Gerben47

Hi, if you click on a table and are waiting to connect to it you have the option to logout. Instead, I'd like the option 'cancel' because wanting to logout is much less frequent than simply misclicking a table. I'm not sure but I've seen the same option come up in other instances as well. A 'cancel' would be helpful there as well.

Giving away the names after the boards have been played does not solve the problem, McBruce's partner would still make trouble at the moment the names would be revealed. This is a situation where the cure is worse than the problem. Knowing your partner adds significantly to individuals. Besides, people would just say: 'Hi, I am <add your name here>'. Often you can tell more from the information in the profile than would have been possible with just chatting. Country, playing level and the way people present it tells you what kind of person is playing. This is important! Also, people are not forced to write a message even if they are anonymous. Just like now some will just assume partner plays SAYC and act accordingly and say nothing. This will not change. Another thing: Cheating in Individual is nearly impossible. If 2000 people are online, how many of those would you be able to reach outside BBO? And if you get 10 random partners, it would be already rare if one of them is in your contact list... You are focussing on the wrong problem. The problem is not cheating, it's people accusing others of cheating. That should be dealt with. Let the TD and the BBO staff know of this person's (in this case your partner) bad behaviour, regardless of his position at the table.

I don't like your idea. The whole point of Individuals is to play with people you would not normally play with. If you do well with someone you can play with them at a regular table. In your situation I would call director against your partner. Both players probably silently agreed BBO standard by default. Then the Polish player considered his 18 HCP as 1NT because that's normal in Poland. They don't have 18 HCP, it's either not enough for a strong variant of Polish Club or it isn't. This one wasn't so 1NT came out.

Having agreed Lucas Two (see description below), what do you make of this sequence and what do you bid? Your hand is AQT9 Kx AJ9x KJT Partner opens a vulnerable 2H (showing 5+ hearts, 4+ side suit, 7-10 HCP), you bid 2NT asking for the second suit and partner bids 3C, showing his second suit. You bid 3NT (do you?) and partner bids 4S, so that's: 2H - 2NT 3C - 3NT 4S Would you have bid 3NT right away? (Partner can have 4S + 5H) What's 4S and what do you do now?

Let's get the spelling over with. The convention is attributed to Chris Niemeijer. Anyway, an improvement I play is to invert the meaning of opener's 3H and 3NT rebid: 2NT - 3C 3H = no 4- or 5-card major (3S is now minor suit ask) 3NT = 5 hearts Not for the forgetful, of course. Gerben

Nothing wrong with the 10, inquiry. Cherdano's problem IS a different one. The point of the hand is not to play the king to kill off declarer's second stopper while partner still has a spade to lead. The 10 is a good card for that: You play the 10 and declarer wins the Q. Partner comes in with DK (or a club) and leads his second spade to the ace. Now your DA is the entry to your spades. Now Cherdano's question is. What do you when declarer lets you win the 10?

1) minimum hand, but not a yarborough (say 5-7 hcp) 1D-Dbl-pass x-QTxx-xxx- ATxxx Bid the major first because partner tends to have those. 1 heart. 2) invitational hand 1D-Dbl-pass x-AJxx-xxx- KJTxx Again bid the major first. 2 hearts. Note that if you have a 5-card major that this is your fit so you must insist on your major. If you bid clubs afterwards you show this hand not the other way around. 3) GF hand 1D-Dbl-pass x-AJxx-Axx- KJTxx "Textbook treatment" would be that a cuebid is the Game forcing bid. However it is not clear to me how then the doubler shows which is his major or if he has both OR if he needs a stopper in the opener's suit. E.g.: 1D-Dbl-pass-2D pass-3D Is 3D "pick a major" or "bid 3NT if you've got a diamond stopper"? Would 4D be the "pick a major" bid while 3D is stopper ask, or is it a splinter ? "Pick a major". If he wants to know about the diamond stopper and has no majors, I guess 2NT is the bid (with stopper 3NT directly). Gerben

Well instead of showing the score saying We: +0.5 IMPs They: -0.5 IMPs One can put down We (NS): +0.5 IMPs They (EW): -0.5 IMPs If you are kibitzing, south is automatically the bottom hand so you can then write NS: +0.5 IMPs EW: -0.5 IMPs and forget about the We and They altogether since they don't exist.

Many Dutch experts still use the Multi, and this hand is not a counterexample. This situation is very tough and cannot be dealt with without good agreements. The double of 2NT should set up a forcing pass and therefore your partner should pass 3H. Double of 3H means he wants to double 3H if you have spades, and if you have hearts opponents have psyched. Normally a double of a major after Multi is pass or correct, but after the 2NT double this changes to "pass = double or correct". So you bid the unlikely 3S and partner should now move towards slam.

Wow... What a thread has this become. I was away for a while so I have to catch up. First of all on the article where Meckwell are not portrayed very positively. I don't think he was protecting his client, it's just that he thought the opening bid was not allowed in this particular event. Either he was right or he wasn't. Anyway, the fault was with the director who should not have allowed such a discussion. But it must be hard for a director to tell one of the greatest players of all time to shut up. The other director who said that if he was called again that the team would be kicked out of the tournament should be taken away his directing licence in my opinion. Now for the real topic. When I started I was very young (11 or so) and at some point my partner and I started to play in a local bridge club. Many welcomed us, but some didn't. They didn't like kids in their club, and even more so if they are above them in the ranking. That didn't scare me away though, bridge is just too much fun. It might scare away others, though. Another part is letting kids know that other kids are playing this game as well, and not just "nerds". They are trying in the USA, I know that, as I have been to one of their junior camps. Now the trick is to reach those who don't play. There are enough kids who are interested, even though most are not. It's simply not true that kids in Europe don't play those same mindless computer games. They do. That's not the difference. I'm not sure what is...

For more info on Cezary Balicki: http://www.bridgeplaza.com/players/profiles/0073.html

I think it's sad to see no response to Justin's question. Although in most countries the situation is better than in the USA, this is a real problem. I know for a fact that kids are interested in board and card games. Magic is still extremely popular, and you can't say that isn't complicated... If you come to a Settlers of Catan tournament there are many kids playing that as well. It's not that bridge is complicated. Somehow they are willing to follow a 10 x 1 hour course on chess but not on bridge. How come? Because in bridge club they play against players who are 50 years older and in chess they don't... If only more people knew about the junior tournaments and junior camps that would be a good start. For the USA, I can imagine that yearly state-wide junior championships could be played. The level of play would be a very wide range from beginners to those with international experience, and there won't be 20 tables either, but the point is not to have winners but to have a competition where everyone can enter. On the internet one could do the same. Perhaps we should make a BBO junior club that organizes tournaments for those under 25 only. I know that there are many many juniors playing on BBO, getting them together might help.

Of course no one ever saw Zia psych. Normal players psych, Zia makes eccentric bids.

And Zia.

Pass twice. We have a fit, their bidding assures there are at least 4 diamonds behind me, and the cards are well for opponents (majors both divide, and KJ in both minors in front of the strong hand)

1H (2C) 3C = Game forcing with heart support. Sets up a forcing pass situation. 2NT would be an invitational heart raise. (1C) 1H (p) 2C Here there is some discussion possible. I play that a new suit is forcing at the 1- or 3-level but not at the 2-level. Therefore, 2C shows either: a) Invitational or better with 3-card heart support ;) GF 1-suiter in diamonds (2D would've been non-forcing) c) 12+ balanced without fit and without club stopper (rare)

I agree with Luis here. With my regular partner we play agressive openings and 2/1 GF. This has not been a problem since we discussed style issues. To illustrate that every convention or bid might produce terrible results, look what came our way yesterday. My LHO risked opening 1NT (16-18) on this terrible hand: AQx Kxxx Kx AQxx Since we play Woolsey (remember from another thread?) after this, without the penalty double hands included, my partner passed and when I reopened with double, holding xx JTxx AJ9xx Tx, my partner who held the remaining 16 HCP passed this out. 1NTx went 4 off, so one could argue that 16-18 NT is not safe since you can go for 1100 like this poor declarer. Opening light may produce bad results, but the same is true for not opening light. I'll stick with light openings, thank you. Even if I didn't however, the actual hand would be an opening in any situation. Rule of 20, good controls, and the master suit. WTP?

1. what is (2S) 3D (4S) 4nt ? What is 4NT ? RKC for diamonds 2. (3D) dbl (4D) 4nt ? What is 4NT ? Natural Wow, agreement! Although... Double of 4S would be penalty. Partner made a limited overcall. Either I decide a) we can make something this high: bid :D they can make something this high: pass c) no one can make something this high: double Double in (2) would be responsive, though. I have also had the problem of partners who shut down their brain and count their aces whenever they see 4C/4NT. Why do people do that? It has nothing to do with being taught in some way, it's bidding like a drunk who forgot the previous auction.

Chamaco, with strong hands you will have to bid impossible rebids. 2C : Pass with clubs, bid 2D with diamonds 2H and higher is strong 2D : Asks for the major - normally game interest 2H : Pass with hearts, bid 2S with spades 2NT and higher is strong (so in your case you bid 2NT: balanced) 2S : Pass with spades, positive for hearts 2NT, and 3S or higher are strong. 2NT: Bid your minor (3D over 3C asks the major for game interest) 3H and higher are strong. I like all this more against a strong NT, though. After a Weak NT I either like Multi Landy or Lionel. Muti Landy: (Woolsey with penalty double) 2C = both majors 2D = one major 2M = major + minor Lionel: (At least when you double one suit is known and partner lacking spades can leave it in) dbl = spades 2-suiter or strong 2m = minor + hearts 2M = natural Gerben

Hand 1: x AJxx Kxx AQxxx S W N E 1NT X p 2S p ? It seems to me that your responses to this double are the trouble spot. Responder will not bid 2S on Txxxx in spades. Your sample hands show why. Pass or correct responses are the way to go. The fact that there are two either-or situations in one complicates things. I can recommend this set of responses: 2C : Pass with clubs, bid 2D with diamonds 2D : Asks for the major - normally game interest (then 2NT asks for the minor after that) 2H : Pass with hearts, bid 2S with spades 2S : Pass with spades, positive for hearts 2NT: Bid your minor (3D over 3C asks the major for game interest) So 2S strongly suggests something like 3-4 in the majors and constructive values. I'll rebid 3C with hand 1 and 4H with hand 2. Slam is unlikely but game is virtually certain (2S was nonforcing!) EDIT: I forgot to mention, the responses to the positive 2D are: 2H = I have spades 2S = I have hearts So that gets your trouble hands with one long major and no interest in any other suit else out of the way.

Normally playing "almost always 2D" after 2C, I don't mind opponents bidding 2D regardless what they have so I can tell my partner if I have almost nothing or a little something. Against artificial openings (like 2C strong) you can play whatever you want. For me that means the usual gadget: Either you have the suit you bid or the next two. (2C) 3D shows diamonds or the majors. This also makes a mess of the opponent's methods.

SOUTH and EAST. South misdefended and complained west had only 4 hearts and therefore must have psyched. Just guessing of course...

There is a big problem with your method Trpltrbl. Suppose pair A plays against B and pair A is slow and the first board takes a lot of time. Now pair B calls because of this and they get slam hands on the second board on which they need a lot of time. Now they are in Morton's Fork. Either they take their time and end up with 40% or not take their time and end up with perhaps even less because they made a mistake. I like Inquiry's way. Although it is not what TDs in normal tournaments should do, I think it IS what they should do in Online Tournaments. I have had experience with this in offline tournaments. In extreme speedball, after time (9 minutes for 4 boards) has run out all play stops and an estimator sets the result based on what's left.[

Hi, I was playing as "Gerben42" with "Hupenmann" in the tourney #321 Pairs P P P P today (Jan 8th) and I noticed several errors. First of all, the claims went wrong. On board 7 my partner as defender conceded the last 3 tricks when we had take 5 tricks against their 3NT. On the screen it was announced "claim by Hupenmann accepted, 3NT - 4". That was incorrect of course, the score sheet did show the correct score, 3NT - 1. Then after the tournament I added my 10 MP scores (percentages) to a total of 590.8% (so average would be 59.08%) but the tournament results page lists us at 56.74%. There might be something odd going on here... My current version states 3.51.

Doesn't 1C - 1D promise 5 cards? I never found it useful to bid four cards in diamonds with this auction (except perhaps balanced hands that are too strong for 1C - 3NT).