[bd71]

What are rough percentages of hands on which one pair has either a legitimate game or a slam available to them?

We had a 24-board team match over the weekend where by our best calculations, there were 10 games and 1 slam available (plus/minus probably one game). These numbers seem low to us.

Has anyone ever done more rigorous calculations here...perhaps using BBO hands as a database?

[babalu1997]

Do you mean you got 11 game plus hands out of 24?

You were lucky.

Hands seem to walk in spells at bbo. So it is common for you to sit there helpless where the opps bid 3nt in row 3 times or 4 spades.

If in fact you are playing and 8 board game, you can be easily done in by the cards, and can only hope for bad bidding opps.

I have sat on 12 board games where not once I was dealt the average 10 hcp hand, more than once.

Sometimes in the middle of a bad spell, I get 14 hcp, hey i am going to open, but, not being dealer, i hear 4 spades!!!


I think the only way to win consistently is to have really sharp defense-- which i do not, my defense vocabulary is rather limited. You can keep average by bidding your slams and games correctly when they come by, and reapthe extras in defense.

[bd71]

babalu1997, on Mar 1 2010, 08:41 AM, said:

Do you mean you got 11 game plus hands out of 24?

No. I mean that EITHER of the two pairs had game on 11 of 24.

This was a team match so each of the 11 games/slams was available to our team once...but only about half were available to my partner and I.

Clearly, if our PAIR had 11 of 24 games, that would be unusual. The question is whether it's unusual for that few to be available to anyone.

[Cascade]

That seems normalish to me.

I have a vague recollection from collecting some statistics that the hands divide roughly about 5% slams and the rest half and half between games and partscores.

Edit here are some stats from 288 hands I played in one tournament last year which are slightly different than the above. We played or defended

102 partscores 35.4%
162 games 56.3%
24 slams 8.3%

Actually two of the partscores were passouts. I think three of the slams were grands.

[Mbodell]

Are you talking about how many games were available double dummy? Or how many games were biddable and making with normal bidding and play? Or just how many hands had one team or another bidding game? I know in team games it is pretty often that a hand that each side can only make 3M will still be played in game just due to the IMP odds and overly aggressive nature of bidders.

When I get home I'll check how many of my matchpoint boards were in slam versus game versus part score versus pass out, but again that is just where folks bid to, not necessarily where folks should be (either single or double dummy).