20 Down, 30 To Go! April 14, 2009
Posted by justinlall in The Bet.4 comments
Apparently Josh and I both suck, we are averaging just under 4,000 points per tournament. I consider part of this to be negative variance, and have backed that by betting a third party that I will average at least 4,500 in the next 30. Another part of it is sometimes swinging when completely out of it to maximize my chance of making money while hurting my average score. That only happened twice though.
Probably the biggest part of it is not playing that well, and doing things like chatting and playing on a laptop. If I want to win I have to tighten up. Yesterday I made one huge error in a vul game. My trump suit was:
QT9
AJ75432
I was in 5
and had lost two tricks. RHO had overcalled 2
. I led the queen of diamonds from dummy, and GIB played small. I should have realized that GIB would always cover with Kx, much like a human but even worse, and would play its spots randomly from K86. This makes it about 2:1 to go for the drop, and the bidding inference that RHO probably has the K is weighed against the fact that LHO would probably have bid with a void.
Of course when you’re playing 20 hands every 25 minutes it’s hard to analyze that fast, but this is clearly a situation I should have taken 5 seconds on since a lot of points were riding on it.
I did take down the first tournament we went first and second in, and in pretty dramatic fashion. Josh with about 1 minute left didn’t stall out and take his good but not winning score when the opps were making a NV game, he played it out and went for the win. He got a vul game on the last board and went into the lead, barely ahead of second. However, I managed to play a NV game in about 30 seconds to go ahead right at the end and win. This seemed like vindication from losing one earlier by 20 points at the very end.
Down by $1.70 but I still have faith. Wanna raise the stakes Josh?
Venting April 12, 2009
Posted by justinlall in The Bet.Tags: Declarer Play, Intermediate
6 comments
Josh and I put a lot of hours in today for the bet, playing 8 tourneys in all. Since we are sick, we both also played more tourneys when the other person wanted a break.
My results today were pretty terrible. I definitely didn’t play great, but the bad luck I was getting on slam hands was just insane. Here is an example:
Kxx
K
AQ9xx
Txxx
AJ
Axx
Jx
AJ9xxx
You do quite well to bid 6 after opening 1N, and receive a heart lead. How do you play?
The best idea here is to strip out the major suits, and go ace and a club. True, you lose to KQx onside now if the DK was onside all along, but you pick up Hx of clubs with the DK on your right, a much more likely combination. So win the heart in dummy and lead a club (maybe they split), then strip the majors and exit a club. Unfortunately it was KQx onside, so your good play is not rewarded.
Note that on a spade lead you have a pitch for your diamond so could safety play the trumps. This is not horrible luck, but if stuff like this happens to you 5 times in a row you can get a little frustrated.
Anyways, luckily Josh didn’t have a great day either so I’m still very much in this. When the luck turns I have little doubt that I wll start crushing 
Building a Partnership April 12, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Improving, Partnership
4 comments
I was very saddened when my uncle, and avid Flight C player, told me he hadn’t been playing much because he couldn’t find a suitable partner. His first partner had outgrown him. The same thing that makes our game great, the partnership element, can also lead to a lot of frustration. The truth is half of our successes, and failures, depend on the idiot across the table from us. How do we find a good one?
There is no clear answer, but I’d say becoming a part of the community is a good way to do it. If there is a group of players that talks about the hands after the game, try to integrate yourself into that group. Eventually you will come to know many players by doing this, and your choice of partners will go up.
If this isn’t an option an online forum like BBF, or an online club on BBO is a great way to meet players. I know I have met a lot of people this way, some who I even ended up playing with in real life.
Barring that, I would say you should just play locally with pickup partners to meet new people, and eventually you will find someone who seems like a good match.
Once you find that person, what is the next step?
There are two important things to consider now. First, you have similar bridge goals. Before you even play a card together you should discuss these goals and make sure they align. It could be anything from simply learning and getting better to winning a national championship. Depending on your goals you can make plans to study or not study together, and to have a simple or complicated system. The other thing is to be of similar skill levels. If one player is better than the other, unless they will be patient while the other learns, it can be very frustrating for that person. Similar skill is a must to keep the balance in the partnership.
After that, start making your system. Unless one of your goals was to learn a complicated system, I’d say keep it simple. The less the better. Early in the partnership it’s better to build trust and learn each other’s styles. Conventions can be added slowly over time. Don’t worry if you have different styles, though. A lot of top partnerships have a straight man and an action man.
So, you have found a prospective partner, have similar goals, and have a system. In the long run what will you need to survive and flourish?
- Communication. This is the most important. If you think your partner made a bad bid or play, or don’t even understand why he did something, you have to be able to talk about it (at the appropriate time). Don’t keep this stuff in or it will eat away at you and your partnership won’t improve. Similarly, if your communication is too harsh nobody gains. Both partners should be receptive to criticism, but it should be constructive.
- Trust. I’m not just talking about trust that partner won’t pass your forcing bid. That is important, but more important is trust that partner will show up at the table ready to play, not drunk, not late, etc. Trust that they will follow the bounds of the system and style in use, and not violate that on a whim. Trust that partner is always trying their best.
- Mutual Respect. This is tied in to being at a similar skill level. If there is not mutual respect then there is nothing to stop one person from taking a flier, leading to resentment from the other. There will also be condescending attitudes which are not conducive to growth.
- Friendship. Some will consider this debatable, but I don’t. Bridge partners have a unique camaraderie, they are in the trenches together battling it out. Nobody else is on their side. I believe you have to want to fight for not just yourself, but for your partner also. You have to want your partner to succeed, and I believe a good relationship away from the table is important for this. You just lose some edge if you don’t have it.
Don’t worry uncle, there are other fish in the sea!
Upping the Ante April 12, 2009
Posted by justinlall in The Bet.5 comments
After 6 hands of the bet, Josh has offered to up the stakes to $500. He is feeling confident because he is consistently playing more hands than I am.
I still feel I have an edge and will win. Honestly I make very few mistakes single dummy, and so far have been running well below par. Josh may play more hands, but I think his play suffers as a result. It will be a good fight.
We have a link up that shows the results so far. I am down 2 dollars, and am averaging about 500 points less per tourney.
The reason I only played 13 hands in the first tournament is that I got disconnected for several minutes. It looks like Josh will average 24 hands a tournament while I will only average 20, so I will need to play very well!
The Bet April 11, 2009
Posted by justinlall in The Bet.add a comment
Josh Donn has achieved a remarkable feat. From just $3 on BBO, he has made $900 playing nothing but $1 and $5 money bridge tournaments. To understand how incredible this is, consider that the max profit that can be made in the $1 tournaments is often 3 dollars or less, and the 5 dollar tournaments often have only 3 to 5 people.
The money bridge tournaments have an unusual format. For starters, you play with and against GIB robots. Secondly, they are just total points, and you get 25 minutes to play as many hands as possible. That is Josh’s biggest edge. He can play 20 hands plus passouts per tournament most of the time. Obviously in a total points format he is going to crush people who are playing 8 boards a tournament.
Naturally Josh considers himself the king of these tournaments as he is almost definitely the most successful at them. However, I feel like I am better than him, despite my inability to play as many hands. I understand the GIB robots very well, and I think my play does not suffer at all playing so fast.
I asked Josh to put his money where his mouth is. A bet. We play the same 50 tournaments, and the person with the most profit at the end wins. Josh, not one to back down from a challenge, accepted.
This challenge will probably take about a month to finish, and the winner will get their winnings, an extra $350, and most importantly the bragging rights.
I will keep running tabs on this blog. We will be tracking money won, hands played, and what position we are in each tournament. I will also write some about the best strategies for these tournaments.
Game on!
Those Hearts Again… April 9, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Advanced, Convention
2 comments
I feel like the theory behind bidding as a passed hand is largely unexplored and strangely ignored by bridge literature.
For example, take the simple auction;
P (P) 1 (P)
2
What does 2 show? Should you always pull with a stiff? If so, how do you bid flawed preempts like x Jxxxxxx AJ Kxx (if this is a 1 opener for you adjust it slightly)? If not, how do you bid hands like Kx AQJxx xxx xxx? What about 2 suited hands like x Axxxx xx KQxxx?
The possible hand types for the 2 bid are just too numerous, so there can’t really be accurate bidding over it.
That is why I suggest having 2 bids to show hearts, 2 and 2. 2 is reserved for hands with 5 hearts, and 2 shows a flawed preempt with 6 or 7 hearts.
The bids over the 2 bid are natural, except for 2 being a relay.
Over 2 responder bids 2 with a doubleton, 3 of a minor with 56, or 2 otherwise. After a 2 bid, 2 asks again, and responder bids 2N with 15(43), and 3m with with 5 of the minor.
Over p 1 2 2 2, 2N relays and responder bids 3m with 5 of the minor. This way you always get to the right fit in the major, and always know the degree of the fit. If necessary you can find out about responder’s shape for game and slam purposes.
Over p 1 2 everything is forcing except 2. 2N is a general ask, and responder can show a side minor or a doubleton spade, or a seventh heart. Again, you almost always find the right fit.
You don’t lose drury completely by playing this, it is just 2 instead of 2. This is not a huge loss since you still have an in between bid of 2 to show some interest.
You do lose a natural 2 bid, but as is often the theme in this blog, we see that majors are much more important than minors.
Method of Posting Hands April 9, 2009
Posted by justinlall in News.6 comments
I’m experimenting with ways to post full deals and half deals. I used to basically never post a full deal, and when I posted defensive hands I would just show you your hand at the beginning of the post, followed by dummy later, and you’d have to work it out. For declarer play hands I just posted the hands vertically.
I realize for some people this may be hard to follow, so I’m trying the BBO screenshot method, and possibly some of the online templates for bloggers. Let me know what you like best and I will keep that style consistent throughout the blog.
BOLS Tips Online April 9, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Improving
2 comments
The BOLS tip book is a collection of tips sent in by various leading expert players. They contain some of the most valuable information that I have read about bridge.
I recently found a link that contains many of the tips. Some of my favorites are “Roll Over Houdini” by Zia, and “Danger Hand High” by Rodwell. Almost all of them are great though.
Enjoy!
Textbook April 8, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Advanced, Defense
2 comments
I just finished playing on BBO against 13 year old prodigy Adam Kaplan and his partner. Because of Adam’s aggressive bidding I got the chance to be either the hero or the goat, depending on how I defended. But first, the bidding.
Adams partner on my right opened 1, and I passed with Qxxx xxx QTxx xx. Adam bid 2, and my partner came in with 2. RHO passed, and I raised to 3. Eventually Adam bid keycard for spades, then bid 6 after his partner showed 2 without the queen. I led a diamond and here is what I saw:
The first trick is ruffed with partner encouraging, and declarer leads a spade to his jack. What is your plan?
This is the type of hand where a lot of learning from books will pay off. This type of situation is common in textbooks, but very rare and counterintuitive at the table. If you win this spade, declarer is in control. He will be able to pull trumps and have plenty of tricks.
The solution is to duck the spade. This puts you in control. Declarer cannot pull trumps, otherwise you will end up scoring a diamond trick and your spade trick. However, if they run clubs first you can ruff in and punch dummy with a diamond which will promote your spade queen again. They have no winning options.
Not really a hard play if you have seen the situation before, but almost impossible otherwise.
Interesting Slam Hand April 8, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Blog.Tags: Advanced, Declarer Play
5 comments
Playing in a BBO match today I got to this very interesting 6:
KQ84
T8
A76
AQ32
AJT7
AQ953
T
KJ9
I got the 8 lead, 3rd from even, low from odd. That means they probably have either 4 or 6 diamonds. After winning the ace, we have our first big decision. We can make the intuitive play of ruffing a diamond, or we can play a heart to the queen first. Lets compare those two lines.
Line A: Ruffing a diamond. If we are able to ruff a diamond, play two trumps ending in dummy, and then ruff another diamond we are cold with trumps splitting. We will take 1 heart, 4 clubs, 4 spades, 1 diamond, and 2 ruffs. However, what do we do if trumps are 4-1? If we ruff another diamond in our hand we will set up the 9xxx of spades for a trick. Then we can just play clubs letting them ruff, and eventually take a heart finesse. If it is stiff 9 of spades things get even more complicated, but that is unlikely so we’ll ignore it. So line A basically wins on all 3-2 trumps, and half of the 4-1 trumps. That is about 82 %.
Line B: Hooking the heart first. If the hook wins we are basically cold barring 5-1 hearts. We will play ace of hearts, heart ruff high if lefty follows, and if necessary ruff another heart. We do risk losing when RHO has Kx of hearts and 9xxx of spades. If the heart hook loses and the expected diamond comes back we can revert to line A, making on 3-2 trumps, plus some stiff 9 combinations. However, we have the upside that if LHO shows out on the second round of spades we can try the desperation play of pulling trumps, hooking the heart jack, and making if they’re 3-3 also. This is quite good, I make it in the 85 % range.
Line B seems better by a fair margin. At the table I chose Line A and something very interesting happened. After ruffing a diamond and playing the ace of spades the stiff 9 did come down. I played another spade and LHO pitched a diamond (which makes it look like he has 6 of them unless he’s very clever). Now there are again two possible lines.
Line A: Overtake, ruff a diamond, and play 3 rounds of clubs. If that lives you’re home, otherwise you need a heart hook. It is hard to calculate the odds of this since it depends on how many empty spaces they have in their hand, but if diamonds are 6-3 and spades are 4-1 then both east and west have the same amount of empty spaces. This bodes well for 3 rounds of clubs living.
Line B: Overtake and run the ten of hearts. If the jack is onside you’re home. If the heart loses to the jack and a diamond comes back then you make on 3-3 clubs or the heart king onside. If they return a more accurate club you’ll need the heart king onside to make, as well as either 3-3 hearts or 3-3 clubs. If RHO had Kx of hearts he should have covered the ten, in which case you can fall back on 33 clubs. Very complicated, but I make Line A slightly better because we think diamonds are 6-3.
I did take Line A, and RHO had a stiff club and no K, but did have the J, so this was a disaster.
Also, LHO had falsecarded their lead with KJ8xx! Well done to them!
