[akwoo]

How good is your partner here?

With a good partner at matchpoints, I am going to lead a heart here. But that's because I trust partner to remember the bidding and know that they should return a club when they get in (unless dummy shows up with something indicating they shouldn't). If you can't trust your partner to remember the bidding (and look at the dummy) and return a club no matter what you lead first, then you have to lead a club.

Also, I don't now if I could do it every day, but I think, after leading K♣, you could find the J♦ when you get in with the second club.

[AL78]

akwoo, on 2022-December-11, 15:49, said:

How good is your partner here?

With a good partner at matchpoints, I am going to lead a heart here. But that's because I trust partner to remember the bidding and know that they should return a club when they get in (unless dummy shows up with something indicating they shouldn't). If you can't trust your partner to remember the bidding (and look at the dummy) and return a club no matter what you lead first, then you have to lead a club.

Also, I don't now if I could do it every day, but I think, after leading K♣, you could find the J♦ when you get in with the second club.

My partner was inexperienced (what is defined in the UK as an improver).

[akwoo]

AL78, on 2022-December-12, 07:18, said:

My partner was inexperienced (what is defined in the UK as an improver).

When I play with improvers, I don't consider my results. Depending on my mood, I might not even play seriously (or only bother to do so in interesting positions) - me on autopilot is better than an improver.

[AL78]

akwoo, on 2022-December-12, 16:54, said:

When I play with improvers, I don't consider my results. Depending on my mood, I might not even play seriously (or only bother to do so in interesting positions) - me on autopilot is better than an improver.

I normally wouldn't but 36% is bad even for us. On our previous session we came second with a little over 57%. The reason I partner her is to try and bring her on and give her a bit more of a sound partner than her other improver partners. I know enough about the fundamentals of bidding and card play to do that (e.g. we don't miss 28 HCP games). She's keen and I wish to fuel her enthusiasm for the game and coming last with a very low score doesn't help with that, although I accept with a small mixed field the randomness element is higher than normal.

[pescetom]

AL78, on 2022-December-12, 17:01, said:

I normally wouldn't but 36% is bad even for us. On our previous session we came second with a little over 57%. The reason I partner her is to try and bring her on and give her a bit more of a sound partner than her other improver partners. I know enough about the fundamentals of bidding and card play to do that (e.g. we don't miss 28 HCP games). She's keen and I wish to fuel her enthusiasm for the game and coming last with a very low score doesn't help with that, although I accept with a small mixed field the randomness element is higher than normal.

You hit one of the obvious sore spots with your last comment: small field and inadequate tournament formats leading to high randomness element.

Another one, I feel (coming from a not dissimilar club and position, with the additional handicap of being Director), is your apparent obsession with day to day results rather than objectives and priorities, however egoistically (or not) you set them. The only thing I try to avoid is playing with people who truly have no hope or (even more frequent) play only to pass time, however proficient the latter may be: anything else is fair game and offers its own satisfactions, be it (in my own order) competing in a major tournament with a trusted companion, playing with a skilled player who is happy to teach me something, playing with a promising beginner who is happy to learn, playing with a consenting partner to have a bit of fun at the edge of bridge wisdom. The important thing is not to finish a tournament wondering why you played in the first place (or brood about the score when you weren't there to seriously compete as a pair).

[akwoo]

AL78, on 2022-December-12, 17:01, said:

I normally wouldn't but 36% is bad even for us. On our previous session we came second with a little over 57%. The reason I partner her is to try and bring her on and give her a bit more of a sound partner than her other improver partners. I know enough about the fundamentals of bidding and card play to do that (e.g. we don't miss 28 HCP games). She's keen and I wish to fuel her enthusiasm for the game and coming last with a very low score doesn't help with that, although I accept with a small mixed field the randomness element is higher than normal.

My Precision partnership is both systemically and stylistically very high variance. We seem to come in low 40s about every other game, though we're in the high 50s or low 60s the other half of the time.

Sounds like, overall, you're averaging near 50%. You're doing fine. Just remember that when you get 57% you've gotten your share of good luck for the month and will pay for it sometime.