Herding cats can be difficult, and I can be one of the cats. But I really only need three other cats. When/if we get more cats, we can see how to make that work.
I'll give you a hand from yesterday's cat fight.
http://tinyurl.com/ybuwydscMaybe I should have bid 4S. I have no quarrel with Anne's pass. Zia, at the other table, did bid 4S. Zia went down in 4S. Zia could have made 4S, but he has to play the cards without seeing the EW hands, and he went down. But of course the hands were played at another table, and there they also went to 4S but EW went on to 5DX. Off 2.
This gives a lot to think about. Ideally, I go on to 4S and I make 4S. That would be nice. Under the reasonable assumption that I do not play the hand better than Zia, it would be nice to have them go on to 5D over my 4S.
I plan to put up a couple of the hands I played, and mis-played, in the sleight of hand forum.
I played with Anne (whiterabbt) first against robots but then Lark 16 and Hi Its Me (Roni and Stacy) joined in. I owe an apology to David Grab and others for botchinig up the seating. Lark sat and was a waiting for Hi, and David sat. He graciously gave his seat to Stacy. My error for not reserving seats. I was concentrating on the loading of deals and such. Anyway, I think everyone enjoyed having the results imped against Zia et al.
My plan is to do this again, and if it catches on we can see if some sort of organization would be good. Sometimes cats just need to be left to be cats.
About experts: I do take advice. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. I (almost) always listen to advice.
A simple example: DaveG has to be one of the most generous minded guys in bridge. And of course he knows a lot. Listening to his lessons, I learned that if he has a minimum hand with a 4=4=3=2 shape he opens his two card club suit. I open my three card diamond suit. I don't plan to change my style. Now there is a modern trend to open this 1C, but this is then coupled with transfer Walsh responses. OK, if I wanted to get into all of that, maybe I open it 1C. But if I am playing straight stuff over 1C openings, I prefer 1D on the 4=4=3=2 hands. I have thought some about this, and I have experimented a little with 1C on two. I could supply arguments for my preference of 1D: On an auction 1D-1M-1NT partner knows I have 4+ diamonds, and if the auction goes 1D-1M-2M he doesn't care. But there are arguments in the other direction I know. We could poll experts. Or we could just let it be that I prefer 1D.
Similar problem: Holding 3=2=4=4 and minimum count, open 1D or 1C? I prefer 1D. A partner prefers 1C. Frank Steward used to write about the advantages of opening 1C, but I haven't seen him do so lately. Steve Robinson says open one of them. I like that. But I almost always, open 1D. One issue: If the auction begins 1m -(1S)-X(neg)-P I have to find a call. If my two card heart suit and three card spade suit are such that I am comfortable with 1NT as a rebid then opening 1C will be ok. But if I am not going to be comfortable with that as a rebid, I prefer 1D. Yes partner might think/hope that I have five diamonds when I bid 2C over his double, but he should keep in mind that my choices were limited. Probably we will land on our collective feet.
The mistakes in life that I most that regret are those where I followed the advice of someone else even when I thought a better choice was available. So I listen but then choose as I think best. In bridge or life, it is all the same.
Anyway, I will put up a couple of hands from yesterday. One in particular bugs me. I should have gotten it right.