[euclidz]

SKILL LEVELS

When I registered on this site I created a ‘profile’ which has an option to choose a skill level which is helpful when playing with strangers. The question is – what does that skill category mean? Here is my view on what it means on this site . . . .



NOVICE / BEGINNER
1. A person new to the game who knows the fundamentals of the game, capable of partaking at a basic level using basic bidding tools, who plays the cards by simply taking winning tricks off the top. OR
2. A person who has been playing for many years but, incapable of abstract thought, is unable understand the structure of the game and how it fits together.


INTERMEDIATE
1. A person who has several years of experience playing at Club level, who understands how the game fits together, who is capable of using moderately sophisticated bidding tools and conventions, who is able to assess how the shape of a hand adds to it’s strength and who understands the fundamentals of where extra tricks are made. OR
2. A Novice who believes that promotion from Novice to Intermediate comes automatically after clocking up 1,000+ appearances on BBO. OR
3. An Advanced player whose humility and modestly precludes him from styling himself as ‘Advanced’.


ADVANCED
1. A person with many years of experience playing at Club and Regional level, who understands the mathematics of how the game fits together, who is capable of using sophisticated bidding tools, who can accurately assess how the shape of a hand adds to it’s strength and who understands the mathematical statistical probability of who holds what card and whether it is or is not likely to fall to a play of x x. OR
2. An intermediate player who having played with and against other Intermediate players who fall into category 2 above, has formed the view that he is better than that and if they are ‘intermediate’ he must be ‘advanced’. OR
3. An Expert player whose humility and modestly precludes him from styling himself as ‘Expert’.


EXPERT
1. A person with many years of experience playing at Regional and National level, who is capable of player at that level in the most commonly used systems, who understands the mathematics of how the game fits together, who is capable of using all and even the most obscure sophisticated bidding tools and conventions, who can accurately assess how the shape of a hand adds to it’s strength, who understands the mathematical statistical probability of who holds what card and whether it will fall. Experts could (and some do) earn a living from playing and teaching Bridge.
2. Advanced players who live alone, who have nothing in their lives outside of Bridge (the highlight of their social life is the Bridge Club Christmas party) who are lacking self esteem and who, in their quest to gain a false and pathetic sense of self worth, spend their days seeking out and attacking normal players who have the temerity to style themselves anything other than Novice. They try to earn money from playing and teaching Bridge but are soon exposed as being ‘odd’.
3. Intermediate Players who live alone (or in a different part of the house) who have nothing in their lives outside of Bridge, who crave the acquaintance and reassurance of Expert players and live in fear of exposed as a charlatan and having their classification downgraded to Intermediate. These people have tried to earn money from playing or teaching Bridge and live in fear of arrest and a conviction for obtaining money on false pretences (fraud).


WORLD CLASS
1. These are Expert players who have competed for their country in international events. They know everything and contemplate new things. They have written books.
2. Expert players from category 2 above who have styled themselves ‘World Class’ and who hang onto the title by sheer aggression.

[eagles123]

TL:DR

[Vampyr]

if you are trying to be funny, you have failed.

[Bbradley62]

Actually, I was amused.

You might also include someone who has played house bridge for 30 years and has recently discovered BBO. This player competently plays the cards both as declarer and as defender. His bidding is pre-SAYC: 16-18HCP 1NT, strong twos, double raise is forcing, no Stayman (never mind transfers).

[diana_eva]

Timo posted a pretty funny interpretation somewhere - he meant it for Turkish players, but it was spot on for many other countries. Gotta try and remember where that was to link it here - might have been on another forum.

[Zelandakh]

euclidz, on 2015-March-14, 09:32, said:

INTERMEDIATE
2. A Novice who believes that promotion from Novice to Intermediate comes automatically after clocking up 1,000+ appearances on BBO.

This one is genuinely hilarious when you consider that this 'promotion' comes automatically after 365 days of playing the game, which for the vast majority is going to well before 1000 BBO appearances.