pilowsky

That's an excellent point. Actually, I never use the term 'stupid', Just lack of competence. It's really a discussion for another place (Kenberg's thread on Education in the Water-cooler)

I'm sorry to tell you this, but what you have discovered is that you are a victim of BBO's crafty anti-cheating measure where multiple boards are used in these big tournaments. Most of your apparently stunning results appear to have been in hands that everyone did well in - ?push boards? meaning that there is a ceiling on the percentage that your cohort can obtain. On one board you "under-excelled". It's devastating I know, but on the plus side it was free, you didn't have to pay and it cost you nothing. Already three good things! Also, they did the bidding for you, so that's quite a saving in mental energy too. Seems like a bargain to me. Imagine if it had been a "classic format". Then the robots would have played two of the hands as well.

In addition to my terrible bidding and card play, this happens so commonly to me that I started a little thread for these exemplary hands - feel free to join in.

Hi, welcome to the Forum. Before all the regulars arrive and start shouting, the answer is no. It's just luck. Or it could be that one of you is tired or a better player, or distracted, or some of the other people playing the hands don't play them well skewing the scores or all sorts of things. Strange things do happen on the casual tables - the hands get played about 16 times so after a while the scores should settle. Don't worry, but if it really begins to tick you off just switch seats. At least on BBO you don't even have to get out of your chair, so there's that. While you're at it though could you get me a cup of tea?

Right - that's what I realised when I replayed it on the teaching table. By leading back a trump and forcing the play into West, West has to lead into me. It's clear to me now. Hopefully, I'll start to make that mistake less often in future. You only know what you know... After making a few of these posts - and reading several others, I started categorising my failures as Rank stupidityBidding errorsRub of the greenOthers were luckyGIBPoor Declarer playAsk the expertsand so on I store them in the deal archive and rank them against how everyone else did to see how I'm going and compare that with the type of tournament to estimate the size/quality of the field. Daylong no 1 has >1000 in it but it's divided into groups. It's also best-hand, so it's a bit artificial. Then I replay it on the teaching table at least 10 times or so until I figure it out (with the help of double-dummy at the end) or give up - getting rarer.

I got a well-deserved bottom for this board. My only meagre moral victory is that I got the bidding right. The hand was defended in a daylong yesterday by 23 other players. Three people got the 'optimal' result of 3♥Wx-1, They were equalled by another with 4HW-2 and two with 4HWx-1 all for +100. 15 people managed -140 to --530 with 4 of us not understanding what was going on at all on -630 (speaking only for myself - the others ay have been distracted). Looking back I soon saw my defensive error - I should have played the hand as if I was the Declarer. I should have relaxed and waited for the tricks to come around to me. I opened - what was for me - a normal 1NT. West overcalls with an obvious monster North passes it back. My takeout double is ignored, so I expect the robot to lead Trumps - because they usually do. Instead, it leads ♣2. It shouldn't matter unless you are me or one of the other 19 that failed. Given this success: failure ratio I'm rating this 'intermediate' with me as village idiot on this occasion. So, all-in-all another excellent learning experience! Great value for $0.39. [hv=pc=n&s=skjt5hq7daqj8cat7&w=sahakjt965d9632ck&n=s432h832dk75c9652&e=sq9876h4dt4cqj843&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1n3hppdppp]399|300[/hv] Here is the Traveller As you will see, slight variations in bidding do result in some GIB bamboozling.

You are all absolutely right - I'm totally ashamed of myself. This one was particularly egregious on both sides.

In an astonishing and action-packed array of artistry, the androids avoid annoying me again. The ending is a real joy to watch. Don't try this without medical supervision.

Finally, Trump succeeds in passing a test without cheating.

One interesting peculiarity that I have recently noticed in the prime area is that pretty much everyone who starts a table starts with themselves in the South seat. This has the effect of humans always playing three robots. Unless they bring someone with them. When I foolishly sat myself East a few times my scores deteriorated badly - of course, this could be a complete coincidence, but I'm sticking with South. At least in the prime area.

Thanks - The playbridge site also has the ACBL data. All the hands that I produce - apart from BBO and Step come from here http://www.playbridge.com/

Thank you - in fact, I had made this spreadsheet, but later discovered - that as with most of the great and useful things - it's available from multiple other sources. Playbridge, Wikipedia etc Reconstructing it was helpful though and useful in embedding some of the probabilities.

Zel, I take nothing personally, it's not my style. Look back over what I actually said instead of what people think that they would like me to have said. It's just a little silly. Richard has a habit of making puerile ad hominem attacks on just about anything that moves - it seems to be his style. It's a bit odd but it's his problem, not mine. You seem to take joy in commentating on the qualities of others. Again not my style but if it brings you pleasure go for it. I have absolutely no interest in either you or Richard or other people that seem to want to commentate on me. If you don't find anything of use in my comments or opinions then ignore them - I'm ignoring yours. Perhaps you should think about why you have these rather grandiose ideas about which people may or may not be 'useful and productive'.

Now we have three people engaged in a folie a trois. Along with the infamous troll Hrothgar.

Not forgetting that a photograph of young people on a University campus does not mean that the people in the photograph are students. I used to go to Rock concerts at the university when I was 14. Gownies and Townies? Even regular house Parties get 'crashed'. Who knows anything about this photograph really? Even the word Coventry may just have been added for verisimilitude.

Now I can't tell if you are being childish or delusional. You are saying that not only can you project thoughts into my brain, but also into Gordon's brain. Using invisible technology. There are a lot of people in the world with the surname 'Pilowsky' that care for people who believe that they know what other people think when they don't. Two of them (my father and sister) were world-famous at it. I'm not one of those Pilowsky's, but I do have a medical degree. If you come to Australia I can give you a referral. Or I can recommend someone for you.

Quite a lot of the students that I taught at University did not graduate. It amazed me how they gained entry in the first place. Combine a toxic combination of adolescence, surging hormones, alcohol and whatever other inhibition loosening drugs that are available and it's hardly surprising. Worth remembering that young people are invincible until they get on a motorcycle.

While I was simulating, the thoughts that were going through my mind were: I play with this partner every morning (for the past 6 months or more), and then discuss the hands via video for around 30 minutes afterwards (my partner is in the USA), so we understand each other very well. We also know the opponents well, and the rest of the field. This matters. I bid 2♠ which South overcalls 4♥. South obviously means business. My partner goes to the trouble of bidding 4♠ we have discussed this sort of auction many times so I know that she thinks it is makeable. The continuing bidding suggests that South believes they can make 6♥. The only thought that really crossed my mind was would anyone make the slam if it was available? I bid 6♠. The percentage of deals with 9400 is 0.0011% No wonder government is never ready for 1/100 year catastrophe's that come along every year. The percentage of deals with 14 HCP is 5.693% Here's the full deal. Here's the solution. [hv=pc=n&s=shakqj95432da653c&w=sakt73h8dq942cj76&n=s82ht7djt8caqt983&e=sqj9654h6dk7ck542&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=pp2s4h4spp5h5spp6hdp6sppp]399|300[/hv]

At first, I thought your rather strange way of speaking to me was personal, and I found it rather annoying. Then I saw how you replied to other people on this Forum, and I realised that you seem to have remarkable language skills, but a complete lack of social skills. Kind of fascinating really.

I agree. I think that this is also the basis of the "suckers and losers" paradigm. When some people see how easy it is to win without effort or skill they lose interest in acquiring competency and knowledge. Such people actually believe that hiring someone else to do something for them is exactly the same thing as doing it themselves. Naturally, they quickly become addicted. This addiction like any other addiction is a serious problem. A person can be addicted to anything: alcohol, gambling, cigarettes, television, opiates even Bridge. Surprisingly, opiates are one of the least addictive and least harmful. Addictions, where there is nothing to see or take away, are very difficult to manage. Sometimes the addiction is actually part of normal development - eg love! Dopamine is a great molecule but too much at the wrong time and place can be a really bad thing. Too little isn't so good either. Even addictions where there is something to see can be ferociously difficult to handle. Obesity for example. It's much easier to give up cigarettes than food. After all, you won't die if you stop smoking.

Your call. What does South have? What should (did) I do as East? This hand came up today in the Beginners Intermediate Lounge - my favourite club. My partner set me the difficult task of deciding what to do. Neither of us is a World Champion - although I once won a clothes dryer in a raffle. Neither is anyone else in the tournament, but we are competent. Here are my hand and the bidding at the moment of truth. I simulated for a while at this point. [hv=pc=n&e=sqj9654h6dk7ck542&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=pp2s4h4spp5h5spp6hdp]133|200[/hv]

I had to stop after 10 seconds - chest pain radiating down my left arm

Hi, welcome to the Forum. Anyone can see how many masterpoints you have accumulated just by putting your BBO name into this site. https://www.bridgebase.com/points/index.php There is nothing 'fishy' about it. You can do the same thing in Australia with our masterpoint site. I'm not sure about other countries. 'Friend' is a bit of a loose word these days. On BBO if you both follow each other then when any tournament is completed that you both compete in then at the top you will see a list of your 'friends' - even if you don't socialise much. Even if you are not 'friends', and you think they may have competed you can still look down the list or cmd/ctrl F to see if they did. It's just part of the public record. This is why some people choose to play incognito. Perhaps they are actually famous movie stars and don't want to be bothered! who knows! Let me know if you meet one .

40 minutes into the debate mine was 144 /82 HR 74. I'm on two antihypertensives. I had to turn it off before Trump gave me a stroke.

She has definitely alleged cheating - you don't 'know' anything.