glen, on May 28 2005, 09:42 PM, said:
Please note that Fred wrote this before Episode III, Revenge of the Roman Numerals, where he takes on the Italian Team for several years, and then switches over to the dark side (I think it was some strong diamond system with 8-12 openings but I don’t have the screenplay at hand – rumour has it Yoda was based on Joey Silver). Although system and/or comprehensive sets of partnership agreements are needed at high levels (at least until Fred proves that he can win playing two pages of Goren notes), developing players should avoid the crutch and distraction of highly evolved bidding systems and stick with mainstream methods. So forget all that Darth Vader equipment (though I think that mechanical breathing would throw off the opponents) and learn to wield a light sabre first.
LOL! I don't think this post got enough of its due.
As per the system debate, I think it's pretty interesting. The president of our university club really wants all of improving players to just stick to simple Acol and focus on learning it well. Of course most of the students start to learn it and then play some online and end up adding tons and tons of different gadgets and conventions.
My argument to him was that although I agreed that their bridge would improve if they just stuck with simple system and improved their cardplay, defense, and bridge judment, that their bridge INTEREST may suffer.
When you read Hamman's book, you note that he spent hours and hours of study when he learned the game. He wrote that after playing all day, he would go home at night and study double dummy problems (something that Garozzo was also known to do). Also in his time with the Aces, he was what I would call a "true professional" player. By that I mean he was paid to work on his game, not just sponsored to play with someone. (I do not mean this as any slight to people that play with sponsors because I think that is good for the game.) But not many people have the opportunity to devote their full time to the study and improvement of their game.