[Jinksy]

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MPs, assume no particular gadgetry available, so 3♥ is pretty much your only game try .

If you pass, would you be more ambitious at IMPs, either vul or non?

[mikeh]

Jinksy, on 2015-June-10, 12:15, said:

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MPs, assume no particular gadgetry available, so 3♥ is pretty much your only game try .

If you pass, would you be more ambitious at IMPs, either vul or non?

what makes me think this is a gametry?

I have horrible trumps, and only 2 working cards at a form of scoring that rewards plus scores.

Will we sometimes miss a decent/good game by passing? Of course we will, but stretching for game isn't the answer.

Here are the scenarios to consider:

1. We belong in game and it makes. Bidding is the winner
2. We belong in game but due to a bad lie of the cards, it fails. Bidding is the loser
3. We don't belong in game, but partner, hoping for more, overbids, and due to good luck it makes. Bidding is the winner
4. We don't belong in game, but partner, hoping for more, overbids, and we go down. Bidding is the loser


So far, on the first two, since 'good' games usually make, bidding will more often win than lose, but conversely in the second two, for the same reason, bidding will more often lose than win.

5. We don't belong in game, and partner rejects the game try.

Now, in this scenario, which is going to be a common one, bidding can never win but can often lose.

It can lose simply because, as the cards lie, we are too high and we turn +110 into -50, or -50 into -100, etc.

It can also lose because our game try gave the opps additional information, not only about our hand but also partner's, since his rejection of our try provides as much information as our making the try.

Even if you think that bidding game, when partner accepts, is a net winner, which I suggest isn't valid, these latter factors, about the 3-level having no upside but considerable downside, makes borderline game tries a mp loser.

Note that in addition to the above, there will be hands on which making the gametry, when accepted, results in accurate defence, turning what would have been +170 in 2♥ (leading to a wish that we had bid game) into -50 in 4♥ (leading to the opposite wish). This notion explains why a lot of successful players prefer to use as few gametries as possible. They either pass or blast, willing to miss a few games on the conservative end of the spectrum, while maximizing the chances of success when taking the aggressive view.

The foregoing is a slight oversimplification in that I am ignoring the possibility that LHO may balance and thus either outbid us, or lead to more accurate defence than would happen were I to shut him out. However, when we pass 2♥, very few players would or would be able to balance into a misfit auction. We might well be 1=3 in the majors, and balancing on a hand that couldn't bid over 1N is not usually winning bridge

[ggwhiz]

My partner can have up to a 17 count for ♥ but this had is too scratchy to invite opposite that narrow a target. I've seen worse bids but even red at imps it's odds off and leading with your chin at mp's.

[BillPatch]

I think that vulnerable I would hazard a false preference at IMPS.