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Psychic bid (also psych) is a bid in contract bridge, grossly misstating the power and/or suit lengths of one's hand, used deliberately to confuse the opponents.
A psychic bid should mislead not only the opponents, but also the partner. So, a partnership utilising occasional psychic bids has to be cautious in ensuring full disclosure - not only of their formally agreed bidding system - but also of their habits. If within a certain partnership and under certain circumstances a misleading bid has been made more often, it is no longer considered a true psychic bid, but rather a partnership's habit. The partnership needs to disclose this information to the opponents.
Sponsoring organizations often impose a number of restrictions on psychic bids. For example, strong opening bids (such as game forcing 2♣) are not allowed to be psyched. In addition, if the partner is perceived to have bid abnormally due to taking account of a psyche, then the score may be adjusted.
Some psychic bids are so common in tournament bridge, that they are often referred to as "mini-psychs". A typical example is the following 1♠ bid on a hand with a fit for partner and spade shortness. For example, many consider the hand with ♠53 ♥Q642 ♦QJ85 ♣1084 to be an "automatic" 1♠ bid after partner opens 1♥ and RHO doubles.
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