[pclayton]

B Players please

♠KJT9x ♥J8xx ♦Ax ♣xx

(1♦) - 1♠ - (2♦) - p; p- ?

[keylime]

Pard's pass is interesting.

Phil: What is X by 4th seat here? Defined?

[NickRW]

Why didn't I call the director? I appear to have 12 cards.

What is a "B" Player? A beginner? Why do you want the opinions of beginners? Or is "B" a system I haven't heard of?

[pclayton]

NickRW, on Nov 12 2008, 03:48 PM, said:

Why didn't I call the director? I appear to have 12 cards.

What is a "B" Player? A beginner? Why do you want the opinions of beginners? Or is "B" a system I haven't heard of?

A "B" player isn't a beginner, but doesn't have a lot of masterpoints. In the US, its under 1000, 1500 or 2000, depending on the strats.

This hand a dub club; corrected.

[Lobowolf]

"B Player" in the USA is roughly "intermediate to adv-." As opposed to "A Player" (advanced or better) or "C Player" (novice to intermediate -). These are very rough designations, as the actual classifications in American club and tournament play revolve around the number of masterpoints that a person has, so some C players are better than some A players. By and large, though, a B-player is an intermediate.

[cherdano]

I am not good enough to participate in this poll.

Btw, Phil, did you completely stop reading your posts before clicking on submit? Aside from the 12-card hand, the title doesn't match the auction, and you didn't give the scoring and vulnerability (which obviously matters a lot here).

[matmat]

cherdano, on Nov 12 2008, 07:17 PM, said:

I am not good enough to participate in this poll.

me neither.

[pclayton]

cherdano, on Nov 12 2008, 04:17 PM, said:

I am not good enough to participate in this poll.

Btw, Phil, did you completely stop reading your posts before clicking on submit? Aside from the 12-card hand, the title doesn't match the auction, and you didn't give the scoring and vulnerability (which obviously matters a lot here).

Yeah I know; this was at a game and I posted in a rush, since this actually happened at the table.

It was all vul BTW. At Matchpoints.

[cherdano]

I am not a B player but I would

Spoiler

pass

.

[blackshoe]

Classification of players by the number of masterpoints held is a crock. For one thing it leads to idiotic statements like this one that I heard a while back "I have 2000 master points, so I know what I'm talking about." Pfui.

I think it was Edgar Kaplan who said "the fact that one has a lot of master points does not mean that one is a good bridge player. It just means that one has played a lot of bridge."

[effervesce]

It looks like there is a good chance the opps should probably have been in NT, not 2♦, given partner's silence.

The hearts just aren't good enough for me - I'll pass. Partner didn't double 2♦ too. Partner's likely to be 2335 if he's got values, and if not, it's the opponent's hand.

Bidding 2♥ is assuming partner didn't know how to bid. It may work if partner didn't have a pass, but if you keep doing this, partner won't learn how to bid, relying on you to bid for him/her. This may be good in the short term, but in the long term for your partner's bidding. If you should be in hearts, then partner should probably have made a X of 2♦.

[jtfanclub]

effervesce, on Nov 13 2008, 12:20 AM, said:

It looks like there is a good chance the opps should probably have been in NT, not 2♦, given partner's silence.

I think it's also possible that partner has a 10 count or so, but his best suit is diamonds.

I don't have defense to set this if he's going to leave in an X. I pass as well.

[gwnn]

pass wtp?

[Codo]

Lets make the silly assumption that anybody has his bid so far. In this case, the opponents have 8 Diamonds, which leaves 3 to my partner. He did not raise, so he has at most 2 Spades. So he has 8 cards in hearts and clubs. He did not double.
So he is lacking values or he has no 4 Hearts. If he has longer hearts, he is too weak to bid them nonforcing. If he has longer clubs, I want to defend.
And besides this: It is entirely possible that partner has even more Diamonds.

I think my first thought at the table had been 2 Heart, but after thinking, passing is obvious.

[cherdano]

blackshoe, on Nov 12 2008, 11:13 PM, said:

I think it was Edgar Kaplan who said "the fact that one has a lot of master points does not mean that one is a good bridge player. It just means that one has played a lot of bridge."

Nope that was me.

Do we really have to attribute remarks stating the obvious to deceased authorities?

[ArtK78]

Edgar Kaplan's famous remark about masterpoints relates to an episode which occurred during the Life Master Individual, which, at one time, was a prestigious national championship event.

He played one round with a little old lady. The LOL opened the bidding and some disaster inevitably ensued. The LOL said something like "I thought I had to bid game - I had 13 points!" To which Edgar replied, "It was my fault, dear, I thought you had 300!"

[blackshoe]

cherdano, on Nov 13 2008, 05:33 AM, said:

blackshoe, on Nov 12 2008, 11:13 PM, said:

I think it was Edgar Kaplan who said "the fact that one has a lot of master points does not mean that one is a good bridge player. It just means that one has played a lot of bridge."

Nope that was me.

Do we really have to attribute remarks stating the obvious to deceased authorities?

We do if they are in fact the ones who made them.

[pclayton]

Partner had ♠xx ♥Axxx ♦K9xx ♣Axx and hitched noticeably before passing. The subject hand balanced, this hand raised and they were +140. Perhaps balancing may be clear to some, but its a lot more attractive when pard has a max pass.

I don't think balancing is clear at all. You have a minimum overcall and partner has passed. Twice. Plus the opponents with a preponderance of the deck, have subsided in a low-scoring contract.

I rolled it back to 2♦ -1, which was still a good board for EW. The 2♦ bidder had a 3=3=3=4 8 count.