BBO Discussion Forums: Is Your Name Jeff? - BBO Discussion Forums

Click next to reach the 8-card ending. Needing 6 more tricks, how do you play?

PS: This hand was actually played by Jeff Meckstroth

Very double dummy, but the auction allows you to do it.

Here is the situation with 8 cards remaining, needing 6 tricks.

Spoiler

In this position, Meckstroth exited with the spade 10.

I doubt I’d ever find this at the table, even after being in the tank for so ,long that my opponents had gone out for dinner and returned before I played to trick 6.

But, as is often the case, the solution is ‘obvious’ once one seems it.

Say west wins and plays a diamond. Win, cash the spade King, pitching dummy’s diamond Jack.

Ruff a diamond, getting back the spade ruff we forsook earlier. Ruff a low club and exit a heart, spreading your hand as you claim….earning a nomination for the best played hand of the year.

A spade back by west is no better, nor is the diamond King (which is actually worse in an irrelevant sense)

mikeh, on 2021-August-24, 13:58, said:

I doubt I would (or could) have ever found it - and that Meckstroth found it at the table astounds me. It reminds me of Hamman's defense against Marty Bergen's 5D doubled. I wonder if Meckstroth, like Hamman, is also a fine chess player. It is hard to visualize that far in advance without training your mind.

wow! it is "thinking outside the box" in a bridge way. absolute brilliant!!! thank you for posting winstonm

mikeh, on 2021-August-24, 13:58, said:

This is why I abandoned my hopes to one day play in the Bermuda Bowl - west saw this coming and played low on the 10! It didn't matter, but that he also saw the ending was enough to put me on the bench permanently.

Winstonm, on 2021-August-24, 19:15, said:

Don’t give up. I’ve played in the Bermuda Bowl twice. However, if you want to actually win, or even medal, in the Bermuda Bowl, then I’m with you…..these guys are too good🤨

This illustrates the kind of vision and analytical power needed to become world class, and why I will never get anywhere near that level. I can at least try to play as well as I can on any given session.

mikeh, on 2021-August-24, 22:41, said:

Congratulations on your accomplishments!

mikeh, on 2021-August-24, 22:41, said:

this is the difference between chess and bridge. in a chess game you are playing one board for a result: win, lose, draw. in a bridge game you are playing a series of boards, me think about 160 in a Bermuda final. (?) being too good or brilliant on one board by a great play or defense will help your score, but being stable over the other 150+ other boards is what helps your win? do you think that is the right way to look at this?

how many times in a bridge match does a great play actually happen? one, two, three? missing slams, games and part score plus hands will cancel out any brilliancy prize very quickly.

I admire the clever play, how they visualize the cards, but stable bidding and card play through all the boards is a big factor. Meckwell also do that, but they have had lots of practise

LBengtsson, on 2021-August-25, 08:35, said:

I think so


On any given day, when I’m on my game, I can play 95% or more hands as well as just about anyone. Teams I’ve been on have beaten teams with multiple WC players, including blitzing a very strong Italian team (missing, iirc, only one of their then international team).

But, speaking for myself, I’m not always on my game, and I tend to lose focus too often. When I do, I become conservative in the bidding and miss inferences on the play. The best players virtually never lose focus, so they rarely deviate from their bidding style and always count, visualize and so on in the play.

I’m sure that there are a lot of ‘pretty good’ amateurs out there who have the same issues as I do. I can claim, with a little justification, that this is a result of not playing all the time, but the reality is that my teams tend to do well against our peers and not well in long events with top pros dominating the field.

mikeh, on 2021-August-25, 12:08, said:

I suspect part of the reason I blow MPs frequently is related to only playing 2-3 times a month, so I have never properly trained myself to focus and infer everything possible. Another issue is even in club games I can get fatigued in the second half of the session (especially if the hands are biased the other way and I am defending frequently). If I have to defend six or seven times consecutively it is inevitable I will mess up at least one of the hands.