The game of bridge has many kinds of rules. There are the basic rules of the game such as the first to bid is the dealer, or that you must follow suit if you can. There are also rules about the manor in which the game is played. Today's article discusses breaks in tempo in the play.
When the opening lead is made and the dummy is faced, declarer and defenders should take a moment to study the dummy and map strategy. If the declarer calls a card from dummy before third hand is ready, it is perfectly correct for third hand to state he is thinking about the whole hand and take a reasonable amount of time. After four cards have been played to a trick, declarer or defender may leave his card face up while assessing what has happened to that point and adjusting strategy. The ideal
is that every card is played in the same tempo, but that is not always possible. Breaks in tempo provide information to everyone at the table that a problem exists. Players may take inferences from opponents breaks in tempo, at their own risk. Players may not break tempo when playing which could indicate a problem when they don't have a significant problem when it might mislead an opponent.
Breaks in tempo to mislead opponents are known as coffee housing and are serious rules violations. Examples of coffee housing are breaks in tempo with a singleton or only little cards when declarer leads towards a KJ in dummy. If such a break occurs, the director should be called and probably a recorder memo should be filed. Coffee housing may be fine in other games, but it has no place in bridge.