HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Reading List?
From: avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:29:47 GMT
Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

I followed this thread with interest. There are a few books that I think
should be added to the list.

The best book ever (IMHO) is Why You Lose at Bridge by AJ Simon. This
is a short book, chokefull of pearls and commonsense advice, very well
written, and can be enjoyed by players of all levels, from the novice to
the bona fide expert. Indeed, it is a book to be savoured, read and re-read
every couple of years or so; always getting some fresh insights.

A great begginers book is Reese's Bridge for Bright Beginners. Most begginer's
books start with bidding; Reese starts with tricks and plays. IMHO, bidding
is meaningless, unless you know how to establish suits and score tricks by
ruffing.

The best introduction to squeeze play, is Love's Bridge Squeezes Complete.
This book is not complete, and some arcane squeeze positions are not covered,
but the basic simple, double, triple, strip-squeezes, as well the trump,
the guard squeezes and a few more advanced situations are covered very well
indeed.

Reese's The Expert Game (or The Master Play) is an excellent book on advanced
card play. Topics like second degree inference, are well explained, and were
first introduced in this book.

I never liked Watson's Play of the Hand, that was mentioned here by some.

Required reading for would be experts are Morehead on Bidding (I think
there is a new edition) and Reese's translation of Garrozzo and Yalouze
the Blue Team Club. Even if you never dream of play BTC, the book gives
great insights into hand evaluation, beyond the HCP count, and the Slam
bidding methods discussed are second to none. While not taxing the memory,
they do require a lot of thinking and are full of negative and postive
inferences at the table, so they are not for the feeble minded.

Morehead on Bidding, also gives some valuable insights into bidding theory,
most of which have stood the test of time.

Openning Leads by Owen, is probably the best treatise on the subject in
the English literature. Jose Le Dantu, also wrote a good book on the subject,
but it is in French, I am afraid.

Bergen's two books are destined to become classics as well. His ideas are well
thought out, and form the basis of the bidding methods of many expert pairs.

Just my 2p's worth.

Avi

--
Aviel Roy-Shapira, M.D.         Ben-Gurion University Medical School
Dept. of Surgery A.             POB 151, Beer Sheva, Israel
avir@chen.bgu.ac.il             AVIR@BGUVM.BITNET
From: mbrgw@s-crim1.dl.ac.uk (R.G. Walters)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Arggggh!
Keywords: true, ouch
Date: 6 Jan 93 13:03:37 GMT
Organization: Daresbury Lab., Warrington, U.K.
NNTP-Posting-Host: seqnet.dl.ac.uk

In article <1id4uqINNrkm@rifraf.atl.ge.com> nstraguz@atl.ge.com (Nick Straguzzi) writes:
>
>           Why Bridge Is Better Than Chess, reason #2874:
>         Hilarious stories like this never happen in chess.

Or at least not very often :-)

On a similar vein (but without the humour).
What is the net's opinion of the best way to cope with interference of
this sort - e.g. after the auctions

2C (or 2D or whatever, strong)    (4S)     ?

or

2C         (4S)          Pass       Pass
?

What do Dbl, 4NT, 5 level bids etc. mean?
What if the 2C opener was is 3rd position (i.e. after 2 passes)?
What effect does vulnerability have?

This came up last night:

Vul. vs not, you deal.

S  -                    You open 1NT (20+, any shape), and LHO leaps in
H  K Q T                with 4S, passed round to you.
D  K Q J 9 8
C  A K Q 2              Pick a bid.

Robin Walters.
                           
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: courtel@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr (Nicolas Courtel)
Subject: Re: Bidding Opinions Sought
Organization: Centre d'Etudes de la Navigation Aerienne, Toulouse, France
	<1993Jan8.195349.24237@sunova.ssc.gov>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 10:57:42 GMT

>>>>> On Fri, 8 Jan 1993 19:53:49 GMT, jbaron@higgs.ssc.gov (Jeff Baron) said:

JB> Nicolas Courtel writes:
JB> - 
JB> - KK> IMPs, White/White, Dealer: West
JB> - KK> You sit South holding:
JB> - KK> 	s x
JB> - KK> 	h JTxx
JB> - KK> 	d KJxxxxx
JB> - KK> 	c x
JB> - 
JB> - KK> The auction start out:
JB> - KK> 	W	N	E	S
JB> - KK> 	p	1NT	p	?
JB> - 
JB> - KK> What's the best reponse?  
JB> - KK> What's the best way to proceed for each of the probable rebids by
JB> - KK> opener?
JB> - 
JB> - Playing strong NT, I bid 2C and then 3D, to play 4H, 5D, or possibly 6D (not 6H)
JB> - if partner looks *very* proud of his hand; he might have for example:
JB> - 
JB> -         S - J x x x
JB> -         H - A K
JB> -         D - A x x x
JB> -         C - A x x

JB> How fortunate that partner has only *1* of his 16 points in spades, 
JB> all primary cards, 4 diamonds, and NO SMALL HEARTS.  
JB> At least he had the spade jack and not the diamond queen.  That
JB> would be piggish, I suppose.  Not to mention wasted.

Of course it is! That's why I said partner should be *very* proud of his hand. I
just wanted to point out that, as there are hands for partner that make a
lay-down slam, I want to play game with this hand.

JB> I'd calculate the odds of partner holding this hand to be about
JB> 1 in a gazillion.

I'm not accustomed to US units :-). I would give the following percentages (no
calculations or statistics, just nose:

- Slam (6D) makes about 10 % of the time; it may need a few finesses and good
breaks, though, so I don't want to call it that often.
- Game (4H or 5D) makes about 50 % of the time (including slams), and goes down
the other 50 %

Now if opponents don't overcall, partner probably has points in the black suits,
and I will probably play a bad 3NT. That's life...

--
Nicolas Courtel - courtel@dgac.fr

>>>                    Inside every large program                     <<<
>>>             is a small program struggling to get out              <<<
From: jose@math.duke.edu (Greg Lawler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Bob S
Keywords: FAQ
Date: 8 Jan 93 16:14:34 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.155235.24897@cbnewsi.cb.att.com>, reha@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (reha.gur) writes:
> playing 2/1 GF (no inverted minors, limit raises in minors,
> invitational NT over minors (2N = 11-12, 3N = 13-15))
> 
> MATCHPOINTS, vul vs not vul.
> partner opens 1d - pass to you:
> 
> your hand: A x x / A K / K J x x / x x x x
> 
> what is your bid? 
> 
>
---------

Of course, the first answer is that the system as described is unplayable.
You must have a way to give a forcing raise in the minors.

However, for a simple 2/1 system that prefers not to have inverted minors
the `natural' way to do this is the following:  use a bid of 2C followed by
a bid in diamonds to show a forcing raise in diamonds.  When one rebids
the diamonds, opener knows that the clubs may not be real (although it
does deny a four card major so there are probably some clubs). Using
this I would bid 2C on the given hand as well as

    A x x   A K   K J x x x   x x x

(and  even  A x x  A K  K J x x x x  x x)

I don't want to bid 3NT with either hand because of slam possibilities
and the fact that partner should probably play NT.  With the given hand,
even without prior discussion, 2C seems like the only reasonable bid.





Greg Lawler

 
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: rudy@netcom.com (Rudy)
Subject: Re: Computer Bridge and the Law
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 00:59:10 GMT

In article <7784@tivoli.UUCP> taylor@foraker.tivoli.com (Eric Taylor) writes:
>Should a computer bridge game allow a player to make
>an insufficient bid?

No.

>Are insufficient bids part of the game or are all of the
>rules regarding them merely an attempt to control the
>damage caused by them?

Insufficient bids are not part of the game.  In fact, the rules deal
with inadvertent insufficient bids, deliberate actions like that are
a matter for C&E committees.
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: davidm@questor.Rational.COM (David Moore)
Subject: Re: Reading List?
Keywords: books
Organization: Rational
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 17:45:35 GMT

>3. [Good beginners books on card play] 

	Dorothy Hayden-Truscott  Winning Declarer Play
        Mollo and Gardner        Card Play Technique

The first book gives a fairly elementary but very accessible introduction to
declarer play. Dorothy Hayden-Truscott's charm comes through in her writing.

The second book (which I believe is now available again, in paperback), consists
of pairs of chapters. The first chapter in each pair describes a declarer
technique, the second describes how to defend against that technique. The
book covers a great deal of territory - from finesses up through simple
squeezes and has exercises for the reader.
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (Jeremy Mathers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Arggggh!
Date: 8 Jan 93 20:25:43 GMT
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates

In article <1832@idacrd.UUCP> desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes:
...
>I am frankly offended that people are willing to waste my time with
>articles on which they are not even willing to make the most elementary
>checks for correctness.  I've posted several hundred articles to rgb
>over the years, and I've made my share of analytic errors, but at least
>I've been able to follow the rules of bridge so that my postings made
>sense to my readers.  I feel other contributors owe me the same
>courtesy.

Seconded.  In fact, since many people complain about the style in which
hands are presented (my preference is to keep it as terse as possible -
I don't know about you, but my screen is only 24 lines, and I hate it
when people spread a single hand out onto about 60 lines), I think we
should build a little shell script (with VMS and MS/DOS versions to come
out soon after the GA Unix release...) that will take a hand and present
it in a standardized format, checking for legality of hands/bidding/etc.
The script would then insert the text into the article being composed.

Am I serious about this?  Well, you decide.  I think it is a good idea -
whether or not it is necessary is anyone's guess.  I suppose the next
step is to make the group moderated.

************************************************************************
The Zapruder film was a snuff film.

	- pynq@quads.uchicago.edu, who is still costing the net
	  hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, every time he posts -
************************************************************************
From: nstraguz@atl.ge.com (Nick Straguzzi)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Bob S. (was Re: Arggggh!)
Date: 8 Jan 1993 22:57:45 GMT
Organization: GE Aerospace, Advanced Technology Labs
NNTP-Posting-Host: dinsdale.atl.ge.com
Keywords: true, ouch

In article <1993Jan8.010420.22398@leland.Stanford.EDU> altus@leland.Stanford.EDU (Steve Altus) writes:
>
>i just want to use up a tiny bit of net resources to say that i 
>think you people who are harshing on Bob are insane, and if you
>REALLY want to see flames then i'm sure someone can be persuaded to 
>give you an example.  

I agree that people are being a bit harsh on Bob.  However, many
posters are under the delusion that there is a strict dichotomy
between acceptable discourse and flaming.  This is not a black-and-
white issue, as Bob's critics and defenders both seem to believe.

Nonetheless, let's give it a rest.  As Steve says, we've been through
this 10 zillion times before.  Bob is not going to change, and this is
hardly the sole newsgroup where his posting style has caused these
tedious debates.  Please remember that (a) you have a KILL file, (b)
he usually posts correct analyses and good advice, and (c) the tone of
his posts reflects solely on him, not on anyone else.

Suggestion: Whoever does the FAQ file should put in a sincere and
serious warning about Bob's posting style so the newcomers will be
prepared and not scared away.  Bob can thus continue to post in
whatever style he chooses, the newbies having had fair warning.

Now can we all get along and get back to bridge?

>okay fine, i better include some bridge content...  IMPS, both red,
>1C-p-1S to you (partner acts very aggressively at the one level) 
>you hold:   ---, AQ9xxxx, AQTxx, x   (0-7-5-1 if i miscounted x's)
>
>your call?  (your methods are that 2C and 2S are both natural, 1NT
>shows the unbids without enough strength to double and is nonforcing,
>4S is natural, and 3C and 3S are asking for a notrump stopper in that
>suit...4C is undefined...

2H for now.  The problem comes next round.  Unless partner makes some
meaningful noise, I'll probably bid diamonds right on up to the five
level.  I hate defending these hands at IMPS; I always come out on the
short end.   I suppose that says something about my defense.  :-)

Over 4S, BTW, I'll bid 4NT which should show long hearts and a
secondary minor.

>--steve altus

Nick


-- 
 Nick Straguzzi / GE Advanced Technology Labs / Moorestown NJ / (609) 866-6646
---------- nstraguz@atl.ge.com ----------- #include <stddisclaimer.h> ---------
                "Got no use for the tricks of modern times..."
							- Al Stewart
From: thomaso@centerline.com (Thomas Andrews)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Preemptive jump shifts
Date: 11 Jan 1993 20:59:42 GMT
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 140.239.2.21

My partner and I started playing penalty doubles over preemptive
jump-shifts.  This works out well against most opponents playing
the convention, because they seem to lose discipline.  Perhaps
disciplined WJSs are more effective, but they probably don't come
up often enough.
--
Thomas Andrews
CenterLine Software
From: grove@triangle.Berkeley.EDU (Eddie Grove)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Yet another place the blame.
Date: 5 Jan 1993 18:28:44 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: triangle.berkeley.edu

In article <1i9cflINNb99@transfer.stratus.com> tnh@sw.stratus.com (Tim Hill) writes:
>In article <1993Jan3.202515.27062@midway.uchicago.edu>, pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (Jeremy Mathers) writes:

Thanks to Jeremy for putting the hand in a readable form.

>> Vulnerability: Unknown.  Imps, [South] dealer.
 
>                    x
>                    AKJx
>                    Axxx
>                    Axxx
>          AJxx                Kxxxxx
>          xxx                 xxx
>          Qxxxx               x
>          J                   Qxx
>                    Qx
>                    Qxx
>                    KJx
>                    Kxxxx

NS get to 6C, and Tim Hill asks for the blame.

The blame goes to the poster!  6C is not a bad contract,
certainly not bad enough to warrant a posting asking who
is to blame.  In a later post, it was made clear that the
declaring side held the CT.

Eddie Grove
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: adam@irvine.com (Adam Beneschan)
Subject: Re: Arggggh!
Organization: Irvine Compiler Corp., Irvine, California, USA
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 23:55:08 GMT

In article <1ifn8mINNc5t@transfer.stratus.com> tnh@sw.stratus.com (Tim Hill) 
writes:

>        Playing your favorite methods with your favorite partner, if you open
>   2C in third seat (Chicago, they're vulnerable with 60 on) and LHO overcalls 
>   4S, what are your partner's options?  In particular, what would pass, 
>   double, and 4NT mean?
>
>        If your partner and RHO pass, what would you call with:
>
>        9
>        KQT
>        KQJ98
>        AKQ2
>
>   How 'bout with:
>
>        K4
>        A62
>        A
>        AKQJ743
>
>   (You would open both these hands with 2C, wouldn't you?)

I wouldn't open the first hand 2C.  My partnership's requirements are
8.5 tricks to open 2C, and it's definitely not a game force, but I
still can't count that many tricks.  I see 1 heart, 3 diamonds (I'm
only counting one of the small ones), and 3 clubs, for 7 total.  Extra
tricks could come if RHO has either heart honor, or if partner has a
diamond or club fit.  But it still doesn't look like enough tricks for
me, and I'm short in the majors, making game less likely if partner
can't respond.  I'd open 1D, which then raises the question:  if it
goes 1D (4S) pass (pass), what do you do next?  What would double or
4NT show?

                                -- Adam
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Steven G. Myerson)
Subject: Re: Bidding Carve Up!
Organization: Raytheon Submarine Signal Division
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:47:53 GMT

Mr G A Jordan writes for Mark Taylor:

* This hand was played at rubber bridge, at stakes I could only afford to win at.
* The agreed system was Acol, 15-17 NT, Stayman.  At game up I (South) dealt:-
* 
*                S AQJT, H Qxxxx, D Kx, C Jx
* 
*                S xx, H Kxx, D Axx, C AKQTx
* 
*  The opposition were silent throughout (probably a good job....things would 
* have gone really wrong...:)  ) and the bidding went:-
* 
*      1NT(a)   -    2C 
*      2D       -    3D(b) 
*      4C(c)    -    4H(d) 
*      5C(e)    -    6NT(f)
* 
* The auction was not convincing to say the least.
* 
* a) My 1NT was hardly perfect, but with a loony opposite....

What's wrong with 1N? And don't say small doubleton spade.

* b) Here is where the wheel comes off.  Without any mention of it partner 
*    decides he is playing extended stayman (why not just bid 3H?).  I assume 5
*    diamonds with a 4 card major, willing to pass 3NT if I'm suitable

Why doesn't partner just bid 3N? He has honor doubleton in both minors,
where presumably the 1N bidder is loaded (not having a four card major).
Even if the 1N bidder has 3 card heart support,
what is going to be ruffed in the short hearts hand?
The only other long suit is spades, and they don't need ruffing.
This hand belongs in notrump after the 2D response.

* c) I think I am as suitable as I could ever be....show my Ace/feature

Partner is willing to pass 3N if suitable
and you think you are as suitable as you could ever be
and yet you still go zooming past 3N???

* d) He wants to play in 4H

Why? See above.

* e) His cue bid looks useful...:)
* f) He doesnt want to play in clubs....!!!! At least I'm playing it.
* 
* Comments?
* 
* Not the best slam in the world.  All the x's are really small.  Plan your play
* on the lead of the S2.  What do you rate your probablity as being once the SQ 
* holds?

All you need is ace doubleton of hearts, and be able to find it. :-)

* At the end of the hand (it made on my line) dummy (apt), who hadn't watched 
* the play, said "It's a good job you made it, seeing as you bid it so badly"

Steve Myerson (sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu (R. Bharat Rao)
Subject: Re: Arggggh!
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept of Computer Science
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 03:07:39 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.004533.25967@Princeton.EDU>, spencer@der.Princeton.EDU (S. Spencer Sun) writes:
	[re Bob Silverman]
|> My prior assertion stands, namely, that however correct you may be, no
|> one will listen to you if you're an asshole about it.  They may not
|> listen anyway even if you're not an asshole about it, but you could at
|> least make the effort.

This is getting quite ridiculous.  I have followed this string of 
posts (actually just read them all now) and have found nothing very
offensive about Mr. Silverman's post(s).  If at all there was any 
thing  offensive, it was the original posters response to the 
initial criticism of lack of bridge merit to such an open-
ended question (not to mention posting a hand with 12 cards).  That 
drew, what I felt were fairly restrained responses.

I am not net.cop, and not vying for that position.  However,  Mr. 
Sun posting to personal insults that have nothing to do with 
bridge is hardly a high moral ground for you to preach from.  

As an aside..
There are many people who do find Mr. Silverman's postings; if you
were around a couple of years ago, you would know that the overwhelming
majority of the net disagrees with you, and in fact does listen closely
to what Mr. Silverman says and would miss him if he left..

|> (spencer@jvnc.net)
 
Bharat
-- 
R. Bharat Rao                         E-mail: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu
AI Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
405 N. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801   (217)-333-5978 (O), 337-6498(H)
Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana
From: paul@sco.COM (Paul Jackson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Arggggh!
Date: 10 Jan 93 17:57:14 GMT
Organization: SCO Canada, Inc.

In article <1993Jan7.101014.23075@Princeton.EDU> spencer@phoenix.princeton.edu (S. Spencer Sun) writes:
>In article <1993Jan7.000906.19081@linus.mitre.org>, bs@gauss.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman) writes:
>>Why? Most of you don't listen anyway. See below.
>I guess this just draws the line between people who are genuinely
>interested in imparting their knowledge and wisdom, and those who just
>get off on being loud and condescending.

This is an absurd and clearly incorrect attack on one of the most valued
members of the rec.games.bridge community. Bob IS genuinely interested in
imparting his knowledge and wisdom. He invests considerable time in giving
us an expert answer to many questions. It is perfectly understandable that
he sometimes gets a little annoyed by the idiocy of many posters.

Bridge is a game that has very few absolute answers (one of the reasons that
it so fascinating). I have NEVER seen Bob be less than helpful when somebody
intelligently argues a point that he makes, or asks for clarification of
Bob's position. He DOES get annoyed when somebody who is barely out of the
novice class asks a question and then ignores the answer, or asks a stupid
question.  He also rarely flames people, he almost always flames their
bridge arguments.

Almost all of his flames are directed at people who DON'T WANT TO LEARN.
If you want to learn more, and post a question because you are genuinely
interested in the answer, then Bob is one of your most valuable resources on
the net. If you just want your ego stroked then put him in your kill file.

I'll also note that Bob is considerably more tolerant of those who identify
themselves as novices.

If you don't like his style, put him in your kill file. It'll be your loss,
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge