[inquiry]

BBO Movie link is: The law of total tricks
General Type: Competitive bidding tutorial
Voice Track: NO
Quizes: Yes with scoring. There are quizzes in the introductory material, and then 13 bidding quizes on the law of total tricks (LOTT) at the end of the file.
Time to complete: depends upon how fast you review the material and make up your mind on your answer. I would guess somewhere around 15 minutes for people not familiar with LOTT, faster for others.


The law of total tricks has been used in designing bidding conventions for competitive and potetially competitive auctions, and has been explained in a numerous bridge articles and entire books, including the following (the first and probably most important such works are by Larry Cohen, but since I have only read the two by Larry, perhaps this isn't fair to the other authors):

• "To Bid or Not to Bid: The Law of Total Tricks", by Larry Cohen
• "Following the Law: The Total Tricks Sequel", by Larry Cohen
• "The law of Total Tricks" by Marty Bergen
• "The Law of Total Tricks, by Ron Klinger
• "Practise Your Law of Total Tricks", by Paul Mendelson

The Law of Total Tricks is not without its critics, the most noteworthy is the book, "I Fought the Law of Total Tricks" by Mike Lawrence and Anders Wirgen. There are numerous discussions of the LOTT in these forums, and a review the book by Lawrence and Wirgen in this forum. This movie is aimed directly at people not familiar with the LOTT, or those with only a rough understanding of it. If you are not familar with the LOTT, then this movie is a must watch for you. If you are vaguely aware of the LOTT, you might want to use this Movie as a quick review. You have to decide for yourself when it is wise to follow the law.

[y66]

I would highly recommend this movie to any intermediate who wants to understand how the law can help improve his or her competitive bidding. I think even Mike Lawrence would agree that this movie sets a very high standard for using this medium to clearly explain stuff.

[pigpenz]

maybe you can get Lawrence to do a movie on fighting THE LAW

[jogs]

y66, on 2013-January-13, 21:45, said:

I would highly recommend this movie to any intermediate who wants to understand how the law can help improve his or her competitive bidding. I think even Mike Lawrence would agree that this movie sets a very high standard for using this medium to clearly explain stuff.

Larry Cohen has chosen examples where LoTT works.

http://www.newbridgelaw.com/

Not true. Lawrence gives examples where the law leads players astray.
Lawrence has chosen examples where LoTT does not work.

There is no mathematical law. It should state

expected tricks = total trumps + e

where e is the error from normal(u, σ² )
u is the mean of e.

for trumps =< 18 u is approximately 0.
for trumps > 18 u is negative.
as trumps approach 26 u becomes more and more negative.