psych

Well, times have changed, and yet still things stay the same. More or less, anyway. At the moment, my health is good. I finally shook off the last effects of the near-fatal illness that hit back in 2011. But now my wife is not so well, so we still spend too much time worrying about doctors and insurance and money. The Manhattan Bridge Club closed its doors a couple of months back, and we nearly all moved to Honors, including the management team. So Honors now runs close to capacity on weekday afternoons, and has a healthy set of games in the evenings too. Despite feeling a little sense of loss for the MBC name, we are actually better placed for bridge now than we have been for some time. So perhaps I should start blogging again. But I don't have the enthusiasm for it that I had five years ago. So I think I shall content myself with the occasional interesting hand. I'll start with a classic.


 I talk about psychs on a regular basis, but I haven't actually done one like this in a very long time, years I think. There's nothing original going on here, of course. Third in hand with 2 hcp and a partner who will open all 12-counts, I know the enemy has a game at least. I don't like being vulnerable, but we weren't having that great a game, so stirring the pot seemed justified. And opening the 3-card suit is the traditional approach: you are trying to pick off the enemy suit while reducing the risk of partner raising. I don't play Drury with Agent 99, so a raise would be dangerous. Everything worked according to plan. North had a nice hand, but with us bidding her suits, she decided to keep quiet. If I had opened a spade, Agent 99 would certainly have raised to 3S or 4S, but the 1H opening fetched a 1S response. She actually managed to escape for 2 down when South flew up with the AD on a diamond lead from hand. Perfect.

One month in

So, I was thinking that after a month, I would be able to gauge my progress with respect to the master points, and I probably would have at least a few hands to write about. That plan is struggling a little, as none of my March master points have yet shown up at the ACBL. Still, I probably should write up some hands. Maybe this evening.

A quest

I haven't been blogging, as you may have noticed. Part of the reason is that my health hasn't been great for the past couple of years, and part of the reason is my bridge hasn't been that great either. Plus, I have been playing a lot with students, which means that even if I was personally having a good day, the chances of really good stuff coming up were a bit slim.

Well, things are changing, at least a little. Most of my students have fallen by the wayside, one way or another. I am playing with Elwood much more regularly, typically once a week. And Agent 99, flushed with success at finally achieving Life Master rank, has resolved to play more often, which may translate to more than once a week with me.

One thing that hasn't changed is that I'm back in a slump, occasionally having a good session, but more often spoiling the card with two or three idiocies that would upset me if a student perpetrated them. I don't really know of a good way out of a slump except to just play through it, trusting that there are still some good days to come eventually. If anybody has any other suggestions, feel free to comment.

So, anyway, I think I'm going to try and blog again. And to give myself some incentive, I'm setting myself a target. My New Year's resolution was to try and play better against good opposition. I feel like I'm stuck in what we used to call "rabbit bashing" mode - beating up the weaker opponents, but with some fundamental sloppiness that is quickly exposed when the opponents have quality. I want to tighten up my game so that even the good opponents worry when I come to the table. But also, my next master point rank is Silver Life Master, and it's about 230 points away. I want to see how close I can get by the end of the year.

That's an average of about a point a day, which is very steep in my current mode. I can perhaps earn some of the load online (I already have met the color requirements, so just pushing the total to 1,000 is all I need).
But that isn't as easy as you might think. The only real strategy is to play at some regionals, winning the points in bunches. That too isn't so easy, or cheap. I'll try and keep you posted on how it's going.

Precious metals

I still don't have the urge to update this blog regularly, but I have been playing both for fun and for profit. The past few weeks have seen me rack up about 40 masterpoints, almost all gold or silver.

First came the Eastern States Regional, at the Park Central hotel in NYC. I played with the client in one Golden Opportunity Pairs (tied 3rd/4th), with Agent 99 in the other Golden Opportunity Pairs (won it), with the client in a Swiss teams (came nowhere), and with Elwood in a Round Robin teams (tied 2nd in bracket 2). That all worked out to more than 26 gold, plus a red point for good measure. It could have been more - I was supposed to play two events with Elwood, but was a little unwell and missed one.

The Golden Opportunity Pairs were something special, in this sense: for the first (and realistically, last) time, I played in a fairly large event where I felt that I was the best player in the field. When Agent 99 and I sat down to play, I actually told her that, and that we were the pair that everybody else had to beat. We then showed it was true, winning our section in both sessions to finish first overall almost a top clear of second place. I could feel my ego bulging out of my shirt.

The teams with Elwood provided some deflation. We played with the same teammates we had won with the last time we played, so we knew we could produce some good results. But the bracket seemed to be very evenly matched all around. There were no easy matches, and few blow-out victories. We narrowly defeated the eventual winners, but Scott Heaydon's team wasn't slowed down and beat everybody else to finish 22VPs clear of the field. Meanwhile, we lost a couple of matches, and were rather surprised to find that, going into the last round, we had a chance to finish second. As it played out, all we had to do was lose 13-7 or better, and we were playing the bottom team, who hadn't won a match all day. So of course, we lost 14-6, giving them a consolation victory and putting ourselves into a tie for second. Oh well.

Almost immediately after the Regional came STaC week. The client needed about 10 silver, so I played with her twice at the Manhattan's Eastside location. We chose East rather than West because the field tends to be somewhat weaker. No sentimentality involved here, I was after results. And we did in fact win both sessions we played, with scores big enough that the client got her silver points from the overalls (scored across the city). I also played with Agent 99 and with Elwood, and while we didn't win, that brought in a couple more points. I haven't seen the total yet, but it will be about 13 silver points for the week.

So now I get a week off. I think I've earned it.

Meanderings

I haven't pushed blogging back into my routine, not yet anyway. But I have pushed bridge back into my life, and when I consider it, there are a few good topics that have cropped up.

Playing got started before directing, of course, but I have directed a couple of games at the Manhattan. It was noteworthy (to me, anyway) how much work seemed to be involved, and how stressful it all was. Overall, directing a game seemed to be quite an unpleasant assignment. I know I didn't feel that way before. Apparently, a break of nine months or so is long enough to introduce significant rust into the gears. Hopefully, I will shake it out and start enjoying directing again.

I have landed a decent client, and played several pro dates with her. She has accumulated about 600 master points, but almost all black points. My assignment is to play with her in regional and sectional tournaments, and win her enough gold and silver to be a life master. I could debate the proprieties of such a transaction, but suffice to say I think it is ok, from a theoretical as well as a practical standpoint. The truth of the matter is that I may be good, but if she plays like a bonehead we won't win much. If we win some points, she will have earned her share.

And playing as a pro has helped me focus on my game, also. The thing is, the client isn't a great player, so the partnership is certainly lop-sided. The pro is not expected to make any mistakes, because the client makes enough for the two of us. So all those things that people say (but so rarely do) - like paying attention to every trick, every board, and having a reason why that particular card, every card – all those things suddenly are real. For example, a couple of weeks ago, we played in a sectional. The client put me in 4S in a horrible 4-3 fit, as clients sometimes do. At first glance, the contract was hopeless, and indeed, the computer analysis gave 9 tricks as the limit. But the defence made a couple of mistakes, and suddenly I was racing for home. But then a careless error at trick 11 dumped it again, down 1. Time was, I could shrug that off – we were too high, and made the appropriate number of tricks. But this time, I see the difference as about 1.5 silver points that I could have – should have – won for my client. And weeks later, it still chaps my ass that I blew the hand at the last moment.

I'm also trying to get back into a regular playing rhythm with Agent 99 and, to a lesser extent, Elwood. (The putative partnership with Rose has bitten the dust, not explicitly but by tacit mutual agreement. Our personalities and styles just do not mesh very well.) I'll make a separate entry to talk about how we're bidding these days.

I've got to admit...

Things are looking up, at least as far as my bridge playing goes. I actually played at the Manhattan last Sunday, with Agent 99. And I have more dates set up with both Agent 99 and Elwood, and Rose left me a message the other day - I need to call her back. I'm well on the way to getting a two- or three-times-a-week playing schedule arranged. I'm not close to being at my best, of course, which makes blogging a dubious affair. But it looks like I should be getting up to speed by the end of the month.

Which is what it's all about. The week after Christmas is the Edgar Kaplan Winter Regional in New York. Both Agent 99 and Elwood are interested in playing with me, so I have to do my best to get back in training, fast. I don't think there's any particular training regimen that works better than just playing as much as possible, so we'll see how many games I can fit in before Christmas. Hopefully, this year there won't be any blizzards around to screw things up.

Here's the flyer:
http://web2.acbl.org/tournaments/Ads/2011/12/1112015.pdf

World Championships

I'm still not up to snuff as regards being physically able to go to the bridge club and either working or playing. But the computer in the corner is within reach, and the world championships are here again. So I will be visiting the BBO Vugraph and trying to follow the action.

It will be a tough competition once again, with so many closely-matched teams participating. I chose Italy in the BBO Bermuda Bowl "guess the winner" competition, but that was as much sentiment as anything else. They are extremely good, of course, but so are the US teams, China, and so many of the others. I remember being surprised by Bulgaria last time around, and they're in the running again. So who do you fancy?

still alive

I'm afraid my return home proved to be somewhat premature, and I spent most of June and July back in the hospital. Maybe just a few weeks more before I can blog coherently.

hiatus

I apologise to my faithful readers (both of you). I'm afraid I spent most of May in hospital, quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Hopefully, a few more weeks will see me back in the swing of things.

Doubling slams

Let's say you pick up what seems to be my average sort of hand these days:
xx, xxx, JTxx, Qxxx
The opponents bid rapidly and confidently:
1S – 2H; 3S – 4NT; 5D – 7S;
What do you lead?

It's a crapshoot, basically. Assuming the opponents have at least some idea what they're doing, dummy thinks he has a lot of tricks available. Almost certainly, he's counting on at least six spade tricks, and you have no reason to think he's wrong. He did bid hearts, so maybe he has a decent heart suit too. With no clues, you flip a coin and lead a club or a diamond. I'd probably lead a club, myself: if partner can produce the king, we may at least threaten to win a trick later.

Now suppose partner doubles the final contract. What do you lead this time? The classic answer is to lead something unusual. The only unusual lead this time is a heart. It doesn't look very promising from our hand, but maybe dummy is bidding based on a long suit, and declarer has more support than he is expecting. It's just possible that partner is void, and will ruff at trick one. This would be an example of the famous Lightner double. I don't know if it would be a good example, because from this sort of bidding, I would expect there to be a real chance that the opponents can run to 7NT if you double 7S. But perhaps partner feels that the gamble is worthwhile, since they are going to make 7S anyway if he doesn't double.

So far, so not-very-controversial.

What changes if the final bid on the sequence above is 7NT instead of 7S? Now I think the picture of two good suits is a lot clearer. People don't bid grand slams like this unless they can count the tricks, most of the time. I think declarer sees six spades, five hearts, and two aces in his mind's eye, and we're toast. But my original answer stands: flip a coin and lead a club or a diamond, and for me personally, it's probably a club.

Now the tricky one: what if partner doubles 7NT? What do you lead, and why? What does partner have? Is this a Lightner double?

I don't think this can be a traditional Lightner double. All it can mean is that declarer has screwed up at the most basic level, and partner is looking at an ace. If partner has a sure trick in spades or hearts, I don't think it matters what you lead: the contract isn't going to make. If partner has a minor suit ace, though, the lead may be crucial, because declarer may have thirteen tricks if you miss at trick one. So do you flip a coin again? I think so. I don't think a spade or heart lead can be justified, and I don't think there is any clear message from the double.

Partner led a spade, which is always wrong. I was looking at the AD, and mostly doubled just because we were already screwed if the contract made, so the double was “free”. Dummy hit with seven spades, so declarer didn't need a diamond trick. -2490 is a score you don't see too often, thank the gods.

Bridge As A Spectator Sport

There's an interesting discussion going on (in sort of slow motion) at Cathy Chua's blog, The Overtrick. The thrust of it is that Cathy wants to know how to improve Australian bridge, not just the overall standard, but particularly, how to make the top-level Australians fully competitive at World level, and bringing the Bermuda Bowl south and stuff. This is a big question, and I've no doubt a few other countries would be interested in a good answer.

Cathy contends that bridge is not taken seriously, either by the general public or by bridge players themselves, and that “professional” bridge players really aren't very professional. She thinks that if big prize money tournaments were available, so that players could actually make a living playing bridge (as opposed to teaching or writing or playing with sponsors), then the game as a whole would be taken more seriously by everyone. And as a result, the standard of play (at all levels) would improve.

I can see what she means, but I'm not sure I agree 100%. I think she's a bit too dismissive of the current “professional bridge players”. Even in sports that do have big money tournaments and international stars (say, tennis, for example) the majority of “tennis pros” toil away almost all of the time not in Grand Slam tournaments, but giving lessons and doing all the stuff that Cathy doesn't like. But I do think she's right that if there were a big money tournament circuit where top players could earn a living, that would indeed change a lot of people's perception of the game.

But having said that, I think that business model is only properly sustainable for a spectator sport. You only get the continuous infusion of cash if you get lots of people to put in a little each – paying customers, TV deals and the like. Can that ever work for bridge? I don't think so, not at the moment anyway. Even chess has such tournaments (which is a factor driving Cathy's perception, of course), but a key factor there, I think, is that a large percentage of people knows how to play chess. Very badly, it's true, but there is no need for spectators to actually appreciate the details on their own: that's what commentators are for. I mean, thousands, millions, of people watch Tiger Woods play golf. Not all of those people can actually play golf, they just understand enough to know that what he's doing is difficult. Bridge doesn't have the same penetration into the general public in terms of people knowing even just a little bit about the game. And I think the only way to change that is through the schools. I think we need to have high-school bridge clubs the way we have chess clubs. Get bridge onto the menu of after-school activities, recognized as being as brain-twisting as chess (in a different way), while being better in some ways because it is a social game where chess is essentially solitary. And get people playing (rubber) bridge at home, not just in duplicate tournaments. It will take a long time, no doubt, but you have to prepare the ground in terms of making an audience available. Not all the kids will grow up to be bridge players, but they will grow up to know what you are talking about when you mention bidding and ruffing.

Which doesn't solve Cathy's immediate problem. Is there something that can be done in the space of, say, five or ten years, rather than a generational approach?

New Partner

I haven't been blogging much lately, as you may have noticed. At least part of the reason is that I haven't been playing all that often, and when I do play, I play badly. I find I'm not motivated to write about being a putz.

Not playing so often is partly a function of my schedule and partly that of my favorite partners. Both Elwood and Agent 99 have had personal issues that have cut into their playing time (Elwood especially), and I haven't been inclined to seek out new partners. That may be changing. Agent 99 is more or less back in the swing of things, and one of the teachers at the Manhattan has had a couple of games with me. She has been trying new partners because she wants to play more, so if this works out, there is at least the possibility of more games in the future. I will call her Rose.

So far, we are playing a very standard version of 2/1 Game Force. I am trying to let Rose drive the system selection. Going forward, that will probably become 2/1 with a weak notrump using forcing and non-forcing Stayman. She is currently learning that set-up from another partner, and promises to teach it to me when she's a bit more comfortable with it. But for now, we're using 14+ to 17 and four-way transfers.

There are one or two little glosses that have been added.
* Her chosen defence to 1NT is Cappelletti, not my favorite, but reasonably effective most of the time.
* We also play Capp in the sandwich seat after the opponents have started 1minor – 1NT.
* The balancing 1NT overcall is 11-14, as usual, and she likes to play checkback with it, answering as normal with 11-12 and bidding 2NT with 13-14. Responder can then repeat Stayman with 3C, if necessary. (This is the same treatment that Elwood and I were using after our 15-18 1NT rebid.)
* After an auction that starts 1m – 1M; 2M Rose likes to play 2NT as an artificial inquiry, with Ogust-style responses, so that Responder can discover whether Opener has 3- or 4-card support, and whether he is at the 11-13 or the 14-16 end of his putative range.
* Our 1NT rebid is 12-14 at the moment, so Rose has us playing New Minor Forcing by a passed hand, and Two-Way NMF by an un-passed hand.

So far, I have restricted my input to suggesting using Capp at the four level after the opponents open a Gambling 3NT (seems like a no-brainer to me, given that Capp is our NT defence, but I had to argue for it). And I'm also arguing, not yet successfully, for using the Woolsey double against opponents' strong 1NT openings. It fits in perfectly well with Capp, but Rose is unfamiliar with it, and rather suspicious.

Still, let's see what develops – it's very early days yet.

What a mess!

This blizzard is playing havoc with the city in general and the regional in particular. Elwood played yesterday, and described conditions outside as awful. He was in a bracketed round-robin, and his final-round opponents dropped out, meaning that he got to go home early. He said he was grateful, since otherwise he might not have made it home. Today, I was originally scheduled to play, but that's not happening, and tomorrow is questionable at best. Agent 99 is still trapped in Cincinnati, and won't get back here until Wednesday sometime, so whether I play on a team with Goldie tomorrow depends on whether we can find a fourth. As an alternative, I suppose we could play in a senior pairs or something, depending on how her other partner(s) are doing. It's all a shambles, really.

It's very unfortunate for the GNYBA and New York bridge in general. This is the biggest snowstorm to hit the city in a number of years, but even so I expect everything to be back to more-or-less normal within a day or two. The City is really pretty good about plowing the roads, restoring power where it drops out, and stuff like that. Which means that if the storm had arrived just two or three days earlier, there would likely have been little impact on the regional. As it is, Dr. Evil couldn't have arranged the timing to do more damage. I'm sure that attendance will be way down for Sunday and Monday, and it will probably be low for the other days too. Very disappointing.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody. We aren't having a white christmas, but we have a blizzard to look forward to (Sunday night / Monday morning), so everybody take care travelling to the regional.

Edgar Kaplan Winter Regional

This week, there are only two topics on my mind. First up, Christmas is nearly here, and I'm trying to plan how I'm going to finish my gift shopping (basically done), finish my food shopping (nearly all to happen Thursday/Friday), and produce my usual Christmas dinner masterpiece on Saturday. No worries, as the Aussies say.

The other thing is the Edgar Kaplan Winter Regional in New York, which is next week from the 26th to the 30th. I don't really need any gold points myself, but Agent 99 needs quite a few to get to Life Master. And in addition, there's a client (or potential client) at the Manhattan who needs about 15 gold - I'll call her Goldie. So I've agreed to play with Agent 99 in a Golden Opportunity Pairs, and Goldie is playing with another Life Master in the same event. Then the next day, the four of us team up in a round-robin. That should provide a fast route to a few gold, because the whole team has a total of only about 2000 master points, and we must be in with a good chance to win whatever bracket we finish up in.

No pressure, except Goldie's husband (they both play at the Manhattan, sometimes even together) has promised to stalk me and haunt me if she doesn't get enough gold, on the grounds that he isn't going to be able to sleep until she gets them, so why not share the pain.

I'm also going to play a bracketed Round Robin with Elwood, but that should be a relaxing wind-down compared to the earlier efforts. Tell me again - this is fun, right?

2010 Gold Cup

OK, finally I see the news. "My" team, the Nick Stevens team, has survived the quarter-finals and will be heading to the finals weekend showdown. Go team!

On-line bridge

The best thing to happen in the world of bridge in recent years is the advent of BBO - BridgeBase Online. This website, masterminded by Fred Gitelman, allows thousands of bridge players all over the world to find a game any time, for free. It has other features, including the terrific Vugraph, which lets you watch as world-class players bid and play hands (with expert commentary to let you know what's going on). If you've never visited (www.bridgebase.com), you're missing out.

Yet I don't particularly like online bridge. It really isn't the same game, to me. I'm not a world-class player; I've never played with screens in use, or more than a couple of kibitzers watching for my mistakes. Perhaps the perspective is different if you do fall into that category, or perhaps not. But for me, the whole atmosphere of being in a room full of bridge players, of having the cards in your hand and feeling the physical presence of the opponents to be overcome, is part of the game. Without that atmosphere, it just isn't the same experience.

And then there's the people you meet. Meet in the internet sense, of course, meaning you don't meet them at all. Some are chatty, some taciturn, and I myself might go either way depending on (to some extent) how much alcohol has flowed my way. But often enough, you don't know for sure whether you are sitting down with an octogenarian life master or a twelve year-old intermediate (or vice versa, etc). The thing about bridge is, after a few hands, you can get a surprisingly clear feel for the character of your partner. Sometimes it might take a few hours to figure someone out, but sometimes the story becomes clear in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, it tends to be the better people who are harder to figure out, and the idiots who are rapidly unmasked. I say unfortunately, because often enough you play for an hour or two and then never see that player again. But the ones who are sympatico enough for an hour or two are the ones that you really want to stick with.

And there's the question of rudeness. Some people (I'm tempted to assume they're kids, but there's no real justification for that assumption) feel that it's OK to be a complete asshole in an on-line forum, when they probably wouldn't dare to behave that way in real life.

A good thing you can say about BBO is that at least there is a facility to mark other players as "friends" or "enemies". If I come across a reasonable player, I mark them as friends, and if someone is too terrible either as a player or a person, I flag them as an enemy. This evening I played a few hands with gm1776, whoever that is. He's a chronic overbidder, and when I pulled a penalty double of his, he suggested I didn't know what I was doing and left the table. A review of the hand (if he could have been bothered) would reveal 3D doubled likely to be made with overtricks. But I guess it's the principle of the thing - he doubled, so I should sit for a terrible score whether I know better or not. Well, at least I won't be playing with him again, unless he changes his name (a sickening thought).

Odds & Ends

I am still not playing very often, not frequently enough to keep my game up to snuff, truthfully. But I have managed to get a few games with Agent 99, and occasionally I play to complete a table when I'm working. If you're not playing well, it seems to make it harder to identify interesting hands to write about. But here are a couple of slams.

The first hand was a bidding disaster.



Agent 99 chose to open the West hand 1D and rebid 3D over my 1H response. I envisaged a slightly higher point-count opposite, and the result was I pushed all the way to 7NT, which had no play. Perhaps a Gambling 3NT would be best, and if I insist on getting carried away, I might choose 7D. That isn't really a great contract, but a ruffing finesse brings in the whole heart suit, so at least there is a line to make it.

The next hand was better.



I was playing with one of the many Barbaras of the Manhattan to make up the movement in the 299er game I was directing. This particular Barbara isn't a life master, and preferred if I went and did director stuff while I was the dummy, as otherwise I made her nervous. So I was impressed with the sequence we put together. When I asked for kings, her nerve finally broke, which is why she bid 6NT, but I wanted to play in a suit anyway. The same boards were in play in both the open game and the 299er, and we were the only pair in either game to bid a grand, and only three pairs bid even a small slam. Kudos to Barbara for a couple of useful cue-bids.

The Acol Experiment is coming to an end, at some point in the near future. I enjoy playing with Agent 99, and I think it's time we moved on to (or back to) a more precise system. I'd really like if I could persuade her to play Tangerine Club, but I don't think I'm in with a chance of making that fly. On the other hand, if I can get her drunk or something, maybe a session with the Phantom Club will warm her up...

One convention that both Agent 99 and I still like is Lionel. We haven't yet managed a penalty double of a strong no-trump, but we've given most of the other bids a run, and we almost always get a decent result. I think that one's a keeper, whatever else we play.

Gold Cup

In a previous post, I said that my "hometown" team had a tough match coming up. I wish I could have watched - the result has been posted on Bridge Great Britain. My guys won by the magnificent margin of 1 IMP. Hearty congratulations to the Nick Stevens team.

Gold Cup

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm cheering (long distance) for the Nick Stevens team. Well, the results of round 4 are in and the draw for round 5 is out. Nick and his crew won quite handily in round 4, but to get to the quarter-finals, they have a serious hurdle to jump. In round 5 they face the team captained by Patrick Collins (Derek Patterson, Gerald Tredinnick, Stuart Tredinnick). These are the number 2 seeds, and have actually won the Gold Cup previously, and they have been the losing finalists the last two years. So not an easy match ahead, but I know my guys can win if they play up on the day. I think Collins ought to just give it up, to save themselves the agony.