[barmar]

 LBengtsson, on 2023-March-29, 12:04, said:

a) Only three times, I can remember, have I seen in a club duplicate a board where everyone played in the same contract and made the same number of tricks.

You must not play in any small clubs. In games with 6-8 tables, every few sessions you'll get at least one flat board. Some hands just bid and play themselves, even the worst pairs in the club can't screw them up.

[akwoo]

 barmar, on 2023-March-30, 16:37, said:

You must not play in any small clubs. In games with 6-8 tables, every few sessions you'll get at least one flat board. Some hands just bid and play themselves, even the worst pairs in the club can't screw them up.

You must not know any absolute beginners (or lifetime absolute beginners) - the ones who regularly have auctions 1C-(P)-1H-(P)-P-(P) (with 14 hcp each), or the ones whose defense consists of cashing aces and hoping for the best and who never take finesses when declaring.

[thepossum]

It was news to me that there were guns for hire out there

I feel like raising a few eyebrows at the local club
But I imagine their fees, airfares and hotel expectations are not cheap

And wasting all those dollars on the weakest link effect

[mikeh]

 thepossum, on 2023-March-30, 20:35, said:

It was news to me that there were guns for hire out there

I feel like raising a few eyebrows at the local club
But I imagine their fees, airfares and hotel expectations are not cheap

And wasting all those dollars on the weakest link effect

There are a number of billionaires who enjoy bridge and who are very competitive. Even part-time pros get about $1000 a day at NABC’s and the top pros much, much more.

My favourite story about a billionaire player was a number of years ago. I will use ‘he’ but take no inference either way since I have no intention of disclosing who this person was.

He flew into town on his private jet, leaving it and its crew at the airport for the week.

Back then the major event at the regional was a KO running each morning, ending on Saturday. I was lucky enough to be partnering Grant Baze in the second half of our matches, the client playing the first half.

Friday one of the billionaire’s pros came over to Grant and said that their client couldn’t stay for Saturday…he and his team had to fly back home. He proposed a tie. Grant managed to avoid laughing and so we win without playing the final match: the other side forfeited

Why?

Because the billionaire’s billionaire spouse needed to be in Paris on Sunday…ordinarily the spouse would have flown in the spouse’s own private jet (capable of flying non stop across the US and the Atlantic). However that jet was in the shop for maintenance and so our billionaire had to return home to allow the spouse to use his plane. Fly commercial? Perish the thought.

I’m proud of my line at the time….this is why billionaires need three such jets….one each and a backup.

The rich are indeed different from the rest of us…they have way too much money😀

[AL78]

 mikeh, on 2023-March-30, 22:38, said:

There are a number of billionaires who enjoy bridge and who are very competitive. Even part-time pros get about $1000 a day at NABC’s and the top pros much, much more.

My favourite story about a billionaire player was a number of years ago. I will use ‘he’ but take no inference either way since I have no intention of disclosing who this person was.

He flew into town on his private jet, leaving it and its crew at the airport for the week.

Back then the major event at the regional was a KO running each morning, ending on Saturday. I was lucky enough to be partnering Grant Baze in the second half of our matches, the client playing the first half.

Friday one of the billionaire’s pros came over to Grant and said that their client couldn’t stay for Saturday…he and his team had to fly back home. He proposed a tie. Grant managed to avoid laughing and so we win without playing the final match: the other side forfeited

Why?

Because the billionaire’s billionaire spouse needed to be in Paris on Sunday…ordinarily the spouse would have flown in the spouse’s own private jet (capable of flying non stop across the US and the Atlantic). However that jet was in the shop for maintenance and so our billionaire had to return home to allow the spouse to use his plane. Fly commercial? Perish the thought.

I’m proud of my line at the time….this is why billionaires need three such jets….one each and a backup.

The rich are indeed different from the rest of us…they have way too much money😀

Too much money maybe, but no more intelligent than most other people it appears. If flying commercially would allow everyone to fulfill their commitments, that would be the logical choice to make.