[Califdude]

Having a math major in my resume, I'm interested in how much or how little respect you all have for the Principle of Restricted Choice. The following could be one example of the application of this principle.

Assume no other information available. You are South, holding A10xxx of trumps, dummy has Kxxx.

Do you play the K on the first round of trumps so that in case W plays either the Q or J you can apply the Principle of Restricted Choice and finesse with the 10 on the second round of trumps? Or do you simply play for the drop?

Thanks for your replies.

[rogerclee]

Uhh, what is your question? Of course you finesse because it is the right percentage play by a lot.

[effervesce]

The finesse is 2:1 odds on. Of course every decent bridge player will take the finesse (considering the suit in isolation) unless the rest of the hand demands otherwise (safety play, etc)

[pclayton]

You're a math major?

RC isn't something subjective that you either have respect for or not.

[matmat]

pclayton, on Oct 24 2008, 12:34 AM, said:

You're a math major?

RC isn't something subjective that you either have respect or not.

i disrespect math, yo!

[OleBerg]

matmat, on Oct 24 2008, 07:38 AM, said:

pclayton, on Oct 24 2008, 12:34 AM, said:

You're a math major?

RC isn't something subjective that you either have respect or not.

i disrespect math, yo!

I agree. No respect for math, it's to easy.

You simply calculate what you want to know, wtp?

[nige1]

Califdude, on Oct 24 2008, 12:03 AM, said:

Having a math major in my resume, I'm interested in  how much or how little respect you all have for the Principle of Restricted Choice.  The following could be one example of the application of this principle.
Assume no other information available.  You are South, holding A10xxx of trumps, dummy has Kxxx.
Do you play the K on the first round of trumps so that in case W plays either the Q or J you can apply the Principle of Restricted Choice and finesse with the 10 on the second round of trumps?  Or do you simply play for the drop?
Thanks for your replies.

Assuming Kxxx is in dummy, play dummy's K and lead another. If RHO follows twice and a quack has appered from LHO, then finesse unless

• Opponents are slaves to HCP and LHO needs the remaining quack to justify their bidding or
  
• Extreme splits mean LHO has about twice as many vacant places as RHO or
  
• With QJ doubleton, LHO would almost always play the quack that is missing (A recent Bridge World article showed that a moderate preference for one quack over the other does not invalidate restricted choice recommendations).

[han]

Respect!

I think I play for the drop. It feels right.

[pclayton]

matmat, on Oct 23 2008, 09:38 PM, said:

pclayton, on Oct 24 2008, 12:34 AM, said:

You're a math major?

RC isn't something subjective that you either have respect or not.

i disrespect math, yo!

Math is the tool of the MAN to oppress us!

Fight the MAN!

[Califdude]

Thanks to Nige1 for your clear and non-sarcastic reply. For myself, I learned about RC many years ago and have applied it when I thought appropriate.

What inspired my post was the impression I have from my life experiences with bridge that many otherwise good bridge players are not familiar with RC. I mentioned that I did a math major back in the day because I thought RC, along with the related Monty Hall problem and Bayes Theorem, might be of more interest to mathematicians than bridge players. So I thought I would inquire here whether the application of RC is prevalent in expert bridge. Judging from the replies, I would say it is... and it isn't.

[han]

Not all humor is sarcasm, not even all bad humor.

[rogerclee]

Califdude, every single top player knows and uses restricted choice. 100 %.

[Rossoneri]

Califdude, on Oct 24 2008, 07:36 PM, said:

Thanks to Nige1 for your clear and non-sarcastic reply. For myself, I learned about RC many years ago and have applied it when I thought appropriate.

What inspired my post was the impression I have from my life experiences with bridge that many otherwise good bridge players are not familiar with RC. I mentioned that I did a math major back in the day because I thought RC, along with the related Monty Hall problem and Bayes Theorem, might be of more interest to mathematicians than bridge players. So I thought I would inquire here whether the application of RC is prevalent in expert bridge. Judging from the replies, I would say it is... and it isn't.

Ahem. I am a Statistics major and I just had a lecture which talked about Monty Hall today.

[Lobowolf]

rogerclee, on Oct 24 2008, 01:49 PM, said:

Califdude, every single top player knows and uses restricted choice. 100 %.

At least.

[matmat]

rogerclee, on Oct 24 2008, 01:49 PM, said:

Califdude, every single top player knows and uses restricted choice. 100 %.

how can they?!
most of them were not math majors!

[han]

ok that's sarcasm.

[Califdude]

Responding top Roger Clee's comment that 100% of the top players apply RC...thanks, that answers my question.

This is a forum for expert bridge players, so what I'm about to say is off-topic, I suppose, but I retain the impression that as you begin to drop below the top and expert players, the percentage of regular players who understand and use RC drops off rather quickly. Maybe I can arrange for a poll on the Intermediate Bridge forum sometime, might be interesting.

[barmar]

As I said in the poll thread, RC is very counter-intuitive. It takes good discipline to force yourself to follow a principle like this.