dave251164

Thanks - 1 vote in the re-assurance box then.

Thanks, but the question still remains...are any other people having problems with BBO in Windows 10 using IE/Edge/whatever browser?

I currently have Windows 8.1 (with IE) and keep getting invited to upgrade to Windows 10 (free for a limited time). I have been waiting for any bugs to be ironed out before I even think of doing so, as I have read some things that I would not be happy about in Windows 10 anyway. As I play Bingos and other races getting disconnected would be a real pain. I would be interested to know how many other players, especially running IE are having problems with BBO in Windows 10? And what if anything the BBO software guys can and will be doing about it and when? Thanks.

Sounds like everyone was at it, before him and after him. They are just making an example of him. The justice system seems to punish financial crimes very severely. He could have committed manslaughter and got a lot less!

Hi Maybe try the free bingos to see if you enjoy them and if you do, then progress to the 25c ones with the same card and same hands and then even to the $ ones but with different hands. But they require fast play and special techniques and they can become quite addictive! The robot races are fun too. Good luck - enjoy!

You would usually expect to have a 6 card suit and 5-10 hcp, which you have albeit in soft values (Qs, J's) and not in your trump suit. It's meant as a disruptive bid and you tend to find that you get the most "out of order" type comments when it has successfully worked and kept the opponents out of their optimum contract, which could be game or even a slam. Opponents have no right to make such comments -if they have a problem with your bids they should just call the Director - and they are often made out of disgruntlement that you stopped them bidding their hands to best effect or even just because they wouldn't have made the bid in their so called style/methods/agreements. Either call the Director to deal with THEIR inappropriate comments or if they were really nasty about it, you could always respond with something like "It may or may not have been out of order, but it was clearly VERY effective!" That way you win the psychological war and they'll be so annoyed that they'll probably screw up the next board/s, gifting you top/s too!

"More recent tournaments that were played with the same version of GIB" would hopefully remove the random results - tops and bottoms and make these a truer reflection of skill. It cannot come soon enough for my liking! What sort of time frame are we looking at I wonder?

Poker is the gambling card game which involves a lot of luck and bridge is just bridge. 'Playing poker not bridge' would be an expression which means that you took an action that wasn't sensible at bridge - you took an against the odds gamble like a gamble in poker and not based on sound bridge rules/principles. Then if it works out the implication is that you were just lucky with your gamble and if it goes horribly wrong then serve you right for gambling!

An amusing voice clip of a phone call - worth playing - made me smile. Thanks :)

The scoring system used is absolutely ridiculous - an abomination! 0.17 points for 21.24%?!?!? When those who came 13th and 14th with more than double the score got nothing and 5th place with 57.9% only had marginally more points with 0.18 points. A stratified game may benefit the novices by initially assuming that they are not expected to beat the experts, but still allows them to reap the master-point rewards if they accidentally do, but they randomise the results of a tourney by who they gift ridiculous tops too! Stratification should be banned for being a money, master-point and ego raising exercise and because of the randomisation effect it has on the top places. Stick to flighted tourneys or at least see how many novices would play if the scoring was simply the higher you place percentage wise the more you get and whatever amount of points and gradation of those points down the list - but only to the top third of the field, as why reward mediocrity?!

For England and Wales I found this: It is the role of the coroner to investigate unnatural or suspicious deaths and, following a homicide, the coroner takes control of the body, ordering a post-mortem to establish the cause of death.Because the body is evidence, a suspect can request their own post-mortem and where there is more than one suspect, each can seek an additional post-mortem. If granted, this means that the victim is subject to further examinations. The Draft charter for the current coroner service (issued in May 2011)states: “Where there is a criminal investigation into the death, the coroner’s office must release the body for funeral within 30 days of the death, but normally it will be much sooner than this.” This timescale has been the subject of guidance for coroners and of a memorandum of good practice agreed between the Coroner's Society, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Law Society in 1999. One might expect this to have had an impact over 13 years. However, our survey shows that 79% of families waited longer than a month to bury their loved one. The memorandum of good practice also states that "where no-one is charged in connection with a death within a month, provision will be made for a second, independent post-mortem for use by a defendant in the future, if required." However, delays experienced by families in our survey suggest that this is not happening. We heard that coroners remain reluctant to release the body out of concern for a future suspect’s right to a post-mortem. [www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/cp52011.htm and Home Office Circular No.30/1999 post Mortem Examinations and the Early Release of Bodies]

Ahhh the mystery is solved - Minor Suit Stayman. It's alright for experienced partnerships who want to play it and can agree which of several versions that they want to play, but I wouldn't go putting it on your profile/card in BBO to end up with a pick-up partner! Is it best to play it shows one or both minors? At least 5/4 or at least 5/5? Weak or strong hands or possibly both? There are a variety of schemes available take your pick if you wish!

Hi Catfi I looked at your scores for the last 3 days, out of curiosity and there's nothing whatsoever that even hints of cheating. Your only really good scores were from opponents bidding too high and self-destructing or not bidding games etc that they should have done. In fact what evidence there is points to the fact that you WEREN'T cheating -or if you were you're remarkably bad at it! :) - such as not giving partner ruffs when defending, not coming up with the best leads and switches and certainly not ending up in anywhere like the right contract quite often! You weren't even playing in tourneys for points/prizes - just regular club bridge - so would have nothing to gain by cheating. So maybe there is just some way of seeing that you're playing from the same internet address or something - that causes suspicion maybe?! Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it, in BBO like in life there are some really nasty ignorant people - just ignore them - both of you - and ENJOY your bridge :) But if they do persist with their allegations - please do report it to Abuse, as you shouldn't have to have your enjoyment spoilt by it.

Curious about what this said, I used google translate and it gave me: Some say low flower Stayman is an old natural party use, and many experts have cited Zhao Jiedeng using a four color shift (of course, has improved over ) , to illustrate the four color transfer is today's trend , I do not know how see? I wonder what 'low flower stayman' is?!

Which country the player is from can often help you know how much they may be exaggerating their ability. Players from certain countries only tend to exaggerate their ability by one level where as with some others it's by two levels. And then there are The Worst Countries, where they seem to think that Expert means that they have been playing at least a week, Advanced means three days and Intermediates have been playing since at least lunch time, with beginners having started after lunch and novices are those who are perceptive and/or honest enough to know that they haven't got a clue yet. Two flags in particular come into mind for these......?! Then there's the question of gender - men on the whole seem more likely to exaggerate their abilities and by more. So ideally avoid men from the Worst Countries in question!

Many thanks PhantomSac. Should have put quotation marks around it then I wouldn't have got 3 million results mostly in Spanish!

A score is adjusted if an infraction damages the non-offenders. A TD or Appeals Committee will give the benefit of the doubt to the non-offending side and will adjust the score in its favour if they feel it has gone wrong as a result of pressures created by an infraction. [Laws 12;23;84 -directors' discretionary powers; awareness of potential damage; ruling on agreed facts, director's option]

http://online.bridgebase.com/v2/doc_about_bingo_tourneys.html https://www.bridgebase.com/doc/gib_system_notes.php

Perhaps he should just mark his profile : Advanced at Bingo but Intermediate at regular bridge or whatever level is appropriate for each?

There are many good books on the subject. An intermediate one would be one like Suit Combinations in Bridge by Sally Brock (Batsford).

TRUMPS!!!!!!!!!!!

Some light relief needed after that?! Tom is applying for a job as a signalman for the local railroad, and is told to meet the inspector at the signal box. The inspector decides to give Tom a pop quiz, asking, "What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading towards each other on the same track?" Tom says, "I would switch one train to another track." "What if the lever broke?" asks the inspector. "I'd run down to the tracks and use the manual lever," answers Tom. "What if that had been struck by lightning?" challenges the inspector. "Then," Tom continues, "I'd run back up here and use the phone to call the next signal box." "What if the phone was busy?" "In that case," Tom argues, "I'd run to the street level and use the public phone near the station". "What if that had been vandalized?" "Oh, well," says Tom, "in that case I'd run into town and get my Uncle Leo." This puzzles the inspector, so he asks, "Why would you do that?" "Because he's never seen a train crash."

He hasn't even finished designating a suit or rank when he says 'Di', so it's not a change of call as he never made a call in the first place, until that is he said 'Club', which means the lowest club as no rank was given. For all we know his partner could be called 'Di' or even 'Dai' (pronounced the same and what lots of David's are known as in Wales) and it could have been 'Di a Club'! And as for the opponents they shouldn't be insisting that he do anything - they should just call the TD if they have a problem.

M/CHO (Central Hand Opponent = GIB)

If you want some sort of 'rule' to help with these 5-5 decisions, then you could do a lot worse than follow one of Kantar's bidding tips from his A Treasury of Bridge Tips : With any 5-5 distribution, open with 11+HCP, pass with less. However, with exactly 10HCP, open the higher ranking suit if: (1)the suit is a major AND (2) the suit contains three honour cards (from the top 5)AND (3) ALL 10 HCP are in the two long suits. This tip does have an Asterisk next to it, which apparently means that it is a controversial tip, which he says means "some experts, however misguided, may not see in exactly the same light as I do"! So here 1 spade would not have been opened as there was only 9 HCP, even though there were 3 honour cards and the points were in the two long suits.