Polling System Preferences

[awm]

I thought I'd get some opinions on what people look for in a system... feel free to suggest other good questions.

[mgoetze]

Most of the answers are ... quite extreme. For instance, I do play inferior methods in several spots to avoid forgets. But I won't avoid them at all costs, if the easier to remember methods are inferior enough and the situation is frequent enough then I will take a calculated risk and put in something that may be forgotten.

[Phil]

A. Make sure we get to the proper level....quickly.

 

B. Forgets are like money falling out of your pockets.

 

C. Could go with 2 or 3.

[nige1]

I thought I'd get some opinions on what people look for in a system... feel free to suggest other good questions.

Good poll but better if voters' names are "public". IMO

• Agree with MGoetze that if you're non-professional and like an artificial method then try to use it wherever you can and ensure that it is as simple and consistent as possible.
• Arriving in the right strain and level, especially when that's a game or slam is important; but modern ultra-aggressive opponents often make this difficult. Doubling them can maximize your practical expectation, although it won't always achieve the best result theoretically possible,
• It's hard to balance useful communication against information leakage. Asking and relay bids can help.

[rbforster]

If you never forget your system, you aren't playing a complex enough one! In practice, I figure I'll probably forget a few things here and there regardless of what I play, so I might as well try to play a better version if that's obvious.

[foobar]

If you never forget your system, you aren't playing a complex enough one! In practice, I figure I'll probably forget a few things here and there regardless of what I play, so I might as well try to play a better version if that's obvious.

+1, though there's something to said about the tradeoffs between memory load and the (subjectively) optimal complex system.

[Phil]

Don't understand the tolerance for system forgets. Anything that's considered fringe isn't providing a lot of benefit over something that isn't getting forgotten so when a board gets blown the methods need to provide several good results just to get back to even.

 

If you're a system slut and you get more enjoyment out of tinkering instead of doing well, then you're not playing bridge.

[Free]

Agree with Phil about the system forgets. When you or partner forget something, it's because your system is too complex! The performance of your system is measured by gains vs losses. Gains purely because of system happen quite rare, so to make up for 1 mistake will need a lot of boards...

[foobar]

Regarding forgets, the operational word here seems to be occasional. IMO, while system forgets might be a function of complexity in a casual partnership, it shouldn't be the sole reason for a serious one to avoid it. Note that this assumes that the system itself isn't downright mnemonically ludicrous.