sceptic

4 hearts 1 heart your partner can pass opps may be able to micheals even vuln this must have some play and some preemptive value

A general question for all of you someone phones up your local bridge club, "hi I want to learn to play bridge in a friendly environment" what do you think they are told 1/. Sorry we only play competitive bridge, find another club 2/. Yes come along we are a social bridge club 3/ Yes come along we are a social bridge club but you have to obey the rules or some of our members will moan and complain if ytou do something they dont like 4/ monday is social and for lower standards, tuesday is for competitive bridge and friday nights is for experts only 5/. a different answer of you r own chosing

Do you not think this is how some people perceive club games ? they are hardly a matter of life or death

1/ call TD and tell them they are cheating 2/ r u sure that would not be their lead anyway with thier card holding 3/ how long have they been playing the game and if they are good players ban them 4/ if they are novices TD explains the rules to them 5/ take up my suggestion for basic training and exams that way TD can ban someone from playing for these infractions or give them a yellow card, 4 yellow cards a year and they are banned for 12 months or fined and then more people will try and get it right 6/ ignore it

EBU recently changed the alert rules, I expect if you check historically bridge rles in every country have changed since inception, so this statement is not a very valid opinion in my mind (as small as that may be)

I don't and have never said that, nor do I believe that I have even implied that I do not believe many people deliberately set out to cheat and I am 100% sure I do not cheat Answer me this question please, I think it is acceptable for people at a table online here at bbo to talk to their partner to discuss conventions whilst they are playing etc it does not bother me and I think if it went to a general public vote no one else really would have issue with it, so why at a club f2f is this totally unacceptable?

Personally I would have told them they should becareful and act more like adults I have no idea what the infraction is with the 3 spades making

ok comments on first one my thoughts would be, what is this idiot doing in a friendly club and he is playing some weird system and I have no idea how to bid against this system (anyone that says you should study the opps cc is crazy, where the hell do you get the time to do that realistically. I dont mean to be off topic here (I am not sure I am ) but this is the sort of thing that just makes issues and if you explain to me now I would undwerstand, but that is only because I read these forums and talk to people, in a f2f club where the basic level is kitchen bridge, so I am led to believe, I am not suprised you could be frustrated, you obviously want to play at a different level than that of the people at the club where acol could be the main system any of them have learnt and the only one they know and this is where the problems arise, how much study do they need to understand how to play against precision I will answer all your other points with some different views during the week when I have some more time one last thought, do you think it would be prudent of the EBU or ACBL etc etc to make all players take a written test about what is allowed at what level during competions only the level they wish to enter and an exam about the alert structure that they will encounter, that way they can be expected to comply and would be less frustrating, if the opinion is no one or not many would be bothered then perhaps we need to look at what the masses want and then try something different It seems to me that the people that are responsible for the frustration are the governing bodies, they should set the minimum standards for each level of tournament and then this qualifies as a ranking system, so cover the ranking systems with written exams at each level also another thought would be for more people to do basic TD training so they understand the rules i.e. each member must in their first year do a test paper on the alerting procedure and basic TD functions, this may prove an answer to some of the issues, some of you experts could do basic training or teachings in the BIL lounge to test the waters to see if it makes any difference in online tourneys

[hv=d=e&v=a&n=sq72ha4dk75ca9753&w=saj4h765daq932ct8&e=sk85hjt983djt64c4&s=st963hkq2d8ckqj62]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] West North East South - - Pass Pass Pass 1♣ Pass 1♠ 2♦ Dbl Pass 3♣ Pass Pass 3♦ 3♥ Pass 3♠ Pass Pass Pass Ok here I am south Can I have opinions for what went wrong here please, my 3heart bid was asking for a !D stop (I hope) I also think it shows or implies 5 spades Should I have just passed 3 diamonds how would you bid this can you make 3 spades in the play also

so what happened 15 years ago when there was no online bridge to run to and bridge was more popular than it is now, is there a link, is the internet is killing bridge?

socially unacceptable behaviour in life and at the bridge table, Please define what you cansider rudeness in life and then define the same thing at a bridge table please

Why does it matter if someone makes a mistake at a club and they decide not to call the director, I may be wrong but surely at a club on certain nights it is social bridge (albeit duplicate so there is some structure to it) Why do people care more about the rules of bridge than they seem to about how badly they bid, play or defend Why when (I may be wrong but this is my perception) someone decides to play bridge with limited, time and access to a teacher, everyone else assumes that they should take the time to learn the naunces of the rules, surely the EBU and ACBL etc , can come up with a set of rules for social play at a club and the expert competitive play can stick to the complex rigid very hard to understand for the lay person set of rules that prosper in their environment each to their own I say, social bridge and club play is not the same as competitive bridge and many people seem to confuse the two and for that reason alone I think that fred is doing the right thing in segregating the lounges. It seems to me that the rule mongers amongst you, do not realise that you make the game as unpleasant for social bridgeplayers and the amateurs who do not understand or do not stick to the rules make it frustraating for you, I am not defending one side or the other, but if you play in areas of mixed abilities then you should expect this to happen and you should not debate it as it is one of lifes unanswerables and you are wasting your time because I assume since EBU and ACBL etc inception, this has been argued over and over again. Tolerance or segregation is the key Social Bridge verses Competitive Bridge take your choice you cant mix them both as you will never please everyone

as 1 club opener could be 3 clubs, I assumed 2heart cue shows clubs as a suit and good values certainly forcing one round, I have no idea of 3nt or 4 of a mjor is the place to play, as I am quite prepared to put myself or my p in 4/3 fits frequently I took the 3 spade as asking for a heart stop which I never had, so I showed a spade support and pard was ok to take us to a club game if he had nothing but a spade stop, I would have x'd the heart over call if I had 4 spades earlier Wont be the first time I am wrong

I am not postiing yet but this is very interesting

Hi all Just wanted some opinions on this hand please [hv=d=e&v=a&n=sjt4hqt42dq8632c7&w=sk65h763dk4cakj52&e=saq92h9dajcq98643&s=s873hakj85dt975ct]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] West North East South - - 1♣ 1♥ 2♥ 3♥ 3♠ Pass 4♠ Pass Pass Pass I am west if that makes any difference

[hv=d=n&v=e&n=skhqj87dajt642ca5&w=sqt864hdk5ckqjt87&e=s92hat9653d83c942&s=saj753hk42dq97c63]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] West North East South - 1♦ Pass 1♠ Pass 3♦ Pass 3♥ 4♣ 4♥ Pass 5♦ Pass 6♥ Dbl 7♦ Pass Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass The bid I am really interested in is norths 2nd bid 2 hearts 3 diamonds 2 diamonds something else name ur poison and feel free to say what you like about the biidding

I think you should be able to create tourneys based on the partnership bidding constraints and options

www.geocities.com/incognito_uk_2000 interest is growing and I would like to thank everyone for supporting us

I am very inconsistant here or even hypocritical if you want to look at it that way, but I play with some nice pards quite a lot and they do say WDP, OR EVEN VVWDP, the later usually occurs after I screw up to the extent that I will only make 9 tricks from a cold 10 tricks in a game contract and then then next card my opponents play gives me the game back and an over trick I look at online life with anyone butsome one I know is a good player as just basic politeness, even when I get a compulisive pard or opponent that insists on saying it every hand and I feel like getting out the sick bucket. It is just someones attempt at fitting in I think and should be treated as such, it may be difficult, but unless you can get people like BIL to refrain from educating newbies to say this all the time you are onto a loser Pasty, I do not see it changing Personally a constant wdp and nto, when it is not deserved is worse that someone throwing the odd expletive into the game, but sometimes most of us would not realise a subtle good play or defence if it hit us in the face and a wdp or wdo is truly deserved

Yes I know, I have a habit of saying something and adding a bit like that at the end, no idea why, but was not meant to infer anything, well unless you are a ACBL TD who seem to put up with alsorts for the sake of the odd dollar :) But I disagree with you, I think something like saying publicly " PLayer 1 I am removing you for being rude to your partner or to me or what ever" and then removing him and ignoring subsequent abuse is the best way, but that is just a personal thing, I prefer direct conflict, rather than the diplomatic or apathetic approach, but that is just the way I am , I am not saying it is correct it is just my preference and I have found it works for me.

my rules and it makes me happy if they are rude I sub them, without question and quite ruthlessly and it makes me feel better, I sometimes explain to their pard wh|I did it, if I have time I announce adjustments and decisions at my discression, I also stated they should not expect a proffesional TD, they can go pay for one of those somewhere else All I run is a quick way of passing some time and the chances are, if you only have 30 mins or 1 hour, you get a better time in a quick and not so fussy tourney than in the main bridge lounge with all the table hoppers, this is one reason that I think free tourneys are so popular My Tourneys are not for the purists, but for the people that like bridge as a social activity, not a matter of life or death, So run your tourneys your way zielona, you will be appreciated by a lot of people and you will feel better if you just remove people like player 1

I disagree. I quite like zielona's handling of someone like this, Player one has behaved in a way I come across quite often, his first line, just about sums up their attitude of disrespect also the last statement of player 1 is amazingly arrogant hahahaha Zielona, I prefer your way, than that of the TD that does nothing

can someone explain what winning in Iraq is, I could have sworn we only went in to depose Saddam and elect a democracy in a country that does not want a democracy nor do its neighbours, seesm to, me we should pull out and let them get on with it, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, they got on with it before we invaded and they had a leader, he may have beeen perceived as a lunatic by us, but at the end of the day, maybe all he did , was to treat the opposite factions in exactly the same way they would have treated him and his faction. I think we should stop interfering in these affairs and let them remain as they are, is a democracy where, we are in danger of raping and pillaging our planet of its natural resources really what we should be encouraging, we should get our own houses in order before we decide we have a God given right to interfere in everyones elses way if life. For those that think no man should suffer at the hands of another, I think all that idealogical way of thinking is not relevant, has there ever been a time when man does not fight man ? I think the answer is no, do get out of Iraq and give it back to Saddam Hussain, I doubt the next leader of Iraq will be any more noble than Saddam How about sorry we screwed up, here is your country back, by the way we have taken loads of your oil (cos that is what this is all about, otherwise we would be in Dakhur) to finance our jolly little jaunt, I could have swore our armies were to defend us

it appears that since the removal of one set of murderous thugs has been removed, it would appear thet the underdog was no better than the master so much for civilisation or should that be democracy

hard choice, I opted for game with pick up but with pard I would def only bid 3