[cwright49]

Hi - I just signed up for BBO. What is the best approach for finding a potential partner to play Precision? I'm an average intermediate player. Thx

[Heron]

I've been watching this hoping for a reply. I almost only ever play non-robot BBO games with my f2f partner mostly because of the pain of finding a compatible pickup partner.

I think the really good bits of Precision could actually fit into an incredibly simple bid structure (say 1c 16+ with 2d negative and GF natural responses otherwise, 11-15 five card 1M/2m openers with the usual 1d trash can, weak 2M, natural rebids, nail down some point ranges for notrump bids, a few bog-standard conventions for over NT/competition/slam), but in doing a survey of some pickup games where people were playing "Precision" it looked like everybody had their mountain of crap piled on top of it that they were utterly attached to and that was the Only Right Way To Play Precision and people were bitchy and argumentative and it just didn't look like a good time.

Certainly with my regular partner I'm also guilty of the "mountain of crap piled on top" approach to Precision (even without our Bacon Torpedo treatments!), but it seems like it would be nice to have some more consistent and basic understanding for pickup partners who aren't keen on 2/1. I've seen a few convention cards that claimed to be "BBO Precision" but they're all different! (Presumably for different communities within the world of BBO.)

[Quantumcat]

If you want to play Precision, you really need a very regular partner. You'll be better off trying to find a f2f partner. Since it is way harder to dump a f2f partner than a purely online one, when you find one they will be more committed. You can always practice over BBO in between tournaments and club games.

[semeai]

One solution would be to play late at night and learn Chinese (or, rather more likely, find some Chinese partners who speak English). My perhaps incorrect impression is that the old Wei-style precision is roughly the base system there.

[CSGibson]

Heron, on 2012-September-04, 20:32, said:

.... (even without our Bacon Torpedo treatments!),

thank you for reminding me to go to www.poorbridge.com again, just for laughs.

[Free]

A good start may be to contact OliverC on BBO. In the past he gave Precision lessons, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Either way he knows a lot of people playing his version of Precision and he has a nicely filled in CC as well.

[cwright49]

Free, on 2012-September-05, 08:59, said:

A good start may be to contact OliverC on BBO. In the past he gave Precision lessons, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Either way he knows a lot of people playing his version of Precision and he has a nicely filled in CC as well.

Thanks to everyone for the responses and suggestions. After checking for several days, I thought my inquiry was dead (or inappropriate for some reason).

Basically, I'm getting back into bridge after a layoff of many years (I played a lot in college but hardly any in recent years). I've played in local duplicate games for about 6 months. I've been pleasantly surprised with how quickly declarer play has come back (I'm far from being an expert in that area). But I've had to learn SAYC and I don't really like it. I played some Precision way back when -- and felt very comfortable with it.

I'm currently searching for a f2f Precision partner in my area (Santa Rosa, CA). However, I'd also like to have an online partner that I could play with at other times.

Thanks again for any and all suggestions.

[georgeac]

I have been trying to play Precision in a partnership for a long time and due to time in learning the system and commitment it just hasn't worked. I would be committed to learning with you on BBO in partnership bidding or just pickup table if you had a simplified Precision system you enjoyed.