mr1303

I think this could be a horrible misfit. It is entirely possible that partner has a weak 2 in hearts, but decided not to open because he had 4 spades. I think I'll try 3C, and be happy with it. I fancy we don't have a game here, and if I double, you'll hear 4H from partner, I guarantee it

Yeah, the format is very similar to rubber in that regard. In rubber bridge, if you get dealt combined 37 counts on the first two boards, and stop in 3NT each time, regardless of whether 7NT is cold or not, you still lose the rubber. Obviously it isn't for everyone, but the spirit seems to be to have fun and be friendly, rather than competitive bridge. It also gets amusing when you have auctions such as Pass Pass Pass 6NT because you need a slam on the last board. Even funnier when it makes.....

Well it's been done. Will this apply to private / public clubs as well, or only the main bridge club? I feel I might have to cut down the number of tournaments I play in as a result.

I'm more than happy for anyone who wants to substitute into one of my tournaments to be a sub, no matter what skill level of bridge he/she may have. I also expect that if my partner is subbed out, my new partner isn't going to have the same agreements regarding system, and mostly I'll have to change from whatever the original system was (Acol, 2/1, Precision etc) to basic SAYC. Having said that, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable being a sub without a basic knowledge of SAYC, because that is the most popular system on BBO

It should be said that Maaa is quoting Jeremy Clarkson. I too have his book :D

Personally, if I was so minded (and there are occasions that I am, I'm afraid to say). I wouldn't bother alerting it, as its just a bad bid (by any stretch of the imagination) rather than a specific agreement. Your partner hasn't altered his bidding given your wild pre-empt, he should still pass opposite KQJxxxx and out, which is what we'd call a standard pre-empt. The fact that opps made a bad bid is not a reason to start alerting. If he'd passed with [hv=s=sakxhkxxdkxxcakxx]133|100|[/hv] then opps might have more of a case

Mike Lawrence on his conventions CD says that if you wish to ask for key cards following a 1NT opening, when you have a suit that you know you wish to be trumps, is to bid 4D/H as a texas transfer, and follow up the forced response with 4NT as RKCB, or bid 5X as Exclusion RKCB. Therefore the sequence 1NT 2H 2S 4NT is quantitative. If it is quantitative, never show your aces. He isn't asking for them, and so showing them doesn't help him. On this hand, you have a maximum, so the only decision is which slam. Generally with 3 or 4 card support you should bid 6 of his suit in this auction. With a maximum and only 2 card support you can either try 6NT, or if you have a good 5/6 card minor, you can bid 5C/D. Partner should not take this as showing any number of aces, but a hand that wishes to accept the invitation, offering another place to play. Note that with a minimum and 2 card support, you should pass. I hope this clears things up for you. Mark

Knowing Dom, lazy! Here is someone who watched an entire season of 24 in one day!!

Yes, thats correct. They get an error bar saying error no. 54, if my memory serves me correctly.

If you double, I GUARANTEE that partner will bid spades. Hence don't. I think there are two many losers for 5D, so I'll content myself with 4D

I'm not sure if this is a problem or not, but my co-directors cannot make substitutions in tourneys. I can still do it as the host. Admittedly I've only got what they're saying to go on, so I can't be more helpful.

The reason TDs generally don't like to run unclocked tourneys is that the tournament could take ages, especially the last few boards. If I run a clocked tournament, then I can set aside an hour or two, and know that I'll be finished after that set time period. With unclocked tournaments, they could last for a lot longer. I have a life outside of bridge.

Most good pairs that play anything other than a strong NT will have well defined escape structures. We play after 1NT (X) 2X = lowest of 2 touching suits XX = transfer to 2C, corrected to any single suit Pass = transfer to xx, either passed (rare) or the lowest of 2 non-touching suits is shown. This sequence scores us +470 an awful lot more than -300. I usually play 11-14 NT

An interesting hand turned up this afternoon. I know I horribly overbid this, but it worked. [hv=d=s&v=e&n=sathq2dat876ct763&w=sqj875hd92cakq952&e=sk9432hk954dq5cj8&s=s6hajt8763dkj43c4]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Anyway, I opened 1H, 1S overcall, 2D by partner, 3S on the right. I tried 5D, 5S and then back to me. I tried 5NT, and we ended up in 6D. Would double here be Lightner? Clearly a H lead is the only one that sets the contract.

I concur. I can honestly say that my bridge has improved so I I'm at least 10 times better than I was before I discovered BBO. Also, I've made several new friends, that I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Last night in the Abalucy we lost several IMPs on the last two boards due to our inability to make a penalty double of their weak 1NT. We were playing DONT, and therefore had to pass with: AQx Kx Qxxx AQxx Result 1NT -3 by them, when we were cold for 3NT. We have now decided to play Cappelletti against weak, and DONT against strong

I've noticed this, but I don't think this is new to 3.7.0. It has been like this since I first started directing tournaments, many moons ago

In all honesty, the percentage of players who leave a table in the MBC I think, to be pretty low. Lots more leave because they don't think their partner is up to scratch, because they don't like their opps, because their regular partner has just come online, because they're just bored of playing bridge. Lots of reasons. I don't think that the problem of people leaving the main bridge club to play in tournaments is that large a problem. Seeing as the issue seems to be contested, maybe a vote might be a fair way to decide what the solution should be.

Claus I find your attitude as rude as the behaviour you seek to adjust. I like to play with the the same group of players. Usually these are players I know from face to face bridge. If I register for a tournament, I like to be able to practise with my partner before the tournament starts. I let my partner and opps (all of whom I usually know) that I am playing in so-and-so tournament. They do not have problems with this. Therefore I see no reason to change from the current situation. A simple reminder should be more than sufficient.

I personally think that half an hour is too long to prevent people from playing in the main bridge club. People will not sit in front of their computer for half an hour waiting for something to happen, they'll go make a cup of tea, read the paper etc. When the tournament starts I guarantee that a significant percentage will still be logged into BBO, but away from their computer. Thus the work of TDs will increase as we'll have to sub all of these players. I think a limit of 5 minutes is more than enough. This gives time to finish the board being played, and to give an apology to the players at the table. I also think that if we ban any player who has registered as a substitute from playing in the main bridge club, we'll see a dramatic drop in the number of players prepared to register as a sub. Mark

I would be very strongly against any move to ban kibitzers. However, whilst directing I have noticed a problem with kibitzers talking to the table, particularly in the later rounds, when players who have finished watch other tables. Hence all my tournaments are now kibitzer silent, whereby they are free to watch, but cannot talk to the players playing. This should surely be a suitable solution. Whilst cheating is still possible (via MSN messenger, ICQ etc.) this issue has already been discussed in another thread, and so I will not go in to it here Mark

If I'm running a large tourney (around 200 players, or there abouts) I usually run it unclocked. This is to enable me to not have to deal with adjustments, as I have to check the movie etc. before I can adjust the score. However, I know that unclocked tournaments will take a lot longer, as there are ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL a handful of painfully slow boards that take forever. Usually, these players are not even in contention. What their reasons are for playing so slowly, I don't know. I'll presume for now just poor connection..... Anyway, I certainly make sure that I have plenty of time before running an unclocked tourney. If I want to run a tournament at short notice, I always use clocked, however, and I restrict the number of players to well below my capacity. This is to make sure I can handle the normal dozen or so director calls saying "no ave-", or "opps deliberately played slowly" etc which take so much longer than substitutions. Having said that, I do struggle to see a good solution. I can't jump round every table and boot slow players, or even assign ave+-, there just isn't time, as I need to sit there and watch for a minute or two, which I just don't have.

Declarer has 5 hearts, as partner has followed to 3 rounds. 1 spade as he ruffed the second round. 4 diamonds, as everyone has followed to 3 rounds. Therefore he has 1543 distribution. The correct play is to force declarer with another spade. He is forced to ruff, and then play a club, which you win, and cash the last spade

The trouble with the suggestion is that sometimes, a player may just have a poor connection (red dot) rather than fully disconnected. To have to message someone, and wait for a reply, then fill out the name in the subs bar takes far too long, if the director is busy. When the player has fully disconnected (red bar) then the invitational message is sent directly. In an ideal world, an invitation is sent both times, but I have heard objections to this, as this would allow a player to sub is partner just on poor play, rather than calling for a director. I would be strongly against any suggestion to prevent the ability of a TD to put subs directly in. If they don't want to play with a random player, they have the choice not to go on the subs list. Mark

Is this club actually going to play some bridge? I notice that there is another junior club (private club) on BBO, which I joined, and haven't received a word from since. Being a regular on the UK university circuit, I know of plenty of people who would be interested in joining. I would also like to volunteer to direct if necessary. Mark (I'm only 21)