Zelandakh, on 2015-June-07, 17:46, said:
I think you are completely wrong on this, Zel. Learning the LTC massively improved my bridge, because it gave me an insight into how to evaluate unbalanced hands. Now, I'm not stupid and I don't use it blindly. After the initial revelation, I slowly worked out what was good and what was bad. But I still do a HCP count and a raw LTC, and if the answers suggest different things, then I stop and think about WHY they are different, and that gives me clues as to how to reevaluate my hand in the light of an ongoing auction.
I have a longstanding partnership with an essentially social player who uses the (raw) LTC without understanding what's going on. I had a longstanding club/tournament partnership with another player who generally bids well, but doesn't declare well and doesn't use LTC. On distributional hands, we find good contracts in the former partnership, but miss them in the latter. So, my belief is that LTC raises the standard of club-level bridge, even for those who do not make sensible adjustments.