I can drop by on the appropriate day and spectate both chess and bridge.
William Hyde
D wrote:
On Tue, 19 Mar 2024, William Hyde wrote:
I can drop by on the appropriate day and spectate both chess and bridge. >>>
William Hyde
Pease excuse me for going a bit off topic, but since I see you
mentioning bridge, and since the card games group is kind of dead, I
wonder if you could tell me if it is possible to play bridge with
complete strangers?
I'm fascinated by the game, but the team-aspect
Specifically partnership-aspect. In bridge teams are of four.
of it makes it kind of
annoying since I like the fact that with chess, poker or other games,
you can just sit down and play, and there would be no need to form a
team where you know the other guy.
It depends on how seriously you and your partner take the game.
Generally when two people find themselves without partners at an
event and decide to play together, there is a short discussion as
to conventions and signals to be employed. Often some of these
will be forgotten in the heat of play, and you have to be mature
enough not to mind.
I don't mind playing with a random partner who knows less than I
do and plays even worse. I'm there to enjoy the game, not necessarily
to finish in first place. If I get a good partner, it's also fine.
But if my proposed partner is a serious bridge nut I may hesitate. Some such people take the game entirely too seriously, get really riled
if you forget anything, or even if you don't know a convention that
was not discussed. It's amusing to recall my first such experiences,
when I was at pains to explain that I was knew to bridge, and knew
virtually nothing beyond the basics, and then to be upbraided for
not recognizing some advanced gadget (an advance cuebid, for example).
I laughed, but some people find that sort of thing upsetting.
Others are wise and accommodating (and generally
get better results with weaker partners).
You will do better in bridge if you are always respectful of your
partner, no matter what idiotic action partner has made. Remember
that you yourself make the occasional idiotic play.
Your best bet is to find a regular partner, agree on some level of conventions, and play mostly with that person. Once you know more
you'll be better able to accommodate to new partners.
William Hyde
D wrote:
On Tue, 19 Mar 2024, William Hyde wrote:
I can drop by on the appropriate day and spectate both chess and bridge. >>>
William Hyde
Pease excuse me for going a bit off topic, but since I see you
mentioning bridge, and since the card games group is kind of dead, I
wonder if you could tell me if it is possible to play bridge with
complete strangers?
I'm fascinated by the game, but the team-aspect
Specifically partnership-aspect. In bridge teams are of four.
of it makes it kind of
annoying since I like the fact that with chess, poker or other games,
you can just sit down and play, and there would be no need to form a
team where you know the other guy.
Others are wise and accommodating (and generally
get better results with weaker partners).
You will do better in bridge if you are always respectful of your
partner, no matter what idiotic action partner has made. Remember
that you yourself make the occasional idiotic play.
On Sat, 23 Mar 2024 14:31:26 -0400, William Hyde
<wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
D wrote:
On Tue, 19 Mar 2024, William Hyde wrote:
I can drop by on the appropriate day and spectate both chess and bridge. >>>>
William Hyde
Pease excuse me for going a bit off topic, but since I see you
mentioning bridge, and since the card games group is kind of dead, I
wonder if you could tell me if it is possible to play bridge with
complete strangers?
I'm fascinated by the game, but the team-aspect
Specifically partnership-aspect. In bridge teams are of four.
Teams of 4 are common in competitive bridge play where the same hand
is played on two different tables with 1/2 of one team playing N-S,
the other playing E-W and the scores of both tables in each round are
summed. There are various scoring methods with raw score on each, raw
score team of 4, Intenational Match point scoring where a raw score is converted to IMP score designed to moderate the effect of big swings
such as when one side gets a slam, the other stops in game.
Then there's pure duplicate where a pair is a team and many others.
Finally let me share with you a hand I showed Dr Nathan Divinsky who
was both my vector calculus professor at the University of BC as well
as being long time Secretary of the Chess Federation of Canada (my
current job) and a well regarded bridge player.
I asked him "what is the worst hand in bridge?" He said he didn't know
and asked me to show him. I wrote on the napkin:
S: AKQJ
H: AKQJ
D: AKQJ
C: AK
After looking at it and not getting it he asked me how that could
possibly be the worst hand. I said "Dr Divinsky count the cards!" A
moment later he had a huge grin on his face and called me a nasty name
I had the honor of representing the Chess Federation of Canada at his
funeral in 2012 telling the family "I am one of the ten thousand" (the eulogist had mentioned his 10000+ students at UBC) "and in addition I
am the secretary of the Chess Federation of Canada" then turned to
each of the family and said "on behalf of the Chess Federation thank
you for giving him to us for awhile"
[After his death his widow invited me and several other chess players
to their house and was each gifted several of his books. One of mine I
got that day was a first edition of Fine's Basic Chess Endings - I
already had a copy of the much enlarged third edition but the first
edition was quite special]
of it makes it kind of
annoying since I like the fact that with chess, poker or other games,
you can just sit down and play, and there would be no need to form a
team where you know the other guy.
For tournament play that's true though for casual play if you're
willing to play "pick up" you can easily play though obviously you
have to stick to the same bidding conventions everyone knows
Others are wise and accommodating (and generally
get better results with weaker partners).
Victor Mollo covered that point in detail in his books featuring The
Hideous Hog who was a master level player who was totally ungifted
when playing with weaker partners and simply could not adjust his play
to them some of which led to magnificent disasters. Any of these books
is tremendously entertaining though I can't imagine it would improve
your bridge much!
You will do better in bridge if you are always respectful of your
partner, no matter what idiotic action partner has made. Remember
that you yourself make the occasional idiotic play.
Mollo did finish all these books with a chapter on how not to be the
"Hideous Hog" and actually play good bridge with any partner (which
may not be your best with your regular partner but nonetheless
satisfying)
You will do better in bridge if you are always respectful of your
partner, no matter what idiotic action partner has made. Remember
that you yourself make the occasional idiotic play.
Mollo did finish all these books with a chapter on how not to be the
"Hideous Hog"
On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 14:46:54 -0400, William Hyde
<wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
That's true of most any partnership game where you intend to play moreYou will do better in bridge if you are always respectful of your
partner, no matter what idiotic action partner has made. Remember
that you yourself make the occasional idiotic play.
Mollo did finish all these books with a chapter on how not to be the
"Hideous Hog"
than one round of play. (Or 'hand' if you prefer)
I'm NOT a good bridge player - the kind of memory you have to have to
be a good Bridge player is entirely different from what you need to
excel at Chess.
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