On Tuesday (4th October) Tudor is running the Jim Dewhurst Random teams event, online, played for the prestigious Jim Dewhurst cup. The format of this competition is normally random teams. That means the director for the evening will come up with some devious way to randomise the pairings into teams. And this year is no exception. Just enter the competition with your partner in the usual way. The system will then randomly allocate the registered pairs into teams - and we're off!
The more experienced pairs amongst the membership will be well aware that a slightly different approach to bidding is used in teams. To help the less experienced players here is a guide to the tactics for playing in teams.
TEAM TACTICS
Pairs is a frequency game, the margin by which you beat your opponents is irrelevant and each hand is equally important. On the other hand, Teams scoring is cumulative, and it is the aggregate amount by which you beat your opponents on each hand that counts. The IMP scale is not linear so very large gains/losses are relatively less important. A 1000 point loss costs 14 IMPS but a 500 point loss is worth 11 IMPS so two losses of 500 (1000 in total) cost 22 IMPS which is significantly more than the single loss of 1000 points
Dos and Don’ts
DO bid games if they have a chance of making, particularly if you are vulnerable.
DO bid slams that have a chance of making
DO take risks to make your contract
DO take risks to defeat a contract
DO aim for the safest slam, game or part score
DO be careful when sacrificing – they are bidding thin games and may not make their contract anyway plus if they double you it could be expensive
DO compete to the level of the fit
DO take care dealing with pre-empts – bad breaks are likely, they may go off – remember you are aiming for a positive score.
DON’T double your opponents into game and give them a ‘free’ game bonus!
DON’T make risky overcalls, especially when vulnerable – a score of -800 is a disaster!
DON’T sacrifice against vulnerable games – your opponents are bidding thin games so will often go off giving you a positive score anyway
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