Highest MP percentage

[Joachim Parsch]

Hi all,

of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?

World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)

Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)

What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?

Joachim

[Michael Angelo Ravera]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

It usually takes about 79% to get game of the year in Unit 507. I won
it one year with a 75% and by January 15th the next year there were 4
scores that would have beaten it. See any January issue of the Unit
507 newsletter since 2002. http://www.sjbridge.org/direktor/1001.pdf
(0901.pdf, 0801.pdf, etc).

I had a 78.33% last month that I though would hold up for game of the
year and it didn't even make game of the month.

[castigamatti]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

BR

[Adam Lea]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

I think my highest was about 72% at a club game.

I have also managed once to get 67.45% and failed to win (that was a
two-winner movement as well). Having looked at all the results from the
two bridge clubs I play at over the previous year this was the highest
non-winning percentage over that period. Has anyone beaten that?

[sbt]

Post by Adam Lea

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

I think my highest was about 72% at a club game.
I have also managed once to get 67.45% and failed to win (that was a
two-winner movement as well). Having looked at all the results from the
two bridge clubs I play at over the previous year this was the highest
non-winning percentage over that period. Has anyone beaten that?

Okay, I can beat the non-winning percentage with a 71.8% game that came
in second in a club game. The highest non-winning %age I've had in a
Regional was in 1973 in Denver with a 70.35% (219.5 on a 156 avg) for a
section second behind Barry Crane and John Fisher.

The best percentage game I've ever had was an 86.4% game with Martha
Beecher in 1975. I have never since encountered another group of
opponents who just never missed a chance to mess up.

[Joachim Parsch]

Post by sbt
Okay, I can beat the non-winning percentage with a 71.8% game that came
in second in a club game. The highest non-winning %age I've had in a
Regional was in 1973 in Denver with a 70.35% (219.5 on a 156 avg) for a
section second behind Barry Crane and John Fisher.

In the club mentioned above, we once managed a second place with about
71% (above 70 for sure, and below 74, but I can't remember the exact
score). Probably is was a bit below your 71.8, so your record stands :-)

Post by sbt
The best percentage game I've ever had was an 86.4% game with Martha
Beecher in 1975. I have never since encountered another group of
opponents who just never missed a chance to mess up.

The 88% game was helped by the fact that simply taking three tricks
with AQT opposite xxx (both finesses working) would pretty much assure
you a top (yes, a rather low standard :-)).

The highest score that I can remember in a tournament that is about
equivalent to an American "regional" is 83%, unfortunately not by me
(Berthold Engel and Andrea Rauscheid in the Würzburg Open Pairs,
in the upper of two groups, i.e. no real LOLs as competition - quite
amazing). The pair could play a rather relaxed second session...

My best session in such a tournament was 74%, in a weaker field.

Joachim

[barryrigal]

Phillip Alder ran a feature about best percentages, (in the NYT in
April/May I think).
Greg Woods and Greg Reich had an 86% game at the Regency Whist Club.

The Young Chelsea in London is the strongest club in London -- maybe
in England?

Richard Fleet and I had a 78% game one Wednesday and independently
detewrmined we could not have got more MP unless we'd stayed out of a
good but failing game on low HCP.
That was a record for the club; on the Wednesday two days later he and
a current WC put up a 77.5% game.
I asked him if he could have improved on THAT game...
'Well there was the hand when my partner's line in a game would have
succeeded except that there was no fourteenth heart in the deck'....

Barry

[John R. Mayne]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

84% in a club game. Had a 77% session in a regional pairs on my
honeymoon (and needed all of it to win; 49% or something close to it
in the morning session.) That was a combination of good play, good
luck in contracts (we missed a 75% game that went down), a couple of
death-dives by the opponents, and a reward for an aggressive style
(overcalled 1S with 2N all vul on 43 -- QT984 T98754 and ended up
briskly in 5Cx-2 for all or almost all the matchpoints.)

81% in a sectional pairs. All this is from memory, though I'm
confident I'm within one percent on each figure.

--JRM

[thg]

Isn't there a BW article written by Jeff Rubens recounting a near
perfect BAM session he had with BJ Becker? I think they scored 23 1/2
out of 24. But, I could be off by a bit.

I know, not strictly MPs.

[Lone Locust of the Apocalypse]

Post by thg
Isn't there a BW article written by Jeff Rubens recounting a near
perfect BAM session he had with BJ Becker? I think they scored 23 1/2
out of 24. But, I could be off by a bit.
I know, not strictly MPs.

A few years ago I played in a side BAM which was won by Joe Grue et al.
with a score of 20/24.

http://web2.acbl.org/tournaments/results/2007/08/0708002.htm

[Frances]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

81% is my best. I don't think we could have done any better from our
cards. Admittedly this was at the university bridge club early in the
year, where the standard is, to put it mildly, variable.

I've got the top British score in the worldwide pairs with 78%, and
the best score in the 'Children in Need' pairs (across 4 different
sessions) with 77%; that's usually about the normal winning score in a
simultaneous (country-wide) event. My non-bridge-playing colleagues
find those results much more impressive than anything else I've won -
that's because the article in the paper says something like we are the
"best pair in the country" while if you win a trophy in something, it
can just sound as if you've won some random local event.

Obviously the 'world pairs' will be much lower as a winning score,
because it's played over a lot more boards. We got a pretty big score
(I can't remember what it was now) in the first session of the
European Open Pairs a few years ago, but unfortunately had to play
another 2 long sessions after that and we finished about halfway (our
carryforward was dreadful as well).

[barryrigal]

OK if we are going to talk about world pairs I can top Frances' story.

About ten years ago an ex-client asked me to play. Her pro had
canceled at short notice. This was the Friday night game.
We sat down and were dealt an 85% game -- and I have to say I played
damned well; we collected 65% of our 85% game -- good for a decent
place but not much more.

The next day she played with her pro; she went out and won the event
worldwide! This was in two of New York's tougher clubs -- can you
imagine anyone being dealt the event on two consecutive days?

Barry

[c***@yahoo.com]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

[c***@yahoo.com]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

[Sandy Barnes]

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

I once had a 89% score, playing with the now deceased Syd Levey.

[Sandy Barnes]

Post by Sandy Barnes

Post by Joachim Parsch
Hi all,
of course this is triggered by the Most-Imps-Thread.
What was your best percentage score in a matchpointed
pairs tournament?
World pairs championships are won by a pathetic 58% score (;-)),
we all know that this isn't enough if you want to win your
average 5 table club duplicate. When I was regularly playing
in the local really small club (about 5 or 6 tables at the
weekly duplicate) of my small home town (about 30.000 inhabitants),
my regular partner and me usually scored around 65%, just
by playing solid and normal bridge (the LOLs would deliver
by themselves...)
Just once we had this perfect evening (10 pairs, IIRC, but I'm
not sure), where about everything went right. We finished at
88% of the available matchpoints - it turned out that the one
occasion, where we had actually dropped matchpoints (my pard
made an unconcentrated error in defence) cost us a 90+x score.
I never forgave him that... ;-)
What was your best score in a club duplicate or a session of
a regional tournament? Anyone over 90%?
Joachim

I once had a 89% score, playing with the now deceased Syd Levey.

I forgot to mention that my error cost us 90+%