dustinst22

It's an interesting subject for sure, but unfortunately this subject is being sensationalized by the media and people are buying into it. The general consensus amongst the scientific community is that food from GM crops poses no greater risk than conventional food. I think it's far too soon to predict what the long term affects of GMO's will have on food production.

I play it this way too, prefer a very tight range for splinter -- basically a min GF hand (counting value for shortness) up to approx a max of 12-13 HCP seems right. With the stronger variety, we move those hands into jacoby. Also dont like splintering 2 suited hands.

I don't look at "The Other Site" as competition or an alternative to this forum. The two are very much different in the way content is generated and the way the members participate and interact. BBO is a message forum where it's much easier/quicker to generate new content, whereas the other site is focused primarily on high quality articles/video content and bidding problems/polls. Both have their use and really shouldn't cannibalize or compete with each other. Removing the upvote isn't going to increase membership or reduce the number of trolls. I think the trolling problem here is grossly exaggerated. The BBO forum is by and large a very civil place if compared to any other forum on the Internet. Trolls gonna Troll. At least we have relatively few of them.

Essentially you can't read the book while it's being lent out. I think the maximum amazon allows is 14 days. Can only lend it one time, cant lend out magazines or newspapers.

This isn't an issue -- icloud. Also with an Amazon account you simply login and resend the books to your new device. Paper books, on the other hand, are gone when lost/friend doesnt return it/fire, etc etc.

I've been trying to get my girlfriend into the game. She literally has zero card experience with any game. Basically did the same thing as you, started with the rank of suits, the mechanics (nothing conventional) of bidding, a very brief outline of the scoring, then we started playing 3 handed "mini bridge" where you deal out 4 hands and whoever has the most HCP becomes declarer and gets the dummy and decides the contract. Basically you skip the bidding process entirely, and its kind of nice because you only need 3 people. Personally, I feel like American teachers do things wrong (mostly) by focusing their beginning lessons on bidding rather than the play. I think the European style is to get beginners playing first, then finally move to bidding. This seems right to me. Finally, I realized this was all pretty overwhelming to her. So we went down to her local club and shes going to do group beginner lessons starting from scratch. Something tells me this will work better, having a group of people at the same level to learn with should hopefully get her hooked more easily even if they are ~ 30 years older. I just don't have the patience to teach someone the game from the very start, and I'm probably not a very good teacher. I'd rather have my friends who are interested in the game take the necessary classes then I can help them once they know a bit.

Has anyone read this? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061127647/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 From what I skimmed, it looks like an interesting read and maybe a way to get someone into the game without throwing a bunch of bridge jargon at them. Havent checked out the book Justin mentioned, curious about it.

I presume pass is forcing here? Assuming this, I pass. Maybe partner can cue 5D.

I like this list, but why are we preempting after a 3rd/4th seat opener?

Interesting. I assume this is alertable?

75% on RT for Wolf of Wall Street, that's very solid reviews. That movie was so over the top unadulterated debauchery and greed, really entertaining. "The name of the game, move the money from your client’s pocket into your pocket." "But if you can make your clients money at the same time it’s advantageous to everyone, corrent?" "No" I was actually pretty disappointed with American Hustle. Was expecting much more with the solid reviews. Gravity was good, but everyone was overhyping it so much I was also somewhat disappointed.

Yeah I thought it was disappointing. Just saw The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese flick). That was entertaining. Had a Boiler Room feel to it.

At a club game, the opponents had an auction 1S (P) 3S all pass. Dummy comes down with a limit raise. Declarer says "partner, when you have a good hand like that, use the stop card. Since you didn't use the stop card, I assumed you were weak."

Yikes, that's harsh and really unhelpful. Sensible auction: 1H - 1S ; 3D - 3H ; 4D - 4H This should indicate we're off 2 tricks in clubs Not sure if 3S over 3H would just show a control or patterning out something like 3550

I find it interesting that a "considerable amount of money" is being offered. I don't see the financial opportunity for Our Game, very strange. Bridge Vugraph is still very niche in the scheme of things, and there isn't that much opportunity to monetize. Ad revenue would be extremely small. Perhaps they plan to charge a fee to view.

I saw a hand in here that subtracted a point for a "dubious" combination with Kx -- I think Bergen just subtracts for KQ,KJ, QJ, Qx, Jx, K, Q, J Here is the Hand

Are we referring to Bidding as simply the "system" used or are we referring to judgment? Btw, the answer to what % of the game is bidding must certainly be relative to what field you are playing in. I suspect that the stronger the field, the more that the bidding % increases (since card play becomes more equalized).

I really think the answer just comes down to partnership style. My preferred style is to open this 1♥

Not sure, just was referring to this method: http://www.doublesqueeze.com/2008/09/three-way-kokish-game-tries.html That said, I've decided to give it up and go with the 3344 responses suggested by Justin when there is a possible 4-3 fit, and use the Kokish (or whatever you want to call it) method described in that article when there is a known 5-3+ fit.

After an auction like 2♣ (3♦) x where x is a bust, are all bids by opener forcing? We had a disaster on this auction at GNT today.

If playing Kokish 3-way game tries, how do you handle situations where partner starts an ask and you have raised on 3 cards? i.e. 1♣-1♥; 2♥-2♠ Where you have raised with an unbalanced hand and 3 hearts, and 2 ♠ is kokish ask. The reason I ask is that 3NT could be your best spot, but there is no way to communicate your 3 card raise playing Kokish that I know of. Do you just agree when playing this method to never raise on 3 pieces?

The Bad News Bears, and it isnt close at all. The one with Billy Bob Thorton was hilarious too. I did enjoy MoneyBall.

Main reason I don't like opening this shape 1N is because many times with a fit, our hand is much better with this shape and we will be able to make games across 7 point hands. Opening 1N makes it nearly impossible to get there. In Matchpoints I might be willing to open this shape if we need some good boards and are behind, but I wouldn't in Teams. As the poster above said, finding a fit is also very hard even when playing puppet, as you have to show 1 or 2 majors, cant show the 5 card major.

Aren't we more likely to give up a trick with a H lead here? I only need partner to hold one of the 3 spade honors, in hearts he can have many different holdings that hurt us if I lead that suit.

Haha, the obv difference is that in those professional sports the players are already making millions and don't need the money as much. I'm sure if Bridge was as lucrative it would be the same.