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I'm all for this discussion of good, solid, learned bidding.
Once I learn something, I'd have a good time playing with youse and bidding SF style.
But what do I do with the riff-raff I'll partner up with at Yahoo?
Should I message partner and tell him my preferred style? Like a bridge player would say "5 card majors, a forcing no trump, 2/1 game force, Stayman, Jacoby, and RKCB 1430." Perfectly unintelligible to an outsider, but clear to a club or tournament bridge player.
Can I say "I bid Adjusted Meld" and be understood?
Rick Hall
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There really isn't time, and you'd have to do that from outside the game anyway. To reduce chat-based cheating, messaging is turned off.
I'll make comments in-game, but that's about the best you can do. And it's rarely about what I do; it's when partner *doesn't* do something. It's somewhat more likely to actually see overbidding, tho; people give 20 with 16 and 2 aces, and IMO that's an overbid. But I have seen partners pass with 18 and 2 aces...after I ask for meld. Generally, one just copes as best one can. Note that WRT adjusted meld, it's just reflecting that the aces become extra play points. What hand will actually provide more total points: 16 meld with 4 likely cashable aces, or 20 meld with 1 ace?
Perhaps the single biggest issue with the random partners on Yahoo, is they anticipate too much help. With a sound partner, I'll often give 20 on adjusted 19 (16 with 3 aces, 14 with 5). With an unsound one, this is probably overbidding.
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How about simple questions?
"Do you bid meld or 'Adjusted Meld'?" If they don't know what 'Adjusted Meld' is you say, "that's OK", and expect standard meld.
Rick Hall
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They probably won't know the term, but that doesn't mean they won't use it.
It also doesn't much matter to you. If they give 20, you figure a *net* of 25...20 meld and 2 tricks. It doesn't matter if it's adjusted meld or not. If they're really poor, literal/rigid type bidders where "20 means 20!" and won't give 20 with 18 meld and 5 aces...there's nothing you can really do about it. But you can't change your normal expectations that much, to account for this possibility, because the hand type is too narrowly defined to be frequent.
The bigger issue is what kind of hand they think is worth preempting...60 in first seat, for example. And they won't...usually can't...give a clear response, because they've never sat down and clarified the hand type, or beyond a "I think I can pull 30". Hell, most of the time they don't know how to count a hand, and that "pull 30" implicitly is counting the 4 tricks they expect from their partner. Or if they're meld first always bidders...or "save on any marriage whatsoever" types.
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02-04-2013, 08:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2013, 08:52 PM by Xox_KiNg_WaLkEr_WiZzo.)
Heres my theory on bidding 16,18,20,22,24 all 20 bids even 14 with 6 or more aces can be a 20 given what situation you are in !! 26,28,30,32,34 all 30 bids and etc no thats not counting your run for pogo players ha ha my theory is if you have 0 aces its ok to pass if only 16 or18 but in most cases you should always pass meld and try and give a meld bid first before trying to take the bid the theory behind this is cuz you never know what your p has you can have a 13 trump hand without a double run and what do you know your p has a double run and you have 30 meld or you can have hardly anything and your p can be loaded with aces and trump you never know what your p has so pass meld!!
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Xox, I'm not on Pogo, but your theory is similar to what the Yahoo players are like.
There are a bunch of guys here that think there -might- be a better way and they're trying to explain it to us "meld bidders".
What if you don't have 20 or 30+ meld to show?
What does "50" mean? Especially when you're first to bid.
There's a lot of topics like that they're covering cover.
My main job seems to be finding phrases for the glossary. They have the definitions.
Rick Hall
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Xox, that's basically what adjusted meld is quantifying; 16 meld with no aces is not worth giving 20, but 16 meld with 4 aces is. The point about meld first always has been addressed elsewhere.
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Part of the enjoyment of the game for me is trying to quickly figure out what type of player my partner is. Obviously, to do that you have to pay attention to what they bid, what it means, and how they play. Once you can "classify" your partner, then you can adapt and communicate in his/her language. The best scenario is to find some players that are on your wavelength and either get their email or meet them in a forum like this so you can look for them and contact them anytime you are going to play so you don't have to worry about having to figure out your partner.
One thing I love about this site so far is the different opinions on how to play and how other people read hands and play the game. It doesn't matter if I agree with them or not. It only matters to me that I understand how and why they play their way, so I can recognize that type of player when I am playing with or against them. The more information you can gather is beneficial to you in the long run.
