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"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, consider that you may be wrong"

 

Oliver Cromwell to Charles I, in the post-mortem

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Sorry about the length, I couldn't resist. It's amazing how little I had to change. What's really worrisome is how accurate some of it is - without the changes.

 

 

WBFLC Systems Working Group                       M. Farebrother, Editor
Request for Comments: 1925                                           BBO
Category: Informational                                     1 April 2005

                     The Twelve Bidding System Truths

Status of this Memo

  This memo provides information for the Bridge community.  This memo
  does not specify an Bridge standard of any kind.  Distribution of
  this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

  This memo documents the fundamental truths of bidding systems for the
  Bridge community. This memo does not specify a standard, except in
  the sense that all standards must implicitly follow the fundamental
  truths.

Acknowledgements

  The truths described in this memo result from extensive study over an
  extended period of time by many people, some of whom did not intend
  to contribute to this work. The editor merely has collected these
  truths, and would like to thank the systems design community for
  originally illuminating these truths.

1. Introduction

  This Request for Comments (RFC) provides information about the
  fundamental truths underlying all bidding. These truths apply to
  bidding in general, and are not limited to SAYC, the Strong Club,
  or any other subset of the bridge community.

2. The Fundamental Truths


  (1)  It Has To Work.

  (2)  No matter how hard you push and no matter what the priority,
       you can't increase the speed of thought.

       (2a) (corollary). No matter how hard you try, there are only 36
            bidding steps. Trying to use more *might* make for slower
            bidding, but it won't make it happen any quicker.

  (3)  With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is
       not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they
       are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them
       as they fly overhead.

  (4)  Some things in life can never be fully appreciated nor
       understood unless experienced firsthand. Some things in
       bidding can never be fully understood by someone who neither
       builds serious bidding systems nor has an operational
       high-level partnership.

  (5)  It is always possible to aglutenate multiple separate conventions
       into a single complex interdependent system. In most cases
       this is a bad idea.

  (6)  It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by moving
       the problem to a different part of the overall system
       architecture) than it is to solve it.

       (6a) (corollary). It is always possible to add another level of
            transfers.

  (7)  It is always something.

       (7a) (corollary). Good, Fast, Simple: Pick any two (you can't
           have all three).

  (8)  It is more complicated than you think.

  (9)  For all resources, whatever it is, you need more.

      (9a) (corollary) Every system failure always takes longer to
           solve than it seems like it should.

  (10) One size never fits all.

  (11) Every old idea will be proposed again with a different name and
       a different presentation, regardless of whether it works.

       (11a) (corollary). See rule 6a.

  (12) In system design, perfection has been reached not when there
       is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take
       away.

Security Considerations

  This RFC raises no unauthorized information. However, convention
  regulations are subject to the fundamental bidding truths.

References

  The references have been deleted in order to protect the guilty and
  avoid enriching the lawyers.

Apologies to:
  Ross Callon
  Internet Order of Old Farts
  c/o Bay Networks
  3 Federal Street
  Billerica, MA  01821

Author's Address

  Michael Farebrother
  Boilerplate Bidding Organization
  One Club Plaza
  16 Precision Way,
  Las Vegas.

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The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, sometimes called the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle (a title prefered by Niels Bohr), expresses a limitation on accuracy of (nearly) simultaneous measurement of observables such as the shape and the strength of a hand.
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Once in a local club:

 

Player1: You should have taken opps' second diamond trick!

Player2: I couldn't.

Player1: We could have set that 3 NT if you'd only took that trick!

Player2: I couldn't.

Player1: Why didn't you overtake declarer's second diamond card?

Player2: I couldn't - it was the ace of diamonds.

Player1: ...

Player1: ... then you should have used the cardinal of diamonds.

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One of my favourate non-bridge quotes that might be applied to bridge is from Enter The Dragon, 1973, when Bruce Lee quoth

"Don' theeenk. Feeeel!"

 

There are several quotes from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" that not surprisingly translate almost literally to the Bridge sphere. Here is a selection:

 

The Art is a flexible System

 

Much computation brings triumph.

Little computation brings defeat.

How much more so with no computation at all!

 

Those who have made no errors

have arranged for certain triumph:

A triumph over those who are already defeated.

 

Directing is like a tautly drawn crossbow

 

Analysis gives rise to balancing.

Balance gives rise to triumph ...

Such is Positioning.

 

Those skilled in conflict

Who Direct through others,

Seem to travel like a rounded boulder

Down a thousand-meter mountain.

Such is Directing.

 

When either we or others must seize the advantage,

The Situation is Competitive.

 

If we know the opponent is able to confront

And know our team is able to confront,

But do not know Situational Positioning,

We are unable to challenge

Because we are but halfway to triumph.

 

(OK that last one would have been better if for "Situational Positioning" you read "Positional Situations")

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"How many wins must one man(woman) have before we call him(her) an expert?

The answer, my friend, is Blowin' in the Wind. The answer is Blowin' in the Wind"

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The following are all Einstein's:

 

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

 

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

 

Bridge is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.

 

Do not worry about your difficulties in Bridge. I can assure you mine are still greater.

 

No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of HCP's and losers so important a phenomenon as hand evaluation.

 

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no director is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment.

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Some recent quotes from George W Bush:

 

I think that steroids ought to be banned from bridge.

 

We do know that he has no sense of civility about who he squeezes.

 

(first one originally about baseball, second originally about Osama Bin Laden)

 

And we are fighting our opponents, and we will continue to fight our opponents, and we will not stop until we defeat our opponents.

 

Will stop here because I don't want to offend anyone. (Well, perhaps I do, but this is a bridge forum.)

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