BBO Discussion Forums: Introduction of Bridge Analysis - BBO Discussion Forums

wyman, on 2012-February-02, 10:54, said:

a relief to hear it....I couldn't be bothered to read the blog so didn't recognize the quotes.

HiLow, if you are reading this, please try to take the comments constructively. I can tell from the other threads that you are passionate about the game and enjoy a fair level of success in the games in which you play. I suspect that you are in a position similar to the one I was in some 25 years ago, when I lived in a fairly remote area, and before the internet....it was 500 miles to the nearest Regional, for example. I was the local 'gun'...routinely winnning most of the local Sectionals and dominating at the club (along with my regular partner). I got to thinking I was pretty damn good.

Then I moved to a larger centre and started playing with and against actual experts, and that was quite a rude awakening. You may not yet realize it, but when you entered this forum, that was more or less the equivalent for you. You may be a big fish in your usual pond, but here there are some players who are big fish....sharks, even, in the ocean and lots of players who are only a level or two behind. Coming across as god's gift to bridge, when you lack the appropriate credentials, is going to generate a lot of hostility.

I think we all welcome you to the forums and your blog can't help but be useful, but maybe a little more modesty would be appropriate.

wyman, on 2012-February-02, 10:54, said:

LOL now it makes sense..I was asking the same questions Mike asked, to myself. I was about to post " Han, are you ok bro ?"

Not sure how to relay the statistics from my play record without leaving open the possibility that someone might construe it as boasting; any constructive suggestions on this are welcome.

And Mike, thanks for being reasonable and measured in your public critique of my post and my situation. You are dead on. It's not that I live in a rural area so much as that I just haven't ventured out into non-online bridge yet. I am going to. I recognize that there are pools of players just as talented as me if not moreso, and far, far more experienced, especially at high-level competitive play.

My blog isn't targeted to them.

I'm simply trying to establish to the 100,000+ players out there who might benefit from what I have to say that I know what I'm talking about.

Someday I too will play in the circles you are describing and I look forward to getting served plenty of helpings of humble pie.

HighLow21, on 2012-February-02, 12:17, said:

Um...you don't?

I've known a lot of people in bridge that think the best way to promote themselves is to literally walk around with a sandwich board advertising their accomplishments. I have a friend who has a website that details all of his regional wins, and flighted national high finishes. I have told him I think this is extremely bad taste and its a sure-fire way to get scorned by other top-level players, if they happen to come across his pages. There is a west coast pro that promotes in a similar manner, and most people avoid him like the plague.

If you are truly good, then your results should reflect that, and I do not mean your Lehman rating, or how many contracts you make (whatever this means). If you have never played against good competition, then your results really don't matter at all anyway.

Aguahombre --> That is correct, 68% is a blended average success rate, across everything from confidently bid sacrifices all the way down to hands where my partner hung me in a phantom sacrifice, doubled down 4 with nothing on for the opponents. :-) Among the 32% where I went down, the average loss was -3.4 IMPs, similar to the +3.5 IMPs average when I made. In terms of large swings (I'm using +/-10 IMPs as the cutoff), it's roughly 5% positive and 2% negative when I'm dummy, declarer, or defender.

HighLow21, on 2012-February-02, 12:17, said:

The odds are that a pure bridge blog by an unknown player with no real-life credentials in the game isn't going to garner a wider audience than BBF. As far as publishing your success rate on BBF is concerned, I doubt that it will impress many readers.

There are several players at my local club who consistently score well in club games. They almost never win Sectionals and definitely aren't competitive in terms of placing well in Regionals, beyond the odd tertiary flighted KO's. They could post stats like yours, for their club games, but that wouldn't make them good players. I know for a fact that some of them do indeed regard themselves as expert. Indeed, many of the club players believe them to be so, primarily because the few real experts in town virtually never play at the club. I suspect that on-line you rarely, if ever, get to play against an expert pair (well.....I am sure you have played against many BBO 'experts' and perhaps a few World Class players that no real expert has ever heard of).

The way to gain credibility here is to make cogent posts in response to the questions posed. I also suggest that, in terms of the A/E forum in particular, that you avoid stating your position as if it were the definitive position.

I can hear those rolling in the aisles and saying something about the pot calling the kettle black, but the fact that I tend to do exactly what I said you shouldn't do doesn't invalidate my advice...it merely means that I should listen to myself (on this topic, anyway) more than I do

Do as I say, not as I do, eh? That's my motto too. :-) Thanks again

Phil, in response to your post, do you know anyone who needs a sandwich board? I'm selling. Brand new, barely been used.

HighLow21, on 2012-February-02, 14:31, said:

Mike is being overly modest. He is one of the most respected posters and we are all happy for him to post whatever he pleases. A position that he has earned.

He has been known to point to his own accomplishments (which is what he's kicking himself on) - but on the other hand, they're pretty serious accomplishments. Not, you know, Meckstroth-level, but certainly "I may not agree with him, but I'm certainly going to listen and work on understanding why I don't agree with him first" level.

*AND*, his comments are always cogent and persuasive (hmm. I wonder why?) Which is what counts, really.

mikeh, on 2012-February-02, 10:53, said:

Quote

Makes me realize I should be more careful with sarcasm online I guess, I can't believe two guys as smart as you did not know that han was mocking him! I guess if you are not a sarcastic person in general it's harder to recognize

I summarized the blog for those who don't want to read the whole thing.

No, you didn't at all; you chose a few lines out of context from the entire discussion in an attempt to belittle me publicly. Big difference.

tbf to the op, he self-rates on bbo as advanced.

we all know that's pretty rare humility.

Belittling others you don't even know is not humility.

Ah, I get it now. You also are making fun of me.

Yes, I self-rate as advanced because I am advanced. Switching my self-rating to Advanced was not a decision I took lightly. What I lack in tournament or other ACBL-sanctioned experience I make up for in many other areas. I am most definitely not an Expert for that precise reason, but I am not an Intermediate either. I rated myself as Intermediate for a long time. I made the switch recently when I realized I play the game far better than most people who were self-rated at least one class above Intermediate.

Humility is not composed of arrogance nor boasting to be sure, and I am guilty of those mistakes in some of my previous actions and I confess those mistakes and have made a direct attempt to amend them to the extent possible. It is also, however, not composed of self-flagellation nor false modesty. There are tens of thousands of players who are far better and more experienced than I am but there are more who aren't as good as I am.

Do I have holes in my game? Absolutely. Feel free to indulge your whimsies by trying to locate them and poke at them. After all, isn't that what being an Expert at bridge is all about?

HighLow21, on 2012-February-03, 12:23, said:

Imo opinion you are a nice guy and have some skills about this game. You just had a rough start here in these forums as you already admitted it due to obvious reasons. Han did not try to belittle you imo and as far as i know him, not that he is my everyday beer buddy but thats his style, he doesnt attack people personally (although it may be recieved this way by some people), he has his own way of disagreeing with actions, opinions, choices etc and his way has been critisized by people who are a little too sensitive imo..One thing i can assure you is, he will be the first one to defend you, your idea or choice if he believes you are right, regardless of how many people are disagreeing or ganging up on you.

Overall i like the way you are trying to recover from the first rough impression that you created yourself and i can easily see you being nominated as best newcomer of the year in Dave's collumn next year if you survive these first days.

Sometimes being humble helps, for example i have more BBO masterpoints than Fred Gittelman and he started playing these tourneys way before me, but i never mentioned this at forums, never mentioned that i am way better than him, in order to not hurt his feelings

MrAce, on 2012-February-03, 13:01, said:

Thank you for this very thoughtful and balanced reply. I am indeed trying my best to recover from that early rough impression, which was a direct result of my own brazenness and I was duly socked for it.

I will keep your secret safe from Fred.

HighLow21, on 2012-February-03, 13:25, said:

I won't

HighLow21, on 2012-February-03, 12:23, said:

I have no idea what skill level you are, if you have some good input to forums I don't really care but your reason for rating yourself as Advanced "I realized I play the game far better than most (BBO) people who were self-rated at least one class above Intermediate." is just NONSENSE! And imo, has done more to discredit you than anything else you've said here.