thepossum

Thx Tyler I just learned a different approach to showing two suits but maybe I shouldn't do it after 2C. I keep getting misunderstandings with GiB :)

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|thepossum,~~M35493,~~M35491,~~M35492|md|2SQ8HKQJT983DCAKQ9,SAK3H542DK9872C63,ST97642H6DAT6C752,SJ5HA7DQJ543CJT84|sv|n|rh||ah|Board%2012|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|mb|2C|an|Strong%20two%20club%20--%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%202N|mb|P|mb|2D|an|2D%20bid%20waiting%20--%2011-%20HCP;%2012-%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%202N%20|mb|P|mb|2H|an|Opener%27s%20suit%20--%205+%20!H;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%203H|mb|P|mb|2S|an|4+%20!S;%2011-%20HCP;%205-12%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%203N%20|mb|P|mb|3C|an|4+%20!C;%205+%20!H;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%203N|mb|P|mb|4N|an|Blackwood%20©%20--%204+%20!C;%204+%20!S;%2011-%20HCP;%209-12%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|5N|an|Even%20number%20of%20keycards%20and%20some%20void%20--%204+%20!C;%205+%20!H;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20t|mb|P|mb|6C|an|4+%20!C;%204+%20!S;%2011-%20HCP;%209-12%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|SK|pc|S2|pc|S5|pc|S8|pc|SA|pc|S4|pc|SJ|pc|SQ|pc|DK|pc|DA|pc|D3|pc|H3|pc|C2|pc|C4|pc|CQ|pc|C3|pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|C7|pc|C8|pc|HK|pc|H2|pc|H6|pc|HA|pc|CJ|pc|CK|pc|D9|pc|C5|mc|9|]600|400[/hv] Was mentioning my clubs that bad an idea. How could I escape. Is it me, GiB, the bidding system or something else? I am seriously considering avoiding the 2C bid most of the time and risking being left below game, or using strong pre-empts despite them going against the bid defintions. But I don't think using pre-empts to pre-empt your partner is good bridge practice :)

It's under Play Bridge, Casual, Start table with three robots Alternatively you can start a table and fill the seats with bots PS Sorry for the edits. Trying to write and edit on phones drives me crazy these days. My computer hardware is gettig worse too (eg the keyboard) and certain software interfaces. Don't know what is wrong with the world - seems to be regressing

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|thepossum,~Mwest,~Mnorth,~Meast|md|4SAJHAQ63DKCKQT963,SQT8764HJ975D852C,SK5H84DQJT43CA542,S932HKT2DA976CJ87|sv|b|rh||ah|Board%2010|mb|P|mb|2C|an|Strong%20two%20club%20--%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%202N|mb|P|mb|2D|an|2D%20bid%20waiting%20--%20forcing%20to%202N|mb|P|mb|3C|an|Opener%27s%20suit%20--%205+%20!C;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing|mb|P|mb|3D!|an|Cheaper%20minor%20--%20%20|mb|P|mb|3H|an|5+%20!C;%204+%20!H;%2025+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|6C|an|3+%20!C;%207+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|S7|pc|SK|pc|S2|pc|SJ|pc|C2|pc|C8|pc|CQ|pc|S4|pc|DK|pc|D2|pc|D3|pc|DA|pc|S3|pc|SA|pc|S8|pc|S5|pc|CK|pc|H9|pc|C4|pc|C7|pc|C3|pc|S6|pc|CA|pc|CJ|pc|DQ|pc|D6|pc|H3|pc|D5|pc|DJ|pc|D7|pc|H6|pc|D8|pc|DT|pc|D9|pc|HQ|pc|H7|mc|12|]600|400[/hv] As you can see, ignoring the double negative was the correct approach

ok thx Gordon. I don't think I have ever splintered in that situation before

Possum Sim reckons best chance of defeating the contract is the Ace (a diamond isnt bad). You don't have much chance but I was taught very early in bridge learning that if you are stuck, an Ace isnt the worst thing you can do, and its quite possibly the only chance you have of making it. PS as an aside, possum sim showed second best chance of beating the contract was King of clubs. Not sure who agrees with that one Disclaimer. Possums play in an old fashioned world where they dont care exactly how many tricks you make or lose. Its about making or defeating a contract, thats all

I would listen to those who know more above but to me you are possibly looking to investigate a slam so need to force, without signing off in game prematurely. My choice would possibly be a splinter (EDIT sorry you cant splinter can you in RHO's suit??), a cue or something - if its playing 2/1 I rely often on GiB's notes because some of the bids a re still a mysetery to me. 3 hearts is too weak as is 4 hearts. Maybe spades and then force later. There is the Jacoby 2NT which shows 13+ pts and 4 trumps but I thought it needed a flatter hand, and I don't know if it is on after interference. As I say, mostly I rely on bidding tips from GiB. Just a thought though, what would partner have done if you bid 4H and they had a good opener? EDIT Possum Sim gives estimated average number of tricks 10.45 (SD approx 1), chance of game approximately 86%, chance of better than game 47% so you definitely don't want to stop prematurely :)

Looking for a bit of inside information please Sportsbet has Biden at $1.85 and Trump at $2.00 and shortening. As an outsider I reckon $2 is still reasonable

Thx all. I'm just quite competitive and hoped during the auction for a bit more life from partner, backed up when I saw the scores. It's a tough one to bid but with 10 tricks in North and my encouragement I would have gone for it

[HV=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|thepossum,~~M51028pu,~~M4434920,~~M5194u36|md|3S732HT63DKJT8CK82,S4HQ8754DQ3CQT743,SAKQT865HAK9D96CA,SJ9HJ2DA7542CJ965|sv|e|rh||ah|Board%209|mb|2C|an|Strong%20two%20club%20--%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%202N%20|mb|P|mb|2D|an|2D%20bid%20waiting%20--%20forcing%20to%202N|mb|P|mb|2S|an|Opener%27s%20suit%20--%205+%20!S;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points;%20forcing%20to%203S%20|mb|P|mb|3S|an|3+%20!S;%205+%20total%20points;%20forcing|mb|P|mb|4S|an|5+%20!S;%2019+%20HCP;%2023+%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|HJ|pc|H6|pc|H8|pc|HA|pc|SA|pc|S9|pc|S2|pc|S4|pc|SK|pc|SJ|pc|S3|pc|C3|pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|C8|pc|C7|pc|S5|pc|D2|pc|S7|pc|H7|pc|CK|pc|C4|pc|D6|pc|C9|pc|H3|pc|H4|pc|H9|pc|H2|pc|D9|pc|DA|pc|DT|pc|D3|pc|C5|pc|C2|pc|CT|pc|SQ|pc|ST|pc|D7|pc|HT|pc|CQ|pc|S8|pc|D5|pc|DJ|pc|DQ|pc|S6|pc|D4|pc|DK|pc|HQ|pc|HK|pc|CJ|pc|D8|pc|H5|]600|400[/HV] Maybe its my fault as South not being pushy enough with what I had. I dare GiB to be brave enough to ask some cues. Maybe it cant ask those questions :( Or maybe I needed to do a cue bid in Clubs but I don't know if it was defined in this case Note. My 3S was a force (maybe not forcing enough) rather than jumping straight to 4S. I did consider going on with a Blackwood myself but.... FYI Our opponents at the other tables were Australian and Israeli Bermuda Bowl teams so it was a bit expensive

I'm showing my ignorance that I just had to look up some pictures of the Alhambra 🙂 A small coincidence though, a couple of days ago I had a nice tryout of an Alhambra guitar in one of my favourite local stores

Looks very palatial :)

Hopefully this is relevant. But can I ask. Is it wrong to raise capital by scamming "build the wall" investors. Asking for a friend

Deleted for getting upset over someone whinging about a typo

You could also learn about the game of Bridge, it's rules, history, rubber bridge, the idea of contracts, games, slams, overtricks, penalities etc. You could read about the game you think you are playing

Oh. I should have added. If you think playing guitar well is a skill to mocked it kind of sums up the ignorance of much of the elite we all have to deal with, thinking they are better than everyone else and have some intrinisic merit of their own. For some reason, despite the obvious degradation of a valued and respected institution, everyone in that institution seems to walk around as if they are some superior beings. Well I will tell you something. Some are worthy of that belief but many are not. You may find the most meritorious chose alternative paths - sorry for throwing your own measures back at you And some of have actually been personally and professionally attacked by countless people in this country, people actually of lower merit, some of them from your neck of the woods in the Sydney elites. Maybe its the way you lot roll some of the unprofessional stuff I have dealt with from so-called senior professionals in my life has been disgraceful. So just watch it But I am running another risk, a professional risk being drawn into these kind of fights and having to defend myslef against people. Some of us have codes and ethics. We are at great risk being drawn in. So please, stop doing it. Please do not be one of those people who seems to love tripping people up, twisting good professional people's words/anything to undermine them and cause them professional problems. Over the years I have faced countless disgraceful private and public attakcs from so-called professionals who actually dont know the meaning of it or professsional behaviour. Belief you me I stand up against them publicly every time. It cannot be tolerated Please just dont do it

OK. But its a bit much throwing that lot at someone for enjoying Freebird when he heard it at 12 years old. And I resent any attempt at any association at all. You also seem to have a serious elitism problem with your attitude to the people's music too. Too be honest Pilowsky, it is you to needs to look in the mirror and adjust a very wayward compass indeed. You claimed not to be engaging in vicious ad hominem earlier yet you have doubled down with disgsuting implications. Maybe in your narrow academic cicrlces that doesnt like rock and blues you can get away with that ignorant prejudice. But its time to back off mate. You are ctually being an rrogant and ignorant *** even suggesting that someone likes me has anything to answer or any need to adjust any compass at all. You know nothing about me yet throw the most disgusting implcations. So please back off. But I guess you are used to that kind of disgusting tactic to intimidate good people in your circles. What the hell But I feel into your trap. Fell into being the one on these boards that the trolls love to bait and push their buttons. Well it works because your kind of attacks can never be left undefended. Oh dear look at that disgusting **** having a go at poor Pilowsky. I guess I'm not even permitted to say anything like that these days without yet another accusation thrown at me. You cant win even standing up for yourself. Do you even know who I am. FFS

For some of us we grew up being inspired but good music from all sources. And if you want a good performance from my teens in the UK, you cant do much better than this one I miss good live music shows Oh, and for those who get at all confused what influenced me politcally was the economic, political and racial issues in our country at the time. Not whether somebody likes making political capital from a band with some of the best musicians in the world at the time. My first awareness of music politically was a few years later - thats more age related than anything. Its strange trying to place things in time, when you heard what, and became more interested in music and politics - maybe when the BBC refused to play God Save the Queen/Anarchy in the UK and a curious teenager wonders why? etc PS I enjoyed Mel Brooks movies too. I cant remember the first one I saw, maybe Blazing Saddles

It needed a response. Too ambiguous by far

A rather pathetic attempt at ad hominem but... Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Stick to physiology and be very careful about any assumptions where you are positioned on your normal distribution of merit and intelligence Oh sorry. Don't know why I'm wasting time here. I should be down the road at my local white supremacist meeting.

Something I find very concerning is the view that we are all the same. Ignoring individual attributes, the variance between us all, our experiences, our strnegths, our weaknesses, our goals, our motivations, our backgrounds, our privileges or lack of and suggesting that everyone can learn something in the same way, achieve to the same level, is concerning. There is a tendency by far too many to over simplify so many things and lose the infinite variety of our individualism. And that is dangerous whether it comes from an allegedly progressive standpoint or a highly reactionary one as it has been in the past. Its difficult to actually critique every aspect of your post. I would like to but cant. A few comments. Not everyting is a systems engieering problem and can be modelled in such a way etc I'm not going to chellenge anythinng using your own constructs of comfidence vs competence. However something concerning I have learned over very many years is that many of the tests we have for ability/intellect/other are often used incorrectly and interchangeably by people who hopefully these dys should know better. You could be the most brilliant in the world at somethingn yet be totally/almost incapable of any level of competence in a very important skill. You could be rather stupid at most things yet be capable of the skill(s) that get you on in the world. And I have a fair bit of training in many of the disciplines you touch on in your post, as well as a lifetime experience trying to learn and be the best/close to the best in a number of them etc. However one very alraming thing is if educators have questionnable attitudes towards the brain, towards our individual differnces and aptitudes, who think because somebody cannot learn one particular thing that they are stupid. We all have different abilities - a combination of what we are born with, what we develop, our backgrounds and privileges, what we learn. But we are not all the same just like machines that can all be churned out to the same level in everything. Its dangerous to even suggest or have a very univariate view on ability or intellect. That includes physical and mental differences. They can get in the way of competence in any manner of things. Do you really think you can just force people to get a level of competence So many of our models of everything over so many years have been so simplistic to lose the infinite variety of the individual. So many people and models still work in a very linear way and ignore complexity and non-linearity etc. They may look at things in a very reductionist way etc Too many do not even know/understand/acknowledge those limitations of their models/understandings/approaches - many do but many do not. But in realtion to something I have some training (and some competence, without being regarded by me or my peers an expert), consider the example of many behavioural models which are now (concerningly to me) used by so many disciplines through the use of analytics. Many of those models are based on understanding a very small part of the variance of any predictors. In some disiplines related to people (not machines) people are happy with tiny amounts of explained variance. The thought that a bunch of people, with massive power in our world, may take those models and use them to determine our lives and futures is frankly alarming

:lol:

Thankyou. I must admit I didnt know much about different music of that time, other than what we heard in UK charts etc. Thats a very brutal song

Its a strange thing what I end up watching or find entertaining. When I lived in the US for several months in the 90s it was a combination of cable shows (CNN,PBS, CBS, ABC etc) but I did end up (for some reason) watching a fair bit of Fox - especially some of the more out there commentators. I dont know why - must be the entertainment value if nothing else - but I agree you hear some rather crazy/scary stuff presented to the masses sometimes

It was just an interesting stat and I was trying to provoke a bit of discussion :) I just have Breitbart in my feed for a bit of "light" relief and actually a bit of variety from the tedious monotony of whatever the dominant media culture is these days. I even follow Fox for similar reasons. Having said that the only chance I had to see a fully unedited Trump Covid Taskforce presentation was via Breitbart. It was educational seeig something unedited, uncommented on and unexpurgated etc I am trying to learn more about the Civil War and confederacy. The democrat thing was something I only discovered relative recently. As a non-US citizen its not exactly core to my historical learnings - although I remember an amazing and brutal Civil War series from many years ago. And of course I know a fair bit about the civil rights movement. A little about the war of independence etc I've been to quite a few monuments (in my tour round the USA) and seen a large number of statues no doubt - some of whom were people I would have known from the history books and some maybe not - I tended not to be able to take every experience and tourist site into my brain. But I didn't study history once I chose my electives at high school (in those days we were streamed for science or humanities etc) so never got much beyond the standard fare at the time in the UK (ancient history, Romans, Vikings, Norman conquest up to mix of kings and queens and local history) - we certainly didn't learn much about the colonies, battles for independence etc I don't think the English liked talking about the US Independence Battles for some reason - it took a visit to the USA for people to delight in telling me a lot about it :) I regret not learning history more. I would prefer to learn history backwards and why things happened but they started at the beginning which takes a long time to get interesting. As an aside for a long time (my childhood) all I knew about the issue was the controversy between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynrd over Sweet Home Alabama, I remember the Wallace assassination attempt In Birmingham in the 70s. Most of the other news from/about the USA in the 70s when I was growing up related to Vietnam or the space race and the presidencies (EDIT and Watergate of course) etc Obviously we all knew something of the civil rights movement Martin Luther King, Malcolm X etc (apologies for my edits - I'm piecing together memories from a long time ago). Most of what I knew about slavery would have come from the TV show Roots back in the 70s. During the 70s there was a huge amount of bad stuff going down in the UK (economic issues and race conflict, justice movements etc) and apartheid in South Africa which tended to dominate my consciousness and that of the music of the main political phase of my life in late 70s and early 80s. Sorry I didnt know much more about USA. Oh, we knew something of the Pilgrim Fathers. And I learned something about Harvard from a Harvard scholar at my college (I just looked him up to remember - its good to remember people ometimes -possibly the first American I ever met to chat to much - other than a US exchange student at my high school for a term or two). Oh, how could I forget the 2nd World War. That dominated most of my knowledge about the US for ages - especially through movies (as I said trying to piece together what you knew, when and why other stuff was so lacking). My main personally purchased hisotry book was a Modern History of the World (1500-now) book from the Sorbonne so very dominated by French view of history - a little bit about the New World in early Chapters I am trying to catch up on areas of history I dont know much about (especially those where my country of birth were involved) - which sadly is a great deal :)