thepossum, on 2019-March-05, 20:00, said:
Its not a matter of liking or disliking it
I guess after 8 months I should know that almost everyone responding to my threads misunderstands/misrepresents the point I'm trying to make - either genuinely or just to have a go
But its ok. I'm used to it now so I dont get upset anymore
Do you know how many perfectly genuine threads I have put up on this site that have been deliberately targetted and undermined by certain individuals and repeat offenders. It feels like a personal attack on me by those individuals
From my scores to date I am a better than average player on this site. I occasionally do well in tourneys. I am highly experienced. And yet from day 1 at the tables and the forum to today I am under constant and unpleasant attack. There is a cultural problem here and at the tables and a total lack of respect displayed on the forums and the tables.
I have kibitzed so called top players and observed behaviour from kibitzers and players that is totally disreputable to the game of bridge. There is a serious issue here
regards P
I am one of those you believe have attacked you personally. It isn't personal at all. I have no idea who you are and, were we to meet, I'd likely be happy to buy you a beer, if you turned out to be as you describe yourself. Unfortunately you have a pattern of seeing all criticism as being a personal attack, which is a very unattractive quality. Maybe you are like that only online.
In any event, I think that your perceptions of your own ability and knowledge, and your understanding of who may be a 'top player' is quite different from those of the more experienced players here.
I play on BBO only with friends or, back in the day, in practice matches with other international teams. I kibitz, if at all, only world class players (and I don't mean self-proclaimed BBO world class players). However, I used to play more frequently and indeed have formed friendships with several European players by doing so.
Thus I think I do know what I am talking about when I say that the standard of play in BBO is extremely weak, on the whole. Back in the day, when practicing with a partner, we'd open a table and post that we wanted 'strong experts'. Once in a while we had one opponent who seemed to know what he or she was doing, but it was rare indeed to get two opps who could play with any degree of competence, even tho we always allowed them to discuss the meanings of bids during the auction (only fair since we had a complex method we knew well).
Doing above average on BBO, especially against or in a field with robots, is not evidence of any meaningful ability or skill. You won't like reading this, but the average player on BBO is so profoundly ignorant of the true features of the game that, in a real sense, they are not even playing the same game as experts (real life experts) play.
Your comment about the conduct of top players strikes me as strange. I have played in two Bermuda Bowls, several other World Championships, and have encountered numerous top players in lesser events. Almost without exception the demeanour and ethics of the top players has been exemplary.
Another issue: in the post you made prior to this one you seemed to think that bidding is the element of IMPs that requires the most concentration and 'maybe' play at mps.
That sort of statement reflects a lack of understanding.
Imps and mp bridge are related but different games. For example, while I have won a few regional matchpoint events, I consider myself an imp player, and one reason I tend to do better at imps than at mps is that I do not much change my bidding philosophy at mps compared to imps. I do change my declarer and defence style, of course. Since my goal is to do well in imp events, I don't want to develop mp habits that might leak over into my imp game, beyond some of the obvious stated below.
Both bidding and play require complete concentration at both forms of scoring, but the factors that influence what one bids and how one plays are very different.
At imps:
a) stretch to bid vulnerable games. As a rough guideline, if the game is about 40%, bid it. The actual assessment is a bit more involved than that, but that's a good rule of thumb
b) don't double the opps into game unless you KNOW they rate to go down at least 2 tricks
c) don't be afraid of playing in a minor...don't feel that one has to play notrump. While few can do this, I was once on a team with Mike Passell, and we lost 2 imps when he bid 6D rather than 6N. He explained later that on the auction he could picture that he might need to be able to play for a squeeze that would not be possible in notrump but would be in diamonds. He was right, but unfortunately the hand broke so well that he didn't need the squeeze. He'd have bid 6N at mps, even though 6N was inferior in terms of likelihood of making.
d) be a little more disciplined with one's overcalls, since while they won't often double (see point b), when they do, you're going for your life if you have stretched
e) use safety plays when declaring. Of course, you have to have studied safety play technique.
f) related to (e) don't sweat the overtricks unless there is zero risk to the contract in doing so
g) on defence, don't sweat the overtricks. For example, if they are in game and you can see an unlikely lie of the cards that will lead to a set if it exists, but you are far more likely to be giving an overtrick....play for the set.
h) be willing to sacrifice more at imps than at mps.
In mps:
a) plus scores are king. Don't bid games or slams where you think the odds are no better than 50-50
b) be ready to double, even for a one trick set, especially if they are red. For example, you bid to 2S and the opps bid 3H in a situation where you assess that some pairs will be allowed to play 2S your way, which you think will make. If you think 3S is a good spot, or that 3H will make, by all means pass or bid 3S. But if you feel that 3S may be too much, and that there is some chance of beating 3H, double, especially if they are red: you want that magic 200, which will beat all partials your way, and the dreaded -730, while bad probably isn't matchpointing much worse than -140
c) while minor suit slams are somewhat attractive, in that sometimes one needs ruffs or other trump techniques to make the contract, minor suit games are rare creatures: it usually plays to try to play in notrump, whether at game or partscore levels. 8 tricks in 1N outscores 9 in a minor, and so on.
d) MP rewards frequency of gain, while IMPs awards size of gain. So be more aggressive in interference, since the occasional disaster will be offset by a greater number of (often) smaller gains
e) safety plays in mps are very rare indeed. One should consider them only in very unusual circumstances. For example, if one judges that one has reached a great contract that is unlikely to be bid at many tables, assure the contract if possible. Giving up an overtrick will still probably be worth 75% or better, if one has read the situation correctly
f) sweat the overtricks. Indeed, depending on how one thinks one's game is going, and how one assesses the chances for an overtrick it is not the least uncommon to risk a contract to seek an overtrick.
g) on defence really, really sweat the overtrick. Make more passive leads compared to imps. If there is an unlikely lie that will allow one to set their contract, at the risk of an overtrick, make the aggressive play only if you think that you're getting a really bad board already
h) sacrifices are low percentage actions at mps, unless very clear. Unless one is playing in the Blue Ribbon Pairs, or equivalent, you're probably better off, unless it is clear, to hope to get a set (which, in the typical mp field can often happen, particularly in a jammed auction) than to save. This is even more so when one has pushed them into a contract. Going for 800 against their 980 is not going to do you much good if the field in 480 their way. Meanwhile, +50 will be a top.
There is more, of course.
For example, at mps every hand, and every overtrick or undertrick may be critical, while at imps not so much. Say 1N 3N and there are 10 top tricks and a chance for an overtrick. While good players will focus on the overtrick even at imps (we've all won or lost events by 1 imp or 1VP), declarer usually won't agonize over it as he would at mps.
As for your initial point about distractions, while I suspect you disagree, concentration is at the heart of the game. If you actually did ever get to play against real experts, in a match or event of consequence, you'd notice that all of them are intensely focused.
One reason that, as a rule, the quality of bridge in the late stages of a major event is not as good as it was midway through the event is that some players get tired, and they lose the ability to maintain focus. That ability is at least as important as the ability to pull of a trump squeeze or a squeeze without the count: focus affects everything, advanced technique is rarely needed.
Anyway, I hope you will take this post as it was intended: not an attack on you but an effort to help you (and maybe other non-experts who read this) get some insight into some of the aspects of the game that can make it so enjoyable to play.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari