[mikl_plkcc]

Tonight I had a session where we got a very poor result, -52.30 IMPs over 26, however, if we compared against double dummy, we would be +24 IMPs. That was a gigantic difference.

https://www.bridgewe...ub=youngchelsea

For example, our worst board was board 9, defending 3NT which ended up +1, -9.70 IMPs for us, but double dummy was just making, so we were -1 IMP from par. The actual reality was that not everyone bid game despite having 25 HCPs combined, and among those bid game, only a minority made with a few table going off in the DD-making 3NT.

Similarly, another bad board for us was board 7, defending a making 24 HCP major suit game in a 6-1 fit, where only a minority could bid it. Most were in partscore while a few were in 3NT going down.

Other bad boards include board 3, defending 6♣+1 where DD was 7NT, but other tables ended up playing 6♦x-1 which was much better than letting their slam making, or board 4 playing 5♦ to the DD result of -1 (losing 1 ♠ and 2 ♣s) when other tables played it from the other side and the ♣ opening lead gave a trick.

How can we know what we did wrong in these boards? For example, when defending a DD-making 3NT but other tables successfully defeated it, or when the opponents could find a cold game where other tables couldn't?

[blackshoe]

Sometimes you can't figure it out. Sometimes you did nothing wrong. Look at the boards. If you see an obvious problem, discuss it with your partner. If you don't see anything obvious, work on your defense. :-)