GreenMan

Agree with the others, not because I'm a good player, but because I've had plenty of bad boards from changing my mind halfway through instead of picking a strategy and sticking with it. On that principle I see no alternative to Pass.

Will you know your MP score as you go along, barometer-style? I like barometer scoring, but it's rare in F2F games. I'm curious to see if they use it here; I think it would be a first for a district NAP qualifier.

Even if that were true, he's not a moderator so he couldn't control what people read. So why object to anything he says instead of just ignoring it? You keep preaching personal responsibility to others, but you don't seem to want to deal with it yourself.

What business is it of yours what Scarabin thinks? :P If you don't like his posts, you can always stop reading them.

I'm having trouble understanding this position. Are we assuming declarer intends to duck the first round as a safety play, and we want to persuade him to play from the top? That's the only scenario I can come up with, but I may well be missing something. Thanks.

You understand one; you don't understand two.

Well, we don't have to have "life" in our religion discussions and so on. That's not what this site is about, AFAIK. If someone pisses on me and tells me it's raining, I don't think "Wow, what a lively fellow, I must spend more time with him." And if someone goes around starting fights and TPTB are OK with that, then that's a sign I need to leave. We do NOT have to tolerate bad behavior on principle. It's a question of what kind of place TPTB want this to be.

I rarely psych; when I do it's the 3rd-seat short major at favorable kind, and only against stronger opponents. So it doesn't come up very often. Once in a national pairs I got a good board off an expert pair when they ended up in 4OM +1 with 6m ice cold. They just shrugged and moved on. I wouldn't do it against "regular" opps because I figure I'm entitled to at least an average result by normal play, and it doesn't pay to throw the board in the air for no good reason.

And making a show of it, too. That'll teach him! :blink:

You're assuming that no unhealthy group dynamics exist. That's a poor assumption IMHO.

The alert chart says it is a NT overcall. What's your basis for arguing otherwise?

The psychology/sociology of ostracism and so forth is complex and above my pay grade, so who knows what's actually going on.

I double as South any day of the week. Twice on Sundays.

This match seemed to follow the same theme as the couple I've played: We lose more IMPs by underbidding than by overbidding.

It's a signal that people don't know about the Ignore function, or are otherwise incapable of impulse control. Someone Is Wrong On The Internet is a serious problem that afflicts many people who could be living normal lives. Please give to the SIWOTI Foundation today.

You have to follow the line in the Show Solution movie precisely to succeed. A couple of times I've given up trying to solve one of these, looked at the solution, then tried it again and still failed; I realized I was just mis-remembering the correct line and needed to review it again.

I'd have rebid 2♠ as opener, FWIW. I also appreciate the discussion, much food for thought here. I do have one comment: Most other pairs in the room will face the same problem as in the OP, so whatever we do we're likely to have some company. Playing 2♦ on a 4-2 fit is unlikely to be a bottom board. So we should strive to reach the best contract we can, but not feel too anxious if we don't get there.

I'm no expert, but some years ago when I had more time and money to devote to the game I subscribed to BW because I enjoyed the analysis and the challenging problems. (I loved the Swiss Match articles especially.) Were I in a similar situation today I would probably re-subscribe.

Interesting analysis. Thanks.

Good point; we should talk about that. We haven't discussed style much. I just figured that at favorable opposite a passed hand I could take a liberty or two.

RHP, LHP, and CHO. :D

Kickstarter is explicitly for creative projects. ("A project is something with a clear end, like making an album, a film, or a new game. A project will eventually be completed, and something will be produced as a result.") What is the creative element of vugraph, given that it's been in existence for decades? What benefits might contributors receive?

I don't think Kickstarter is the right tool. It's for startup capital, not ongoing operating costs.

Well, if the NS spade honors hadn't been split*, we'd be happy with the result. :) I wonder if anyone would consider the auction at jillybean's table to be forcing over West's 5♦? If it is, then North can pass and pass the buck let partner in on the decision. But it doesn't look clearly forcing to me. How would an experienced partnership approach this question? *and if I played it right -- I need to lead the first spade off the dummy. Dangit.

[hv=pc=n&s=saj3ht2dak74ct986&n=sk854hkj843d2cak3&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p1d2h]266|200[/hv] Not a "what ought I have done" post so much as hoping to discuss approaches to this sort of situation. At one table NS bid over the interference and landed in the fine 3NT. At the other, North passed, South doubled, and NS collected 1400 when declarer (me) slipped a trick in the play. My philosophy is that trying for trap-pass penalties often isn't worth the risk of missing our own game, and thus that responder should bid when he or she has a reasonable action, and opener shouldn't strain to reopen with a double without extra strength. (This is the Kleinman-Straguzzi-Chthonic approach from Human Bridge Errors.) The NS at my table took the opposite approach, obviously. The Chthonic idea is that you pass up an occasional phone number for the sake of greater precision on the hands, presumably more frequent, where defending won't profit. Should this hand make me question my philosophy, or am I just reacting to one bad result? (Should approaches differ for MP and teams?) Thanks.