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the luck needed

Posted By: Keene
Date: Monday, 16 March 2009, at 5:37 p.m.

In Response To: the luck needed (garyo)

I cannot say for certain if this is true for US bridge tournaments, but the ones I attended in the UK had predealt hands all the time. Now, typically, there is going to be a contract that reaps the highest reward on a per hand basis. It doesnt matter who you play it against, the best play versus the best defense will always yield x number of tricks. I always assumed that provided I can hit that x, or better, I will always succeed. Also during the bidding, it is often easy to figure out what the winning contract should be, and during play, it is easy to see what you are going to need to get a top out of it.

Of course, there will be anomalies, and you expect that. In say a normal 2H +2 contract, there are bound to be some idiots that bid the game when they shouldnt (sometimes, you are that idiot lol), and will get most imps for it too - but those same idiots will also be going off in slams when they shouldnt, and will be getting penalized more frequently for overbidding. Your general goal is to be scoring at least average on every hand. From there it is down to skill on how to get the overtricks that gain you the most reward, your doubling techniques, and how to capitalize against the weakest players. Sometimes your best defense is your opponents poor offense.

I am noticing that I am starting to digress into tournament play strategy. My point still remains though, it is not unlucky to play the toughest hands against the toughest opponents when you know that it is possible to gain a certain score regardless of defense. In many ways, it is lucky to play the 'big hands' versus the 'big players', this gives you an opportunity to both ensure that they are not benefitting from playing these toughies versus weak opponents, and to ensure you achieve your goal of achieving at least average scoring (which means the same for your opps) per hand.

My viewpoint is perhaps a little skewed, I was used to being in the top third of a playing field, so my strategies were always geared to winning tournaments, not just placing. I still disagree about the luck though.

Messages In This Thread

• other than Kit ---
  garyo -- Thursday, 12 March 2009, at 4:13 a.m.
  • other than Kit ---
    neilkaz -- Thursday, 12 March 2009, at 4:46 a.m.
    • other than Kit ---
      garyo -- Thursday, 12 March 2009, at 6:15 p.m.
      • other than Kit ---
        Keene -- Friday, 13 March 2009, at 4:08 p.m.
        • the luck needed
          garyo -- Sunday, 15 March 2009, at 5:50 a.m.
          • the luck needed
            Keene -- Monday, 16 March 2009, at 5:37 p.m.
            • the luck needed
              garyo -- Tuesday, 17 March 2009, at 5:18 a.m.
              • the luck needed
                Keene -- Tuesday, 17 March 2009, at 4:27 p.m.
                • the luck needed
                  garyo -- Wednesday, 18 March 2009, at 4:01 p.m.
  • other than Kit ---
    Stick -- Thursday, 12 March 2009, at 11:45 a.m.
    • other than Kit ---
      Barry Silliman -- Thursday, 12 March 2009, at 12:45 p.m.
      • other than Kit ---
        Stick -- Thursday, 12 March 2009, at 12:50 p.m.