[smerriman]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-March-28, 18:12, said:

Board 24 I started by playing KQ hoping to run the suit but established their T as their 9th trick.

What holding can partner have where KQ will run the suit?

[johnu]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-March-29, 15:10, said:

Why did a switch on board 23 imply 5-1?

Think of it as a defender. Partner leads a low card in an unbid (?) suit, dummy has Jx, and you win the queen. Either partner has AK and may be able to run the suit, or declarer is holding up the ace, in which case a spade return will set up possibly several spade tricks, and knock out declarer's ace.

A heart return looks hopeless, and a minor suit is a desperate stab compared to a relatively sure thing in spades. So, if the defender doesn't return a spade, they don't have a spade

[mikl_plkcc]

Btw how does Young Chelsea get the reputation of not a "typical English club"? I have joined another club to play on some other days other than Friday evenings (which is the only session works for me at Young Chelsea) but they play matchpoints rather than IMPs, which is IMO a much harder game (as every overtrick counts and you have to chase for the 10 points in NT - I've seen people bidding 6NT over 6C there). Will it be even harder for me to break even (50%) as I may get loads of 0 when I get 3NT= when the field is in 3NT+1?

[awm]

Obviously IMPs and MP are different in many ways, but I don’t think one is necessarily harder than the other. They do reward somewhat different skill sets, but I tend to think MP is easier for less practiced partnerships (accurate slam bidding is big at IMPs and this is hard without solid methods).

The reason Young Chelsea is “not a typical English club” has more to do with the caliber of the players (atypically strong) than form of scoring I suspect. It will probably be easier to do well when the other players you are competing against are not as good.

[shyams]

Young Chelsea always had IMPs tournaments on Fridays and MPs tournaments on Mon-Thu as per their calendar.

I recall that the Tuesday & Thursday tournaments are aimed at improving players whereas those on Mon/Wed/Fri were for players of all levels.