[bid_em_up]

How would you describe your preferred level of competitions?

[SoTired]

I read a poll that said 80% of bridge players classify themselves as "above average"

[goobers]

SoTired, on Apr 17 2007, 02:10 PM, said:

I read a poll that said 80% of bridge players classify themselves as "above average"

BBO self ratings certainly lend themselves to that statement.

[FrancesHinden]

"Preferred level of competition" and "what level would describe your abilities" aren't the same thing. I've preferred to play in national/international tournaments from not long after I learned the game. All that's changed in the past 15 years is that i) I do better in them now than I did then but ii) I'm not longer eligible for either the junior or the non-expert prizes.

[bid_em_up]

FrancesHinden, on Apr 17 2007, 02:36 PM, said:

"Preferred level of competition" and "what level would describe your abilities" aren't the same thing.  I've preferred to play in national/international tournaments from not long after I learned the game. All that's changed in the past 15 years is that i) I do better in them now than I did then but ii) I'm not longer eligible for either the junior or the non-expert prizes.

The thread title mistakenly said "What level of competition would best describe your, abilities?"

My intent was not to ask people to "How would they describe their level of play", but to ask "At what level of competition do you prefer to play"? or "Normally play".

I think Frances understood that, but a couple of others may not have.

[BillHiggin]

How many of you "experts" will confess to being club level players?

Not quite equivalent to "when did you stop beating your wife?" but close.

[bid_em_up]

BillHiggin, on Apr 17 2007, 02:42 PM, said:

How many of you "experts" will confess to being club level players?

Not quite equivalent to "when did you stop beating your wife?" but close.

Many players here do not claim to be experts.

Anyone is free to answer the poll without commenting, so noone would know who they are anyway.

I am not sure what your post has to do with anything.

Btw, is it just me or does your avatar look like Jerry Helms?

[mikeh]

FrancesHinden, on Apr 17 2007, 02:36 PM, said:

"Preferred level of competition" and "what level would describe your abilities" aren't the same thing. I've preferred to play in national/international tournaments from not long after I learned the game. All that's changed in the past 15 years is that i) I do better in them now than I did then but ii) I'm not longer eligible for either the junior or the non-expert prizes.

I suspect that this forum self-selects for players who would prefer to play 'up'. But in the ACBL, I would suspect that probably 80% or more of players who attend tournaments (so this selects against players who confine themselves to club play) have no interest in playing up. When we do have matchpoint events, they are usually stratafied (all play, but awards are made based on masterpoint strata) or strata-flighted. Now, the strata-flighted is a weird concept, but very popular. The 'best' players are segregated into an A/X flight (a mini-stratified with only two flights) while the rest are in an B/C/D strata.

There is no minimum masterpoint eligibility: anyone can play in the A/X... but you cannot play elsewhere if you have, typically, more than 1500 mps.

So you'd expect a lot of improving players to want to play in A/X... but that is almost never the case. And we see such things as a letter to the ACBL Bulletin a couple of years ago in which the letter writer wrote to complain that she and her teammates, each with about 2500 - 3000 masterpoints, were forced to play a pro team in the first round of a KO in a small regional... she felt that this wasn't fair... they didn't play all that money to play against strong players!

I remember (vaguely) being thrilled when, as a young player, I got to play against the best. More than 20 years ago I was on a team on which the leading player had less than 1000 mps and we played a team with Ron Anderson and Eric Rodwell in the semis of the KO (which was not bracketed in those days, else we'd never have played against them). We won... and what a rush that was! So we lost the finals the next day... I don't remember a single hand from the finals, but I will never forget some of them against Anderson, including when he offered to bet me $100 that I had misplayed a making grand slam....

These days, the entire business model of the ACBL is to prevent that from happening... not because it is bad for the game, but because the vast majority of the fee-paying customers have no desire to play against players more skilled than themselves.

[awm]

For the most part I prefer national level events, although I'll play "down" in events with cash prizes on occasion (not so wealthy that I can afford to pass it up). Of course, these prizes are few and far between here in the USA, but examples are the NAP and GNT events that subsidize trips to nationals.

I agree with Mikeh that in the current environment in ACBL-land, there are a lot of people who don't want to play against the best, even with the protection of stratification, which is kind of sad. For the rest of us, the bracketing/flighting process has the annoying side-effect of making it harder for those of us who do want to compete against the best but don't have the time to collect huge numbers of acbl points (they won't usually let people play in bracket one unless they have the requisite 30,000 points for a team or whatever the line is).

[BillHiggin]

bid_em_up, on Apr 17 2007, 02:58 PM, said:

Btw, is it just me or does your avatar look like Jerry Helms?

I am sure that there exist certain individuals in addition to myself that resemble my avitar. The artistic relatative that drew the sketch originally was certainly staring at me. Twas at a wedding reception, so one cannot assume that he saw exactly what he was looking towards.

Later, as I was attempting to teach myself AutoCAD (engineering drafting software), I used that to transcribe the sketch from its napkin - stroke by stroke. Large quantities of beer were invested in the effort.

[SoTired]

mikeh, on Apr 17 2007, 03:31 PM, said:

But in the ACBL, I would suspect that probably 80% or more of players who attend tournaments ... have no interest in playing up. ... letter to the ACBL Bulletin a couple of years ago in which the letter writer wrote to complain that she and her teammates, each with about 2500 - 3000 masterpoints, were forced to play a pro team in the first round of a KO in a small regional... she felt that this wasn't fair... they didn't play all that money to play against strong players! ... because the vast majority of the fee-paying customers have no desire to play against players more skilled than themselves.

I think it is more basic than that. I think most players want to win. Period. If they could fix the game so they only played against novices and win, they would do that.

Before the MSNBC folded, they had a rating system where 50=average. Some games had 2 sections flighted to "under 50" and "open." But many, many good players would manipulate their ratings to stay under 50. Much more than 50% of the members had ratings below 50, many were 47-49. Very few had ratings 50-55. If you were an honest player with a 54 rating, you could not play in the under 50 game, and had trouble finding a partner in the open game because most were over 55 and many over 60.

[pbleighton]

Quote

How many of you "experts" will confess to being club level players?

Me.

Peter

[bid_em_up]

BillHiggin, on Apr 17 2007, 03:43 PM, said:

bid_em_up, on Apr 17 2007, 02:58 PM, said:

Btw, is it just me or does your avatar look like Jerry Helms?

I am sure that there exist certain individuals in addition to myself that resemble my avitar. The artistic relatative that drew the sketch originally was certainly staring at me. Twas at a wedding reception, so one cannot assume that he saw exactly what he was looking towards.

Later, as I was attempting to teach myself AutoCAD (engineering drafting software), I used that to transcribe the sketch from its napkin - stroke by stroke. Large quantities of beer were invested in the effort.

A pic of Jerry can be found here:

http://www.jerryhelmsbridge.com/images/Pic...Bob_Hampton.jpg



Jerry is the one on the right. I rest my case.

[pclayton]

I play at all levels; club / unit / sectional / regional / national. OK; I haven't been to a world championship yet

My preference is the Nationals. There is nothing like them. At the regionals, people generally go home after the sessions, but when everyone is an out-of-towner, there is a party atmosphere after the 2nd session. And its not just about the drinking; its going over the hands and telling stories. All great fun.

[skjaeran]

I mostly play at upper level or national tournaments. On occasion I've played open international championships (european open pairs and teams). 20 years ago I played in the national "schools" team in the nordic youth teams championship, partnering Geir Helgemo in his first international teams championship. He was 17 then, and already close to world class.

[Al_U_Card]

Where I LIKE to play is the midnite swiss, with beer.....always the best game in town (or at least the most enjoyable.....)

[Echognome]

Jlall, on Apr 17 2007, 02:07 PM, said:

pclayton, on Apr 17 2007, 04:59 PM, said:

...but when everyone is an out-of-towner, there is a party atmosphere after the 2nd session. And its not just about the drinking; its going over the hands and telling stories. All great fun.

And goin to the OC

I'll second that opinion.