thepossum

I appreciate that, but it is used extensively, and often in situations where I would challenge the appropriateness of its use. I wasnt talking so much about GiB but the broader aspect of how DD is used to compare and judge hands. Surely in many cases single dummy simulation (using DD perhaps) combined with recommended/understood/widely used behaviours (especially leads, signals etc) would be more suitable. And of course, most important of all, what any sane or practical bidding system can reach I appreciate your point about computational requirements. As I said, I'm very new to thinking about this kind of thing, but just wondering about getting greater reality into simulations. Of course I understand in larger scale operations that DD is all that is feasible (ATM) I had a recent NT hand in a tourney. The scores ranged from 3NT+3 to anything less than that. DD showed the contract as a 1NT hand etc

Hi Something I keep wondering about is the use of DD as the standard or par for assessing a result or play. Surely it's more accurate to compare with an incomplete information model How would best declarer and best defence operate with incomplete information. Or is that how it works. They often seem to show totally unrealistic outcomes and plays Regards P

What kind of tournament. A robot one, or one involving other humans. When the robot has messed up an auction and destroyed a good tournament I have on occasions just withdrawn to save wasting my precious time. Sadly I cant get my BB$ back but at least I don't waste any more time. Occasionally to save time (if I still felt I could do ok) I have conceded all 13 tricks to save wasting time. I have also occasionally tried claiming tricks in an IMP tourney to save time. Do you have problems with any of those actions. Are they robot touneys. Do I have to worry about some sanction for not doing everything accoring to your strict rules over my behaviour? Maybe you are talking about a different situation to me. But seriously if a robot partner has put you in a ridiculous unmakeable slam in a short tournament I am not obliged to play any more. Just because I value my time highly and you do not gives you no rights over me at all. Also I think there are legitimate cases for people to make some kind of protest or make a point after being put in a ridiculous contract. It reminds me, I saw a wonderful silent sit-in protest (refusal) between international teams once, to protest a dodgy bid by opps

I did find a few - as a I said there are many hands :) But, it does seem the most obvious explanation - albeit not real helping me understand my choice of line and any apparent superiority

Hi Here is the link. There were a huge number of hands so I just kept taking a few samples to try and spot what was going on Possum's Traveller One thing I noticed is that I tend to be a very modal player (either the main mode or a second mode) on most hands these days

Thx everyone. I appreciate the explanations. I often find it difficult finding the specific line that led to a trick difference because you can make an error and get the trick given back. When I mentioned the bidding I had already checked enough hands to see that wasn't the issue. Most who gave an extra trick led a minor at trick two but some exited with a trump etc. Just hard to find the specific thing I did right or not wrong or the total random play somewhere

Thx. I still cant work it out. Most of the hands led the same two leads, heart followed by a trump etc I'm still trying to work out how I (and a few) made an extra trick :(

Hi all Recent MPs for some reason this was worth 91% and I have no idea why. What I did right, or didnt do wrong. What other did wrong etc I've put it through a double dummy player, my hand and those who made much less than 91% and I don't get it My first two leads seemed obvious, and as far as I can see my discards after that were obvious etc These things are important to me because after all these years I am still missing something Note. It has nothing to do with my 2D bid. Most people doubled etc [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|thepossum,~Mwest,~Mnorth,~Meast|md|4SJHAK97DAT742CJ86,S9765H2DKQJ83CA92,S3HQT543D965CQ543,SAKQT842HJ86DCKT7|sv|n|rh||ah|Board%202|mb|1S|an|Major%20suit%20opening%20--%205+%20!S;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|2D|an|Two-level%20overcall%20--%205+%20!D;%2010+%20HCP;%2011-18%20total%20points|mb|3D|an|Cue:%20limit%20raise%20or%20better%20--%203+%20!S;%2011+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|4S|an|5+%20!S;%2015-17%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|HK|pc|H2|pc|H3|pc|H8|pc|SJ|pc|S5|pc|S3|pc|SQ|pc|H6|pc|H7|pc|S7|pc|H4|pc|D3|pc|D6|pc|S4|pc|D2|pc|S2|pc|D4|pc|S9|pc|C5|pc|D8|pc|D5|pc|SK|pc|D7|pc|HJ|pc|H9|pc|C2|pc|HQ|pc|C4|pc|C7|pc|CJ|pc|CA|pc|C9|pc|C3|pc|CK|pc|C6|pc|CT|pc|C8|pc|S6|pc|CQ|pc|DK|pc|D9|pc|SA|pc|DT|pc|ST|pc|DA|pc|DJ|pc|HT|pc|S8|pc|HA|pc|DQ|pc|H5|]400|300[[/hv] regards a constantly bemused Possum

Ad hominem is one my favorite (note I now use US spelling) topics. Its become increasingly important and an essential consideration with increasing techno-fascistic tendencies in the world - and the constant use of one form of ad hominem (ie argumenet from authority) to silence debate And, while its obviously acceptable (maybe not desirable) for individuals not to listen to someone they dislike or disagree with, when those in authority have power over platforms, I think we are entitled to ask questions and raise concerns And I am going to go beyond platforms (many commerical, some ossibly now utilities) to the underlying technology of all our communications and who has (increasing) control and concetration over every aspect of the essential technologies we need in this world. They are utilities and need to be viewed as such. What concerns me most is that certain insitituions I use to trust implicityly have started to throw their weight around in a very alarming ay over recent years And what is worse is when those insitituions have become compromised/corrupted through any manner of pressures (commercial etc). It is also concerning when they try to use, and have the power ofprofessional respect/disrespect with which to silence people who know what they are talking about I will go further. When many of our platforms/technologies started up they came from or were under the power or control of people we respected to value freedom. Countries and institutions. Sadly that is no longer the case. Many things have changed during my lifetime I for one am conerned. And yes. Much of it relates to ad hominem But to continue. I may not be a professor in anything at all, but I have seen such total bullsht being argued from authority by so many people over recent years, that I and everyone else has the right (and always did) to raise concerns. Whether the concetration and control of power and technology to silence us if we dare challenge things time will tell. But in my mind the world will go to hell much faster if people are silenced too much Some of us used to feel safe knowing there was somewhere in the world that believed passionately in free speech and had a constitution to back it up, as well as the technology to host it. These days with various authoritarian tendencies, countries/entities, and increasingly (previously free) institutions it is highly concerning I am proud that I was good enough, worked hard enough, sacrified huge parts of my life to study in an institution that had etsablished itself against oppresion of thought and actually was the birthplace or starting point of another movement that spread to the USA to be free from oppression over thought and to continue in that vein through my whole life. Hopefully my trust in those passionate beiefs on freedom is not betrayed. At least in my house we are still relatively free to think and speak (CORRECTION I am relatively free to think and speak my mind). You never know, maybe I will die as the last bastion of free speech and thought. It feels that sometimes But what I see everywhere and through my life has been a terrible betrayal of quality and philosophy in almost every area of our life and the world. Its actually been very frightening from a personal point of view but also from a global point of view. But some of us eventually get to a stage in our lives where we are prepared to risk any sanction and speak out against the perpatual bullshit. If the world goes to hell, what would I care. I spoke up. You cannot go around silencing people, arguing from authority, using more and more controlling means to silence and control the world and still maintain trust. I will also say I find it conderning when anyone on thse pages, who I have grown to trust and respect, especially those in some of those bastions of free thought and speech are talking about deplatforming. Sorry to go ad hom at all Oh and something else, related to political tendencies and oppression. It strange when a group seemingly philosophically embeeded in dialetcic seems so totally incapabale of dealing with alternative points of view they seem to need to silence opposition. But you never know when you are going to be blocked, silenced or just ignored. The brutal cruelty of this world is that instead of being sent to labour camps or gulags or mental insititutions you can just be blokced, ignored or deplatformed and everyone keeps their hands clean But in many ways its every bit as cruel, maybe ore so, because it is silent and hidden and totally controlling in every possible way. But what I fear most is the way all the powerful interests are so concetrated in self-interest the world could truly go to techno-fascistic hell. The privleged in their little bubbles (for a while) and the majority out there screaming in pain Finally, if you want an example of what I am talking about. Its when members of the academe, many members of the media, the majority of the left/progressive tendencies were so intent in arguing against science, silencing aspects of science in relation to the bush fires last ywar. It was an aboslute disgrace that some have been so corrupt. I could have put it doen to dialectiic or debate. But when so-called experts and scientists speak blatant untruths - it is a big worry My personal hell is coming to terms with having wasted a huge part of my life caring about, working for, and trying to do my bit to imporve a world that really wasnt worth it. Back to my whisky

I've noticed that watching declarers too. Some seem to take an age analysing their hand and dummy and the their strategy after the initial lead :) Then they seem to play remarkably quickly, unless of course something unusual happens which requires more simulation (sorry slip of the keyboard - I meant of course thought). Of course it may be much lower tech than a computer and software. Sorry I promised not to re-enter this thread at all But I am going to say something about this issue and what I have read here and on other bridge forums about the issue. Either people are taking the adminsitraors for a ride and joking about stuff, or many people discussing the issue (not here by the way) don't have a clue about anything, especially important things likes statistics and technology DISCLAIMER I apologise if any disrespect is taken by the suggestion that any players of any calibre or worth at all would rely on a simulation or any other method. After all, in my experience technological approaches are based on expert knowledge anyway :)

As a Bridge nobody, occasionally being concerned over slightly exagerrating the strength of my hand, and still grappling with the finer points of the rules, I am curious how routinely opening that hand (no matter how rare) does not consitutute something that should be on a convention card :)

I think, with apologies to Nic Hammond for any misrepresentation of his methods, he would need a very specific (and different) test for my bridge playing. Rather than error rate, it could be trying to detect when I do something right, or consistently right more than once or twice :) EDIT I deleted a later post/dislaimer or statement of interest or in this issue disinterest. My concerns are much broader and belong in the Water Cooler, and relate to serious concerns I have over the intrusion of all things tech and analytic into every area of our lives. I will leave Bridge stuff to those who are seriously interested and impacted by this issue. Apologies for getting too involved

Its fine as far as it goes. I'm just thinking, as always, of potential overreach of any technology

I am assuming that I am irrelevant. But who knows they may be looking for any scalps for our misdemeanours, no matter how trivial and insignificant EDIT - apologies for edits - turned into one of my usual edited rambles

Other above have made parallels (in a different way) to public health and potential voerreach into people's lives. I have serious concerns about how blase some people are in this thread to some of the potential endpoints or consequences of such surveillance Just as an example. They are currently trialing sewage testing for Covid and then testing whole suburbs based on fragments of viral material in sewage. I know others have discussed concerns about checking bridge players for substance use while playing. I'm sure everyone here is smart enough for these issues not to need be spelled out. And I seriously hope in the braoder scheme there aren't any Nazi-types here. Also in trying to catch a few high-level rogues who would be challened and identified and have due process through normal channels, they run the risk of mass sweeps of millions of harmless people who dont always follow tournament level restrictions Are people going to get a midnight knock on the door for psyching a bot or playing under the influence of something Other parallels are the overeach of commercialism into our lives where our faces are scanned as we walk around the streets to bombard us with mood related ads. How far and how specific and how local is this intrusion into every aspect of our private lives going to go before people start asking a few questions. I've been so concerned about the way the world is going these days, I never use my computer unless I have a wall behind me, although who knows what technology they have for seeing through walls. But then again the main surveillance opportunities are out there on a clouds and webservices these days, or our hardware devices. I've been rather suspicious of strange behaviour from my touchpad and keyboard recently - and I have behaved for many years (even decades) assuming every mousclick, key press was being tracked by somebody somewhere :) And without wanting to reference any specific play-surveillance analytics my Bridge is and never has been at a level to maintain a consistent error rate - its different levels of high :) Oh dear, we have found that you were under observation for something else and someone has long distance camera footage of you doing something you shouldnt during an online Bridge match :) I must admit, until recently, I never thought that world Bridge authorities would become an area of concern in relation to privacy, surveillance and intrusion into our lives. I regret ever laying myself open by joining BBO and the ACBL. Looks anxiously out of window at distant high-rise with line of sight

Its a strange thing. When I first started playing Bridge, computers were still at a very basic level. I doubt there was very much close to a Bridge computer/dealer, especially not one widely available to thousands of people. Occasionally during a whole session, maybe a few hours, of rubber bridge I could go through the whole session without even making a bid; sometimes you felt the cards were totally stacked against you Having said that, I am convinced though, that sometimes the hands we get on this site are not random

Just by way of clarification. The above pardon was to right an injustice. Is the pre-emptive pardon being discussed about to pardon an injustice that has not yet occurred or what?

The idea of a pre-emptive pardon is rather amusing. How does that go against not incriminating oneself etc

This kind of sums up the whole of 2020 really. Sadly many of those who use these tactics most are those who should know better. And many do not even seem to understand the extent to which those tactics are used

One thing I've been wondering about, checking out the margins in swing states, is how much the Libertarians influenced the outcome

I can get $2.75 that Twitter will suspend Donald Trump's main/personal/whatever account by the end of the year Serious question though, can anyone advise (in short :) ) any changes in how the WHitehouse and Congress operate consitutionally between election results and inaugurations

I think the three sections (based on thirds) are inclusive. A is everyone, B is bottom 2/3 and C is bottom 1/3 based on points (assuming they are ACBL online points for the ACBL - whatever their status is), or BBO points for BBO tournament sections. Masterpoints are awarded based on section and overall ranking is something else. Not sure on how it works between MPs and IMPs but overall IMP rankings are all compared across the whole tournament - so its very dependent on the section etc

How are the houses looking. I for one will be very anxious if its a clean sweep of all three, especially from some of the tendencies in that side of politics. And the links with all the other powerful interests dominating the world at the moment literally frightens the hell out of me

Who knows what will be written, but from my very limited knowledge of history its either written by those in power or those who weren't involved at all

I know its been discussed higher in the thread but maybe the history books (EDIT sorry dictionaries before I am corrected) will define/partially defne being Trumped as getting people passionately interested and involved in something after many years And I can still get $9