So I have never played a single hand (robber?) of Bridge in my life, but my understanding of the basics is as follows:
[ul]
[li]A game of Bridge is played by two pairs of people, called partnerships, playing against each other.[/li][li]These partnerships are not chosen on a per-game basis, but are often long-term, with the same people playing as partners against different opponents over the years. Quite often they will be friends away from the Bridge table as well, or even a romantic couple.[/li][li]Partners can “signal” each other information about what they have in their hand, via the choices they make in playing their initial cards. But there are strict rules governing what kind of signals are allowed; furthermore, your opponents are entitled to know about the signalling agreements you have made with your partner.[/li][li]It is considered unethical and against the rules to signal information by means other than your choice of which cards to play; for example, by winking, or kicking your partner under the table, or holding your cards in a certain way, or adjusting your glasses or anything like that.[/li][/ul]
Is this correct so far?
So my question is: how does this “no secret signalling” rule work in practice? And how would one tell the difference between deliberate signals and unintentional “tells” which neither the “transmitter” nor the “receiver” may be consciously aware of?
From poker tournaments, we know that even professional poker players are apparently so worried about their unconscious “tells” that they feel the need to dress up like the Unabomber to prevent their opponents getting any information from an uncontrolled facial muscle. Surely, if you’ve been playing with the same partner for years, you could hardly avoid noticing after a while that they seem to be holding their cards a little higher than usual when they have a promising hand. Or that after receiving their cards they use a particular method for sorting them from left to right, and this gives you information about what they are holding.
So how does that work? Are players expected to strenuously avoid getting any information from their partner through such “side channels” and could a partnership get disqualified for acting on such information? Or is it just accepted that this will happen and it’s OK as long as you don’t make deliberate agreements about it?
And how much of an impact does this actually have on the outcome of the game in practice?