JoAnneM

Swan has a 16 board ACBL game once a day and it is hugely popular for a small site. It's amazing what a difference those 4 extra boards makes in the enjoyment of the game. It doesn't seem like such a "shoot-out", especially in Imps. I don't play ACBL at BBO because of the 3 ACBL sites it is the most expensive.

Oh, one more thing. Our club is non-profit, we charge $3 per game. We just replaced our bidding boxes at a huge expense which included personal donations from members (I purchased 3 tables worth). So buy scoring machines is far beyond our financial hopes. I just looked at a traveler. The columns say "made" and "down" so "made" 5 and "down" 1 seem quite reasonable. If the columns were headed "+" and "-" the way other would make sense.

Wow, where is all this coming from? So what if you had them three years ago. We are looking at them now. Didn't know it was a contest. I have found this in other conversations too - the rest of the world and then ACBL - it is so fourth grade. The machines are being used in ACBL tournaments, Regionals and Sectionals, and their popularity is growing. I am very happy to hear about the Cavendish. Every success I can present to my BOD brings us that much closer to buying them for our District.

I was going to say the same thing. I don't believe that in a KO you can "choose" to play up, which is what happens in the UK. So, is that a put down? I really don't see the problem. In the smaller swiss events everyone plays in one pool even if it is stratified and the first round is usually random draw. But I suppose if you were a C team you could insist that you play an A team first. Would that make us look better?

Maybe there should be a separate thread for Bridgemate. I brought the subject up at our last District Board Meeting and the consensus was that it is too early - that they are still too "buggy". But they were at the Reno Sectional and they worked perfectly. Of course the director there was Dianne Barton-Payne and she has had special training with them. I wonder what other experiences people here have had with them. I am looking at bottom line savings for Regionals. I figure the savings in caddies would pay for the machines in about four years - at their current cost.

Why would you do it anyway but what is customary and accepted in your club? Who cares what is "correct". As long as the people that you are dealing with, and not the whole world, know what you are doing, then that is the way you should do it. BTW, that is one of my pet peeves - people that have to be "correct"

Can someone explain the difference between the regular pairs game and the World Production Pairs?

I would hate to think that every ACBL member would have to be consulted before rules were changed. I think this new rule is extreme but evidently the players themselves (some players evidently) have caused it. Abuses of privileges have always been the cause of them being lost, so whose fault is that? For those of us who play online cheating is a very frustrating thing that we have to live with, so just imagine what it is like for players in a national championship to feel that it may be tainted. It is easy to sit back and criticize when we are not the ones having to make these decisions.

19 pages is really long. Have the people posting now gone back and read all the preceding pages? Are you recycling the arguments? How many participants of this forum will this new rule actually affect? If the ACBL, knowing that there was the possibility of some cheating had done nothing, would they have been as responsible? And why does this have to justified to you? I always say if you are going to complain then be part of the solution. But if you are just discussing then my goodness this has gone on a long time. :wacko:

I voted that I would still carry it because I am becoming so forgetful that I would never remember to take it out of my purse. Don't they know how old we all are? And what are they going to do about digital hearing aids, those are electronic devices.

I would like to see masterpoints degrade, kind of like radiation, in some way so that you are rated according to how you are playing now, not how you played 20 years ago. This would allow the "life novices" to always play within their ranks and would require the "young turks" to play among their peers immediately - something they would probably enjoy.

Huh?? ACBL only gives money to charities that its players have donated.

Thank you, pclayton. At the San Francisco NABC, on the first day, in the I/N room they had set up for about 60 tables. I forget exactly how many but it was around 175 tables that showed up. The I/N programs at most tournaments are flourishing and these are the future of bridge. I am very happy to see it. I take great pleasure in playing with someone who is on their way to Life Master, and the most fun of all is being at the table with them when they go over. I try to keep them out of the knock-out so it will mean something but the draw is very strong. At least the points are being evened out a "little bit". Back to the topic of the thread, since pro's are promoting themselves with these articles maybe they should pay for them - as ads. ACBL can use any money it can get.

Pick up a daily bulletin, and look for the NEW LIFE MASTERS. They always mention where to find them to report about new life masters. I guess reporting new life masters is the most important function of the bulletin, after all. Well this is very condescending. It's a shame that some of you were never non-life masters and didn't experience the thrill of becoming one. Of course you were all too cool to want anyone to know when you made it, and when you make Diamond, Platinum or any of the other steps I assume you will make sure that will not be announced either.

NABC's are scheduled 10 or more years into the future with some popular ones set into a rotating schedule - like Reno in my District 20 is on a 6-year Spring schedule. But some of the "off" cities like Detroit are "fill-in" cities just so the players in that area can experience an NABC. And, they are scheduled for off-season because those venues are very expensive, and ACBL does their best to negotiate lower hotel rates for the players. I know lower rates can sometimes be found at internet sites, but ACBL is reserving huge blocks of rooms years in advance at these hotels. Those of you who have worked at tournament planning and managing know the headaches. Hopefully Las Vegas, which I heard is projected at over 20,000 tables, will make up for Detroit. Even Hawaii was a disappointment in table count for us because it seems when the players got there the weather was so nice they all went to the beach!! :P

Whatever happened to the idea of parents setting good examples? We certainly tried to and our two sons have made it into their 40's relatively unscathed money wise. Maybe they have just been lucky, but I have also watched them be smart. Anyway there is only one way to own a credit card, and that is to pay the balance each month. Credit cards are just a substitute for carrying cash or a checkbook, they are not a loan desk sitting in your pocket. Credit limits are how much you have available for a trip or in an emergency, not how much you can spend on clothes and dining out. At least that should be the attitude of most people, with exceptions of course. I would not give advice to the young person unless asked. I don't even advise my own children unless asked. But certainly be there for her if she needs you, if you are really her friend.

I would say that Slothy puts everything in the proper perspective! It would be more interesting to see how many people played those 300 hands. Probably a lot.

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini "Digging To America" by Anne Tyler - actually any book by Anne Tyler

I believe the 2S bid (2H-x-2S) is called a "tactical psyche" and wouldn't (shouldn't) even be counted as one of the three you would be allowed during a session. Just my opinion.

I would like to point out the NABC's use Directors from all over the USA, not just from the local area, so there is no telling where your Directors were from. I don't think blaming a geographical area for your problems is justified.

My favorite option when I actually do need an explanation for a bid is to simply query BOTH opponents, privately, at the same time. Although online bridge uses self-alerting you are still allowed to ask the other player what the bid meant. (Can you think of a reason why not?) When you query both players you sometimes get some surprising answers. :o

When you have watched a few of the funeral processions for law enforcement officers who were killed during "routine traffic stops" it is easier to understand what happened on this video. The number has been skyrocketing, especially in California.

http://www.usbf.org/ "JOINT STATEMENT BY THE USBF BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND THE PLAYERS OF THE 2007 VENICE CUP-WINNING TEAM The United States Bridge Federation (USBF) and the players on the US Venice Cup world championship bridge team are pleased to mutually announce that we have resolved all issues relating to events that occurred at the closing ceremony of the 2007 World Bridge Championship in Shanghai. We all believe that it is in the best interests of bridge to put this behind us so that we can focus on playing the game we love. The USBF Board has dismissed all charges against the players on the Venice Cup team. The players of the USA1 Venice Cup Championship team recognize that it is a legitimate request of the USBF, when sending teams to represent the United States, that all players refrain from using the stage for the Medal Ceremonies as a platform for anything other than receiving their medals. For the future the USBF will make certain that the Guidelines are clearer as to what is expected. We all look forward to resuming our mutual enjoyment of bridge and to working together to promote the game. Steve Beatty Joan Gerard Bob Hamman Jill Levin Irina Levitina Jan Martel Rose Meltzer Jill Meyers Hansa Narasimhan Lou Ann O'Rourke Bill Pollack Debbie Rosenberg JoAnna Stansby November 20, 2007

Why do you care why they care?

I was playing a team match the other night and my partner announced she had posted our cc. When I clicked the button for "ours" it just brought up the generic SAYC card, but we are a longtime partnership playing 2/1. Is it possible she didn't post it correctly, or is there a secret to my looking at our card.