inquiry Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 ACBL online imp games are a crapshoot...but then so are all online imp games. Huge scores go this way and that. If you don't grab one or two of them (most often because of opponents mistakes), you have no chance to win. ACLB online MP games still rewards good bidding and matchpoint strategy. Now the occassional -1700 at anohter table on a hand where your side has 9 easy tricks in NT, it is just one mp lost rather than a bushel full of potential imps. And if you eek out your overtrick in 3NT versus everyone else making 3NT on the nose, you get all the MP but that one. I can live with that. The problem is most people seem to prefer IMPS. The strategy is easier, and since IMPS randomizes to some degree the results, weaker players have a greater chance to win at imps than mp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 ACBL online imp games are a crapshoot...but then so are all online imp games. Huge scores go this way and that. If you don't grab one or two of them (most often because of opponents mistakes), you have no chance to win. ACLB online MP games still rewards good bidding and matchpoint strategy. Now the occassional -1700 at anohter table on a hand where your side has 9 easy tricks in NT, it is just one mp lost rather than a bushel full of potential imps. And if you eek out your overtrick in 3NT versus everyone else making 3NT on the nose, you get all the MP but that one. I can live with that. The problem is most people seem to prefer IMPS. The strategy is easier, and since IMPS randomizes to some degree the results, weaker players have a greater chance to win at imps than mp. Perhaps, but I am not convinced. I play in both mp and in imp acbl games. Let's say that for each game I receive a score of x percentile. ie x percent of the players finished at or above my score, 100-x percent finished below. I have never checked it, but I believe my sample standard deviation is considerably higher in the mp game than it is in the imp game. This would seem to be some sort of indication of which form of scoring is the greater crapshoot. Or it may just be that some styles are more suitable for imps, some for mps. Of course you should vary your style to suit the scoring, and we all try to, but most of us probably have a preferred style. Recently I got 40% or so on a board because I just couldn't bring myself to risk my contract for the overtrick. Some other declarers were handed the overtrick on a platter. Also, we forget. The other day I played in 7S making, after which partner apologized for not placing it in 7NT which also makes. I pointed out that the scoring was imps. Anyway, imp or mp, flighted would be nice. As others have suggested, if you let people play up but not down, it would probably draw plenty of people. The idea is not to ban anyone who wants to enter an open game but rather to give him options that probably several players would happily choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 Well, ken, what I am talking about here is how the intermediate and below players do. It is my belief that a bad player has a better chance to win in an imp game than in a matchpoint game. Let me try to explain it another way. In matchpoints, all 12 hands count the same. Say you are the worlds worst player, but you play 4 boards against people who self-destruct. IF those four boards were four vul game/slam swings, that 48 imps plus might be enough to allow the worlds worse player to win, if the other bids are part-score battles or easy games for everyone. If they lose 20 imps on the other 8 boards, they still are in the running with +28 imps, which on a good day might win. However, four tops (100%) and 8 random where he plays in the bottom half of the field (lets argue averaging 30%), his final score will be 53%. I am not sure if this example gets across what I am trying to say, but the that is the principle. Usually, a few boards will decide the winner of an imp event, while consistant play is needed for matchpoints (yes, even in a weak field). So while the games are both random in many ways, for tournaments, the limited number of hands that have to go in your favor for you to win (or lose) makes all the difference. It is hard to win a short imp tournament if the opponents bid two makable slams against you, while at mp that is not the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keylime Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 Vote me in for team games Beaner - Larry and I would love to do that. I agree with Ken; the set games are looking real appealing right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 Say you are the worlds worst player, but you play 4 boards against people who self-destruct. Yes, that has been said at times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbleighton Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 "The problem is most people seem to prefer IMPS." Is this really so? IMPs is the default for table setup. If it was MPs, I bet we'd see mostly MP tables. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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