[awm]

 Zelandakh, on 2013-September-09, 07:31, said:

I am surprised about this one Adam. The 1m openings are a strongpoint in (English) Acol. Perhaps you mean within a 5 card major system though.

First, it becomes much easier for us to compete in the auction. There are many hands where I'd overcall at the one level but it's too dangerous to overcall a level higher over strong notrump. This can help with leads as well as buying the contract. Sometimes we create issues simply because opponents are left guessing whether opener had a strong notrump (i.e 1C-3S and you hold a ten count 3352; probably opener has a strong notrump so maybe you bid 3nt, but if opener has an unbalanced 12 this can easily be a huge disaster).

Second, when opponents bid to a normal spot I find that I have a much better picture of opener's shape (if only because he told me his 4-card minor) and that this makes the defense much easier.

[mikeh]

 PhilKing, on 2013-September-10, 14:20, said:

I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I pick up a 4333 with no tens, particularly if I hold 11 points.

You know that you can get drugs that give you that same feeling? Some of them are legal.

[mike777]

One system problem hand type is when opener has roughly 14-16, two suited and we cannot open a nt.

Responder assumes you opened on your usual junk and you can bid again with lots of extras.

[helene_t]

 Vampyr, on 2013-September-10, 08:49, said:

Quote

Expensive bridge in your neck of the woods, unless the £ has risen dramatically. £2 to £3 here.

Really? Wow, want to play in your clubs.

We pay GBP 1.50, increased from 1.00 last year. It is a low-service club where the only free treat is lemonade and we don't have bridgemates. On bridge.nl I see a few open tourneys with zero entry fee.

Just came home from Palma (Mallorca) where they charged 8 euros. There were no free drinks and the players even brought their own bidding boxes!

[eagles123]

I think my weakness is part-scores and my strengths (although still very amateur!) are games/slams both in the bidding and play really.

[Vampyr]

 helene_t, on 2013-September-11, 03:44, said:

We play GBP 1.50, increased from 1.00 last year. On bridge.nl I see a few open tourneys with zero entry fee. It is a low-service club where the only free treat is lemonade and we don't have bridgemates.

I guess London is another planet. At the YC the entry is £10 for non-members and £7.50 for members ( annual membership fee £45). And nothing is free.

Quote

Just came home from Palma (Mallorca) where they charged 8 euros. There were no free drinks and the players even brought their own bidding boxes!

They do provide bidding boxes though.

I think Robson's charge £10 for members, and membership is around £65, or at least it was a few years ago.

[Lord Molyb]

I only hate hands where I have a balanced 6-9 points and I don't get to bid much.
So of course these are the ONLY kinds of hands I get.

[billw55]

 Vampyr, on 2013-September-11, 13:11, said:

I guess London is another planet. At the YC the entry is £10 for non-members and £7.50 for members ( annual membership fee £45). And nothing is free.


They do provide bidding boxes though.

I think Robson's charge £10 for members, and membership is around £65, or at least it was a few years ago.

It doesn't really sound bad for an evening's entertainment. Pricier than where I play, but everything costs more in a big city.

[Cthulhu D]

 RSClyde, on 2013-September-07, 17:53, said:

I assume that most of us tend to play in fields in which we are above average, so we probably prefer situations which test basic skill, like a bad trump split: it's bad for everyone but the stronger player will cope better.

I don't, my team is one of the weakest in our club competitions. As a result I like relatively flat boards with the opportunity to stick in a systematic and aggressive overcall because that is where we do the best. Really, any hands where we have a clear systemic bid and the field doesn't are the most likely opportunities to get a good result, so weak hands with both majors, balanced 14 counts that we open 1NT etc.

[mike777]

In movies there is a famous...very famous phrase:


" In a World"


In bridge we could add the phrase " I double"


What does that mean?

[gordontd]

 Vampyr, on 2013-September-11, 13:11, said:

I guess London is another planet. At the YC the entry is £10 for non-members and £7.50 for members ( annual membership fee £45). And nothing is free.


They do provide bidding boxes though.

I think Robson's charge £10 for members, and membership is around £65, or at least it was a few years ago.

It was US20 when I played a club game in New York this summer.

[fromageGB]

Hey, some bridge clubs are free, if you go online!

[RSClyde]

 Lord Molyb, on 2013-September-11, 14:40, said:

I only hate hands where I have a balanced 6-9 points and I don't get to bid much.
So of course these are the ONLY kinds of hands I get.

Agreed. What I hate just as much are the people who, in the face of such moanings, proclaim, "Well you just have to defend well." Which, naturally, is better than defending poorly. But you spend the auction at the mercy of your opponents, and may not have that much input in the play either. Maybe it's just an asperger thing, but I'd rather have some control.

[GreenMan]

A friend told me once he got a few bad hands in a row, so he decided to keep track and see just how bad his hands were for the session. He had a 2♣ and a 2NT hand and still ended with less than 6 HCP on average. He and his partner also had one of their best sessions ever, and he attributed it to his staying interested in the bad hands instead of tuning out.

There, now you have a reason to like subpar hands, because they're a chance to show off your superior concentration abilities.

[Vampyr]

 gordontd, on 2013-September-12, 01:43, said:

It was US20 when I played a club game in New York this summer.

Yes, well I meant a different planet compared to the rest of England.

[Lord Molyb]

 GreenMan, on 2013-September-18, 14:28, said:

A friend told me once he got a few bad hands in a row, so he decided to keep track and see just how bad his hands were for the session. He had a 2♣ and a 2NT hand and still ended with less than 6 HCP on average. He and his partner also had one of their best sessions ever, and he attributed it to his staying interested in the bad hands instead of tuning out.

There, now you have a reason to like subpar hands, because they're a chance to show off your superior concentration abilities.

I did that too in a swiss pairs, even with one round being like 4 precision openers I got 7 HCP on average.
We won