[AL78]

MPs, playing with my improver mentee. An evening of very poor deals our way where opps were in the auction and pushing us around on almost all of the 25 boards, when the cards weren't completely their way. The sub-50% score was partly down to unforced errors as well as the very low (three) table movement.

---

We got this one down for a bottom as the other two NS pairs bid and made 3NT our way. Thankfully I am only dealing with this sort of thing once a month next year.

[sfi]

South didn't want to invite? That would seem like the normal action.

[mikeh]

Assuming reasonably competent declarer play (lack of which is sometimes offset by poor defence, so really I’m saying…assuming declarer is about as competent or better than the opps) 3N will make about half the time with 12 opposite 12, balanced hands. Here, south has 11, which includes 2 Aces (making it a good 11) and 2 10’s (making it a great 11, with the caveat that it is flat). Opener has 12-14.

Game will be (usually) good opposite 14 and decent opposite 13. 2N will likely be ok opposite 12 or a mediocre 13.

So passing 1N is just giving up.

I’m willing to bet that this sort of thing happens in your partnerships way too often for you to ever have much chance unless you get lucky…luck does often play a disproportionate role in tiny games, of course.

I remember being taught that one needed 26 hcp for 3N. Since those ideas were generated for the benefit of the millions of bad players who played 60+ years ago, and the standards of bidding, declarer play and defence were, by todays standards, abysmal, that may have made sense. If so, it doesn’t anymore.

[jillybean]

Yes, South has a clear bid, what were they thinking?
The prize however must go to W for coming into the auction with a total of 5hcp KQxx

[AL78]

I realised shortly after I posted this that my partner passed with an invitational hand, I will ask her why. To be fair we were destined for a bottom when she passed so I can't really blame West for the result.

[AL78]

I also just noticed that you have the matchpoint dilemma I posted about recently if you are in 3NT and the defence start off by cashing four spade tricks. After you have finished cashing eight minor suit tricks with the aid of the club finesse, do you go for an overtrick with the heart finesse or do you settle for nine tricks?

[sfi]

AL78, on 2023-December-05, 23:48, said:

[...] you are in 3NT and the defence start off by cashing four spade tricks.

Your chances for overtricks are slim at this point.

[AL78]

sfi, on 2023-December-06, 00:26, said:

Your chances for overtricks are slim at this point.

Good point, that is what happens when I post at 5:30am suffering from a problem with my right eye.

[pescetom]

A three table movement sounds like this club is at it's last breath.
Have you considered problems more important than the low quality of play, such as surviving?
Merging with another club (preferably nearby and trusted, but not necessarily) may be a good start.

[AL78]

pescetom, on 2023-December-08, 16:07, said:

A three table movement sounds like this club is at it's last breath.
Have you considered problems more important than the low quality of play, such as surviving?
Merging with another club (preferably nearby and trusted, but not necessarily) may be a good start.

This might be better in a new thread, but my thoughts/experience:

The club has around 300 members so it is in a healthy position in that sense. The problem is that attendance has been on a downturn over the last year or so, even the BBO sessions which should be immune to the UK's poor weather.

I am heavily reigning bridge in from now on because firstly I have found other things to do on the F2F evenings and secondly, I have had enough with the frequent toxic sessions which I initially look forward too but consistently antagonise me and leave me feeling I am wasting my time, if not making a fool out of me (no it is not because of my partner). When the sourness of the bridge experience exceeds the joy of my partner's company it is time to call it a day.

After being on the committee for many years I have resigned, partly because I don't like the way the club has gone since the pandemic and it is not the club I joined just over 20 years ago. The committee I feel has swung the pendulum too far towards beginners, and whilst bringing in new players through teaching and practice is essential, I don't believe it is the only thing that should be done. I feel there needs to be some focus on quality bridge sessions and rewarding people through competitions for good quality bridge, not as is happening now handicapping almost everything and, as the secretary said, setting the competitions up so that the inexperienced players can win. Is it really wrong to advocate a good quality game of bridge alongside the recruitment and teaching?

My observation combined with gut feeling is that a consequence of being focused almost entirely on beginners is that attendance at sessions is going down. I have looked at stats on Pianola and despite the high number of members, over a third of them were playing no more than once a month in the duplicate sessions and several more only playing marginally more frequently. With that level of enthusiasm is it any wonder four table movements are common? The second Tuesday F2F session is one session that is doing much better because it is marketed as a social evening with drink and nibbles and fewer boards played, which is more attractive to the inexperienced players. It seems that enthusiasm for competitive duplicate play is low and many of the membership would rather play socially, hence why several of the beginners play at someones house or even down a local pub rather than at the club.

Finally, one issue stifling the attendance of at least some inexperienced players to the main duplicate sessions is the perception that they are full of good and serious players and they will be out of their depth or it will be unpleasant. This is nonsense as a look at all the hands I have posted on here over several years will illustrate but perception trumps fact where people are concerned. I don't see a way around this.