the saint

I sort of understand the tip/non-tip thing. I just find it strange leaving a tip when all a person has done is their job. If the service was good, then a tip is required. Its a bonus, not a right. I tip my barber, or waiters in a restaurant if they have done a good job, but it shouldn't be automatic. the tax in supermarkets thing. That's just stupid.

Do What You Do (Trentemoller Remix) - Yoshimoto Some proper bleepy squelch for a thursday. Sun Rising - The Beloved Ambient deepness for the soul This Mess We're In - PJ Harvey with Thom Yorke Melancholy sexy

I'm Alan, and I will be 30 in a weeks time.... I'm a former England U25, been playing for about 14 years now. I play the odd national event, but do a lot of junior coaching (including helping out the England U20 squad). If there is a junior event on BBO, you may see me on vugraph. Outside of bridge? I am a rocket scientist (impresses relatives at weddings!). Hobbies? Love sport (basically anything without horses) and keeping fit. I also DJ (deep/electronic/techy/acid house & breaks) every now and again. Still single, but trying (yes I'm very trying). Love to you all and see you round Alan

Yes, this is the case. And while education remains as abject all over the world as it is and religion is allowed to dominate, this will remain the case. Man needs to accept that it is basically just another species and not some divine creation created in some holy image. Humanity has only just begun to develop a social conscience through recognition of the horrors it alone has perpetuated - mass murder, war, slavery, and latterly things like environmental damage. Unfortunately as differing areas of the world are at different stages of maturity, this is not a uniform recognition of the situation and is further exacerbated by human greed. We are the first species in the history of our tiny world to have evolved to the stage whereby we have an understanding and ability of the world around us to manipulate and exploit it. With that comes great responsibility. Frankly, looking at the people with that responsibility, it scares me sh!tless. A person may be clever. But people are fundamentally stupid. That is why education is the key to us making it to the 22nd century without our knowledge destroying us all.

Starman - David Bowie

Not if you don't believe in God.

Unfortunately he also displayed kind of an arrogant attitude and left with $500. Not the best ambassador of Bridge... He should have won the Million, with some more opportunities to promote the game. Oh well, at least now we've had Bridge mentioned on German prime-time TV once. --Sigi We had a bridge player win £500,000 a few years ago in the UK on Millionaire

You have one thing right Wayne. 'Bridge is cool' does suck. To be cool, the one thing you mustn't try to be is cool. Bridge is cooler when is does its own thing and doesn't try to be something its not. I found that the coolest thing I had done that impressed the kids was the fact that I had played for England U25. Representing your country and going abroad to do it is totally cool. That is always one carrot I dangle in front of them - if you are good enough and work hard enough, you can do it too. The opportunities in Bridge are greater because the number of juniors compared to most sports are much fewer. I still think Bridge could learn something from Poker when it comes to promoting itself. We all know that Bridge players would be far better at that than Poker players would be at ours - we have all the bluff, table presence and more besides (lets face it, you would back Zia against every single one of them!!) I'm not saying that every player should have a nickname or a silly angle, but there are charismatic people out there who are ideal to promote the game. Likewise the fact that some people are uncharismatic (to a wider audience, obviously not necessarily in private) is also a selling point - take Steve Davis in Snooker in the 80s. I suspect that big money prizes on TV is the way to do it. The only event I can think that fits the bill is the Cavendish. That has big names and big money. Within each association and country (and I will use England as an example as it is what I know), I would like to see the technical side of the game promoted. IMO a lot of the bridge press over here is drastically dumbed down and this has an ENORMOUS effect on the club bridge masses who are now trained to play bridge purely as a social vehicle. That is all well and good at one level, but it doesn't stimulate the level of competition required to improve the overall standard in this country. As a comparison, chess players are so much into their technique, theory and analysis. I want to see more emphasis on that within bridge. That won't attract the cool crowd, but it will attract the mind games crowd. As you might imagine, I have a lot of ideas and a lot more to say on this subject. It comes from loving the game too much I suppose... Alan

We have all suffered dyslexic mouse finger from time-to-time. However, genuine undos are requested immediately, because the person can see on screen that what they intended to do is not what has just appeared on the screen. That seems an easy way to tell to me.

Definitely.

Deep, Tech and Electro House and Breaks. Something I was doing last weekend! I really like electronic music. Although I have a weakness for 80s pop at the moment - something to do with my childhood.

I am a Rocket Scientist. And that is true.

Story of my life... Best thing about women? They are nice and soft.

To Watch: Moto GP - Catch Vale while you can... Football (Proviso - World Cups are usually rubbish (crap refs, played in too hot weather), although Germany will be an exception because the conditions will be there for the players to give 100%. Premiership and Champion's league are the most exciting) F1 - The reason I did aerodynamics. Senna is still my hero. Cricket - Ashes 05. Still sends shivers down my spine. Have you got the DVDs Roland? Biathlon - Ole-Einar Bjorndalen. The greatest athlete on the planet today? Ski-Jumping - Nutters. Spectacular. Rugby (6 Nations) Bobsleigh - See Ski Jumping Boxing (Top Fights Only) K1 (As above) Rallying Athletics Cycling - Le Tour. What an event. Definitely not: Anything with horses (just so sad losers can lose their money), Ice Skating (Not a sport), American Football (Get knackered after 5 seconds and have a rest and wear padding - play rugby you wusses) To Do: Football - Indoor 5-a-side Cycling - Freedom of the roads (and I get to wear lycra!) Table Tennis - Haven't done this in ages Tennis - Or this But all the general weights/fitness training too - need the fitness levels for those hard sessions at the table

That most definitely sounds like a plan. I've just bought myself tickets for the England-Pakistan Twenty20 international. Unfortunately both the Lords test and the Oval test have sold out (grrr) but I might well go and see Middlesex play a few games there. I have a ticket for the Friday at the Oval vs Pakistan. :D Helps to have a boss who is a member of Surrey!

A lot of people have said a lot of things. I'm just going to say the one thing that Mark knows I'm going to say. I LOVE MY WEAK NO TRUMP AND MY 4 CARD MAJORS AND I'M NOT ASHAMED! Maybe one day he will admit it too!!

This is the kind of level you need to teach beginners at. 15+10=25=Game. Then they can do roughly the right thing quickly - then they feel they are progressing. Any talk of preference or fragments on the way to 3NT = Total Confusion.

Simple. Minibridge until they get bored - which will be a lesson or two, but they will pick up the basic mechanics of bridge-type games very quickly with it. And you can teach it in 5 minutes flat. After that? All this talk about systems is largely irrelevant. What is more important is good material. Since Andrew is in the UK, the Standard English is highly reccomendable. I have used it with the kids at the youth camp for years. The whole package was designed by bridge teachers for bridge teachers. On a style basis the one thing I would recommend is this. Forget all your expert stuff. Let all the little errors go and concentrate on the ONE big point you want to get across in any given lesson/hand. I agree that there is far too much to learn in one chunk so don't even try. Eventually they will start to think for themselves.

I'm bigger than you Micky! Argument over! :P :lol: And while someone mentioned it - Bergen Raises. What a load of tripe taking away all those lovely natural bids. Something tells me I have a weight advantage :P Lovely natural bids? You meant to say "lovely mini-splinters", I presume? You can have the weight, I will settle for height, reach, speed and power advantage! Of course if you want to win, nick my glasses and I'm as blind as a bat...

i've seen *many* world class players use bergen raises (not to mention the inventor of the convention)... but maybe your judgment as to its merits are better, who knows... of course you may be able to convince them they're wrong because you're bigger This thread is always going to be a matter of opinion. Mine doesn't like Bergen. I'm sure there are many for whom it works just fine.

I don't know a million and one different systems, but for any player aspiring to be a top-class player it is essential to be aware of the fundamentals of all the different major system types - Wk NT, Strong NT, 4/5 cM, Strong Clubs, Multi-Clubs (Polish/Swedish) which 99% of pairs play. The reason being - how can you play your best if you don't have an idea of what the opps are doing and what you can do best to stop them? Its just like a football manager watching videos of his opposition team in advance to sort out his tactics. Common sense really.

I love that you rate Drury as one of the worst, and I one of the best :) remind me to have an argument with you about it sometime. I'm bigger than you Micky! Argument over! :) :P And while someone mentioned it - Bergen Raises. What a load of tripe taking away all those lovely natural bids.

PAss - obvoius best chance of pluss score. Partner averages a strong no-trump on these type of auctions. We rate to take 4-5 tricks on defence. We don't rate to take 11 in play. This will gain more often than it loses IMO.

PAss - obvoius best chance of pluss score. Partner averages a strong no-trump on these type of auctions. We rate to take 4-5 tricks on defence. We don't rate to take 11 in play. This will gain more often than it loses IMO.

As discussed on the Junior Camrose commentary: Extended Stayman Stayman-in-doubt Drury Hackett defence to Weak 2s (Its an English thing beloved by grannies and anyone playing against it similar in principle to Fishbein)