[RunemPard]

mfa1010, on 2013-December-09, 12:28, said:

You can have your philosophy, obviously, but I stated mine. I would never try to estimate how the field will be guessing. It is imo taking the eye off the ball.
If I have a 51-49 proposition, I'll go with the 51. But it is a rare board where it is impossible to deduce better odds than that. We already talked about the non-trump lead. Another common theme is handling issues with trumps 4-1.

Absolutely, I respect your opinion. One thing I find fascinating about MPs though is the meta-game tactics. Playing a safe line to go -1 in 3NT when you feel there is a low chance of making on the only line of play that may risk 2 back. Or the classic case of taking the finesse for the extra or risk giving the opponents a ruff if you fail it. In this case, it is just a matter of determining what, if anything, might get us a more even score either way. I like thinking about these kinds of things.

[mycroft]

barmar, on 2013-December-09, 12:15, said:

Despite [Barry Crane's] quirks, he won lots of events.

From Grant Baze:

Quote

Barry was a partner killer. At the Hawaii Nationals in the Spring of 1985 Barry played with Mike Passell in the Open Pairs. They had a fabulous last session and won the event easily, the umpteenth time that Barry won that event (he was particularly good against non-expert competition). Mike is a friend of mine; after the event I congratulated him on the win. Mike said, "Ah, I play with Barry once a year just to remind myself of how much I hate playing with him."

Jeff Meckstroth went one better. He played with Barry in a two session regional event just because he thought he should play at least once with "Mr. McKinney." At the end of the event Jeff tore their convention card into ribbons and threw the pieces at Barry, making it very clear that he would never play with Barry again.

Heh, oddly enough I conflated the two stories in my mind.

[mfa1010]

Any matchpoint thread kept alive long enough on a mostly american bridge forum will eventually degenerate into Barry Crane anecdotes...

[mfa1010]

RunemPard, on 2013-December-09, 15:53, said:

Absolutely, I respect your opinion. One thing I find fascinating about MPs though is the meta-game tactics. Playing a safe line to go -1 in 3NT when you feel there is a low chance of making on the only line of play that may risk 2 back. Or the classic case of taking the finesse for the extra or risk giving the opponents a ruff if you fail it. In this case, it is just a matter of determining what, if anything, might get us a more even score either way. I like thinking about these kinds of things.

Sure. As long as you think about its limitations - meta-game tactics are often misused by many players to justify completely absurd plays.

[SimonFa]

I think it was in one of my Ron Klinger books, apologies if it was someone else, the advice in this situation was that in the last retort always finesse the same way to maintain 50% success.

[mfa1010]

SimonFa, on 2013-December-14, 03:47, said:

I think it was in one of my Ron Klinger books, apologies if it was someone else, the advice in this situation was that in the last retort always finesse the same way to maintain 50% success.

Intended as a joke, I assume.