Another 42 session

During the 42 session today, I was reminded again about a couple of the things that I do not like about 42. The first was the person overbidding what you really want to play. In this case, that person was me. The person to my right bid 41 and I was the last to bid. A bid of 41 means that you are going to only lose one trick and that trick will have no bones with points on them. Usually, the loosing trick will be a trump trick. However, my hand contained: 0:0, 5:5, 4:4, 4:5, 4:2, 4:1, and 4:0. In the unlikely 0:0:2 trump split I go down. So I overbid to one-mark. Which is pretty tame. It is definitely a two-mark bid. However, we were ahead and I did not want the other team to catch up more than necessary. Needless to say, I made my bid.

The other thing I do not like is the desperation bonus bid. The other team was behind 5 to 0. My partner passes. The first person on the other team bids plunge (a three-mark bid signifying that he has the 6:6 and three other doubles). I cannot over bid so I pass. And, John, the last person (the other person on the team) increases the bid to four-marks. This is a bonus mark! John is going to call trump suit and lead anyways thanks to the plunge convention. But now the opposing team will win four marks instead of three. If the score were 6 to 3, and if the opposing team made the bid, they would win the game! Flawed.