[Fluffy]

when I tried them I think I could only make a compound squeeze one, but by pure luck.

[pooltuna]

Jlall, on Apr 13 2010, 01:20 PM, said:

Done with 15, missed 5 and 9 so far, completely tilted that I missed 5 still...

edit: F my life mistimed 16...

too bad real life doesn't announce "This is a toughie"

[Fluffy]

mikeh, on Apr 13 2010, 05:32 PM, said:

fred, on Apr 13 2010, 12:22 PM, said:

G_R__E_G, on Apr 13 2010, 04:44 PM, said:

I'd like to hear if Fred thinks he could do it.  :-)

I very much doubt I could do it even if I had a gun against my head. In the absense of the gun, I would not have the patience to give it my best effort. I am pretty sure that my best effort would have been better 20 years ago than it is now.

When we first created Bridge Master (in 1992), we used Eric Rodwell as one of our guinea pigs. If I recall correctly, he got 25 of 30 hands from A-5 right on his first attempt. It took Eric the better part of a day to accomplish this - it seemed like he was trying hard.

At the time I thought that this was a remarkable performance (and I still do). I suspect that the number of players who could score this well would be very small.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

I am so relieved to hear that There is one level 5 problem that I have got wrong every single time I tried it....I haven't tackled it for years but for a while I ran the level 5 hands before every CNTC as part of getting my mind into the right state, and even tho I had seen the answer maybe 4 or 5 times, I'd still get stuck. I wonder if I could do it now? I sorta doubt it...declarer play tends to get worse with age once one is beyond a certain point.

good for you that you can rethink them, I remember most of them, happens also with kelsey's books.

[Jlall]

Went over on time on 22 and still have no clue heh. Gotta work, I've gotten 4 wrong out of 23 so far, meh. Doesn't look like I'll beat Rodwell Getting 5 wrong will tilt me forever.

[dburn]

Where can one obtain these problems?

[Jlall]

dburn, on Apr 13 2010, 02:03 PM, said:

Where can one obtain these problems?

You can buy them from the BBO store on the windows client, dunno about the java one.

Also I asked Bramley and he said he does not think he could do all 30 with a 5 min time limit per hand.

[vuroth]

What's the difference between the windows client version and this: http://bbi.bridgebas...are/bm2000.html ?

[fred]

vuroth, on Apr 13 2010, 07:30 PM, said:

What's the difference between the windows client version and this: http://bbi.bridgebas...are/bm2000.html ?

The CD-ROM consists of 36 hands from each of the 5 skill levels and sells for $60 (plus $5 for first class air mail shipping).

The hands in the Windows client are the same, but it is more economical to buy them this way for two reasons:

1) Even if you all 5 sets of deals that come with the CD, the price is $50 instead of $60.

2) For most people only some of the 5 levels will be interesting/useful. If you buy the CD, some of what you are paying for will be too easy and/or hard for you. When you buy Bridge Master hands through the Windows client, you pay for hands at only the level(s) that interest you.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[dburn]

Jlall, on Apr 13 2010, 12:47 PM, said:

Little Kid, on Apr 13 2010, 12:29 PM, said:

Well, I just started them and am already stuck on number 5 Don't want to try the next ones until I get it right without looking at the answers though.

Yeah I got the first 4 in about 5 seconds each and I'm tanking hardddddd on #5 lol

edit: Your rating: INCORRECT

edit: Dammit got it right on my 2nd try.......................... NOOOOOOOOO.

Interesting problem, #5 (in the free samples). How should South play if East puts the king of spades on his partner's jack at trick one?

[MFA]

There are 3 series of 30 boards, that's a total of 90 level 5 boards, right?

[Phil]

Jlall, on Apr 13 2010, 12:47 PM, said:

Little Kid, on Apr 13 2010, 12:29 PM, said:

Well, I just started them and am already stuck on number 5 Don't want to try the next ones until I get it right without looking at the answers though.

Yeah I got the first 4 in about 5 seconds each and I'm tanking hardddddd on #5 lol

edit: Your rating: INCORRECT

edit: Dammit got it right on my 2nd try.......................... NOOOOOOOOO.

Which set are you on? There's three sets.

[Mbodell]

matmat, on Apr 13 2010, 08:13 AM, said:

Little Kid, on Apr 13 2010, 05:04 AM, said:

Just out of curiosity, what percentage of "BBO experts" or better do you think can solve all the Bridge Master 2000 level 3 hands? Lets say they get 10 min to play each hand (no second attempts for any hand).

I fixed the question.

To be realistic, what percentage of "BBO experts" would solve all 30 level 1 problems at the table?

My guess is it is still less than 10%. People make mistakes all the time.

I'll can check my spreadsheet when I get home but I think my "right on first try" percentage for each level was something like "90%, 80%, 40%, 50%, 20%" when I last went through the B set. The first time I did the A level 5 problems I only got 2 right on the first try and even when retrying the level 5s I still solved less than 1/3 of them. Now I can solve nearly all the level 5s on multiple tries, but I often mess up the timing or get only 2 of the 3 key points on the first try.

[babalu1997]

dorothy truscott listed 41 declarrer play problems in her books and added a rating for the number of problems solved

39-41 When is your book coming out?

[eyhung]

Mbodell, on Apr 13 2010, 06:09 PM, said:

To be realistic, what percentage of "BBO experts" would solve all 30 level 1 problems at the table?

My guess is it is still less than 10%.  People make mistakes all the time.

Anyone who doesn't get all of the level 1 problems (and level 2 problems, for that matter) at the table isn't an expert, in my opinion. I just went through all 36 in level I A, they are really trivial for any competent declarer -- guessing KJ combinations when someone has / hasn't opened, hold up plays in notrump, establishing tricks by promotion, etc. That doesn't apply to level 3, in particular A-20 which has been cited as a common blind spot for many experts.

Maybe BBO should administer a bridge master test using the free deals before letting people set their level as expert or world class.

[Jlall]

eyhung, on Apr 13 2010, 10:29 PM, said:

Mbodell, on Apr 13 2010, 06:09 PM, said:

To be realistic, what percentage of "BBO experts" would solve all 30 level 1 problems at the table?

My guess is it is still less than 10%.  People make mistakes all the time.

Anyone who doesn't get all of the level 1 problems (and level 2 problems, for that matter) at the table isn't an expert, in my opinion. I just went through all 36 in level I A, they are really trivial for any competent declarer -- guessing KJ combinations when someone has / hasn't opened, hold up plays in notrump, establishing tricks by promotion, etc. That doesn't apply to level 3, in particular A-20 which has been cited as a common blind spot for many experts.

Maybe BBO should administer a bridge master test using the free deals before letting people set their level as expert or world class.

I think the point was most "BBO experts" are not experts.

[Jlall]

I timed out on 28, think I could have gotten it.

Just wanna say these bridge masters are awesome, they have given me a renewed interest in bridge, recommend everyone get them. 10 bucks for 30 of these hands is a ridic steal.

[mgoetze]

eyhung, on Apr 14 2010, 04:29 AM, said:

Maybe BBO should administer a bridge master test using the free deals before letting people set their level as expert or world class.

I'm surprised it took until page 3 for someone to recommend this...

[gnasher]

Jlall, on Apr 14 2010, 07:17 AM, said:

I timed out on 28, think I could have gotten it.

Just wanna say these bridge masters are awesome, they have given me a renewed interest in bridge, recommend everyone get them. 10 bucks for 30 of these hands is a ridic steal.

Me too. I've always thought it a shame that there aren't more deals, though.

[mohitz]

Is there any chance they are going to be available in the web-client?

[MFA]

Mbodell, on Apr 14 2010, 03:09 AM, said:

matmat, on Apr 13 2010, 08:13 AM, said:

Little Kid, on Apr 13 2010, 05:04 AM, said:

Just out of curiosity, what percentage of "BBO experts" or better do you think can solve all the Bridge Master 2000 level 3 hands? Lets say they get 10 min to play each hand (no second attempts for any hand).

I fixed the question.

To be realistic, what percentage of "BBO experts" would solve all 30 level 1 problems at the table?

My guess is it is still less than 10%. People make mistakes all the time.

I just tried trial deal 1 at level 1. There were 9 top tricks in 3NT!? Ice-cold from the top, no finessing or anything. If the deals don't get harder than this...