[Wayne_LV]

In the Main Room or BBO Tournaments, what is a good percentage of hands that should be played as delarer?

Assumptions:

Relatively even field
Advanced or higher player
Normal distribution of HCP
A reasonably good system in use
A regular or a frequent partner

[Fluffy]

I think 25% is good, if you get anywhere close to 30% you sure should learn to pass more often.

Obviously you weren't asking that, but for me it is unclear if you mean how many hands should you declare as a partnership, or how many of the ones you declare on the partnershup should be you. And I have no clue how to answer any of them.

[mikeh]

Fluffy, on 2015-February-02, 04:17, said:

I think 25% is good, if you get anywhere close to 30% you sure should learn to pass more often.

Obviously you weren't asking that, but for me it is unclear if you mean how many hands should you declare as a partnership, or how many of the ones you declare on the partnershup should be you. And I have no clue how to answer any of them.

If you are playing in the Finals of the Blue Ribbon, or a world class invitational event, then 25% is, over many sessions, ideal.

However, most of us play in less exalted, and less skilled, events. For a club player or someone playing at what in NA would be the Sectional or Regional level, mostly against players of roughly the same ability, I would suggest you'd like to see your partnership playing about 54-55% of matchpoint hands. There are all kinds of reasons for this, but the main one is that defending is far more difficult than is declaring, especially for average players. A lot of aspiring players can declare reasonably well, since that is something one can study by oneself. Defence is often a case of both partners figuring out how to co-operate, and that is literally twice as difficult....both have to figure out the problem and work together....not, of course, on all or even most hands, but on enough to make a difference.

Btw, I think it a terrible idea to set out, on any session, to 'declare more hands'.....let it happen, and don't fret if over two or three sessions, or more, you aren't there yet. The sample size is too small, and trying to force the issue will almost certainly work poorly. However, if after 500 hands, you and partner are playing 45%, you may want to start looking at where you are missing out.

[Vampyr]

Fluffy, on 2015-February-02, 04:17, said:

Obviously you weren't asking that, but for me it is unclear if you mean how many hands should you declare as a partnership, or how many of the ones you declare on the partnershup should be you.

I think it must be the former, since the answer to how many hands you should allow the ox opposite to play is obvious: as close to 0% as you can possible manage

[Wayne_LV]

Maybe I did not make myself clear. The number I am looking for is a percent of all boards you declare of all the boards you have played. Given equal skills and normal distribution of tricks (average 6.5 per side) the number would be exactly 50%.

If you habitually overbid you will declare a higher % of total boards but will not score well.

If you habitually under bid you will declare a lower % of total boards and still not score well.

I feel that the field on BBO consistently overbids and trying to outbid them for the sake of declaring is not a winning strategy.

My partner and I consistently declare on 45-47% of our boards and score well on those boards. We break even on defense as most pairs do since the declarer has an advantage. Overall we do well on the average scores of all boards. My partner and I are both Advanced level players at best.

Using Double Dummy Solver I have sampled the boards of some top level BBO Royals as well as other players I consider to be good and the highest average scores are obtained by pairs that declare 45-50% of their boards. For this analysis I excluded all boards played with or against GiBs and included only hands played with humans. Most of the data came from ACBL tournament boards so the old cop out of how good are your opps does not apply.

So after giving this much information, the survey will have no meaning at all. I simply wanted to know if there is a general feeling among good players that they don't need to declare on every board to win.

[mikeh]

Wayne_LV, on 2015-February-02, 23:39, said:

Maybe I did not make myself clear. The number I am looking for is a percent of all boards you declare of all the boards you have played. Given equal skills and normal distribution of tricks (average 6.5 per side) the number would be exactly 50%.

If you habitually overbid you will declare a higher % of total boards but will not score well.

If you habitually under bid you will declare a lower % of total boards and still not score well.

I feel that the field on BBO consistently overbids and trying to outbid them for the sake of declaring is not a winning strategy.

My partner and I consistently declare on 45-47% of our boards and score well on those boards. We break even on defense as most pairs do since the declarer has an advantage. Overall we do well on the average scores of all boards. My partner and I are both Advanced level players at best.

Using Double Dummy Solver I have sampled the boards of some top level BBO Royals as well as other players I consider to be good and the highest average scores are obtained by pairs that declare 45-50% of their boards. For this analysis I excluded all boards played with or against GiBs and included only hands played with humans. Most of the data came from ACBL tournament boards so the old cop out of how good are your opps does not apply.

So after giving this much information, the survey will have no meaning at all. I simply wanted to know if there is a general feeling among good players that they don't need to declare on every board to win.

I thought you were looking for advice on playing decent bridge, not on how to win against bad bridge It is a bidder's game, provided that you are a decent player and have some sense of judgment. We all know bad players who overbid consistently, and if your experience is mostly against BBO players, then by all means swing conservative. Once you start to play better opps, in better fields, defending 55% of the time will prove to be a very tough way to earn a living

[mgoetze]

If you are seriously thinking about how to beat "the field on BBO" you really need to reevaluate your life priorities.

[gordontd]

Wayne_LV, on 2015-February-02, 23:39, said:

If you habitually overbid you will declare a higher % of total boards but will not score well.

I feel that the field on BBO consistently overbids and trying to outbid them for the sake of declaring is not a winning strategy.

We break even on defense as most pairs do since the declarer has an advantage.

Something feels inconsistent about these three sentences.

[gwnn]

If you know what the optimal percentage is, why ask us?