JoAnneM

"Of course, we might have secured the win had partner not faced this troubling decision. With ♠Q ♥AJ10xx ♦Jxx ♣QJxx, you pass in first seat. Partner, in third seat, opens 1♣ (2/1 GF). Opponent overcalls 1♦. What now? A negative double came to mind. After a 2♦ call, partner bids 2♠. So, after this reverse, you decide to bid 4♥. When the opponents sacrifice at 5♦, partner made a grand slam try by bidding 5♠. You like your hand for the grand, but you are just shy of accepting. So, you show your club suit in case maybe 7♣ makes. " This is an aside from the director question. When you have made a negative double why is your partner's 2S bid then a reverse? Aren't you asking for that information?

According to ACBL rules you do not have to ask the "right" question, you just have to indicate that you are inquiring about the bid. So, RHO opponent certainly committed a gross infraction when he agreed with you that it was natural, knowing full well that it was not. Not only does that infraction carry an adjustment, if needed, but it should carry a procedural penalty. Your director is incompetent. Also, you do not give avg/avg- for score adjustments, those adjustments are for fouled or non/played boards. The director should know that. Averaging a board is just a lazy way of handling a problem at a table.

Bridgetalk is very nice but is mostly British and there is a lot of "not in ACBL" or "who knows what ACBL does". Has that changed?

This is no longer true. Thanks for that, I am still learning the new laws. I think the suggestion, in another thread, for a forum on director issues and bridge law would be well received.

You have put a huge pressure on your partner as he is not allowed to take any inference from your remark or physical actions. For the director it would be much the same situation as in a hesitation. Is there a reasonable alternative to pulling to 4D? If the reasonable alternative is to pass then he must pass. And since your partner cannot have heard your remark or seen your action he must assign some sort of reasonable meaning to your bid and then make the decision. It would be interesting to know what was happening at your chair, and the director would probably be asking you that. If the bid was a mechanical error you would have been allowed to change it. If the bid was just ill advised you still could have changed it but the best score your side could have received would be an average minus. Making the remark and then doing nothing was a serious breach of proprieties, but it happens all the time. Unfortunately the director is seldom called so the players do not learn their rights and responsibilities, the first of which is to call the director.

Why would there be a line item in the budget about building a new building. Isn't that a capital outlay? Why would it be an expense item?

The ACBL prints an annual financial in the Bulletin every year. As far as I know the only cost for the BofG is some coffee and doughnuts on meeting day, they have certainly never offered me any expense money. Wait, I think the president of the BofG gets some expenses paid. Regional and Sectional ads in the Bulletin are fairly expensive, at least we think so in our District. They almost doubled in price when they went to the new format, and a 1/2 page ad is now over $1,200. The purpose of the BofG is mostly watchdog. It makes suggestions to the BOD, but those suggestions must be put on the agenda so it does have a voice. Maybe it is not so much that these two bodies are are worthless, as most of you are suggesting, but that the people elected to them don't have the right motivations. When was the last time you paid any attention to who was doing what in your District, except gripe about it? And I mean that in a friendly way, after spending nine years in bridge administration. Doing something positive like running for one of the positions if you think you have good ideas would be the best thing for the ACBL.

Doesn't your text appear beneath the quote? No, not in edit mode. That is what I said.

How come my computer won't show your avatar? Your's is the only one.

This is totally off topic but I tried to edit my last post - I had changed a sentence and left an awkward word, and when I clicked "edit" it only brought up the "quote" I had used and nothing I had typed. Is there a special trick to this?

So, yours are probably one of the millions of computers that has been hijacked to send out these spam emails, and you don't even know it.

One of the Board of Governors main areas of concern is the ACBL Bylaws. They make recommendations to the ACBL Bylaws committee for changes. Actually the ACBL Bylaws are very streamlined and mostly contain info pertaining to the administration of the ACBL and the Board of Directors and very little to the actually playing of bridge. Anyone can attend the Board of Governor meetings, and you can also contact the members of your District who belong to the Board of Governors. From each District there are three elected members, plus the 1st and 2nd Alternates to the District Director, plus some retired District Directors. I don't know why you would need a "mutiny" when you have these people to access. The Board minutes are always posted on the ACBL website, along with various appendixes. I have not seen committee reports posted and it would be nice to see at least summary reports.

I many times delete emails when there is NO subject line filled in. Just shows how we are different. And my Mcafee spam filter is regularly putting mail into its box from contacts in my address book. I mark them as friends each time so it doesn't happen again, but it is annoying and I do have to monitor that directory. I think the Paypal signup that asked for your social security number was not legitimate. For a while I was getting fake emails from Comcast with a link to go verify my personal information. Those are really dangerous because people don't stop to think. I have also received them from banks, but not my bank, which I wouldn't answer anyway. However a really sad story is that a woman in our town actually responded to one of those letters promising her millions from the son of an African king, she started sending them money, and eventually drained their accounts and then drowned herself in the river. I have no idea why her husband didn't know what was going on. She send them over $100,000.

I think the Internet is like the Bible - you can find text to support any argument.

It's irrelevant because it's not broken. I can see adding to the Forum but why delete something that's there and not hurting anyone.

I can't imagine why anyone would care if there is a Forum area that is underused. It is irrelevant. I do like the suggestion of adding an area for discussion of bridge laws, director calls, etc., outside of BBO games. I think the BBO Forum reading base is very wide, and includes people who do a lot of ftf playing.

Astrology is a hobby for many people. Bridge is a hobby for many people. What is the difference? Lots of difference we think, but none to other people who probably think we are weird. I would give my sign, and then wait for the subject to die out, or try to gently change the subject without being rude.

Of course there is that attitude. It is because wannabe experts use them on novices or low intermediate players, which I do think is unsportsmanlike. In my opinion psyches are fine used at tables with players of comparable abilities. But when you use a psyche against new players you are just shoving that win down their throats, and maybe they won't come back. And you laugh at that but it takes a while to develop the thick skin that we wear as more experienced players. I doubt if you would seldom, if ever, see a pro-level player use a psyche at a Flight C table in a stratified game. But I do have a good story about that......

Blowhard, pointy-haired, short syndrome

What I meant was that you have to expect opponents to be upset when they get beat by a psychic bid. They shouldn't, but they will be. If the opponents had not complained we would not be having this conversation, right? I wasn't referring to the "suits".

I think this should be your attitude: If you are going to use psychic bids, and to the extent that you use them, be prepared to be hassled, and just let it flow off your back. The bids are you choice. Now life will be easier.

I still don't understand the term "suits". Were these Ethics Committee people? If so, don't let them harrass you, demand a hearing. My son was being harrassed in the Navy by his surperiors, and they kept threatening a court martial (over training issues), finally he demanded a court martial, they totally backed off and the instructor was fired. I also don't know why this would be a matter for the Recorder, who takes care of things that happen at the table that are in the area of proprieties. The opps must have been really mad, was there any other reason? In every sport there are referees or line judges, umpires, etc. Why is everyone so down on ACBL because they have Directors and rules? Does everyone gripe about the rules of golf? When you play the game you play by the rules, personally I think two psyches in one round is pushing things. Also, how do you know when you have to "operate"? How do you know that your partners aren't doing great at the other table and your "operating" might be giving it away. I just have trouble playing games where "masterminding" is going on.

I agree with those who say this is a partnership thing. If this is a deal breaker for your partner then decide if you want to continue playing with him. If you accept not opening this kind of hand then also realize that his openers will be sound and adjust your bidding accordingly. It seems like it is not a matter of who is wrong or right, just a matter of if this is a true partnership or not.

This is simply not true. Even basic SAYC includes transfers which are alertable online, and 2/1 includes basic bids which are alertable like nmf and 4sf. Also, to the post previous to mine (too bad they are not numbered) this thread is about online Individual tournaments, so I think quoting Bridge Law, which many of us do quite frequently, is useless.

Bidding styles of partners are very important. With one of my partners I would open 1S, with another one I would open 2S.