[jillybean]

I copied this from Steve Gaynor's site as a reminder for myself, other B/I's may find it useful too.

http://bridgeinindia...even_Gaynor.pdf


1. Make or set the contract. Do not worry about over (or under) tricks. If you are in the right spot, it will usually work out in your favor. Trust your bidding system. Even at pairs, you will be a winner if you are in the right suit at the right level despite blowing an overtrick once in a while.

2. Stretch to bid a game. If vulnerable, game should be bid even if it is as a low as a 40% chance. If not vulnerable, it should be a 50% prospect. If you bid three vulnerable games that your opponents do not bid and you make only one of them, you break even. If you are in an auction and the decision is now in your hands whether to bid game or not - if you have to think about it, bid game.

3. Do not double their partial. You better have them down two in your own hand before you chance a double of a bid below game. And "down two in your own hand" means you have a fistful of trump tricks. Do not count on your partner for many of these tricks. Do not double strictly on high-card points.

4. Do not go for numbers. Don't make some wild, preemptive bid just because you have six or seven (or more) cards in one suit. (DISCIPLINE) It is not worth it. Your competitive bidding should be more constructive at IMP scoring. Upgrade your overcalls by at least a queen. This means that if you would overcall with 8 points at pairs, overcall with 10 or more at IMPs. For two level or higher overcalls, you better have a good suit, especially when you're vulnerable.

5. Play your safest contract. If in the bidding your find you have a better fit in a minor than a major, play in the minor, especially at a partial. You want to make whatever contract you bid. Plus 110 is only a bit worse than plus 140 and it may not even make any difference sometimes. This also applies to game and slam bidding If partner opens 1NT and you have a four-card major with at least invitational values, bid Stayman. Plus 620 and plus 630 are the same at IMPs.

6. Do not stretch to bid slams. Bid only slams that are at least 75%

7. Do not stretch to bid slams. Oh, is this a repeat? Well, good. The point needs extra emphasis.

8. You have partners at the other table. Don't make a risky bid or play because you think you are down in a match. Recently in a seven-board match, we bid a slam down two vulnerable for minus 200, bid 3NT with a combined 21 high-card points after a bidding misunderstanding - which my partner played well for down one and minus 100 - and doubled them in 4ε, making five for minus 990. We thought we were slaughtered. Wrong. We won IMPs on all three boards and blitzed the other team.

9. Don't be a hero. Do not make a confusing bid that (1) may be passed when it is forcing or (2) shows extra values that you don't have. Make the call that shows your strength.

10. Take out insurance. In every team game, there will be a hand where both sides can make game. Usually it is a wild hand with lots of distribution, doubles fits and long suits. It is usually right to bid one more --- unless you are sure they are going down and you cannot make your bid.

11. Take a chance to beat a contract. You may take a risk that he would never dream of at matchpoints --- such as leading the king from K-x, hoping to find your partner with the ace of that suit or the queen and a quick entry in trumps. Sometimes you give up an overtrick,
so you lose 1 IMP. If your bold play sets a contract just one time in 10, you area ahead.

12. If it's hard for you, it's hard for them. The player sitting in your seat at the other table is holding the same cards you are. This guiding principle will help you on several of the points already listed
.

[ggwhiz]

Good points, perhaps with the exception of #6.

Bidding a slam that either makes or goes down 1 will either win or lose 11 imps white, 13 imps red. Perhaps the 75% mentioned relates to the fact it is most often not possible to know if a slam is 50-50 in the auction. Of course 50-50 slams only break even so you would like at least a bit better odds.

For those playing bridge locally I would add know who is playing your cards at the other table. If you are aware of their aggressive/passive bidding tendencies you can use that to resolve some of the very close bidding decisions like the close slams.

[phil_20686]

ggwhiz, on 2011-December-04, 10:16, said:

Good points, perhaps with the exception of #6.

Bidding a slam that either makes or goes down 1 will either win or lose 11 imps white, 13 imps red. Perhaps the 75% mentioned relates to the fact it is most often not possible to know if a slam is 50-50 in the auction. Of course 50-50 slams only break even so you would like at least a bit better odds.

For those playing bridge locally I would add know who is playing your cards at the other table. If you are aware of their aggressive/passive bidding tendencies you can use that to resolve some of the very close bidding decisions like the close slams.

Gaynor is merely pointing out that high variance is bad in swiss teams, because the VP scale lowers the benefit when I am already winning, and increases the risk. The reverse happens when I am down.

E.g., suppose I am ten imps up on the last board, and bid a 50% slam, now I am 50% to gain 3 VP's and 50% to lose 5 VP's.

Finally he forgot the most important piece of advice: WIN.

[S2000magic]

phil_20686, on 2011-December-04, 10:26, said:

. . . [H]e forgot the most important piece of advice: WIN.

That reminds me of the college history professor on the radio yesterday who was asked if he had any tips for his students before their final exams.

He had one: study.

[PrecisionL]

I have won a number of Swiss Matches because the opponents followed rule 1 when vulnerable and went down an extra trick vulnerable trying to make a contract when our team played for down one.

[jillybean]

Hopefuly we will be using our noggins and not following these rules blindly.

[Cascade]

ggwhiz, on 2011-December-04, 10:16, said:

Good points, perhaps with the exception of #6.

Given #6 is an exception #7 is a definite overbid.

Bidding marginal but good (50+%) slams is a definite long term winner.

[billw55]

I would qualify # 10 a bit. Be very slow to take "insurance" on a straight sac, i.e. where you know you aren't making your bid.

When you might be making it - sure, bid on.

[Mbodell]

It also matters a little what you are trying to do and where you are in the field. Towards the end of yesterday and today in the Swiss I wanted to take some high variance actions. Yesterday it was because we needed something like 36+ VP out of 40 total to qualify for day 3 in the swiss. A small win was not going to do it. If there was a chance for a speculative high variance move I might have liked to try it (no luck).

Today in the A/X swiss we were in decent position going in to the last match, around 4th or 5th in X with only 1 team more than 5 or 6 ahead of us. The payout is much better for finishing 1st and 9th then 4th and 4th, plus you want to play to win. I pushed to very thin games on two boards both of which are down double dummy but made at the table (one of which should have been obvious to set, one of which was a bit harder to find the right defense). Those big boards help us put up a blitz which let us win X by 1 VP.

Which brings up the "swiss strategy" or "swiss gambit". You should try and win all your matches, but early losses are much less costly than late losses. Definitely don't get discouraged by early losses because while you don't get those VP, you now face easier teams and can easily catch up to teams in the front who are likely playing more close matches. If you see two teams that are close together and one of them won big in the last round and the other lost big in the last round the losers are likely the stronger team because they had the tougher draw. You are never quite as good as your VP say you are when you just had a big win, and never quite as bad as your VP say you are when you just had a big loss. So plan on winning all the matches, but especially the last one.

Also, while the VP scale is such that IMPs won close to even matter more than IMPs won away from even, don't settle for just winning your matches. When you are playing an inferior team it is important to keep playing good bridge, putting on the pressure, and wracking up IMPs. It matters if you pick up 18 VP or 14 VP against those weak teams, and to win a typical 1 day swiss you'll likely need to average at least 14 a match, more if it is a huge field like at the nationals.

[ggwhiz]

Mbodell, on 2011-December-04, 21:29, said:

Which brings up the "swiss strategy" or "swiss gambit". You should try and win all your matches, but early losses are much less costly than late losses.

Further to that, I've often told people that what you do in the first part of a Swiss doesn't matter. Rarely you can take yourself out of it but usually just bounce around.

Win the last 2 matches and you are in for a piece of the cheese. Stamina and focus at the end of the event are most important.

[rogerclee]

I think if you are a beginning player and are not used to IMP scoring, the biggest advice I could give you is to just be comfortable and play your own game. Don't sweat the form of scoring and play in a way which is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to you, just because you are trying to follow a strategy list, some of which is either debatable or horribly wrong to me.

[han]

jillybean, on 2011-December-04, 11:36, said:

Hopefuly we will be using our noggins and not following these rules blindly.

But.. some of these guidelines are really bad.

[cherdano]

What I mostly hate in these guidelines (except for the ridiculous advice about slam) is that they suggest bidding more cautiously at IMPs than at MPs in competition. Aggressive overcalls and preempts are more risky at IMPs than at MPs, but they also have bigger payoffs. Meanwhile, some results are disasters at MPs (the extra undertrick when you bid 4S - AP instead of 3S - AP, or going down two in your vulnerable 1S overcall on a partscore deals) but just cost 2-3 IMPs.