melviss666

Thanx Kathryn, Cheers to us, members of the non-masses, who won. Don't you just love the lefty rhetoric(the masses),LOLOL. Keep it up, guys, I'm easily entertained.

I think it's sad you see cynicism behind every remark. I think, for the most part, the cheating is HYSTERICAL, let me refresh YOUR cynical memory on that, bud. I've been a certified director nearly 25 years, a certified teacher for 22 years, & have played pro off & on about the same. My face-to-face pard has most excellent credentials. We KNOW when people are cheating & we KNOW when we plain get beat, there's a difference. I, during my tenure at ebridge, was asked by Benny to help him catch cheats, which sadly, they gave up on. Maybe because they knew they were selling out to another company? All I said was the instances of cheating have definitely gone up since ebridge & zone folded, & I don't see how you could possibly deny that, but, it would be lovely to see it under a little more control.

I didn't get to play online in November nor this month, but, my most regular face-to-face pard did have some time to get online a couple of times in these past two months, which is rare for him, but, I wasn't able to join him. We talked on the phone a week ago & he said that virtually everyone he played against, teams & main club, no ACBL tourneys, was cheating. This is a person with near 10,000 ACBL mp's & he plays pro as often as not. Get my drift? I told him that both ebridge & the Zone had folded up & so now the vast majority of those players were now on BBO. I never liked either of those sites, but, I did belong to ebridge for a year because it was the only online club I knew of at the time. By the time my subscription was up, you were in the definite minority if you weren't cheating; it was really kind of hysterical. Swan is full of cheats as well, I suppose being "rated" on every hand has something to do with it. Plus, the problem of players leaving before finishing a hand, due to the same rating thing, was even worse than here. So, here's to my wishing that Swan stays in business. Yes, I know there was cheating here before those two sites shut down, but, I didn't run across it nearly so often as I do now. It can be fun playing against cheats, maybe good practice(?), but, it can be wearisome when you ain't in the mood. I've even been accused of cheating, once by a gold star,lol, I suppose I consider those the highest compliments. In closing, I have no solutions, but, I wish something could be done to get it back under control a bit. BTW, I don't play in ACBL tournaments or hardly EVER in a pairs tourneys; then, I guess, I'd really be bitchin'.

Howdy & Thank You Fred & Uday SOOOOO much for this feature at last! Big, heterosexual hugs & kisses, XOXOX. Why anyone was opposed to this option in the first place was utterly beyond sanity, although their reasons may have had a lot to do with their VANITY. In Sincere Appreciation, melviss666

I'm 100% with Fred, & even though bid_em_up & I are from the same hometown, I'm 100% against his being 100% against Fred on this,lol. As I thought Fred tried to make clear, there will be no bridge for us old codgers to play if there aren't young members, so, I find the WBF's stance more than appalling. We will wind up with a world full of Texas Hold 'Em players... sounds like being in hell, doesn't it? & as for calling the occasional bureaucrat an idiot, I'm all for it whether he/she represents the United Nations, ACBL, or WBF. Amen.

Thank You, mr1303, that has happened to me in the past as well, but I no longer go to tables where permission is required & NEVER went where kibitzers were banned. With BBO being so huge, was just looking for some innovative ways to help sift thru the chaff,lol. Other than the fact that I will not ask anyone's permission to kib even if I do consider them good players, this could be just another thread about self-ratings, oh well.

I love to hear them squirm & make not so veiled threats when U hit them where they live. Insinuating that the non-incrowd should be reported to abuse, etc,lol, talking about twisting things around. I never, & don't think anyone else, ever supported censorship. I've been drug into non-bridge blab myself, one noticeable example, & my last time to blab at a crowded kib match so help me God, was when I answered a punkrock question(wasn't this an appropriate question for bridge kibitzers?) & lo & behold, kibitzer chat to the table was on & the players thought I had called them Blockheads(the answer to the kibitzer-posed question), lol. I like my solution as well as jillybean2's, they are both superb, ie, either a separate room for the in-crowd, or, an option to turn off kibitzer chat. Those are the ONLY 2 suggestions I've seen, not censorship. In the meantime, there IS a difference between freedom of speech & license. And again, read definiton & rules for kibitzer over & over until it sinks in. &, BTW, I ALWAYS allow kibs at my table & allow chat to table as well & I will not even think of joining a table where kibs aren't allowed or where they must get permission.

Thanx jillybean2. As for Johnnywhoever U R, U failed to get the point as well & R surely someone I'd mark black in a heartbeat if I knew your BBO username. Mine is the same at both, so, feel free yourself. Elianna is a nice person, which has nothing to do with U.

I'm a certified teacher myself, wasn't even talking about your considerations. So, yes, teaching, preparing for a match, playing with shy client, those were, of course, exceptions to the original post, surely U knew that? So, as I said in the beginning, Experts & World Class DO NOT ban kibitzers. This sinking in yet?

Yes, of course U can hear lots of drivel at Vugraph matches from the BBO Commentators, but, that's expected, I suppose. I'm talking about kibitzing in the Main Club or at a team match when Hamman, Garozzo, etc are playing. So, there's the "in-crowd" of about 40 with about a dozen ringleaders. Blabbing incessantly, fawning, & cooing & gushing over one another with abandon. Of course I have to mark them black so I can enjoy the play & see the actual players' comments,lol. Sadly, the ringleaders include yellows & Vugraph commentators as well. Get a life! Ego problem? So, I suggest a special Skybox for the "in-crowd". Their very own separate Kibitzing(?) Room where they & their minions can do what they do & their chat will not interfere with kibitzers. See definition & rules for kibitzer if U fail to understand this.

This is so simple. Experts & World Class do not ban kibitzers or require their permission to kib,lol. Every time I stroll thru the main club I mark those black who ban or require permission. I've wound up with less & less fools at my table or been conned into a lousy team game. :P) And speaking of kibitzers, I have another new thread, please look.

Ideally, I'd find a different bidding system,lol. But, even with the dreaded 2/1 system I believe I'd bid 2H. 2 quicktricks, quite reasonable 7 card suit & 2 stiffs, yeah.

Howdy, am Honorary Billie & ACBL/ABTA Certified Teacher & Director offering help to Acol(any variety), Finn Standard, Lungo Corto, or players of ANY other 4 card major system. Just chat directly when I'm online(my lobby chat virtually always off). And, of course, will also do private or group teaching for $. Chat or leave a note with your email address. God Bless(is this allowed?) & happy improving.

I mentioned nothing about a "special board", you did. I've seen players on vugraph throw away buckets of IMPs board after board & that was my point, not a "special double dummy" board. & of course it's easy to find a poor to mediocre game to kibitz in the main club, but it's also pretty easy to find an excellent one.

Dear Hotshot, I have seen some(& I don't mean just a smidgen) awfully embarrassingly bad bridge at vugraph, worse than me after I've eaten or drunk something with sugar in it(& even then my bidding & defense tend to remain sane, but, I seem to find ways to go down in iceys,lol). I've even sent notes, not to the offenders, but to their hapless teammates, about this giving my condolences. & as for stars, seen some good ones & some strange ones. the best male I've seen here isn't starred, the best female I've seen, is. & should we even talk about the self-proclaimed experts & world class,lolol.

I agree with fifee. Either being rejected or rejecting someone else with no explanation available seems a little too blunt. And to add a tangent to this, it would be nice to have a "no enemies" restriction during the set-up of a table, just like tourney organizers are allowed to do. Or, as an alternative, when a said enemy requests to sit, I am able to see that I've marked this person an enemy. 90% of those I've marked black have left during a hand, not lost connection, & I have enough memory work to do without remembering all these characters by user ID as this list often grows daily. Maybe I should've started this in a new thread? Oh, well...

Well, for my two cents worth, I ain't convinced on these separate BBO's. If a separate BBO for Vugraph & private clubs, & even ACBL tourneys would fix the problem, then that's what I'm for. Maybe even add WBF or other point-awarding organizations as well to this other BBO. And furthermore... I like the lobby list, irregardless of how unwieldly some might think it is. I surely met at least half my friends thru the lobby before EVER playing with or against them at a table. I've started chatting to folks I didn't know at the time because of something interesting in their profile & folks have started chatting to me by the same token. I like that. And furthermore... All my other user names agree with me on this. Best Regards, melviss666

Howdy Mike & Claus. I think once you got past the most common systems, that most of the players would tend to be advanced or higher, ie, if you sit down against a pair playing K/S or R/S these days, they tend to be pretty good opponents. And OF COURSE certain hands tend to bid better with certain systems, that's the main part of the INTRIGUE to me, but which system would get to the optimum contract the HIGHEST PERCENTAGE of the time, that would be probably the main interest to me. And too, the pair reaching the optimum contract the highest percentage of the time may not even come in first that particular week, which could be due to unlucky declarer play, unlucky defensive play,other pairs beating optimum either because they did or did not get doubled or redoubled on a particular hand, and really getting nailed on the hands when they AREN'T in the optimum contract, etc, etc. So, besides the de facto winners any given week, I'd be able to determine the optimum contract "winners" as well. And what is Ray's Bridge Ladder? A tournament or club I assume? Lastly, as in the first thread, get in contact with me if you'd wish to participate. And, as I'm thinking again over coffee, I think maybe doing this as a team event may be good.

Howdy, I got one of my favorite partners from the '80's to get on BBO a few days ago. We play a system which I call Modified Bunny. It's an Acol/Canape hybrid. At any rate, this morning over coffee, I get some of my WORST ideas then, I thought it would be neat to start a tournament to try to determine the efficacy of various bidding systems,(and just have fun) ie, the ideal would be to have a N/S pair & an E/W pair each playing the same(as close as possible) bidding system and compare results over a reasonable period of time. So, would , of course, need 2/1, SAYC, Precision, Blue Team, Polish Club, K/S, R/S, Acol, Culbertson, Four Aces, Goren, Forcing Pass, etc, etc, etc. ANY system. I've been a certified director since early '80's so I would be a playing director unless someone else would like to volunteer. If anyone would be interested, leave contact info here or send me a note at BBO. Maybe we could get this off the ground before long. I guess, too, that, for what I'm trying to do it would have to be a private, advanced registration tournament, otherwise it would, I'm sure, just be a preponderance of SAYC & 2/1 players. Your thoughts welcome.

Howdy Abadaba, I agree with your sentiments and would also like to thank BBO's operators. I talk up BBO to my friends at e all the time & several now come here as well. Also trying to talk several of my friends from the '80's who also gave up f2f tourneys after the smoking ban to get on here. So far, have only run across one rude person at BBO, at e it's nearly a miracle if there's not at least one rude person at the table at any given time,lol. But, back to this thread's topic, at least in tournaments, I wouldn't mind a little policing. I can also concur with an earlier poster's comments that playing cheaters in the main bridge room sharpens up his skills to play his best,lol. There is obviously not a clear-cut solution, but, without eternal vigilance in this area, well, you know...

Howdy to The Hog & Mr1303, I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you both. Hog, even if you're not using a chat service to cheat, the fact that you're typing away could cause your opponents to think that you're hesitating on a bid or play, or, at best, just holding up the game. The simple and polite thing to do is note the hand numbers and discuss them after the game. And Mr1303, I've been a card-carrying member of the Libertarian Party for years, not fond of Police States,lol. I'll just iterate that I see no VALID reason to have a chat service running while playing, or certainly not in a tournament. And if you have one of those clingy girlfriends, or if you're a clingy boyfriend, God help you,lol. To be carrying on outside chats while playing seems to me to be disrespecctful to pard & opponents. Also, I've never disabled kibitzers at e-bridge, but, after some of the curious stuff the other day at a tournament, I suppose I will from now on.

oops, I didn't edit first, densive should read defensive, so sorry.

Howdy, y'all, my first post. I detest cheaters as well. I'm not a computer nerd(said with affection to y'all who are) so some of you will have to help me. If BBO, or any other online bridge service could use some program to detect ICQ or other messenger programs running, I'd be all for it. There's no legitimate reason for those to be running while you're playing or kibitzing that I can see. I got on here & e-bridge as well in early January of this year. It seems e-bridge does a purty good job of detecting single cheats(using 2 computers or whatever) but not a very good job on the kibitzer cheats. e-bridge recently went back to kibbing only one hand at tournaments so they must KNOW it's a problem, or the partner cheats, ie, they're densive boards score way better than their declared boards. Something happened yesterday at a tourney at e that had me curious. A kibitzer entered the table twice, no, not left & came back, but entered twice, I thought this curious. What could've caused that? And of course there are telephones, another way to cheat. And I know cheaters are relentless, but, still, I'm for trackin' em down and shooting them for the dirty dogs that they are.