Well I'd be the first to respond but Todd has already heard my boring azz input on this subject so for a change I'm going to keep my comments to myself.
Just Kidding!!!!
Ok.. on topic....
Placebo effect and Euchre in particular.... I think that there is a grass is greener on the other side kind of thought in regards to introducing the 7's up deck. In this I do see it as a temporary placebo effect at best, but I may be wrong.
What I see most of on Hardwood is players who consistently complain about the deals and the cards they get. What they should be doing instead of blaming it on the cards all the time is looking to see what they could have been done differently. I see errors in play made by peeps all the time. Whether they are passing the game away, not paying attention to the offsuit (ex. A of something is thrown away their P lays the K and they trump it forgetting K is high) and leading trump all too often.
When I get euched or I lose a game the first thing that I do is queston my play. Did I make an error. Most times my trigger finger is too fast and I'm aware of the error I made immediately. I do not jump and blame the cards or get mad about it. Do the cards sometimes lose the game for me? Yes... that's called luck. People that I play with and against know that no matter which way it's going that I will sit and play even if I'm on the losing side of the series. You have to ride it through.
With that in mind I think that alot of the viewpoint of 7's up will fix everything is just that ... a placebo effect. Come to the wonderful world of 7's up and your luck will surely change and the loppiness will go away.
I am very open minded to the 7s up deck and do want to the play the game with the extra cards BUT with that in mind I also think that as we get used to the additional cards we will learn how to play that deck the same as we do the 9 up deck.
I think that the loppiness will be minimized some due to the additional cards but I also think that mathematically there will be more closet loners.
7's up won't cure all that ails us and all that we complain about. It will serve as a placebo affect appeasing the majority of the HW Euchre population but that effect will be short lived as we become accustomed to the deck.
In my opinion the ONLY thing that will stop the crazy loners is to introduce the Dutch Loner Option..... If you don't make all 5 tricks alone.. you are euchered.... Seriously... who would ever block with that option in place. There would be much less need because Brentie and Andrew and Todd and Dewayne couldn't pull off these hands they call loners... they would be "euchered"everytime under those rules and I wouldn't have to block them...
I want more options.. I want to play the 7's up deck. But I also think that the viewpoint that 7's up will solve all our problems is an illusion, an appeasement... hence a placebo effect.
But I do have an open mind about it until I get my hands on it and can play it for awhile. I will be the first to admit if my viewpoint was in error.
Boy I'd sure love to get a peek at that code.... I would gladly donate my time to code this option... depending on the language though I may have to brush up on my syntax.
Oh... and I'd definitely sneak us the rabbit avatar and the blip foom into smoots too while i'm at it... but shhhhh don't tell!