Down. Doubled. Redoubled

In recent match-ups Atlanta has consistently placed last amongst regional competition. The fundamental problem is that "Team Atlanta" will bid and play only in spades. To be fair, if distribution points necessary to open include a void in spades, TA might open a club but if any spades are found across the table, then spades it is.

It gets worse. Whenever a competitor sees 150 points in spade honors in their hand and they double the inevitable spade contract, TA never "corrects to lower suit" but instead will often re-double. It is as if TA believe they are playing poker where bluffing can be a successful tactic. It is unclear if they even understand the significance of "all the cards have been dealt".

It would be nice to report that TA's card play is far superior to their bidding, but given they have narrowed their opportunities to spade contracts which they have often overbid and consequently are doomed from the outset, it is difficult to assess their skills. How does one measure the merits of down two versus down three? Doubled. Re-doubled.

This is not the first time Team Atlanta has exhibited single suit mania, but in the past, when it was diamonds, the same mania afflicted all teams in the region. This created a level playing field, where all competitors were equally stupid. As it became clear this approach could not long endure all the other teams learned to make the best bid for the cards they were dealt and became quite skilled at bringing those contracts home. TA on the other hand simply switched from diamonds to spades, continuing a process doomed to failure.

Increasingly many of the best competitions are invitational and unless Team Atlanta abandons their spades only strategy they risk becoming so non-competitive that they will be dropped from the list. They must become adept at bidding and winning non-spade contracts and aspire to one day compete in the more lucrative and difficult no-trump bids. Team Atlanta is already far behind their competition and each delay is another step towards unrecoverable failure.