how old is too old?

[jillybean]

I played in another rookie/master game at the club last night, 30+ tables, a great night, a lot of fun, good bridge and hand records and analysis. :)

 

I got to play with my favorite partner and we had some good boards but a lot of bad ones early on due to me defending with just 13cards and not watching my partner signals – reoccurring theme here.

 

During a break between rounds my partner tells me she has just got a PC set up at home. I thought great, another person to play with. When I suggested she look me up on BBO she said oh no I won’t be doing that until I’m too old” (to play at the club). She’s 80something :)

[gwnn]

In Romania, the appearance of BBO cut club attendances to about half. I guess people here get old quicker <_<

[helene_t]

As a child, I couldn't afford my own computer so I was doomed to play IRL. So I'd say "too old" is 16 or such.

[whereagles]

Boris Schapiro won the European senior pairs at 90.

 

You're never too old.

[brianshark]

That statistic about Romanian bridge club attendances scares me. I would choose face to face over online bridge any day. It's good practice, but no substitute and not as much fun as playing in person, imo.

[mike777]

As a child, I couldn't afford my own computer so I was doomed to play IRL. So I'd say "too old" is 16 or such.

Helene I really sympathize with you. As a child I was not able to afford to buy myself a computer also. Finally one day I had enough money for a slide ruler, but that did not seem to impress my school buddies too much.

 

There is this really neat video game out there called Pong. I love it and hopefully one day can afford my own.

[skjaeran]

Boris Schapiro won the European senior pairs at 90.

 

You're never too old.

I believe Boris was 89... Else agree :D

[whereagles]

Boris Schapiro won the European senior pairs at 90.

 

You're never too old.

I believe Boris was 89... Else agree :D

Well, the daily bulletin said 90. But let's not haggle with this :)

[jillybean]

That statistic about Romanian bridge club attendances scares me. I would choose face to face over online bridge any day. It's good practice, but no substitute and not as much fun as playing in person, imo.

I agree! If I had more free time I would play at the club a lot more than I do now, other commitments prevent me doing that. I find it quite a different game playing live.

 

Its hard to compare the 2, online is not anywhere near as civilized as playing live but it has other benefits, no time constrints, partnership bidding, electronic records, instant replay, unlimited pool of “experts” for advice, Vugraph..and so on.

 

Not to mention being able to just get up and leave a table if you don’t like your cards or the players. :)

[goobers]

I find playing online has a negative effect on my game... I tend to pay a lot less attention and thus not improve as much as I could.

[mike777]

I find playing online has a negative effect on my game... I tend to pay a lot less attention and thus not improve as much as I could.

OTOH hand how often do you play in f2f and have time to improve from only f2f playing? I think for the vast majority of us nonexperts, we have much more time for online than f2f counting drive times but more distractions. B)

[goobers]

I find playing online has a negative effect on my game... I tend to pay a lot less attention and thus not improve as much as I could.

OTOH hand how often do you play in f2f and have time to improve from only f2f playing? I think for the vast majority of us nonexperts, we have much more time for online than f2f counting drive times but more distractions. B)

Yeah, I play f2f very rarely (even more rarely now that work has taking like 12 hours of my day), but when I play f2f, I focus a lot more, because it feels like there's a lot more at stake. You don't want to look stupid, you don't want to let partner down, you paid money... :)

 

I try to pay attention online, but when you realize you can't draw any inferences from your opp's (or even your pard's) carding/bidding, it gets a bit frustrating.

[Gerben42]

Pong is great, and much more fun than all these fancy modern 4D-games! (Does my age show???)

[jchiu]

There is no such thing as "too old". David Treadwell, who recently had his 94th birthday, won the Flight A knockout at the recent Wilmington [Delaware] Regional, playing on a team that also included 17-year old high school student Ethan Kotkin.

 

As for live club games versus online, I find that while it is easier to concentrate at a brick-and-mortar club, the quality of partners and competition I can find online is much better. It also helps those difficult sessions at tournaments. I have played two regionals and the American spring nationals this year, and have outdone my previous results in similar tournaments by a large margin. I attribute this to playing many tough games online.

[redbird97]

Sniff. jillybean, I thought I was your favorite partner... :)

[han]

I find playing online has a negative effect on my game... I tend to pay a lot less attention and thus not improve as much as I could.

I find it interesting that you say this because I think it has had such a positive effect on my game. Studying hand records is much nicer on BBO, and when playing live bridge I rarely get the opportunity to play against players as good as I play against on BBO. Now if only cherdano would learn how to bid.. life would be perfect.

[Guest Jlall]

Now if only cherdano would learn how to bid.. life would be perfect.

gl.

[cherdano]

Now if only cherdano would learn how to bid.. life would be perfect.

gl.

ty.

[han]

57 58 58... you guys are fast!

[helene_t]

I find playing online has a negative effect on my game... I tend to pay a lot less attention and thus not improve as much as I could.

I find it interesting that you say this because I think it has had such a positive effect on my game. Studying hand records is much nicer on BBO, and when playing live bridge I rarely get the opportunity to play against players as good as I play against on BBO. Now if only cherdano would learn how to bid.. life would be perfect.

In principle, BBO is the ideal place to practice for the reasons Han mention. But I, too, find myself paying less attention online than IRL. Especially when playing with some pick-up that I'll never see again.

[Guest Jlall]

Why do you have to play as seriously online as you do in real life for it to be good practice? I don't know anyone who plays that seriously. I know I am always chatting, listening to music, watching TV, surfing the web, and playing poker while playing. The point for me of playing online is seeing hands, gaining experience and seeing different situations which I can think about etc, and keeping my bridge sharper than if I wasn't playing online. I'd say thats good practice.

[jillybean]

That may be true at your level but is it all good practice? I have heard others say it can be bad for your bridge. Playing in Indy’s for example I can believe that I am doing great, bidding correctly and playing well when in fact it is the frightful opposition giving away hands. It is tempting for us beginners to look just at the results and believe we are doing fine.

 

Redbird, I disucss hands and try new bidding methods with my favorite partners. Maybe we could discuss my 1nt openings when you’ve finished in the regional :P good luck.

[Guest Jlall]

That may be true at your level but is it all good practice? I have heard others say it can be bad for your bridge. Playing in Indy’s for example I can believe that I am doing great, bidding correctly and playing well when in fact it is the frightful opposition giving away hands. It is tempting for us beginners to look just at the results and believe we are doing fine.

Yes, I believe that if you play more hands it will be good for your bridge. Practice makes perfect. Sure you may make some errors and not even realize it, but you may also realize an error or have something dawn on you or recognize more "themes" in the play. Practice makes perfect.

[Rossoneri]

There is no such thing as "too old". David Treadwell, who recently had his 94th birthday, won the Flight A knockout at the recent Wilmington [Delaware] Regional, playing on a team that also included 17-year old high school student Ethan Kotkin.

 

As for live club games versus online, I find that while it is easier to concentrate at a brick-and-mortar club, the quality of partners and competition I can find online is much better. It also helps those difficult sessions at tournaments. I have played two regionals and the American spring nationals this year, and have outdone my previous results in similar tournaments by a large margin. I attribute this to playing many tough games online.

Damn! And I thought partnering an 80 year old at a tournament last year (when I was 18) was one of the biggest age gaps already!

[Chamaco]

The "escape" from face to face play vs the growth in internet games started earlier in chess than bridge

 

The first effect on the chess clubs was devastating: chess clubs became close to deserted

 

Every chess player was angry at the internet gaming sites, that were blamed as major responsibles for this phenomenon.

 

After some years though, a strange phenomenon occurred: unknown players started to attend to major tournaments, players that were coming from no well known chess clubs. And they were successful, too ! They had started from the internet and by playing vs computer programs.

 

 

Then I tried to analyze this process, and my personal belief is the following:

for a newcomer, either in chess or bridge, the club is not a friendly environment.

 

Sure, he/she will always find some patzer that wants to play with him/her (although 90% of the times this patzer will criticize most of the plays or bids rather than being friendly and accept the natural mistakes for a beginner)

 

But HARDLY, VERY HARDLY, a beginner will have the opportunity to play with a real expert, or even an intermediate

 

Instead, via internet, they can.

 

So, rather than complain, many intermediate/advanced and experts should start an OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS about their attitude towards weak players, because IMO, quite often THAT is the REAL reason why players are leaving f2f clubs to play online