Yesterday's combined game illustrates well the effect of using fixed strata when the mix of pairs is unbalanced. Here is the Recap for North-South, with 4 A's, 2 B's, and 6 C's:

We all should understand stratification. It's used in most ACBL games, and allows for three sets of winners.

Each of the three strats is a group of pairs with similar levels of experience, as measured by their Masterpoints. Players in the "A" strat can ONLY win Masterpoints by beating other pairs in their own strat. Players in the "B" strat can win Masterpoints by beating other B pairs and by beating A pairs. Players in the "C" strat can win Masterpoints by beating C pairs, and by beating B pairs, and by beating A pairs.

Its like 3 games in one, but the C Pairs play in all 3 games at once, B Pairs play in 2, and A Pairs in only 1. 

Theoretically, "A" pairs gain nothing by beating people in a lower strat. "B" pairs gain nothing by beating people in the "C" strat. "C" pairs gain something by beating people in A, B, or C strats.

This was board 3 of the STaC game on Friday.

In Bridge, the Law of Restricted Choice allows declarer to adjust his estimate of the probablility of a particular opponent holding a particular (high) card.  Let's say declarer's side has 10 cards of a suit to the AQ10.  The KJx are held by the opponents. Those 3 cards could be split in a number of ways.  With no information, the K could be behind the AQ10, it could be singleton, it could be KJ doubleton, and so forth.

So declarer lead low towards the AQ10. The first opponent plays the J. What should declarer do?

Take another case -- declarer holds the AQ9 missing the KJ10 in the same situation and the first opponent plays the J. What should declarer do?

I found an interesting article on WikiPedia that relates to the Law of Restricted Choice: click to view. The article is very long, but you will like the front part of it, I guarantee!

An actual article on Bridge's Law of Restricted Choice is here. There are several others on the Internet as well.  If you have any interest, just Google it.

Jerry Helms is one of the pre-eminent bridge teachers in the US. He published this article (click to view ) in ACBL's Bridge Bulletin in January, 2008. Please read that article.

I am always asked, “How do I get better?" I couldn’t phrase the answer any better. I think the emphasis on playing with better players for experience is very much under­valued by many of our beginning / intermediate players.

I hope everyone will take Jerry’s advice at heart and try the open games more fre­quently and play with the open players more willingly on Tuesdays and Wed­nes­days. Playing “up” is always good for improving your bridge game. It’s not about master points; it’s about improving your bridge game!

One of my Baltimore friends sent me this randomly dealt hand – played recently at a Baltimore club game. Depending on the opening lead, defenders will take all 13 tricks or lose all 13 tricks.