pilowsky

FWIW 'psychopathy' and its cousin 'sociopathy' aren't mental illnesses. For something to be considered a mental illness it must - in addition to meeting a variety of agreed criteria (and there's another big argument) - also be 'treatable'. Basically, you don't get admitted into the medical care system for something the medic can't treat. Watch some of the Darrell Brooks case for an extreme example of an untreatable constellation of personality traits. Many people have traits that when taken together might lead to them being labelled a psychopath or sociopath, just as others may be labelled empathetic, or kind. These are simply the elements that form what is termed a 'personality'.

It's remarkable that a country that prides itself on its commitment to 'rule of law' and 'democracy' produced such a lacklustre response to a coup attempt. Only now, two years later, has an actual criminal investigation been started where as one commentator stated "they're working on determining Trump's 'state of mind at the time'" (of the coup attempt). FFS, his 'state of mind'? Don't a person's actions mean anything? Two years! It only took a year to make a novel vaccine.

In Australia the term is widely used. A 'punter' is any people that gambles. Of course, if it doesn't pay off you're considered to be a bit of 'drop-kick'.

Ah - as in punt the ball (kick it before it hits the ground) - or kick the can down the road?

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=ZZ%7C%7Cpn%7Cpilowsky%2CRobot%2CRobot%2CRobot%7Cst%7C%7Cmd%7C1SA97HKQ3DK863CA54%2CSJ52H85DJ52CKQ632%2CSKQHAJT96DAT94CJT%2CST8643H742DQ7C987%7Csv%7CE%7Cah%7CBoard%203%7Cmb%7C1D%7Can%7C4%2B%21D%3B%20HCP%2011-23%3B%204-card%20%21D%20opener%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C1H%7Can%7C4%2B%21H%3B%20HCP%204%2B%3B%20natural%20-%20Forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C1N%7Can%7C2%2B%21C%3B%204-5%21D%3B%202-3%21H%3B%202-4%21S%3B%20HCP%2015-17%3B%20balanced%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C2C%21%7Can%7C4%2B%21H%3B%20HCP%207%2B%3B%20relay%20-%20Forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C2H%21%7Can%7C2-4%21C%3B%204-5%21D%3B%203%21H%3B%202-4%21S%3B%20HCP%2015-17%3B%20exactly%203%21H%20-%20Non%20forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C5H%7Can%7C5%2B%21H%3B%20HCP%207%2B%3B%20natural%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CHK%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CDK%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CCK%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CCJ%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cmc%7C12%7C]400|300| Learning Acol is fun. Can someone help explain 5♥ in this auction?[/hv]

Associating your own mental state with success or failure at the Bridge table (or anything else in life) is something that we are trained to do from an early age. The association of reward and performance is pervasive in many societies. It isn't necessary to 'win' to enjoy what you're doing, but it is necessary to fail in order to gain enjoyment from the experience of winning. There is a psychological defence mechanism called "external locus of control" that is extremely common in Bridge. With this mechanism our personal failures are always characterised as the fault of someone else or some other outside force over which we have no control. "...my partner played badly..." "...I was dealt very poor hands..." "... the dealing machine is biased..." etc etc. Nobody likes to believe that a bad result is because their own skill level is below their expectations. Have you ever noticed that when the teacher plays in the beginner classes the pair with the teacher almost always wins? Even the very best athletes tend to have coaches because this psychological tendency to not see our own flaws and to instead believe they are caused by outside factors is pervasive. Bridge - like all team sports - attempts to simulate that element of humanity that requires us to get on with each other in order to succeed. Even a team where all the individuals are skilled will be less successful than another team where the individual skill level is much lower but the team members understand each other. Anyway, the short answer to your question is that if you are looking to Bridge for affirmation of your personal worth, forget it. The life lesson that Bridge - and all other games teaches you - is humility. Aim for improvement not 100%.

Close - I was wrong - here's the link 1S-1NT-2NT-3D!-3H-4H 6 people in this contract - 86.4% 13 in 6H(N or S) - 34.21% and oddly 1 in 5H-1 for 34.21%

So the critical point is that 1NT is an ironical opening: saying what you aren't.

The golden brown drummer - maybe one of the best songs ever.

6♥-1 was the modal result by far. The 'winning' auction seemed to be 1♠-1NT-2♦(transfer)-2♥-4♥ I'm guessing that any upgraders or downgraders might have reached 4♥ via a Texas transfer, but this came from the DL1 so it's hard to be sure.

Useful to know. Hence my second point, to avoid the 20% of fails, and assuming I'm playing 'sensible' GIB 2/1, is 2♠ the correct rebid here? And for that matter how about IRL?

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,pilowsky,~~v3fakebot|md|1SAQ872HKQJDQ52CA3,SKJT6H8DJ94C96542,S54HAT97652DKT3CJ,S93H43DA876CKQT87|sv|b|rh||ah|Board%207|mb|1S|an|Major%20suit%20opening%20--%205+%20!S;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|1N|an|Forcing%20one%20notrump%20--%203-%20!S;%206+%20HCP;%2012-%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|3N|an|Game%20in%20notrump%20--%202-4%20!C;%202-4%20!D;%202-4%20!H;%205%20!S;%2019-21%20HCP;%2022-%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|6H|an|6+%20!H;%203-%20!S;%2011+%20HCP;%2012%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|CK|pc|CA|pc|C2|pc|CJ|pc|HK|pc|H8|pc|H2|pc|H4|pc|HQ|pc|D4|pc|H5|pc|H3|pc|C3|pc|C4|pc|H6|pc|C8|pc|S5|pc|S3|pc|SQ|pc|SK|pc|DJ|pc|DK|pc|DA|pc|D2|pc|D6|pc|DQ|pc|D9|pc|D3|mc|11|]400|300| GIB appears to have acquired some bad habits from Argine. I'm guessing this is the reason why my rebid here is 2♠ with 5332?[/hv]

What, if any, features are at the core of 'Acol'. Is it possible to state say ~three elements that would cause someone to say "Ah, you play Acol"?

Jack Lang a former Premier of the state in which I live (NSW) once said "In the race of life, always back self-interest; at least you know it's trying." Sometimes it can be a matter of self-interest to help others. This idea of helping others because it will benefit yourself is at the heart of what is known as the social contract. Biologically, the concept of benefiting yourself by helping others expresses itself as altruism, empathy, sympathy, humour and other highly synthesised emotions. People that lack highly synthesised emotions appear to have no clue at all why helping anyone else is worthwhile. Sometimes they take it a step further and work to destroy anyone preventing them having what they want at any particular moment. Sound familiar? Here's a list of "signs of psychopathy": behavior that conflicts with social norms.disregarding or violating the rights of others.inability to distinguish between right and wrong.difficulty with showing remorse or empathy.tendency to lie often.manipulating and hurting others.recurring problems with the law. Ref.

Warnock wins.

I know it's possible to load hands onto a bidding table to see what GIB (but not Argine) would do, but is it possible to include a robot vs robot in the traveller of tournaments so we can see (and occasionally be amused by) how the robots would handle the hand?

Outstanding slam bidding by Argine. Very impressed with the way it carefully assesses keycards before determining the optimal contract. I wasn't alone 48 players in 6D-1 or 6S-1. [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=ZZ%7C%7Cpn%7Cpilowsky%2CRobot%2CRobot%2CRobot%7Cst%7C%7Cmd%7C4SAKQT843HA9DCAKJ9%2CSJ92HQ8DKT92CQT76%2CSHJ6DAQJ86543C832%2CS765HKT75432D7C54%7Csv%7CN%7Cah%7CBoard%202%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C2C%7Can%7CHCP%2018%2B%3B%20forcing%20to%20game%20-%20Game%20forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C3D%7Can%7C6%2B%21D%3B%20HCP%208%2B%3B%20natural%20-%20Forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C3S%7Can%7C5%2B%21S%3B%20HCP%2018%2B%3B%20natural%20-%20Forcing%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C6D%7Can%7C7%2B%21D%3B%20HCP%208%2B%3B%20to%20play%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CCK%7Cpc%7CC6%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CD7%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CDK%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cmc%7C11%7C]400|300|[/hv] A few craftier souls cottoned on to the better approach: [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?bbo=y&lin=pn%7CSouth%2CRobot%2CRobot%2CRobot%7Cst%7C%7Cmd%7C4SAKQT843HA9DCAKJ9%2CSJ92HQ8DKT92CQT76%2CSHJ6DAQJ86543C832%2CS765HKT75432D7C54%7Csv%7CN%7Cah%7CBoard%202%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C1S%7Can%7C4%2B%21S%3B%20HCP%2011-20%3B%20natural%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C1N%7Can%7CHCP%206-9%3B%20balanced%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7C6S%7Can%7C7%2B%21S%3B%20HCP%2011-20%3B%20to%20play%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cmb%7CP%7Cpc%7CC7%7Cpc%7CC8%7Cpc%7CC5%7Cpc%7CC9%7Cpc%7CSA%7Cpc%7CS2%7Cpc%7CH6%7Cpc%7CS5%7Cpc%7CSK%7Cpc%7CS9%7Cpc%7CC2%7Cpc%7CS6%7Cpc%7CSQ%7Cpc%7CSJ%7Cpc%7CD3%7Cpc%7CS7%7Cpc%7CST%7Cpc%7CH8%7Cpc%7CD4%7Cpc%7CH2%7Cpc%7CS8%7Cpc%7CDT%7Cpc%7CD5%7Cpc%7CH3%7Cpc%7CS4%7Cpc%7CC6%7Cpc%7CD6%7Cpc%7CH4%7Cpc%7CS3%7Cpc%7CCT%7Cpc%7CD8%7Cpc%7CH5%7Cpc%7CCA%7Cpc%7CCQ%7Cpc%7CC3%7Cpc%7CC4%7Cpc%7CCK%7Cpc%7CHQ%7Cpc%7CDJ%7Cpc%7CH7%7Cpc%7CCJ%7Cpc%7CD2%7Cpc%7CDQ%7Cpc%7CHT%7Cpc%7CHA%7Cpc%7CD9%7Cpc%7CHJ%7Cpc%7CHK%7Cpc%7CH9%7Cpc%7CDK%7Cpc%7CDA%7Cpc%7CD7%7C]400|300|[/hv]

You get what you pay for.

Having never played Acol before I've been finding this daylong an interesting learning experience. Many things puzzle me but the biggest one concerns the opening bid. Playing 4 card majors and a 1NT range of 12-14, how do you decide when to open a balanced - or semi-balanced hand - 1X or 1NT? As in 12-14 - 4333 or 4342 - 1S or 1NT?

A doctor who is annoyed by a patient expressing a reasonable anxiety because of some information they have heard might want to consider a different career.

It's an interesting point. Of course every generation looks at the present through the lens of their past. So I try to temper my occasional discomfort with current social norms by remembering my teenage contempt for the way that "the grown-ups" were stuffing everything up.

Wait till friday?

Should there be an opening lead somewhere here?

The idea of 10,000 Rand Paul's is a little disturbing.

Amazing - !