[TimG]

JLOGIC, on 2012-February-19, 05:36, said:

Sadly true, but it is the game with by far the most money in it, so it's worth it as long as you don't play full time imo. I mean if you can part time it and make 6 figures a year it's worth it for a while even if it's boring imo. Of course if you are successful/rich with other ventures, don't bother.

A bit of a hijack, but where do US residents play online poker these days?

I used to play a bit of low stakes, but stopped for a while and then when I went back to try it again, I found the environment had changed considerably (and my funds no longer available)!

[TimG]

neilkaz, on 2012-February-24, 11:54, said:

I'd be interested in a BBF Diplomacy game.

Me too.

Quote

I recall when at college, going to a local bridge club that had an enlarged diplomacy map(Japan, China, India added and 4 armies to start with for most civs (6 for Russia)) which made for a fun game on some Friday nights..I partied almost every other night anyhow so didn't mind gaming on Fridays.

There are a lot of modified version of the game, some with very minor modifications and some with entirely different maps.

[TimG]

Lobowolf, on 2012-March-16, 00:07, said:

And on the all-time multi-game list, even if it's just 2 games, Stu Ungar was just sick. It would be like if chess wasn't Bobby Fischer's best game.

Wasn't Billy Eisenberg once a backgammon and bridge world champion?

Kit Woolsey can probably make a valid cherdano-like claim that that there is no one in the world better than he is at both bridge and backgammon (or coudl have at some point in the last 25 years).

Was bridge Oswald Jacoby's best game?

[Zelandakh]

Antrax, on 2012-July-17, 09:45, said:

What's a Woodpusher? It sounds dirty.

A player who likes to push pawns, usually at the expense of development. The classical counter is to develop your pieces elestically and then pick the right moment to make a counter-strike in the centre. The advanced pawns can then become weaknesses for your better positioned forces (and also in the endgame).

[Antrax]

Thanks, never heard the term. Based on the description, he was a beginner, I'm guessing? Back when I played online, I didn't see many people above 1200 ELO or so play like that.

[Zelandakh]

He was not a beginner, simply of a lowish club player standard. He was also (clearly) not used to losing that way so I can assume the local standard, at least on the beach, was quite poor. You get Woodpushers at most levels of play. I was better than ELO 1200 when I played that way, for example. As the player gets better the pawn-pushing tends to be less at the expense of (early) development and more to create an active plan, even when the position is objectively not good enough to create such weaknesses. A very small number of players at IM standard have also been described as Woodpushers (Michael Basman for one) although that is clearly not correct in the normal sense of the term - it is all relative.

[Cyberyeti]

Zelandakh, on 2012-July-18, 04:49, said:

A very small number of players at IM standard have also been described as Woodpushers (Michael Basman for one) although that is clearly not correct in the normal sense of the term - it is all relative.

Basman was a lunatic at the chess table (in a good fun way). I remember a game published a long while ago under the title of "How weird is your chess" where you're invited to duplicate a number of his consecutive moves. This task is nearly impossible.

I played chess in a vaguely similar style up to about 180 BCF (around 2000 ELO equivalent) standard for a short while, but gave it up as it took way more effort than bridge to keep at a lower standard, and I wasn't likely to get much better.

I would add that a lot of the chess GMs at the Hastings congress used to enjoy a game of bridge in the evening, so I played with some of them when they needed a 4th. As I recall Mihai Suba was a pretty decent player.

[paulg]

Cyberyeti, on 2012-July-18, 05:00, said:

I would add that a lot of the chess GMs at the Hastings congress used to enjoy a game of bridge in the evening, so I played with some of them when they needed a 4th. As I recall Mihai Suba was a pretty decent player.

Jonathan Mestel presumably the strongest bridge player amongst the GMs (given he is a GM at both!)?

[Cyberyeti]

paulg, on 2012-July-18, 05:43, said:

Jonathan Mestel presumably the strongest bridge player amongst the GMs (given he is a GM at both!)?

Not sure, (possibly mis)remembering from 20+ years ago, but Korchnoi was also reckoned to be a pretty strong bridge player. People from abroad are pretty difficult to rate for bridge ability if they don't play tournaments. Not sure if Suba played any EBU bridge before he went back to Romania.

[TimG]

Irina Levitina must rank pretty high in the bridge/chess duality.

[Fluffy]

Cyberyeti, on 2012-July-18, 05:00, said:

I would add that a lot of the chess GMs at the Hastings congress used to enjoy a game of bridge in the evening, so I played with some of them when they needed a 4th. As I recall Mihai Suba was a pretty decent player.

about Mihai Suba... maybe in the past, when I met him in 21st century his bridge was outdated. He still kicks some arse in chess even when he is a bit old now. His wife (now ex-wife) plays bridge very well.

[Fluffy]

JLOGIC, on 2012-February-16, 01:06, said:

Ok, maybe that is a stupid bet, but here is another story about Steve. A bunch of people including great card players were at Bobby Levins lakehouse. They were all playing a card game called asshole, which everyone but steve had played before. He was pretty bad getting the hang of everything, whatever. Everyone goes to sleep, and 8 hours later when people are getting up Steve suggests playing asshole. He crushes everyone, makes some amazing plays, and announces that he stayed up thinking about the game, lol.

Learning a new game and staying all night thinking about it is very common for me. Also winning the first game of a new game and the first 3-10 games after it as well. Learning new games fast is one of my best skills.

Crushing people on a game they already know and I don´t happens from time to time, but its obviously more complicated, last year I went to a board games convention and I decided to just sing up to every game I could and learn the rules just before the tourney started from the 3 I didn´t know at all, with 10-20 contesters each, I won one tourney, got second in another and reached semifinals in another.

I don´t know if I´d be better than Steve at that, but I could at least surprise him on new games.

[Cyberyeti]

Fluffy, on 2012-July-22, 01:52, said:

about Mihai Suba... maybe in the past, when I met him in 21st century his bridge was outdated. He still kicks some arse in chess even when he is a bit old now. His wife (now ex-wife) plays bridge very well.

Well this was circa 1990 and we were playing rubber bridge (and thus using pretty much a common outdated system) so I didn't get to assess that, looks like he didn't play tournaments then.