babushkka

nevermind

I was playing in a team match once where one of the opps psyched about 5 of the 8 hands. But somehow he kept winning IMPs every hand. Ridiculous stuff like opening 1nt with a 3 count and 6 clubs in 1st seat. Sure enough when my partner and I reach 4h, and his partner doubles, he now pulls to 5cx and gets rewarded with 5 clubs in the dummy. I didn't mind him psyching early on, but when he continued to psyche the final few hands when he was well ahead I was way pissed. Then he apologized to his teammates for dropping an IMP on one board. Only time I completely outraged on BBO...

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=sq974haq865dck874&w=st653htdakj42cjt3&e=sakj82h74dt98c952&s=shkj932dq7653caq6]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] My partner was someone whom I had never played with before. I was sitting south and bid 1H. The auction progresses Pass 1H Pass 4D 4S 4NT 5S 6H P P 6S (!) 7H(!!) Pass Pass Pass Auction leaves a bit to be deserved, but it was clearly a junior match. They both did well not to double, but there was a lot of cursing by LHO after the lead of Ad. After ruffing 4 diamonds and not having the Kd drop I had to resort to hoping for a 3-3 club split, and when that worked the slam came home. As cool as it is to bid a making grand on 23 HCP, I think what happened at the other table was even cooler. Bidding P-1D-1H(!!!) X 2H X 2S 4H 4S P P X P P P Minimeck was the one who psyched 1H. Not sure why he did, but it couldn't of possibly worked better. There are 4 tricks to be taken off the top, but a heart was led and returned. After finessing spades, then diamonds, they came up with 11 tricks. 4Sx+1=+690 7H= +2210 +2900 was good for 21 IMPs. Most IMPs I have ever got in one hand.

Big time lurker

Some people take a long time in poker. Just a little editing and no one knows.

and others of us lurk here :) The big problem as far I see it is perception Chess is seen as the most complex game there is. Poker is given a lot of tv time which makes kids love it. While bridge is seen as the old peoples game. The complexities of bridge are just too hard to grasp when you first start. To the untrained eye it just looks like a small step up complexity wise from Spades. But what a difference the bidding and a dummy make. The real moment I really began to fall in love with bridge is when I realized it was possible to bluff in the play, defense, and bidding. In poker you learn to bluff immediately. But in bridge it takes a long time before you can learn to pull a bluff. I've thought about what the answer could be, but I don't think there is a simple answer. I don't see bridge dying, but I don't really see it growing either. I think it might be interesting if there was a learn to play bridge software for juniors that taught some more unusual tactics that juniors like. Learning to play bridge in school would be helpful, but that doesn't seem to happen often. It seems to me a lot of young bridge players start out because their parents taught them. Maybe the best stance ACBL can take is encouragin parents to teach their children to play.

So yeah, I happened to be sitting at the next table over while all of this occurred. So as far as I can tell, west thinks you all playing precision is unethical? Thus ends up complaining about all of your bids? It might be fun to make some absurd psyche against her sometime if I feel like it. But yeah, her behavior was way out of line, especially since she kept complaining after the game. The most remarkable thing about her whole outburst was that she finished second place, and by a good margin. So it wasn't like she had a bad game, or that board decided if she finished 1st or 2nd. Attitudes like hers holds bridge back a lot. Next time know the club is on your side on this matter, and don't respond to her.

5♣ telling partner to lead clubs. But you should only bid this unless you are 100% sure that is what partner will take it as. If your partner misunderstands you there is no telling what might happen... :D :lol: