[nikos59]

Perhaps this should go to another section, dunno.

There is another thread in this section about a world class
player (acc. to his rating, that is) who psyched and
then doubled and redoubled or was dbled and redbled.
Too many redbles sort of intrigued me and I
remembered some 20-25 days ago having played
against another self-professed WC player who
managed in the space of 10 boards to play
two redbled contracts, both down 3 or so
resulting to assorted telephone numbers.

I remembered his/her name and although it does
not seem to be the same with the above who
psyched etc. there is a consistent pattern of
reckless/frivolous/put-your-own-adjective
bidding and a fondness to redoubles.

An example: the WC player holds 2nd to speak at fav:
Q743
Q6
AJ96
K87
and (s)he opens 1C, then it goes, with silent oppos:
1C - 1H
1S - 2D
3N - 6N
7N (dbl)
redbl

Down 3, 1000.

Okay, nothing serious. This one is mind-boggling:

Vul against not, my hero holds:
3
KJ106
AQ9763
J4

and hears RHO opening 2C strong. (S)he jumps to 3D. 3S by
Lefty, 4C by Righty, (s)he jumps to 5D. Double, redouble,
down 3, 1600.

This pattern is present always. Every day there are
2 or 3 redbled deals.

Now, all this is none of my business. I won't accept him/her
for partner, perhaps not for opponent because these things
are funny only once. Then they are boring. However...

I find this an abuse of the World Class designation. I know
that anyone can choose any rating he likes, but still I have
some respect for WCers. Moreover, if a newcomer comes
and this is the first WC rating he meets, he won't draw
correct conclusions as to the level of BBO. I don't mind
to see bad players posing as experts, but I suggest to
consider whether in extreme cases [such as this one]
BBO management takes away the rating "World Class"
from a player.

Opinions?

[pbleighton]

Sympathize, but disagree.

BBO is self-rated.

The first thing you learn is to ignore the ratings.

This is better than the alternative IMO.

Peter

[luke warm]

not sure 'world class' is self-rated... maybe it is, without the star, i don't know.. i do know that only fred can grant the star, so that's the only real way to tell whether or not a player is world class... i'd take even that with a grain of salt, there may be other reasons for the star (bridge related reasons)

[Flame]

I have no respect for World classers, i always look for adv or experts to play with, my next choice would be inters, then WC and private.
The chances of a WC player to be a bad player and a non serious player (redoubles...) are higher then an adv player. private is something else i dont like, if you want to play with me let me know ur level.
WC with a star is always welcome ofcourse.
I dont think there should be a change in levels , it just wont solve anything.

[nikos59]

Just a clarification: the redoubler in question was
a non-starred, self-professed WC player.

(And I also dislike privates but this is another thread)

[Flame]

You can look at a WCer profile and find clues there, a real WCer should have a name, and a country, also you could get some clues from what he writes at the buttom of the profile.
And last but not least you should ask yourself, is this a WC table ? if not then why is this WC trying to get here , maybe he's not a real WC.

[flytoox]

nikos59, on Dec 12 2004, 11:44 PM, said:

Just a clarification: the redoubler in question was
a non-starred, self-professed WC player.

(And I also dislike privates but this is another thread)

Many players choose private coz they dont want to be a world class in ur eyes, but they think they r better than `expert` on BBO, which is true most of time..

[Free]

There's only 1 way to know the level of a player, and that's sitting with them at a table when they aren't drunk. Everything else is irrelevant, there are also stars with a "novice" skill level, isn't that abuse of the real novice level?

[inquiry]

First, any random player in the main room who is playing with any random pick up partner and ranks himself as world class, isn't.

Here is a secret about world class players. There are very few of them, and while they will lower themselves to play with the likes of some of us because we are their friends, they don't generally hang out looking for a random partner on line. When was the last time you saw Zia or Soloway looking for someone to play with in the main room? You get my point.

Second, everyone over-inflates their self-rating. I myself rated myself as advanced for the majority of the time I am on line, but recently moved my self-rating up to expert. This advanced title for me is perfectly within the description suggested by Fred online. The reason is I that while I have dozens of sectional and regional wins, and more often than not finish high among the over rankings when I play in ACBL events, I have only played in three days in my life at national events, and one of those days was with a pickup partner. So I don't have any national wins (I do have two section tops but didn't place in the overalls). People have paid my entry fee and bought my meals to get to to go to regionals or sectionals with them or to play on their swiss teams, so I am not a horrible player. But out of self-defense, I felt compelled to change my rating to expert... in part because my friends on line who consider themselves experts (most sadly are not) thought I was sandbagging by claiming (quite correctly) that I was "advanced".

Which brings us back to the psychology of ranking oneself not only as "expert" but as world class. No doubt some rank themselves as WC as a joke or as a protest against self-ranking on BBO. I guess they should include a note about their protest in their profile. Some, sadly, have no clue as to how horrible they really are and profess to be world class. When we all know that if they are world class, then the remainder of us are "solar system" class, or "galaxy class" or "universe class" because their ability palls by comparison.

Laugh at them, and move on. If you want a real challenge, play against players who rate themselves as advanced. For some reason, it seems this group are more honest in their self-assessment than those at any other ranking.

[42]

Hi!

My immediate association with the abbreviation for worldclass as used in some postings is the place where you (better) are alone... Perhaps in a way this rating is for some ok...? Sorry when I lowered the standard niveau here

I wish all a nice x-mas time!
Caren

[EarlPurple]

Perhaps the reason many of us have never achieved all these wins is:

1. We simply don't play enough
2. We find it hard to find decent partners.

I'm sure if I'd had decent partners and played in every tournament I could find, I'd have a few wins.

[luke warm]

yeah.. most of the people i play with play some form of 2/1... the differences between them are just enought to convince me that while a very accomplished pair might do well using this system, it's just too complicated, in general (meaning, it goes to unnatural methods to bid some very easy hands)

[HeartA]

Most of the WCs I played with are OK, better than experts, statistically. But one WC has no clue on bidding and play. First hand, (s)he open 1S on 5=2=3=3 (no problem) with 14 hcp. And rebid 2S after my 1NT response! I asked him(her) why he rebid 2S, "I thought we play 2/1" was his reply. The second hand, he opened 1C and rebid 2D with 12 hcp and 1=0=6=6. Facing my stiff D and 4 clubs, he kept playing trump w/o trying to ruff Ds (DKJxxxx).

I couldn't stand anymore and decided to quit, and marked him as "enermy".

[Abadaba]

I always wonder ---- World Class (what)

[Double !]

Would a truly World Class player play and obtain results consistent with those reported in the initial posting in this thread? I doubt it. Most World Class players that I have known have focused on playing strong, consistent, Partnership bridge. Methinks Aba has it right: "world class what?"

[Flame]

Had a funny world class attack today on a short ind turney.
Partner the worldclasser doubled 1D and later showed a 6 card club suit, i assumed around 18 hcp and i onsidered a slam but settled down at 5c when i got doubled i redoubled.
Well partner had some 9 or so pnts and we payed 1600.

[luke warm]

Double !, on Dec 26 2004, 08:21 PM, said:

Would a truly World Class player play and obtain results consistent with those reported in the initial posting in this thread? I doubt it. Most World Class players that I have known have focused on playing strong, consistent, Partnership bridge. Methinks Aba has it right: "world class what?"

it depends on the partner