Hands can be one of the most revealing parts of a bridge player.

It seems obvious in the context of a game that is built around hands with 13 cards, but I was  referring to another type.

Their actual hands.

If you look at someone’s hands, you can usually tell more about their thoughts and daily habits. It’s the real reason why palm reading was considered effective! I’ve also noticed that it can be useful for bridge, too.

Once you know a little more about a partner or opponent, it becomes a different strategy.

Here are some things hands can tell you about a bridge player.

1: Their Career

If it’s the first time you meet another player, their hands can reveal what they spend most of their time doing. Careers show stress injuries, and it’s just a matter of knowing what to look for.

People who write by-hand develop thicker skin where the pen agitates skin (and with long-term careers, eventually bone). Those on desks instead show a resting position that naturally looks for the keys.

If hands are used to do it, hands will show it.

2: Hyper-mobility

If you are hyper-mobile, it’s likely something you discovered by accident. It’s also likely something you discovered when you were younger, and then just ignored (or showed everyone possible) until you became an adult.

Many people imagine that hyper-mobility is simply being more “bendy” than everyone else. It’s a lot more than this.

Conditions like Ehlers-Danlos and Marfan Syndrome have hyper-mobility as a symptom. Research has greatly expanded the scope of these conditions as we know them today, and now we know that hyper-mobility can be far more.

What does it mean for bridge?

If  you see someone display signs of hyper-mobility, tell them to look at the wide scope of connective tissue conditions. They might not know what implications it could have for their health until you do.

3: Confidence (Or The Lack Thereof)

A player’s confidence shows through what they are doing with their hands.

When someone fidgets unnecessarily, they’re showing stress. Crickets do the same thing. So do grasshoppers. If you upset one, they start flicking their bodies and pincers, much like the fidgeting bridge player.

If someone holds their hands too still, then it’s deliberate. They’re trying to hide nerves by not fidgeting, or (for whatever reason) there is a present shake. Don’t judge too soon, sometimes the cause is medical in nature.

Scratching, rubbing, or touching parts of the hand also counts as stress-fidgeting in some cases. Medical causes, like before, can also be the cause when forms of bridge stress are not.

The next time you feel stressed about a bridge game or result, pay a few seconds worth of attention to your own hands. See? What were they doing at the time?

How much attention to you pay to another bridge player’s hands before you imagine how the game is going to proceed from there?