dogsbreath

agree -- definitely penalty .. since p can have no expectation of us making more than 4H. Rgdds Dog

HI .. Fred has missed one important detail .. LOOKS .. the only way for Fred to reach the next tier is to deal with that receeding hair-line. Still, he is reasonably photo-hygenic .. without this you will never be recognised as a class player, since noone will take your photo. Rgds Dog :)

Hi .. Just my two-pence-worth, but it does seem to be increasingly difficult to get a match started recently.. i have been checking on players who reject or ignore invites and many of them are playing in another match. This strongly suggests that some players are answering several/ALL requests for team players, then accepting the first offer they get .. ok for them but disruptive for others... Only solution I can see is to prevent asking to play in more than one match at a time.. via some centram register maybe? Rgds Dog

...er.. whats a 'modem' ? Rgds Dog ;)

Thanks for the suggestions. I was aware when i raised this that there may be no easy solution..esp as the host may not know what another player knows about a quitter in the 'pack'. Ok ,, UDAY .. get yr thinking cap on .. we need a genius Rgds Dog ;)

Hi .. with regard to the current issue of players quitting team games i would like to see those i have marked as 'enemy' indicated when i get an invite to a team game. Unfortunately there are too many of them to remember and i dont want to be at the same table as them again. I'd be glad of any improvement in this area, including the option of somehow alerting the host that a player has a record of quitting games. btw .. I've given up reporting these players ..it's soo frequent a problem at present that i'd get little time to play at all if i reported them all :blink: Rgds Dog :)

Hi Maureen.. I'd be willing to help out, but cant commit to a regular spot due to family and work commitments. However, I'd be more than willing to act as a backup when a regular mentor is unexpectedly unable to fullfil a arrangement. There are lots of times when i'm 'online' but just kibbing .. will be glad to assist at these times if you can find a use for me. Rgds Dog

Hi Both of these hands have the same basic problem.. lack of fit for p's second suit. In the first hand xxx is worst possible holding, in the 2nd the singlton would be a much better feature if you held a 4th spade. Overbidding due to poor hand evaluation leading to bad result. ..also agree with Ben about 3c rebid on hand 2 .. it's too pushy with weak suits. Rgds Dog

I recently 'threatened' to start reporting all abuse , especially mid-hand leavers. It's a pain .. recently had 8-board match interrupted 3 times by someone leaving because they didnt like a bid/play/defence mistake. Maybe more time needed to see if any effect but i think not .. i thanked a player who named a leaver to the 'lobby' and had a flood of secondary comments from other players also upset by this behaviour. I told them about the 'abuse' mechanism ..surprisingly most were unaware of it. In the meantime I just mark these leavers as 'enemy' .. they are the only players on BBO that i refuse to play with. This seems to be the latest 'disease' afoot since we appeared to have dealt with the cheaters. Unfortunately a lot of players probably experience so much of this rudeness that they cant remember all the names to report. Rgds Dog

It's my experience that inexperienced players are unable to identify/field psyches by opps, even when the auction makes it obvious that there are 50+ HCP in the deck. Since most play for pleasure only, i NEVER psyche against inexpert opps. In a 'major' tourney or a graded field anything goes. Rgds Dog :)

Barry Bonds?

I'd bid 2S (weak but constructive) with 3 trumps an Ace and a King... ..I'm not crazy about 4-3-3-3 hands either, but I think 2S puts too mych pressure on p to take the correct action.. esp with the 4th spade. ..so i take the 3h raise option ..I dont love the bid but like 2S less Rgds Dog

hi.. P's pass is forcing. This rules out 'pass' whatever it's practical merits, passing in a 'required-to-bid' situation undermines partnership confidence. Double is best option .. A hearts may stand up, Q!C is a defensive value and p is better than min. Rgds Dog

Maybe choice of NT is system related .. frequency of it affects all aspects of system due to 'negative' inference when NOT opened ..especially in Acol system. I have experienced no real problem with weak NT ..but at teams, if we are doing well, i am particularly careful with 3rd hand openings ... no 12 HCP 1nt here since i canopen suit and pass p's resp Rgds Dog

i wasnt trying to resurrect the 'cheaters' thread .. just wanted to see the last 3 boards of a match when one table was delayed by discs & player leaving for legitimate & explained reason. Still not sure what went 'wrong' if anything :P

ok Roland .. but we must reserve final judgement till we learn how much Guiness y can drink/buy, your appreciation of the oval-ball game , and a signed affidavit of your golf handicap .. Rgds Dog .. look forward to seeing y here sometime :P

I think 4S is daft .. if it's the right contract p will be able to help .. 2nt over 1nt looks right to me as we need some partial fit somewhere to make any game Rgds Dog

4H ..this shows a weakish distibutional hand as i have other options.. i aint bidding or x'ing ANYTHING after this .. must trust p to use his judgement correctly..and he'll sometimes be wrong. Rgds Dog

4S ..stop dreaming ..

whatever my p is looking for .. i havent got it .. PASS Rgds Dog

North should X and lead a Heart .. i had ths hand recently at local club duplicate and score +500 Rgds Dog :P

hi all.. Mr Fantoni is GROSSLY over-rated .. his driving average is well below the 300 yard average we expect of a pro and his chipping and putting leaves something to be desired.. Rgds Dog :P

Hi :P i hate 2nt .. as y all know it rarely makes exactly 8 tricks. What i hate even more is these data showing 'x' result over x-thousand boards .. what is the statistical background to this data? .. the variables involved are complex .. level of declarer-play, good/bad opening leads .. i find it impossible to attach ANY credibility to an anaylsis like this of x-thousand random declarers and random opening leads ..am i missing something? Rgds Dog :)

..hi again/ i'm not 'anti-bergen' .. happy to play it if a random p on BBO likes it .. but somehow it doesnt seem to work as well as i hoped when i learned about it .. just a 'touchy-feely' thing .. but equally happy to drop it in favour of mini-splinters or mini-fit raises Rgds Dog

hi all ..initially i tht bergen excellent in a 5-card major system, but in results lead me to believe it's ineffective .. also pointless in a 4-card major system like Acol. I have no real statistical data but 'feel' that bergen is less effective in practice than it seems to be theoretically .. Regards Dog :P