It was time for examination results in schools and colleges. As the results came out, Padma noticed that some results were on absolute performance while some were on percentile basis. She posed a question to the group – Which was the better method?
Kaushik answered before anyone could blink an eye saying, “Both are equally good. They are just different methods of presenting the results. You must judge where you stand. It is like playing in Match Point (MP) Pairs and IMP pairs – We enjoy both but Match Point scores on percentile basis while IMP scores on basic scores.”
Prabha was surprised and the speed of Kaushik’s reply and said, “Kaushik you are too good. The speed at which you analyse a situation and compare it to Bridge is commendable. Coming to think of it, the comparison is right. Never thought along those lines. I love MP pairs as it is easy to make up for one bad board. Once you allow opponents to make a close game or they bid and make a slam, you have to wait for a gift from opponents to make-up for the lost board.”
Kaushik was in a good mood as this was a topic he enjoyed discussing and said, “it is like coffee and tea. Both have their good taste – some people like both and some people prefer one beverage over the other”. He added, “The most important strategy for winning in MP is to be good in competitive bidding and pushing opponents to the hilt. Under bid close games as you will beat opponents who stretch and bid games and go down. The strategy should be reverse for IMP and bid close games”
Kingo, who was a silent spectator to the discussion finally jumped in and said, “I never knew all this. This is an eye opener for me. I will now read about scoring for MP/IMP in detail and I am sure our performance in pairs will improve. I agree that the game will be more enjoyable if we know how the scoring is done.”
Padma was busy googling added, “if you consistently get 55 per cent in MP and say an IMP per board on IMP pairs, you can say you are a good consistent pair. You need more luck in pairs than team event as it is important which deal you play against which opponent.”
Everyone picked up their bags thinking how to develop strategies for winning at pairs.
Tailpiece. Goofy was not enjoying the discussion. He finally barked, “I don’t care about types of scoring. Our only score is how many bones I get in a day.”
