The stock market was swinging wildly due to global issues. Kingo was a believer in making money by investing and was an avid trader. He was sitting there biting his nails looking at this mobile. He finally spoke his mind, “Have risked a lot of money on some new start-ups. The stocks are swinging wildly. I am not sure if I will come out unscathed or not”.
Kaushik never wasted in comparing any activity in life to Bridge. “It is all about vulnerability – you are in a vulnerable position while we are all not vulnerable as we have invested in low-risk mutual funds balancing it with equity and debt”.
Padma who had good knowledge of the history of the game was quick to state that vulnerability was a late addition to the game. It was not there when the game originated. However, they found that the points given for non-vulnerable doubled contracts was faulty – it used to be (2n-1)*100 and people used to sacrifice all the time at favourable vulnerability. The risk-reward equation was lop-sided. They changed it to (2n-1)*100 for first 3 tricks of contract failure and 300 per trick after the third trick. This balanced the risk-reward ratio.
Kingo wished that they had not changed the laws. If they had not changed the laws, he said he would be sacrificing all the time at favourable vulnerability. Prabha, who had listening intently said that the decision of whether one should bid at 5 level or just take the penalty is a tricky subject. It is trickier when you don’t know which side has the balance of strength.
Kaushik, the bridge expert in the group, said that the slogan “Five level belongs to the opponents” is a nice slogan but not implemented most of the time. It is normally momentum bidding and the momentum carries you and you decide to bid one level more.
There are some people who even try to sacrifice against vulnerability. That is really risky but some people manage to get away with it. They are pushing the odds and it is a very risky proposition. Kingo said that he liked it whenever someone does it and he has done it a couple of times with good results. Ultimately, it is a game and one should play it with the motto “Joh Jeeta Woh Sikander”.
Tailpiece: Goofy wanted to leave fast as it was his dinner time. Whatever be the risk and reward equation, We only look at rewards. Risk has meaning in our dictionary. If we like the reward, we go for it.
