[kgr]

Which regular posters of very good experts?
What is the top 5 ranking of regular posters for their Bridge expertise?
=> to have an idea when:
- I have limited time which posts I should read first
- When their are contradicting opinions on bidding or play, which to take most seriously.
(not that all opinions are not important )

[MrAce]

Excluding Fred and some other good players who do not post regularly.

My favourites are

Bidding : Justin, Gnasher, MikeH, 655321, FrancesHinden,Cherdano, Awm, Gwnn, Phil, Inquiry, Han, HeleneT, Free, Cyberyeti, Free, Wyman, Aguahombre, Mich-b, Nige1, Zelandakh, Jdeegan, and probably more (not in specific order but i really read what Justin , Andy and MikeH wrote each time )

Play/Defense: Justin (though he doesnt post much in those topics) Rhm, Andy, MikeH,FrancesHinden, Phil.

Specialized Experts :

BW expert : Lurpoa ♥ ♥ ♥

Unofficial A/E Forum moderator : Phil. If u are posting a topic here that doesnt belong here, Phil will let you know.

[Fluffy]

This highly subjective. I read almost everything most say, but to answer your question, for me fred, jlall are above the rest, then jdonn, mikeh, franceshinden and gnasher (not in that order). Those are the ones I will carfully read what they say. Sadly fred and jdonn are not posting much latelly, and like them, there are other very good players who post here only ocasionally.

Those are the only ones I could tell you being politically correct, you would be a fool if you ignored some 5-6 others, I have a list in my mind that ranks most of them but placing one over the other is subjective and something I won't do publically.

[Phil]

Thanks Timo. Without sounding like a MAS you should be on your own list.

Nevertheless I don't like these types of threads for obvious reasons like Fluffy said but I will freely give you my opinion at the bar.

[MrAce]

Fluffy, on 2011-November-10, 08:28, said:

This highly subjective. I read almost everything most say, but to answer your question, for me fred, jlall are above the rest, then jdonn, mikeh, franceshinden and gnasher (not in that order). Those are the ones I will carfully read what they say. Sadly fred and jdonn are not posting much latelly, and like them, there are other very good players who post here only ocasionally.

Those are the only ones I could tell you being politically correct, you would be a fool if you ignored some 5-6 others, I have a list in my mind that ranks most of them but placing one over the other is subjective and something I won't do publically.

I agree with Gonzalo, and as i said in my post i didnt write them in specific order except than mentioning that i really favor 3 posters a lot. And i intended to say those are the people i usually read when they write something. Not neccesarilly better than those who i dont read.

To me it is not only about how good they are at bridge, but also how good they express their side of the story. English is not my native language, so i read posters in my fav list also for other reasons than just bridge.

For example there are very good players that i never read in the forums, those who abonden their own topic, those who use long page of explenations to explain a simple thing. (This happens due to lack of language skills especially for those of us who learnt this language later, and i am one of them, not in regards to being a very good player but a poor writer ) Those who feels like they have to reply each and every freaking post out there etc etc...

[MickyB]

Agree with Fluffy that Fred and Justin are a level above the rest, as they both play and write very well.

MikeH, Frances, Gnasher and Phil all post frequently and thoroughly, and are often thought-provoking. Also RHM but his bidding isn't to my taste!

I believe [but I'm not certain in all cases - I haven't played against them all] that Mich-B, Fluffy, Han, Cherdano, 655321, DBurn and myself are among the top players here, but we post less frequently and/or less thoroughly than the names mentioned above.

[aguahombre]

On the question about contradicting opinions (about bidding), and which to take more seriously:

Whether the poster is one of the exalted or not should take a back seat to determining if one or the other fits better into your overall bidding style and related agreements. The top expert posters are coming from different starting points of preferred style; and often their answers are influenced by premises which are different from yours.

Also, don't necessarily dismiss posts dripping with sarcasm. They often contain value in addition.

[fred]

I can't seem to remember his user ID, but Michael Askgaard from Denmark is (or at least was) a fairly regular poster.

He is certainly one of the very best players who posts here. Same goes for Ulven (Ulf Nilsson from Sweden).

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Phil]

+ 1 Fred. Michaels name is MKA. Ulf might be at the top of good card players you've never heard of.

[wyman]

MrAce, on 2011-November-10, 08:17, said:

My favourites are

Bidding : Justin, Gnasher, MikeH, 655321, FrancesHinden,Cherdano, Awm, Gwnn, Phil, Inquiry, Han, HeleneT, Free, Cyberyeti, Free, Wyman, Aguahombre, Mich-b, Nige1, Zelandakh, Jdeegan, and probably more (not in specific order but i really read what Justin , Andy and MikeH wrote each time )

Heh. Happy to be among your favorites, but confirmed non-expert here

For me, I think I read carefully everything that Justin, awm, inquiry, and mikeh post. And I definitely listen when MrAce, Phil, Gnasher, FH, Cherdano, Free (listed twice in your list!!), Gwnn, and others (this is meant as further exaltation to these guys, not as a slight against others in MrAce's list) weigh in on close play or bidding decisions.

And kfay is my all-around bridge consiglieri, but he only posts rarely now that he's trying to become kfayhowsermd.

[kgr]

A petty no-one is ranking them...we could start with Fred and Jlall

[y66]

Semi related question: other than brute force search, what's the best way to find the best content on this forum for specific types of problems?

[mikeh]

kgr, on 2011-November-10, 11:24, said:

A petty no-one is ranking them...we could start with Fred and Jlall

A specific ranking would, indeed, be 'petty'.

I agree that of those who post with any semblance of frequency, Fred and Justin would rank 1st and 2nd.

Fred posts all too infrequently, but, when he does, I find myself persuaded every time. Justin posts far more frequently and, perhaps as a consequence, I find myself disagreeing with him on occasion....but never because I think he is clearly wrong. Even when I remain unpersuaded, I usually feel I have learned something.

I am not going to comment on others, since I would likely offend people by omission or by being perceived as damning with faint praise. I would, however, like to single out Frances for the quality of the play problems she posts.

[BunnyGo]

Phil, on 2011-November-10, 10:35, said:

+ 1 Fred. Michaels name is MKA. Ulf might be at the top of good card players you've never heard of.

I think Michael is MFA and MFA1010.

As to the original question, I think I have personally made a short list of players whose opinions don't influence me much (based on me finding many of the answers strange to wrong), and then everyone else usually makes reasonable suggestions that I try to consider. The best players (and best writers) make more convincing arguments more frequently.

[JLOGIC]

Not enough 655321 love lol.

In general I agree with Mickyb that you need a combination of thoughtfulness/well written posts combined with someone who knows bridge well. I think awm and frances are both a good combo of those and everyone could learn from them/their posts. Mikeh also.

It really depends what level you're at in who you will learn the most from. I mean I like gnasher and 655321 and hans posts a lot but sometimes you have to read between the lines and if you are a beginner or something some of the posts you will not gain that much from, but to me they are all really good at logic/thought so I gain a lot from their posts (even if I think they're wrong, I have to go through the excersize of where we differ because it is not usually just a logic error, it is some kind of evaluation difference). Also these people generally seem to aim their posts towards an expert audience.

Fred was the best poster ever obv, and if you ever get the chance to talk to him irl it is pretty much the same. Very clear thinker. And rhm is the fred of play/defense problems lol.

[whereagles]

I know what the number means, but who's 655321 anyway?

[JLOGIC]

whereagles, on 2011-November-17, 04:05, said:

I know what the number means, but who's 655321 anyway?

Mystery man!

[gwnn]

He's a silent gaurdian. A watchful protector. A dark knight.

About other posters: my personal favourite had always been jdonn and I still can't get over his absence.

[BunnyGo]

He's someone who prefers movies to books.

[Free]

Hard to name only 5, but the ones I definitely read are Justin and Han (and Fred, but he doesn't post that often) and the short posts of various other posters which use a clear layout (no point in wasting time to decypher a post). So Ken Rexford falls off for long posts , and same goes for posts with too many suit symbols, long auctions without using the hand editor, posts with exactly 1 upvote from a particular person,...

Note: I'm honoured that MrAce likes my posts so much that he reads the all twice!