[mike777]

Yet another first time pair playing with almost no agreements has won a Championship. See ACBL bulletin for Monday.

http://www.acbl.org/

btw good luck forum posters Justin L. and Phil Clayton and others I may have missed in the Spingold.

[hrothgar]

I always wonder such happenings get get such prominent treatment...
Its almost as if the Bulletin is trying to push some kind of agenda.

Of course, its quite telling that both members of the winning pair prefer to play much more complex methods in well established partnerships. Also, Bramley noted that the pair got lucky that they didn't run into any complicated sequences.

Finally, it should be noted that the Bulletin never explained just what the pair was playing. Personally, I expect that they agreed to play a fairly standard system without much customization. its not that the pair didn't have agreements, but rather that their agreements conformed to expected North American usage...

[kenberg]

mike777, on Jul 17 2006, 02:19 PM, said:

Yet another first time pair playing with almost no agreements has won a Championship. See ACBL bulletin for Monday.

http://www.acbl.org/

btw good luck forum posters Justin L. and Phil Clayton and others I may have missed in the Spingold.

I think you missed some guy named something like Gitelman who sometimes posts here.

[Gerben42]

There is a kind of magic about first time partnerships that is not present in second time partnerships. It has to do with that the first time you try harder to bid what partner expects, I guess.

[luke warm]

Gerben42, on Jul 17 2006, 04:57 PM, said:

There is a kind of magic about first time partnerships that is not present in second time partnerships.

yes, you always remember your first time

[ArcLight]

I also see Uday is playing. (Pair 12)

Good luck to all of you.

[barmar]

hrothgar, on Jul 17 2006, 03:26 PM, said:

I always wonder such happenings get get such prominent treatment...
Its almost as if the Bulletin is trying to push some kind of agenda.
...
Finally, it should be noted that the Bulletin never explained just what the pair was playing. Personally, I expect that they agreed to play a fairly standard system without much customization. its not that the pair didn't have agreements, but rather that their agreements conformed to expected North American usage...

I don't think it's an "agenda", it's just newsworthy. When an established partnership like Meckwell, with system notes the size of the Bible, wins something, it's practically expected. But if a first-time partnership comes out on top, it's more surprising.

Furthermore, there does seem to be a tendency to assume that "scientific" systems are more powerful than simple, natural ones. So it's interesting when a pair wins when they obviously have little science in their toolchest, just good bridge judgement. Science vs. judgement is the bridge analogue to biology's nature vs. nurture debate, so any occasion to showcase it makes good news.

And I'm sure you know what they mean by "no agreements". It obviously doesn't mean that they didn't agree on a system, just that they haven't discussed lots of detailed treatments. There's an expectation that this would result in lots of misunderstandings in complex auctions (e.g. "is he showing or asking"), so it's interesting if the partnership is able to succeed despite this potential.

[cherdano]

kenberg, on Jul 17 2006, 10:08 PM, said:

mike777, on Jul 17 2006, 02:19 PM, said:

Yet another first time pair playing with almost no agreements has won a Championship. See ACBL bulletin for Monday.

http://www.acbl.org/

btw good luck forum posters Justin L. and Phil Clayton and others I may have missed in the Spingold.

I think you missed some guy named something like Gitelman who sometimes posts here.

There is also a team including cardsharp and jchiu-hannie... Seeded no. 73 out of 78, they have a chance to surprise everyone! Go, 73, go!

[MickyB]

cherdano, on Jul 18 2006, 06:08 PM, said:

There is also a team including cardsharp and jchiu-hannie... Seeded no. 73 out of 78, they have a chance to surprise everyone! Go, 73, go!

71 actually, but near enough