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Home -> Gee Chronicles -> Hand Archive
The Blackboard Jungle
Bridge teaching is difficult. Ordinarily keeping your student's spirits up produces the best results, but sometimes, as in today's hand, harsher measures are called for. Proceedings begin innocuously, with a standard diamond opener by Seaman Lall, East, and a 1S overcall by Gee. Mini-Gee replies 1NT, passed back to our hero, who without hesitation bids 2H. Mini, under the impression that this shows a good hand, and holding four-card support and a maximum, naturally enough invites with 3H; Gee reevaluates his loser-rich, already immensely overbid hand and plunges fearlessly into game. A Bones double by the Seaman, holding two defensive tricks at most opposite a partner who has shown nothing, ends the auction. West leads the club king and recriminations begin immediately. Gerard: why 3H, efes? Gee bites his tongue and declares to his customary standard. He wins the club lead and plays S10. If he overtakes with the jack, playing the Seaman for the spade king, which he is a big favorite to hold, he goes down 1. He ruffs a spade and plays a low club. The defenders get their two diamonds and one trump but that's all. Gee, however, makes the key play of the spade ace, leaving himself a spade loser in the endgame for down 2, -500, and a less than satisfactory result. Out comes the hickory switch: G: proof is in the pudding... we just made 2 Uh oh. Criticizing Gee's bidding is one thing, but taking captaincy theory in vain will not be treated lightly. G: what did I say 5 minutes ago? Charity begins at home. petit_g: i think u were distracted with the bidding... Wait a second. How'd I get involved in this? G: you made a bad bid, efes Oops. Still, discipline has been restored. Comments
I had not seen this hand but was given it as a problem by a spec who
had. I was asked what I would bid over 2 hearts. Noting the 2 aces and
not much wasted in diamonds for my NT bid, I bid 4 hearts, remarking that
it was close between 3 and 4. Guess I would get in even more trouble than
Minigee.
Once again the student has surpassed the master, although when the master
is Gee the compliment of necessity acquires a left-handed flavour. Nevertheless,
MiniGee was polite and patient, accepting blame where he had none, and
quiet in his insistence of his correctness. Gee would do well to learn
from the student, and no doubt, in gratitude for the many expert lessons
Gee has already given him, MiniGee would forego all fees.
Mini should fire G immediately for this hand alone (not to mention the
past abuses):
1. G misbid the hand. Where the hell did 4h come from? When since does
mini's 1nt response to G's 1 spade overcall indicate an opening hand or
better? The 3 h response gave G the opportunity to revaluate his hand.
And nothing in his hand had changed.
2. G's usual standard of play.
3. G's unexcusable rudeness. To blame partner for your mistakes is so
sorry. So unexcusable. So small minded. And to do it in front of others
compounds the rudeness of it.
I really believe that G owes mini a major PUBLIC mea culpa.
Gee is so wrong, as always, and shows his true colors by the commentary.
Can petitg INDEED be a student??? And WHY? There are lots of good teachers
if he needs one, G knows nearly nothing of bridge.
I had once mentioned that Efes has surpassed the teacher (if you can
call G a teacher AT ALL). This hand clearly illustrates that Efes has
a good grasp of bidding concept, that G is as usual blinded by his own
ego and knows nothing, and continues to put blame on his partner. This
hand was also given to me by a spec as a bidding problem, and I too chose
1NT by Efes, and then the 3H bid. As it turns out, 3H is just making,
and 4H would be cold if G indeed has a decent hand. Why would 2H be weak,
I know not. Efes, keep up the good work, and do not quit bridge. I know
someone else that should quit though... any guesses?
P.S. Who invented this ridiculous captaincy theory anyway? This is a
horrible way to teach anyone bidding theory.
Ok, let me see what we have here...
First a columnist who besides the columns in this website is not able
to get a job at writing for the real stuff and advertizes being the webmaster
for websites... which are all his own... not a single paying client...
Then we have comments by a bunch of people who push cards but are setting
themselves as judges... O_bones (good writer but who thinks he is God),
curtisxx, who is so good that when he comes to my table to play against
me, his potential partner tells me privately "not him, please!" [Exceptionally
vicious personal attack omitted. --Ed.] and vulture, of course, who
will say anything as long as he can attack me for some reason I still
don't have any clue about... what an army of losers!... But that's your
army, aaron... irac... you are not included in the lot... I think that
you got lost here writing stuff...
Grow up, people... I wont even attack your knowledge in bridge, because
I dont even think your motivations have anything to do with bridge...
This or your being compassion towards petit_g is due to your own lack
of understanding bridge auctions any better than he does (but at least
petit_g tries)... So you think you can be so judgemental... Learn that
petit_g is my friend, and after all is said and done, we have a drink
and laugh at you all about your bad faith or ignorance of the game...
Yes, petit_g was frustrated, expressed it and was out of line. I told
him so myself then and after the game.
Now... talking about rudeness... Before you can accuse me of rudeness...
just read what you write yourselves, people... If that is not rudeness...
what is? Every line you write is an insult, nasty and outrageous.
Also, aaron, in this present case, you are reporting something that you
have no right to report... Another example of rudeness... It was a work
session, not an open game. The table was hidden, but, by courtesy, I had
let a few specs in who I felt I could trust not to make public what took
place during this private session... They betrayed my trust... and you
were too happy to oblige whoever did that. This will put an end to having
any spec at all while in a lesson or working session. You have no sense
of honor, no sense of morality and totally irrespectful of others. You
are the bottom of the barrel to use the name curtisxx used so eloquently
concerning me.
As for the auction itself, bidding 2H after 1S is not, has never been
showing a big hand... in any system. It is not a reverse, and since I
was the crew at this stage of the auction, I just simply showed a 4 card
heart suit and preference for 2H over 1NT as a contract. The error was
the 3H by petit_g which was inviting me to bid 4 if close to or at the
maximum of my range, which I was with 11 HCPs + 2 distribution points
since assured of a fit... for a total of 13 points. This justified my
4H bid. The problem was indeed the 3H by petit_g, captain in the auction,
who failed to recognize the maximum value of my hand as less than 17 points,
and not doing his job as captain.
The play itself was function not of taking an automatic down 1, but trying
to make against all odds. It was do or die... Not a misplay as you so
emphatically state, aaron.
Now... let's see how rude I was during the exchange with petit_g, since
all 4 of you have an urge to find rudeness in the way I treated petit_g...
Gerard: why 3H, efes? I do not believe I showed any sign of impatience towards petit_g, I dont
see where I criticized him at all... Though I criticized a bid of his,
which is a normal thing in the course of a work session.
By what right, aaron, curtisxx, kaima and vulture do you judge my behaviour.
Your comments are out of line, injust, unjustified, false accusations
and showing again and again that your sole purpose is to make derogatory
comments about me, and I tax your comments of having nothing to do with
bridge and of being slandering.
I will make this my last comment in your columns, aaron. I wont bother
coming back here either to see what other garbage you write...
you are not worth it... you are a little man, with little to say, little
ambition, and a little mind... Goes for you too, curtisxx, kaima, o_bones
and vulture... and same for the few others who you attract. Low life attracts
low life.
I don't deal with your kind... [More scurrilous innuendo omitted.
--Ed.] reason why I don't play with you anymore, curtisxx... you don't
make errors... you don't know what errors are... vulture... you are nothing
at all... wont even bother with you... O_Bones... what a pity... such
much talent when you write and so little else besides that!
I'll skip the ones who haven't yet made any comments this time... you
know who you are.
Finally aaron, you have a list a names I called you... let's review the
names you called me:
well... I give up... there are too many of them...
You think that making fun of somebody, insulting somebody, practicing
character assassination and slander is humour?
If so, I have no sense of humour...
aaron, curtisxx, kaima and vulture... you strive on negativity., but
one day, you will in turn pay for it... who lives by the word dies by
the sword... Your turn will come... not from me though... I have better
and more important things to do in life...
Therefore I say aaron, o_bones, kaima, curtisxx, leah and whoever else
in your gang...
You are the weakest links, goodbye!
i am sure me and Gerard r not the only bridge players who went through
such a conversation...although all the comments look on my side, i am
willing to take the blame if all of u friends (we see each other more
than our spouses) heartly think of it, and accept we are being too much
tough to Gerard, first Gerard is somebody i love in life, he is more than
a teacher therefore i cannot discard him; he is a person like us all and
has mistakes like all humans, and can easily get overexcited about competitive
situations....i myself and i am sure all of us have said words which we
actually didnt mean just because of the pressure of competition...pls
lets all respect and try to understand one another...love u all....
Gerard fails to understand that I have no "army" and no "gang"; what
I have is readers, who include some
of the best players in the country. I allow comments, but this does
not mean I endorse all the views of my commentators. They are obliged
to give their names, and I encourage Gerard to take up his grievances
with them directly.
Gerard has again accused me of inaccuracy, inaccurately. The discussion
was exactly as I reported it. My editorial remark about 2H vs. 3H was
carefully couched as such; if I wished to distort, I could have changed
3H to 2H without comment. His capital letters looked then and look now
like they were deliberate and in anger. I have published his denial, which
the reader may evaluate for what it's worth.
As for "betrayal of trust," all hand records on OKBridge are public;
I can look them up at my leisure no matter how many spectators were at
the table. And if Gerard's spectators, his opponents, or even his partner
wish to report a conversation to me, presuming they have not been sworn
to secrecy, then they are free to do so.
Later on Gerard nearly embarks on a list of names I've called him, but
then changes his mind because "there are too many of them," or, more likely,
because there are none at all.
His gloss of the discussion speaks nearly for itself. Gerard's demand
to know what specifically he said that was rude misses the point.
Few things are more infuriating than to be told, blandly and repeatedly,
that one is wrong when one is right; under the circumstances I thought
Mini kept his temper rather well. In his comment Gerard characterizes
Mini's behavior as follows: "classic denial," "more denial," "famous escape,
he can't be wrong so he quits," and "threatening." This is a remarkably
impolite way to acquit oneself of rudeness.
And "arrogant imbecile" though I may be, I still don't know
what he would rebid with more than 12.
Out of all that .. my name finally crept in. YIKES!
As evidenced here by Gerard's diatribe, it appears he did not care to take my
advice to tone down his behavior in order to better get along.
It will be a cold day in hell when Gerard really gives up looking at this website
as he promised to do. Let's see ... the Top Ten Reasons Gerard WILL continue to read
Aaron's website ...
10. To improve his composition of the English language. And the NUMBER ONE REASON Gerard will continue to read Aaron's website is:
1. He has no conviction. Look at the number of times he has threatened to quit OKBridge.
Since Gerard won't be reading this then I don't have to worry about it offending him.
Dear Aaron and readers, 3h looks like a normal bid by N and I am sure 90% of players would bid it (10% would bid
4h), but under the circumstances it's a very superficial if not a plain wrong bid.
When we get the additional information that S will be declarer in a heart contract and
that E-W are aware of the Bones principle, PASS is by far the best bid. It doesn’t
matter whether S is max, super max, crew, captain or whatever.
An alternative to PASS is 2nt in an attempt to play the hand from the "right" side, but
it has a major drawback. It gives S the chance to bid again.
2hx should have a fair chance if south has something resembling to what he has promised
in the bidding.
Much as I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony -- and anyone who knows me
knows that this is my fondest wish -- I can't give up the
Gee Chronicles, for what is a warm, cuddly community of readers with nothing to read? Large
cash bribes, however, will receive careful consideration.
© 2002-2003 by Aaron Haspel. All rights reserved. |
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