature of his hand with a rather heavy unusual 2NT. He must have been surprised and greatly disappointed to end up as declarer in that contract. Minus 200 on good defence was not a hopeful outcome, but all was well as it ended well for the Nickell team. In the other room, NS played in 5♣*, down 800.

The Beautiful Mind    Is there a thin line between insanity and genius? No thinner than between normality and insanity. If one looks at the world objectively, one might observe that even actions that are widely considered to be normal are actually self-destructive and based on false doctrines. A mild example is the current economic crisis based on the proposition that greed is a virtue, not a sin as previously thought. The aspiration at the bridge table as in the stock market is to achieve maximum profit at the expense of gullible victims, the difference being that at the bridge table one needs the cooperation of a capable partner. It is enlightened self-interest to keep partner well-informed so that he or she can make good decisions in the face of the ‘natural’ uncertainty that is part of the game. Huge gambles can pay off in the short term, but in the long term self-indulgent bidding practices set up conditions ripe for disaster.

The beauty of bridge is that it is an exercise in logic and self-discipline. But just look at the results which are spread far beyond the bounds of the ‘natural’ variability that is dealt with the cards. Genius is said to consist of 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. I’m sure as a boy Mozart practiced night and day. At bridge the perspiration comes when one practices bidding with one’s partner. Those who practice and keep to their agreements will do well enough. The inspirational part comes when one plays the hands at the table. Meckwell are often inspired to take better advantage of the lie of the cards than their opponents, but that would count for little if they hadn’t the discipline needed to maintain an informative bidding style.