[bobbywjch]

Hi, Does anyone have good advice to high level bidding competitions?

any tips would be great. What do you think of law of total tricks and in what situations would you think twice even if the law says you should bid on?

[mikeh]

This is a tough topic to try to address in the space available for a post. There are, for one thing, so many variables... are we dealing with their preempt? Our preempt? A freak on which no-one knows whose hand it is? What is the form of scoring? What is the vulnerability?

Thus, to give one example of the use of aphorisms: we have 'the 5-level belongs to the opponents' battling with 'when in doubt, bid one more'.


MY observations of top-level bridge is that this is probably the area in which the very best players have a significant edge over run-of-the-mill experts. Hard work and discussion can give any good player good bidding tools with which to handle constructive bidding. While players like Rodwell and Rosenberg etc have an edge in declarer play, that edge probably generates no more than 1 good swing per session, because all experts, virtually by definition, are good declarers and the edge afforded by enhanced technique usually adds only a few percent to the success rate of any given contract... and sometimes the lower percentage play wins While, in modern bridge, when everyone is bidding, high-level decisions are more apt to arise and to create big swings.

I am not one of those top flight players, so it may be presumptuous of me to give advice.

Generally, at mps, let them have the 5-level... if you are saving and push them to the 5-level in a major, you have created a position that will, in the long run, be a winning one for you more often than not. If you are bidding to make, and they take the save, then unless you have an undisclosed surprise that makes bidding on appear sound, take the money (by doubling or making a forcing pass if it is both appropriate and possible to involve partner).

At imps, taking 500 when you could have got 650 but might have been -100, is no crime. But, if the hand is a freak, and either you don't know who is bidding to make or maybe both are making, take insurance and bid one more.

The most common error I see made by non-experts is allowing the opps to push them around.. to bid over the sacrifice...

This is true at imps and mps.... the aphorism of bid one more applies only when you don't know who can make what.

The above is a broad-strokes post, and the devil resides in the details

BTW, while I use the LOTT in some circumstances, be aware that it is often off, sometimes by 2 or 3 tricks, when the distribution is wild, so I think that reliance on the LOTT, except in very informative auctions, may be hazardous to your health. Consider it, to be sure, but don't become robotic.. the same advice that applies to virtually all generalized rules of valuation.

[ArtK78]

A long time ago there was a Bridge World article on this topic. The author's theory was that in close cases the decision to bid, double or pass could often be made by focusing on your holding in the opponent's suit. A singleton or void would indicate that you should continue bidding (whether by making a forcing pass or by bidding directly) but a doubleton would indicate that you should double. Three or more should mean that partner is short, but you could probably pass the decision around to partner if you don't have a clear double on your own.

In my experience, at IMPs when both sides are bidding to a high level one should frequently bid one more. Going down one when you could have beaten the opponents one trick is no disaster, but doubling for a one or two trick set when you are making or, worse, when they are making or, even worse, when both sides are making can be a disaster.

[Cascade]

I have never been so sure about the theory that the singleton hand should be making a decision to bid on. If you are short your partner might have a stack.

On the other hand with three or four small it is now obvious partner doesn't have wastage in this suit or alternatively that your side values are all working.