Passing throughout

[jallerton]

I played in a 24 board match last night, split into two stanzas.

 

In the second stanza, my partner had a series of poor hands and mine were even worse: so much so that I passed throughout on all twelve deals!

 

Can anyone recall matching or bettering this 'feat'?

[Cyberyeti]

John Hobson and Andrew Dyson unveiled their "pass throughout" system at the Cambridge UBC in the mid 80s. I believe they scored around 60%.

[ahydra]

I recall having a streak of 50+ hands no better than 14 HCP at one club. Still, at least I got to bid on some of them though - for you not to have even been able to overcall the hands must have been pretty awful :-(

 

ahydra

[helene_t]

Switch to a strong pass system next time.

[Finch]

...at the other table, the player with your cards bid on 5 of the 12 hands of the second stanza.

[jallerton]

...at the other table, the player with your cards bid on 5 of the 12 hands of the second stanza.

 

Yes, on three deals he opened, vulnerable, on balanced hands with respective K&Rs of 10.05, 9.95 and 10.25. On the 4th deal his partner made a 4-card overcall which hit him with 5-card support, albeit in a weak hand. His 5th action was an unwise protection when his opponents had stopped in a part score, and he even got to declare. Given that he went for -1100, I'm happy with my decision to pass on that deal too.

[jallerton]

I recall having a streak of 50+ hands no better than 14 HCP at one club. Still, at least I got to bid on some of them though - for you not to have even been able to overcall the hands must have been pretty awful :-(

 

ahydra

 

This set me wondering what percentage of hands a player would normally act on. Clearly, this will depend to some extent on opening bid and overcalling style (including partner's style: the more (non pre-emptive) actions partner takes, the more likely we will get into the auction on weaker hands).

 

Even if I only act on only 50% of hands, passing throughout for the whole stanza was a 1 in 4,096 shot. It suspect that I would act on more than 50% of hands though: our side declares approx. 50% of hands; it feels like there are probably more times that I act during the auction but end up defending than there are hands where partner declares the hand through solo bidding/hands which are passed out.