Trumpace

Yes, playing a spade to T once trumps prove 3-2 is 100% play. Still, I was expecting there to be some discussion around 1) Play in spades (which people got) 2) Play in trump suit. Once RHO plays 9 on the first trick, which is better? Finesse for the J or drop? 3) If RHO did have the ♠Q, declarer should actually have cashed the ♦K before taking the club finesse. This throws RHO in, and any return then gives declarer the contract. There might be more (for instance declarer could have played for a squeeze instead of playing a ♦ to J) Anyway, I guess the problem was too open ended.

finally17, The point is: if someone asks to reset the score and it bothers you because you think you lose the information how well/badly you played, you are just fooling yourself... If you really want to improve and judge yourself correctly, see how the play went/should have gone (alongwith a player who knows better) and not just look at the score. It is time consuming, but the right thing to do. I would go so far to say that the MBC score is bad enough to be irrelevant. If you are just playing for the sake of playing, being the table host, you are free to refuse to reset the score. Do you really think pointing people to a thread like this when they ask to reset the score will help? What I said might not be exactly on topic, but I think it is relevant. You are free to ignore what I said, but I will state it again: MBC score is not a relevant yardstick and if you rely on that to judge how well you are playing, you are fooling yourself.

Given the first 5 tricks as they went, playing the ♦K was right. Can you tell why?

Rubber Bridge. You (South) are vul (not that it matters) and reach a small slam in Hearts, having shown 5-5 in majors. LHO leads the spade J. You see [hv=d=n&v=n&n=st72hat2daj3cakj9&s=sak863hkq763dk4c8]133|200|Scoring: Rubber Contract 6♥. Lead ♠J[/hv] The play goes as follows ======= ♠J ♠2 ♠4 ♠A ♥K ♥5 ♥2 ♥9 ♥3 ♥8 ♥A ♥4 ♥T ♥J ♥Q ♦2 ♣8 ♣2 ♣J ♣Q ♦5 ♦K ♦6 ♦3 ♦4 ♦7 ♦J ♦8 Claim 12 tricks. ====== How would you have played? As usual Adv+ please refrain from posting too soon.

Why I reset and score and learned to stop worrying about it: 1) Clearing score removes my movie result, but I can always see it \bridge base online\hands\trumpace. I don't need to go online.bridgebase.com for that. I don't even need to be connected to the internet. 2) If I reset score, maybe they won't leave every couple of boards and stay with me for 50 boards. I have 1) anyway to review my results. 3) Don't care if reset request is asked only when we are plus. Why does the IMP score in main bridge club matter anyway? I have reviewed the travellers for many hands and come to the conclusion that the MBC score is not a good yardstick. 4) I don't keep track of IMP score in MBC. Pretty pointless to use that as a judge of how you are playing. 5) It is my table. I am the only one who can reset the score. So if the current score bothers someone so much, why not just reset and get along... Lets play bridge. The score be damned already. :) Seriously though, I just don't understand the importance of the score...

I won't waste anymore of your time. Sorry. Please don't bother trying to explain it to me.

A correct method is one which can be justified by the proper axioms at each step. Just because you got the right answer does not mean there is no hole in your steps. If you are a bridge player you should know this. Just because you make a contract does not mean you took the best play... does it? Not exactly a perfect analogy, but hope you see the point.

You are wrong by saying that the method is wrong, as it can be easily shown to be correct, i.e. to give the correct answer. Sorry, but in mathematics, ends don't justify the means. Getting the right answer does not automatically imply the correctness of the method. You just got lucky, lucky. (Sorry could not resist :) )

Why? Let us only look at factors which are in our hands and have a chance to improve on those...

Yeah I don't get the joke. What's a stack of cyclic groups? That is why it is funny... LOL :( People who talk of Hodge Integrals on blah.. don't need no freaking calculus tutor...

It was reasonable (I think, but others may think different), though I don't see the need of playing the ♣A. Why do you think it was bad? Did partner leave? If so, don't worry too much about it. He probably left because of his own bidding.

To win the Bermuda Bowl, please order the following requirements in order of importance. 1) Slam Bidding 2) Declarer Play 3) Defense 4) Game Bidding 5) Judgement in competition or otherwise. 6) Opening Leads Please feel free to add any other requirement or change existings ones. Also, please give your reasons.

Thanks!

Looks complicated! Run the Q. If Covered, with A and lead the 9, hoping to pin the 8 in case of 4-2 split. If Q loses to K. low to T next. I am pretty sure there will definitely be a better line that this.

I recently came across the book "Morehead on bidding", second printing (1964). I would be grateful if you would please let me know if this book is worth reading.. is it outdated? etc... I apologise if the reviews already exist in the book reviews thread, I could not find it there. Also, if this post needs to part of that thread, moderator, please feel free to move it there. Thanks.

First hand of the table. Agree to "sayc"... You are West and hold 864, AKJ75, 96, K63. East is dealer, both vul. IMPS. With opps silent bidding goes.. 1S - 2H 3C - ? Now what? invite or game or something else?

What needs to be done? Does anyone know? I tried asking a few yellows on BBO but got no response at all :angry: I have sent an email to uday@bridgebase.com, hope this is the right address and hope it didn't go into his junk email folder or something.

I don't agree with this. This advice is alright if this thread was about winning events. This thread is about how to become an expert... and I think for that you need to practise counting etc as dummy to get there.

I apologize in advance if these hands have appeared in a textbook/column before. (As always, Adv/+ please refrain from posting too soon) Plan the play in the following two hands. Contract is 4S in both cases. It is rubber bridge, so please don't worry about overtricks. i) [hv=n=saq92ha32dkj82c73&s=skjt73hkj4da53ct2]133|200|Scoring: Rubber[/hv] West cashes the K and Q of clubs and shifts to a trump to which both follow. What next? ii) [hv=n=saq92ha32dkj82c73&s=skjt73hkj4da53ct2]133|200|Scoring: Rubber[/hv] West cashes the K and Q of clubs and shifts to a trump to which both follow. What next?

Please do run a simulation and show results that match your hypothesis. I've already gone over the mathematics of it. Probability says that 6-3-2-2 occurs more often than 6-3-3-1. So you have indeed chosen to ignore the simulation which I did (see other thread)? I even posted the script used...

Since you are the mathematical type, I suggest you try proving (mathematically, that is) that this config generates exactly the hands you are looking for (and with the same chances). Instead of 13 cards, you can try with a lesser number of cards in a suit and try it out by hand and see if it matches. Probability is a tricky subject and easy to go wrong with "intuition". For instance, I am pretty sure you might have heard of Monty Hall...

Is that true in Money games too (which is probably the main reason for this suggestion, though I am not sure what "partner losing connection" means is partner is GIB). btw, off topic: even in main bridge club etc, you can config BBO so that when you are dummy you see only 2 hands (yours and declarers), which can be a good exercise for counting etc.

And there is a very good reason for that, because if you are not advanced then 80% of people reject you out of hand Would you really want to play with such people? They might not be the nicest ppl, or perhaps are nice people but are really looking for a serious game... If you are not advanced and claim to be, they will likely boot you after a few hands. You will be just wasting your time and also theirs if they are looking for a serious game. Of the 20% who do accept you, I suggest you mark them as friends and try playing with them the next time, rather than lying about your skill and trying to play with players who don't want you there...

I think most people said that if the bid is forcing by partnership agreement (which you claimed it was) then it is alertable! What you asked Rick Beye is totally different. If it can be passed even 0.0000000001% of the time, it is not forcing. No one said that it must be forcing if it is rarely passed. Instead of looking for the truth it seems like you were looking to just reinforce your beliefs. In a way, you are behaving like a result merchant. Your comment about "Columbus" prompted me to respond. You are showing signs of what I described in the other thread.. Instead of looking for the truth you try very hard to look for evidence to reinforce your beliefs. The mail you sent (to ACBL) and the responses you got does not prove anything in support of what you said. Like hrothgar said, that mail was "piss poor". I won't respond to responses to this comment.

Why the difference?