[nige1]

 HighLow21, on 2012-January-31, 18:03, said:

Hi Everyone! I have started a new bridge blog called Bridge Analysis. It is targeted at new-to-solid intermediates who are working towards becoming strong Intermediates or Advanced players. The blog will rely heavily on Intermediate-to-Advanced analysis of individual hands, both in defense and declarer play, and will include some detailed mathematical analysis where applicable. I will also have posts regarding my theories about practically every aspect of the game. Here is the blog: http://bridgeanalysis.blogspot.com/. All feedback and suggestions welcome. The reply to this post will include an excerpt from today's blog post on Defender's play. Thanks! -Tate Shafer

Good Luck!. Tate's idea for presentation is nifty-- a CSS Zen Garden Bridge-blog capable of further embellishment. Clear and simple English -- better than many bridge-teachers.. Advice at an appropriate level. Unless you're Justin Lall it's hard to win the credentials game. Damned if you admit some, damned if you don't..

[HighLow21]

Wow! Thanks, Nige1. There is a new post up today on voids if anyone's interested.

In reference to my decision about my self-assigned skill level --> the point I was trying to illustrate is that it was not a rash decision. It was very carefully, painstakingly decided upon. Are there some self-assigned Intermediates who are better than me? Certainly. Are there self assigned Experts who I am better than? I am playing against one right now. Does it really matter? No, not really.

All I ask is that you judge me on the quality of my blog and my insights here, to the extent that you are not familiar with my play.

[HighLow21]

http://bridgeanalysis.blogspot.com/

Here's a snippet from today's blog post on Voids:

OFFENSE EXAMPLES WITH A VOID

---

Slam is great here. As long as you find the Q♠, which you will at least 89% of the time, the 21 HCP slam only requires that clubs behave. All in, about a 73% slam.

---

How often will you make the game on 15 HCP? About 80% of the time. How often will this be doubled, especially if N/S opened the bidding? Oh, probably about half the time I would imagine.

THE DEFENSIVE ARGUMENT

A void also means that, provided that the opponents win the auction, you often have great defensive potential.

One possibility is that you can take as many as 4 ruffs in your hand to start the defense when partner has the opening lead and 3 entries. What fun for them to have their 4 side suit winners ruffed by you. Especially if they bid a suit game and you doubled for penalties.

...

Topics covered:

• Probability of a deal containing a void.
  
• Probability of a deal containing TWO voids.
  
• Offense Examples w/ a void.
  
• Defensive value of a void.
  
• Full writeup and analysis of a double-void hand I played.
  
• Bergen, Cohen, Lawrence, LOTT, Hand Evaluation and more.

[the hog]

 mikeh, on 2012-February-01, 10:29, said:

I checked.....your rights only extend to the USA. I have now obtained a licence for the 6♠ for the rest of the world.

My biggest coup will be the universal rights to 'x'. Still working on that.

You do not! I spoke to the President of Lao yesterday. He assured me that I still have total rights to the 6♠ here! So back off!

[han]

My impression is that his rating of advanced is probably correct, even though it is not clear what advanced means. I interpreted the comments in his blog ("Yes, I am pretty good at defense") as if the author considered himself expert or world class while he clearly isn't. I still find it an incredibly strange thing to say about oneself. It is also a shame because the blog is mostly about what it claims to be about, and would be much more readable (in my opinion) if it wasn't for the preposterous boasting.

MrAce doesn't have to defend me because I was indeed making fun of the author. I must admit that if I met an advanced player who kept telling experts how good is he and that they have no idea of how to play bid (see the BBF thread about a double of 5D), I would probably make fun of him in real life as well. I don't know many people like that though.

[han]

Regarding the latest post in your blog, you write about a hand with two voids that you recently played. You write that you could have taken more tricks if you had known about easts diamond void. (I agree that there was no way for you to know that east had a diamond void, although I really don't agree that east should have used exclusion blackwood if available.) Can you really take more tricks? How?

[Vampyr]

 han, on 2012-February-04, 01:27, said:

(see the BBF thread about a double of 5D)

Do you remember what it is called?

[han]

No, doesn't matter. The critique has clearly come across and I'm looking forward to the his future contributions.

[HighLow21]

 han, on 2012-February-04, 01:45, said:

Regarding the latest post in your blog, you write about a hand with two voids that you recently played. You write that you could have taken more tricks if you had known about easts diamond void. (I agree that there was no way for you to know that east had a diamond void, although I really don't agree that east should have used exclusion blackwood if available.) Can you really take more tricks? How?

Han,

I said "probably," as in, "I haven't really thought through the issue fully because I'm moving on to another thought right now." :-) After the opponents take the tricks they are entitled to their exit card options become limited fairly quickly. For example if I take A♠, ruff a spade, club to dummy, ruff another spade, and exit to East's A♥, his only safe exits are another trump or a high club. Let's say it's a trump. I ruff another club and play A♦ and then J♦. West has a host of not-very-comfortable cards to lead. A low diamond actually is probably best but he's fairly likely to give up a R/S or lead his other diamond without thinking. No guarantees, but the defenders have to play pretty well to avoid giving me #11.

[HighLow21]

 HighLow21, on 2012-February-04, 09:50, said:

Han,

I said "probably," as in, "I haven't really thought through the issue fully because I'm moving on to another thought right now." :-) After the opponents take the tricks they are entitled to their exit card options become limited fairly quickly. For example if I take A♠, ruff a spade, club to dummy, ruff another spade, and exit to East's A♥, his only safe exits are another trump or a high club. Let's say it's a trump. I ruff another club and play A♦ and then J♦. West has a host of not-very-comfortable cards to lead. A low diamond actually is probably best but he's fairly likely to give up a R/S or lead his other diamond other high diamond without thinking. No guarantees, but the defenders have to play pretty well to avoid giving me #11.

FMODP

[Zelandakh]

 HighLow21, on 2012-February-03, 12:23, said:

Yes, I self-rate as advanced because I am advanced. Switching my self-rating to Advanced was not a decision I took lightly. What I lack in tournament or other ACBL-sanctioned experience I make up for in many other areas. I am most definitely not an Expert for that precise reason, but I am not an Intermediate either. I rated myself as Intermediate for a long time. I made the switch recently when I realized I play the game far better than most people who were self-rated at least one class above Intermediate.

Here is some official information you might find helpful:-

Quote

It is not important how well you think you play, since most bridge players are unable to assess their own skills with any accuracy. What matters is your level of experience and the degree of success that you have had in live, competitive clubs and tournaments. The following guidelines are suggested for choosing your skill level:

<snip>

Advanced
Someone who has been consistently successful in clubs or minor tournaments

I rate myself as intermediate because, until recently, I never entered any tournaments at all, so how can I possibly say I was consistently successful in them? It does not matter how I regard myself in comparison with other players on BBO. It is unfortunate that players are either ignorant of these guidelines or choose to ignore them and use their own assessments anyway. Do not expect anyone to applaud you for using your own personal assessment when BBO guidelines explicitly say not to, regardless of how much thought you put into the decision.

[HighLow21]

 Zelandakh, on 2012-February-06, 08:19, said:

Here is some official information you might find helpful:-



I rate myself as intermediate because, until recently, I never entered any tournaments at all, so how can I possibly say I was consistently successful in them? It does not matter how I regard myself in comparison with other players on BBO. It is unfortunate that players are either ignorant of these guidelines or choose to ignore them and use their own assessments anyway. Do not expect anyone to applaud you for using your own personal assessment when BBO guidelines explicitly say not to, regardless of how much thought you put into the decision.

OK thanks for this --> where did you get the quotation from?

[HighLow21]

OK I found it in the BBO help. The big problem? Literally none of these categories describe me.

[Vampyr]

 HighLow21, on 2012-February-06, 16:45, said:

OK I found it in the BBO help. The big problem? Literally none of these categories describe me.

Either you are successful or you are not. Although lots of players feel that they are very good players and that it is a shame that this is not reflected in their results...

[dwar0123]

 Vampyr, on 2012-February-06, 18:07, said:

Either you are successful or you are not. Although lots of players feel that they are very good players and that it is a shame that this is not reflected in their results...

Meh, successful is a meaningless word in this context as it is a comparison of results against expectations and everyone occasionally does better then expected.

[Vampyr]

 dwar0123, on 2012-February-06, 19:25, said:

Meh, successful is a meaningless word in this context as it is a comparison of results against expectations and everyone occasionally does better then expected.

I think the guideline uses the word "consistently". So, are you nearly always in the top 1/3, top 1/4, top 3 at your local club? Are you often in the single digits of rank at small tournaments or the top 10% at large ones? etc. Everyone should be able to answer these questions.

[SimonFa]

 Phil, on 2012-February-01, 10:23, said:

I own the rights to the ♠6. My lawyer will contact you.

Thank you for that - after a very long day it really made me laugh out loud and has perked me up no end.

Simon

[Vampyr]

 han, on 2012-February-04, 01:27, said:

I must admit that if I met an advanced player who kept telling experts how good is he and that they have no idea of how to play bid (see the BBF thread about a double of 5D), I would probably make fun of him in real life as well. I don't know many people like that though.

Thread appeared again in New Contents. Wow.

[HighLow21]

Hi everyone! Post #5 took a while for me to finish, but it is up:

http://bridgeanalysi...-100-hands.html

I went through 100 hands I've played on BBO with a fine-toothed comb, looking for mistakes and examples of good, bad, and ugly play, defense, and bidding. This article details my findings. There is quite a bit to talk about!

Please feel free to send me any feedback, good bad or indifferent!

Thanks,
-Tate

[mgoetze]

I don't believe that analysis of random MBC games is worth this level of effort or indeed any other level. Also, I don't believe you are qualified to count how many mistakes you made.