henriqued

I am a member of BBO since a longtime ago. I am looking to find an equivalent partner to play BBO tournaments awarding points, namely the BBO's points and ACBL's duplicates. I am a member of ACBL and I have been playing some of its tournaments on BBO, but the partners I find are normally weaker players... Would someone of the "advanced players" on this forum who also doesn't have a regular partner be interested to play with me? (I am "henriqued" on BBO). I am based overseas, in Portugal, so 5 hours more than in Eastern US, which may (or may not) affect some availability, but that I think we may adjust that as needed. I really would appreciate any offer or suggestion on my request... Best regards to all, Henrique Silva (henriqued) Cascais - Portugal Email: hvspar@gmail.com

3 hours ago today (30Nov) my BBO registration to play a tournament was lost and the screen became black. I tried to login repeatedly after that and since then (more than 3 hours ago) I receive the warning: "Unable to load critical file. Check your Internet and try again". No matter how many tries, the same happens again and again and this regardless of the browser I use: Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge! After cleaning all cookies, I could login again but BBO disconnected after some minutes and the same situation is occurring. I have no idea of what is the reason for such problem...

3 hours ago today (30Nov) my BBO registration to play a tournament was lost and the screen became black. I tried to login repeatedly after that and since then (more than 3 hours ago) I receive the warning: "Unable to load critical file. Check your Internet and try again". No matter how many tries, the same happens again and again and this regardless of the browser I use: Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge!

Sorry, I forgot to add the remaining Hands: East: ♠AKQ109752; ♥53; ♦J; ♣K3; South: ♠864; ♥Q84; ♦A97653; ♣6; West: ♠J3; ♥972; ♦42; ♣A97653 Hope you may help...

Yesterday, during a friendly tourney, I was sitting in N and got the following Hand: ♠- ♥AKJ106 ♦KQ108 ♣QJ108 and opened 2♣ strong, indiscriminate (Could be 2 strong NT or 2 strong in a suit). East, on my left overcalled with 4♠; South (my partner) doubled and West passed. After a long consideration, I decided to pass... Lead was from South: 6 of ♣. This was, of course, a disastrous, catastrophic result of 4♠x + 1 for us!!! Now, after such an unfortunate event, I would like to ask the members of this forum: 1. Who made the biggest mistake?... 2. Which are the main faults in this bidding?... 3. What would be a more acceptable bidding in this case? Thank you all who will provide some answers to this topic!

Yesterday, during a duplicate tourney, I had the following hand: ♠ A J 10 8 5 ♥ K 10 9 7 6 4 ♦ 10 ♣ J I was the dealer and opened this hand with 1 ♠. My partner had 18 honor points and we ended up in a 5 ♠ contract, 1 down, whilst 4 ♠ or 5 ♥ would be made... We play SAYC and I am not sure if I did right openning 1 ♠ and I would like to know your opinion: - should I open 1 ♥? 2 ♥? Pass? Thank you, "henriqued"

Thank ahidra you for your interesting views. Yes, I tend to agree with you and I also think that we have sometimes more than one option to convey our signals and should not be limited to one option. In this case, perhaps a splinter could be the best second bid, considering the opening in a minor and a response in a major. In other (similar) cases however, perhaps a 4th suit forcing may be better...that's why the world of bridge is so interesting and not so easy; regrettably, we simply don't have enough time to absorb it all! Greetings, henriqued

Thank you both, ahydra and kenberg. After reading your interesting replies, I have one doubt that I would like to clarify: In this auction (and I am going to try the hand diagram now...) [hv=pc=n&w=sk84hk2dkjt432cqt&e=saqhqj764daq876c7&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1dp1hp2dp]266|200[/hv] if I bid 4♣ after having bid 1♥ on the first bid, 4♣ over 2♦ would still be a splinter? If so, I thing I need to revise my splinter's notes or try to find a site (perhaps BridgeHands) where I can see a comprehensive explanation of splinters... Greetings, henriqued

Thank you "ahydra". Your reply was the best I could hope, including the hand diagram! You were very helpful and I wish you a Happy New Year with plenty of good Bridge scores! Best regards from Portugal, henriqued

In a recent BBO Hornets tournament the followin sequence was produced: Starting by South: P - 1♦ - P - 1♥ - P - 2 ♦ - P - 2 ♠ My question is: is this last bid (2 ♠) forcing for (at least) one round or not? I Think it is, but my partner (that I did not know) considering himself an Advanced player, has passed! Both hands were: My Partner (sitting in West): ♠ K64 ♥ K2 ♦ KJ10432 ♣ Q10 Myself (sitting in East): ♠ AQ ♥ QJ764 ♦ AQ876 ♣ 7 The intention of my bid (2 ♠) was of course to continue bidding in order to assess the best contract or even slam. Was I wrong? Another possible option would be a Slinter (4 ♣) on my first bid, but that had gone over 3NT and seemed nonsense to me. Any other ideas?... Thank you.

Hello BBO Forum participants, I have a new partner with whom I would like to train playing duplicates, and I am looking for a schedule of the BBO Free Pairs Tournaments. I know that if I login and search under "Free Tournaments" I can see the next tournaments, but that's only for the next one hour or two. Because we need to arrange for a proper time in the morning or at night (GMT Time Zone) in advance, so that we can plan our other duties, I wonder if and where can I find a list of all the BBO Member's daily Free Pairs Tournaments where we can register and play. Can someone give me a hint on how to build up such a listing? Thank you.

I am not suggesting an increase for every card played but only for the first card to be played in each board/hand. Thus, e.g. for a 6 board tournament that would mean more 15 seconds x 6 = 90 seconds (1 1/2 minute) for the whole tournament and for a 8 board tournament that would mean 2 minutes more. Is that too much?...I think not, but if that was tried before and did not work, let's continue as is! Thank you and regards.

In have been participating in BBO (Free) Tournaments and I have a problem with the time allowed to play (I think 30 seconds for each trick) mostly after bidding and before playing the first card from my hand because that is the moment where normally we need a bit more time to think, look at the dummy and make a plan. Sometimes the time allowed is enough but other times (mainly when you are the declarer) it isn't and soon you start getting warnings that you'll be replaced in x seconds for a Robot and that makes you nervous and causes precipitation and probable mistakes! Thus, my suggestion to the BBO sofware programmers (Forum BBO "Suggestions for the Software") was to ask them to find a way/solution that allows a bit more time (say 45 seconds instead of 30 seconds) before playing the first card of the first trick. That would be more wise in my view and certainly the BBO tournament players would appreciate if they are informed and aware that there is a bit more time (I think more 15 seconds than the normal 30 seconds allowed for the rest of the tricks would suffise) for the play of the first card of the first trick to allow for the hand planning. To the readers of this topic, please espress if you agree (or desagree) with my request. Thank you all,

Hello bridge players, I had a problem yesterday, for which I would like to ask for your contribution: I was sitting in South (all Vulnerable) and playing duplicate. East opened with 1 Spade. I passed (8 points) and West bidded 3 Clubs (Bergman, showing 4 cards support in spades and 10-11 points). North (my partner) doubled, what I thought was a negative double, showing both red suits. Esat closed the auction in 4 Spades. However, afterwords, North argued that it was not a negative double but more a penalty double, antecipating a whish for my leading in Clubs. Its reasoning was that the Clubs were not promising the Clubs suit but only a conventional bid and in such case, his "double" shows some strength in the clubs suit rather than the remaining red suits. Do you agree with him?...If so, than another question arises: - what about after one opening of 2 clubs or 2 diamonds (both strong in our conventions, but diamonds equating to the old 2 clubs and 2 clubs being strong undetermined); it that a takeout double or also a sign for the opening lead? Thank you, henriqued Portugal