What is a cold contract?

[Siegmund]

I'm sure we've hashed this one over in the past, but in the "not bidding 5 over 5" thread, it's come up twice today, and I wanted to revisit it. In that thread, the following comments were made (no offence to either of the posters):

 

If the diamond hook is on this is cold

 

When the ♦K is onside, 5♠ is cold as long as the club honors are split

 

I've seen this usage sporadically for years, and it always gets on my nerves. The way I learned it, a contract on a finesse was, by definition, not cold. A cold contract was a contract that always made, however the opposing cards fell -- as distinct from 'makeable as the cards lie', or a similar phrase, when we saw all 4 hands rather than just considering what was possible given our hands and the auction. Every now and then in a book of bridge problems it would be used to describe the position after the first few tricks - the position of interest at a key moment was given, and again, 'cold' meant making on any lie of the as-yet-unseen cards. Even as a Lawrenceism it wasn't usually used to describe hands where you had already survived a 50-50 finesse.

 

What sez the forum? Are all makeable contracts described as "cold if ..." now?

 

/rant

[matmat]

Note to Inquiry. We need a "Rants" subforum.

[losercover]

Wikipedia definition:A contract that a player cannot fail to make with best play on both sides is cold.

 

My definition: A contract that a player cannot fail to make unless they do something incredibly stupid.

[655321]

The way I learned it

 

We seem to have tracked down the source of your confusion.

 

If we are talking about all 4 hands, i.e. 52 cards, the actual layout, then a contract is cold if it can be made on that layout. If we are talking about 2 hands, then a contract on a finesse is not cold, but it is cold if the finesse is known to be working. Thus, the usages of 'cold' in your quotes are normal and correct.

[nige1]

1. Kibitzer sure-trick (e.g. a 2-way finesse. You can make against any distribution and any defence, if you know how the cards lie.
2. Double-dummy make (you can make against the actual distribution and any defence, if you know how the cards lie)
3. Practical-make (In real-life, normal play succeeds against the actual lie of the cards -- but there is an unlikely double-dummy defence to beat you).
4. Normal-make (If you play according to the odds, you make against the actual lie of the cards and any defence).
5. Sure-trick (If you play correctly, you can make against any distribution and any defence).
6. Rabbit-proof (Any half-reasonable line succeeds, against the actual lie of the cards and any defence).
7. Idiot-proof (No legal line fails against the actual lie of the cards and any defence).

IMO In cases 4-7 the contract is cold. But others would exclude some of them..

[the hog]

A cold contract is a contract that makes on correct play on the given lie of the cards. So if it depends on a finesse and the finesse works, the contract is cold.

[3for3]

Perhaps a better question: Where does the term come from? Why is not a Hot contract?

 

 

 

Danny

[RMB1]

I've seen this usage sporadically for years, and it always gets on my nerves. The way I learned it, a contract on a finesse was, by definition, not cold. A cold contract was a contract that always made, however the opposing cards fell --

Language changes, usage expands to provide useful meanings. Ranting aint going to stop the changes (q.v. L'Académie française). :)

[fromageGB]

I reckon a contract is cold if you don't break into a sweat figuring out how you are going to play it :)

[Hanoi5]

I think a Cold Contract is what we call in Spanish 'tendido'. You can claim it easily. I believe it's a subjective concept.

[Siegmund]

Perhaps a better question: Where does the term come from? Why is not a Hot contract?

 

The only theory I've heard was an analogy between laying your cards out on the table to claim and laying a dead body out for embalming and/or displaying said embalmed body at the funeral. The point at which there's absolutely nothing left to do except move on to the next hand.

 

People who use the term in reference to positions where there are still key plays to be made would probably want a different theory. I freely admit that theory ties in with cold = laydown = claimable-right-now meaning which I appear to be in a minority for holding.

 

If we are talking about all 4 hands, i.e. 52 cards, the actual layout, then a contract is cold if it can be made on that layout. If we are talking about 2 hands, then a contract on a finesse is not cold, but it is cold if the finesse is known to be working.

 

I can see how the meaning could get extended that way. But even when all 4 hands are posted we're usually talking about the situation a single-dummy player was in or would be in, and we already have other words - "makeable" if it can be made on a layout, or "par result" if neither side makes an error, for instance - for describing the result on the actual layout. (Of course we already have a word "laydown" for my use of cold too...heh.)

 

Such an imprecise language we are blessed and cursed with.

[mgoetze]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_deck

[gnasher]

I think it means "making on the actual lie of the cards, by any line which isn't clearly wrong".

 

When I say (as I often seem to have to), "Sorry - I went off in a cold game", I mean that I chose a line that was stupid or inferior, and got the result that I deserved.

Edited December 27, 2010 by gnasher

[barmar]

Note that in matchpoints, "going off in a cold game" doesn't necessarily mean that you played stupidly. Sometimes you have to risk the contract to try for that all-important overtrick. This may be especially true if you think you're in a different contract than the field; if they're in 4S making, and you're in 3NT, you need an overtrick or you're getting a bad board anyway.

[pooltuna]

This must be a language issue as I interpret "cold if..." to simply state the requirements to make the contract with all other conditions being irrelevant.

[McBruce]

I have heard players discuss 3 or 4 different squeeze and endplay possibilities for a hand, discover one that works, and therefore decide that it is cold...

[kenberg]

One often hears "Easy of you know how", "warm for January", "rich by the standards of the community" and so on. I see "Cold on any lead except a spade" or "cold if the hearts split" etc in a similar way. A warm day in January may not be very warm and a contract that is cold on any lead except a spade providing the hearts split, the diamond hook is on, and declarer correctly runs the club spade squeeze may not be very cold.

 

I take your point but it doesn't much bother me except when the implication is that I should therefore have bid the silly slam.

[mycroft]

Here I thought "Rabbit-proof" was a hand that most people playing the normal line would go down in, but if you forget that the HA isn't out and "cash the K", the hand with the A is stepping-stone or ruff-and-sluff squeezed.

[cloa513]

1. Kibitzer sure-trick (e.g. a 2-way finesse. You can make against any distribution and any defence, if you know how the cards lie.
2. Double-dummy make (you can make against the actual distribution and any defence, if you know how the cards lie)
3. Practical-make (In real-life, normal play succeeds against the actual lie of the cards -- but there is an unlikely double-dummy defence to beat you).
4. Normal-make (If you play according to the odds, you make against the actual lie of the cards and any defence).
5. Sure-trick (If you play correctly, you can make against any distribution and any defence).
6. Rabbit-proof (Any half-reasonable line succeeds, against the actual lie of the cards and any defence).
7. Idiot-proof (No legal line fails against the actual lie of the cards and any defence).

IMO In cases 4-7 the contract is cold. But others would exclude some of them..

There is also the case where the bidding (especially where the opponents don't pass) if normal suggests the correct line of play even if nominally unusual like dropping a singleton King or against the odds- Maybe call it the expert case of a cold contract.