csdenmark

Record a WAV-file(sound) - rename it and move into your BBO folder for Netsounds. Then your own sound is to be played as the incident is happening. That may be any sound - music or whatever you like.

http://groups.msn.com/bridgeFILES/has.msnw

I dont think a thread need to de-rail and this thread is not about unclocked/clocked events. Said this in unclocked events all tables are played, for 12 boards the first ones will end after 60(12 x 5) minutes and the last ones after 96 minutes(12 x 8). With very hard disconnections the last ones will end after 120 minutes(12 x 10). I think we agree of the basic characteristica: - clocked = uni-size - unclocked = tailor-made I think we disagree about the values of each of above items. I think we agree that choosing format is like shopping in a supermarket. Each have the right to choose whatever he thinks is best. Nobody asks for reasons for decisions. ------------------------------------- For me I think it now will be time for a conclusion. Marc you started this thread blaming people with poor scores for intentionally disconnections. By that you confused cause and effect of an action. I opposed because correct arguments are neccessary to reach correct conclusions. --------------------------------------- We now know BBO server has the neccessary information for rightful imposing of penalty to violaters of basic rules for decent human human behavior. I am very impatient to see that implemented for automatic ruling. Such we all know will eliminate the problem in very short time. I also hope it will pave the way for later better approach regarding disclosing information about systems and about basic personal information. ----------------------------------------- Many kind of skills are required for a tournament director. A bridge playing site is not a computer game like 'Wargame' or so dealing with puppets. - You are dealing with human beings. Skills like below are certainly needed: - Bridgelaws - Characteristica for several systems(4-card and 5-card major, pass-, club- and diamond- systems) - Ability to understand/guess basic bridgeterms in several, maybe strange, languages - Scoring - Handling of software for substitutions and score corrections The most important skill is not one the those mentioned above. The most needed kind of knowledge are about culture and psychology.

Jan - I have used a broad paint - please understand. I think we agree in most of your last statement - also about using tourney set-up for social play. Find a better word - I think I will be able to do so in danish language. So it need to be with all my statements in english - I try to express the basic meaning and if somebody want to read nuances - they will need to learn danish for that! Here they were: - 10-15% will create a summed waiting time of approx. 35 minutes. Time to annoyance - Try to run some unclocked tourney's then I am sure you will see these figures yourself. The quickest ones plays 4 1/2 - 5 minutes per board. You will often face connection problems with many players living east of the present eastern border of EU. So it will be at least for 10-20 years more I think. Their broadband connection is mostly from work - home they use dial up. In european business hours connections are very vulnerable. Poverty will be the main reason for this not to change much for a very long period of time. I don't care which set-up a TD prefer. Not of my business. But to create a clocked tourney using cuts(surviver) or individual - they are just creating an event heading for problems.

What´s the job of a tournamant director? To create and maintain a millieu guarding - a fair trial - a comfortable social attitude Set-up of a tourney has something with that to do. Playing a 16 board trial you will notice with 7 min. per board: - 10-15% will create a summed waiting time of approx. 35 minutes. Time to annoyance - 15-20% will need up to 8 minutes to finish - they will in some way be punished. Reason for annoyance. - If a tourney is hit by severe connection problems - up to 50% will need more than 7 minutes to finish. Stormy weather for a TD. I think BBO is doing something good trying to handle disruption of the basic rules for decent behavior. No doubt. I would have liked Gerardo informing that scoring is in no way a part of deciding whether intensions may be a reason for disconnection. We know it is possible to detect the nature of a connection and we also know it is possible to detect weakness of a connection. Thats the way to decide and I hope this is the way it is done. If so I wonder why it is not automatized and why it is not imposed for tables in main club too. It is exactly the same rules to be violated. Consequence is an important word dealing with rules and therefore I think this ought to have been on top of agenda for software modifications for very long. Maybe you think tourney's are more important than other set-ups - fair enough. Please take into consideration those very many people just using tournaments for an alternative set-up of social play using TD's as servants for lazy people.

Filtering mechamism was a feature needed in ancient computer time 20-30 years ago. Power of computers has encreased very much since then and in that direction it is likely to continue. - Today you use searchable databases and highlight features for costumizing. My little laptop will have no problem handling 1 million logins to BBO.

Very nice Gerardo! I assume you have access to information about which kind of connection(dial-up, broadband, satellite etc.) and whether connection has weakened before a disconnection happened. To deal with this problem is a core part of the BBO "rules for this site". The topic is a constant problem at main bridge club too. With the addition that you here can leave a table and just go to another table. I would really like to see an automatization of enforcing obedience to these important and frequent violated basic rules. I also assume we now can conclude that bad score is no indication whether intentional disconnection has taken place or not. From scoring you will be able see a reason for a deliberate disconnection - but that is a quite different story. As it is a basic obligation for a tournament director to create an environment for fair and comfortable competition - unintended bad scoring will very often need to be assessed as insufficient quality by the set-up/handling done by tournament director(s). - I think it will be for another thread to deal with such.

All that warning - strikes etc. is good for nothing. The rules to apply to are all normal standard for decent behavior responsible to other human beings you are dealing with. Either the action is to be reported or not mentioned at all. - If this once in a while may lead to a mistake - I think we all can give an apology and correct the mistake. You have a clear case if someone is disconnected and just try to continue with something else without making an excuse to tournament director. You have a clear case if a pair disconnects and maybe a few other situations. But from scoreboard you can see nothing - and that will never provide you a clear or even a good case. Tournament directors also are of many kind of missing quality. You simply can see so from their set ups. Tournaments of 3-6 boards makes no sense. Silly names neither. Those registering for such kind of tourneys expose themselves to vulnerability. Marc the flexible set-up is 'unclocked, allow undo'. Then all finish in their own speed and they have an option for correction themselves of mistakes. Another problem I located was missing alerts/convention cards/information. Such is especially needed for players with no knowledge of artificial systems and/or if hard language problems is the reason. I created a few web-sites as quick guides for defending a few systems. You will be welcome to use them if they can help you. Quick guide for defense against Polish Club: http://groups.msn.com/bridgeFILES/qpol.msnw Quick guide for defense against Precision: http://groups.msn.com/bridgeFILES/qprec.msnw

No Marc - a bad contract informs you of nothing else than something you would never have dreamed of doing yourself! "children and bridgeplayers are to be handled with care" or ?????

I strongly support rude people to be banned. I dont care for how long - I think they will never come back once they have been banned. Said that - I think we need to be sure it is intentionally. This means - we who lives in the western part of our civilization must pay attention to the heritage from the cold war causing poor infrastructure in general and regarding electronics too to Eastern Europe and whole Asia. Our standards for acting against poles, bulgarians, indians, chinese etc. must be different than those for french, italians, scandinavians, canadians and americans.

Here the address for Gerbens Pass Precision: http://www.tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de/~di...e/precpass.html

I understand you Mauro - I would also like to have such help to be able to remember. I have given up! Your last comment encouraged me to look a bit closer to the Klinger books I informed of. Sad to say - it really looks like it is mostly the known - but valueable - thumb rules for what to do instead of what I assumed and the titles tells: techniques for remembering.

Your quetation of Meckwell is correct. I just wanted to make a general statement to the many very passionated comments in many threads about the importance or the widespread use of transfer responses. I think, but I dont know, the feature is introduced by Meckwell. 2H=UPH:14+,bal PH:5-5,4-6HcP 2S-4C=single/void distributions, all 8+HcP The importance of how 1C open to be handled or of the 1C open at all is not so very important. It is a trash can created as a consequence of the limit openings. And so it has to be seen. I think it might be wise to revise something in club system. I would advocate something like lowering the general openings to (9)10-13. Such would need the trash can also to be lowered from 16 -> 14 which certainly would need the 1C opening to be divided vertically(fx. 14-18,any and 19+,any) or horisontally (fx. containing a 4 card major/not containing a 4 card major or with shortage/without shortage). An option for that might be: Pass: Nothing to say(0-8(9)) or 14-18,any distribution 1C:19+HcP, any distribution Both with the standard responses from todays well known 1C opening - revised according to the new ranges. The rest about Meckwell was a quetation from memory about Meckwell is less dependent than others of correct and precise system. Inaccuracy in bidding they can handle via brilliant playing technique. As I remember Fred told that Meckwell has a lot more 3NT contracts than other top pairs. Hope I remember correct.

Hi Mauro - I have your problem too but normally I explain that to aging process. I just fetched 2 books by Ron Klinger I have bought some years ago - BUT FORGOTTEN TO READ. "Improve your bridge memory" "Better bridge with a better bridge memory" Page 13 he has a chapter called 'memory improves with age'. I certainly hope he is right - I dont have that much time left I think. I hope time will work better for you. Here a rhyme for beginners(page 20) If you would avoid a fight, Place the cards upon your right. If of sense you are bereft, Put them wrongly on the left. It is all about Mnemonics - techniques for remembering. I think I need to carry on with my personal approach - only to discuss deals if based on log files. Good luck Mauro!

When I started bridge it was 13+ else relax. Today entrance has lowered to 11 and lower kamikadze has been profane. By that the value area has expanded undermining all systems. Most visible for the well defined systems - like precision. You don't notice such in standard classic and canape' is also more adaptable. You cannot continue just to twist around the 10-15 commands for standard openings(1C-2NT, 1C-3NT). You will need to invent - you will need to be creative - you will need to think. 1) Letting your present system untouched and work with defense. Hoping to find ways for getting you back on track. 2) Letting your present system untouched and work with interference handling. Hoping to find ways for getting you back on track. 3) Divide systems into 2 halves. Part one for 1-2 seat and part two for 3-4 seat. 4) Dividing 1C-open horisontally or vertically. Sources for inspiritation: - Weak Opening systems - Ruminski/Slawinski - Interference handling - Hamman/Soloway - Defense - Balicki/Zmudzinski - The polish high 2's - Regres 1C-open - Meckwell 1NT-open -------------------------------------------------------------- My hints for Mauro was not rude. I believe Mauro has the age and the capability to initiate that kind of creative process which is needed. I simply tried to feed the process. I understand of course the pragmatism Mauro informs about. -------------------------------------------------------------- I like to say the loud cries about advantages of transfer responses after 1C seems much exagurated. Meckwell is not dependent of that - I think Fred is right when he at Vugraph told that Meckwell has that brilliant playing technique that they would be capable of playing any suit-contract succesfully in 3NT.

Of course not Mike! Basically I see no point in re-inventing what has been done already - maybe with small tournarounds. Mostly I think people are trying to create their own systems simply because they have insufficient knowledge of the championsystems. It takes years - or you need to be professional - to invent the full dept of a system for 4-6 levels. For most of those partners normally responding to my adverticings for precision partners - it is really so. I would like to see some more creative resources. Glenn Groetheim is an example of what I mean. Gerben who has created his own little Pass-Precision system which is another maybe prosperious innovation. More of that kind I think will be interesting. I think most of those talking about Precision don't think right. I cannot right now find the book so let me quote Benito Garozzo from memory. "Maybe the greatest asset of Precision is the limit openings". I think that is exactly what it is about. Therefore I conclude that whenever I see people focussing on 1C-opening they are focussing wrongly. 1C opening is a consequence of the limit openings - it is not the other way around. I would like to see proposals for how to limit 1C open. Pass open I think might be a way trying - I also think the Regres 1C opening for any hand containing shortage might be a source for inspiration. Richard - I hope we are all open to criticism - friendly and open of course. Me too! I dont think I understand your statement "Balanced Hand Asks". I cannot recall an example for that - please help me!

With respect that Viking is invented as a relay system - the approach in Viking is rather similar to Belladonna/Garozzo. Viking uses after "1C-1D" 1 Heart as forcing relay-game invite. BG grants here a bit more room for the real week minor approach. What I try to say to you is - if you want to play strong club actions then the backbone is the unlimited hand quering the limited hand. It has nothing to do with strong/weak hand - but it will mostly be so. Giving up that important principle you will just be creating another standard classic system. You see Glenn emphasizes the principle in page 13. Looking into Viking I think you have recognized the similarity to Belladonna/Garozzo. Still with the respect to their different approach of Viking using "next" as relay and Belladonna/Garozzo uses a more descriptive approach.

Mauro - like Mikestar in another thread - you are trying to break basics in strong club systems. The hand to be queried is the one which is limited - mostly the weakest one. Therefore you will see the champions have success playing strong club systems.

Yes Mike certainly. But the point is - it is not for a limited hand to decide what to do. The obligation for a limited hand is to clarify his holdings - therefore all asking bids are from unlimited to limited. You see after 1C open responder is asked and in other openings it is opener who is asked. In standard Precision you have a multi response to 1C open as 1D: - 0-7, any distribution - any strength, 4441 distribution(1C-1D-??-Jump suit(single/void suit)) -------------------------------------------------------------- To Ben - resuming from yesterday: I now see your point in 37 - never thought about it but Pavlicek calculator would not accept 16 cards required for 40. So it is Ben - a coke for you \_/ Odds for holding: 12-1-0-0 is - 0.00000003% - before dealing Odds for holding: 13-0-0-0 is - 0.0000000002% - before dealing Both to be opened as 1C - but some would prefer to open 6-7 in the suit. AKQJTxxxxxxxx Number of hands like above 1 Number of remaining hands 635013559599 Total number of bridge hands 635013559600 Percentage chance of this hand 0.000000000157 Odds against holding this hand 635013559599 to 1 AKQJ AKQ AKQ AKQ Number of hands like above 1 Number of remaining hands 635013559599 Total number of bridge hands 635013559600 Percentage chance of this hand 0.000000000157 Odds against holding this hand 635013559599 to 1 As you see above it looks like the Pavlicek computing cannot handle these kind of special distributions. Acc. to ACBL Encyclopedia percentage chance for 31-37 points is 0.00001

Thank you Uday - I have now resized back to normal windows size. I clearly see the reason for several of the new show/unshow mechanisms - and I wish you luck with that. The future for multinational/multilingual web-sites is likely to be an uphill struggle. I have nothing to use the new mechanisms for. The sorting groups are too unhomogenious to me. I also like to preserve my options and due to that I prefer highlightening rather than exclusions. As an openminded person I have friends with all kind of skill levels and speaking many different languages. From people with poor skills in english I have fun now to have adopted a basic understanding of italian, bulgarian and polish language - a bit chinese too. - Really an experience I am fond of. I would like to have better communication option, fx. divisons of friends into a group to be informed of login and one without that notification. I would also like to open for lobby chat - but that would require lobby chat automatically to be disabled by play at table. With approx. 75% of the users as computer-illiterates I think it is not wise to make basic functions more complicated. I think you will need to carry over the present performance of "Main Bridge Club", especially the easy sorting mechanism of free tables on top. I think the complexity for use now has been so that help information is needed. That kind of help you have in "Windows Control Center" I would prefer.

Please wait until tomorrow - I will try to find odds for that! LOL Have a nice day Ben - late night here.

This is of no meaning. Opener can in normal precision have 16-40 points. Responder can inform of strength and distribution but have nothing to do with - has no knowledge - whether slam is relevant. Responses 2 major normally shows 5+cd, 4-7HcP.

Looks to me like the new client is running full screen as default only giving room for task-bar. I would like to ask how to reduce width to size which allows other applications to be running without shadowing them(the size which has been used until now). On my screen the button running windows style seems disabled.

I like the open approach from BBO to let all do what they think they can handle themselves. I have seen several TD's informing they are running their first tourney - and I think that is a fair information. I would like to see the TD's open their tourney's. All those restrictions mostly reflects inability to handle the job they have enterprised. - For that some kind of help is needed - as an option!

No Ben - it is a bug and it does not affect me as I have knowledge of computers, programming internet etc. But most dont have such and therefore you see this bug is on its way to strangling the open bridge society into a closed and restricted area - really to the disadvantage of all. This does not affect me as I know, I rarely kibitz and I never enter free seats but always open my own free tables. It is a good example of how much effect it has whether default settings are this or that! If it was so that the restricted setting was the default by BBO - I would just have assumed the setting was not appropriate but in no way a bug. It is not so. Downloading BBO - the default is open setting. When you kibitz a table, play at a table or just enter by a mistake you get that hosts settings as your personal defaults next time you open a table. What the reason of such - nothing of course. Only a bug can explain such. I assume it is an ending frame like this one ")" set at a wrong place which causes the big effect. Such is inevitable to avoid in programming and it can take years before such are discovered. Nearly nobody - 95% - has any reason to restrict anything. They simply want the table to be filled and play SAYC. So it is. They dont care about settings and they dont know anything about it. As those who deliberately want to restrict entry to their tables also are those most people think they ought to kibitz - they inheritage that restricted setting as their own - and they dont know anything about it. - So the snowball is working to the disadvantage of all. A bug it is - for sure - and it ought to be corrected.