Bridge For Money

[mghatiya]

Hello,

 

So I thought of trying out Bridge for Money. Concept is quite fine in the sense the way it makes sure no cheating is possible, and how if a player is missing then GIB plays for the rest of the deal etc.

 

Of course, one realizes that it is based on luck to a great extent, as you get money as per the points you make in a deal, which is largely depended on how good cards you are dealt with. However I thought that luck should average out over a period of time and in general you should earn if you play better.

 

However I have my concerns about randomness of the deals. In my tenure of around 3 weeks, I have felt the deals are dealt very weirdly. They r not quite random.

I have seen following patterns

1) Opps continuously keep getting games/slams while you just keep defending

2) They get vul games while you get non-vul games

3) When you get game, distribution goes awry

4) You go to 10 cent room and see that things are going fine, and as soon as you move to higher room, suddenly you start getting Yarborough (or closer) and you lose it all

 

I should mention that the thing that I have seen happening fairly is play of GIB. GIB plays equally good for both, and the bidding confusions happen equally between you and GIB and also the opp and GIB.

 

I know what I stated sounds like a cry from a bad player who is trying to make excuses for losing. However I discussed it with few other players and they echo'ed the same thoughts. One person even said that once his bad luck spree continued for 10 days.

 

So point of my this post is

a) to know if there is some logic to the deals.

B ) Or if there is some possible security flaw which someone could compromise to get good hands for them?

c) Or if none of those, then can we put some logic such that on an average a person gets total 20pts hands (including partner) over period of let say 20 deals.

 

I would also appreciate if others could share their experiences as well.

 

Please let me know if my understanding went wrong somewhere.

 

Thanks,

Mukesh

[fred]

To answer your questions:

 

a: The deals are random

b: Not possible

c: If this is even possible, I don't think it is a good idea. It is already the case that luck will even out in the long run and trying to force the issue would open up various cans of worms.

 

It sounds like you may have been unlucky so far. Keep in mind that, in any random process, streaks happen.

 

Also consider this: have any of the other players you have consulted with answered with something like:

 

"Yes. I have noticed that I get more than my fair share of good luck."

 

I am not suggesting that you are necessarily wrong about your own bad luck so far, but if there is a problem that results in some players always having bad luck, it has to be the case that some other players will always have good luck.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[mghatiya]

Thanks for the response Fred.

 

Maybe I was not able to digest the streaks of bad luck because of my lack of exposure to luck based games.

[jdonn]

Out of curiosity, did you actually keep track of your statistics over any reasonable period of time, or did you merely feel unlucky? I bet I know which...

[mghatiya]

Well, if you already know the answer I don't have much left to add. Have I? :)

 

Well of course I didn't run a spreadsheet to keep track of stats, but in general I think money loss does indicate to a great extent. I know it can be because of my sheer bad play, but reasonable amount of bridge that I have played tells me that number of deals where I lost because of my bad play were significantly less compared to otherwise.

 

Anyway I get your point that people only remember where they were unlucky and tend to forget where they had their share of luck.

 

And as Fred has pointed out, one man's bad luck is another's good luck. So universal energy is constant :P

[barmar]

I'm trying to figure out how you think this is happening. The opps are just other players like you, why would BBO discriminate against you, and not them?

[JoAnneM]

I think legitimate questions were asked in the opening post by an interested player who is new to the money bridge game. No where did she suggest "discrimination". Fred gave a nice answer, so I really don't understand the attacks.

[barmar]

He claimed that there was a pattern to the deals that was specifically unfavorable to him. That's discrimination.

 

But now that I've reread the OP, he already mentioned how he thinks it might be happening:

B ) Or if there is some possible security flaw which someone could compromise to get good hands for them?

 

I can understand his frustration. I don't play Money Bridge, but I do play lots of Robot Rewards. And it seems like there are some sessions where everything goes wrong. I keep bidding excellent games and slams, and run into horrible breaks and the opponent bots find their ruff on trick 1 or 2. But a few sessions later, everything will go right, and I'll bid thin games that make and the bots misdefend.

 

The former tend to stick in the mind. Google "confirmation bias".