lucky_dom

It's quite annoying to not be able to see the vulnerbility in the bidding box display things in chat rooms. It's also not great having to reload the .lin you are posting hands from after each time you display a hand. It would be nice to be able to post a hand with bidding all in one go for when discussing hands that you have played. And my final request is to be able to post half played hands :unsure: If you cycle through a hand to trick 4 or whatever, there is no way to send this to the chat room, which makes discussing plays tricky. Dom

A brilliant place to start is worth Learn To Play Bridge 2, by our very own Fred Gitelman. You can access it through 'Explore Bridge' -> 'Learn to Play Bridge' from the BBO lobby. Or you can download it from various places to be able to use it offline, but I can't remember where right now. It covers signalling starting from scratch, so is very useful to anyone starting out, even if you are going to switch to another method of carding afterwards (UDCA, 3/5, whatever). Dom

1NT - (P)* - 2!D - (P)** - 3!H - x * A double at this point would show a strong balanced hand, if you have 14-15 HCP you don't double (well, no doubt some people do). ** A double here would often be understood as showing diamonds, or asking for a diamond lead, so not really attractive. This leaves you in 3!H before they have had a real chance to double... Dom

Isn't it approaching suicidal to use super-accepts along with a weak NT? You could have 14 points between the partnership, not something to be relished. Dom

Ok, I've just re-read all that, and I think I had your position reversed. I thought that was how it worked already, and you were suggesting allowing auto-subbing, as opposed to auto-subbing being the norm and you suggeting invite subbing. Stupid me! ;) Dom

Because people would go for the auto-sub option and then go and make a coffee or start reading the paper and don't see that they've been subbed in until a few minutes after it's happened. For people who are sat looking at BBO the invite process isn't a problem. For people who are browsing the net or whatever, the invite process ensures that they don't end up being subbed into a tourney while not there. Dom

Couldn't this cause more problems than it solves if you are subbing in someone who has gone to make a coffee. Then you have to find a sub for them, etc. etc. ;) Dom

To do this you'd have to not allow the dummy to see all the hands in a tournament game.

Thanks for the advice Luis, however for the task I have in mind I need something that can deal and analyse hands! I want to compare the useable frequency of a weak 2 compared with an Acol 2. That's not something I can use my judgement to find out. Thanks for the link horthgar, I'll try it out. Dom

I see a lot of posts which have analysed the difference between ZAR points, and 5-3-1, and etc etc. What software are you guys using to do this evaluation? Something home-made, or is there an easy to use program out there that can deal with customised point counts and the like? I'm asking because I want to crunch some numbers on the frequency of Acol 2s as opposed to weak 2s, and I don't have the time right now to make something home made. Thanks, Dom

Marta, I apprecirate that giving out warnings can be useful, however a TD shouting out "TABLES 6, 9 AND 25 HURRY UP!!" when there is still time left on the clock is harassment. Giving a warning such as "2 MINUTES LEFT" is a very useful thing (when used in moderation!) and I wouldn't dream of asking TDs to stop doing that. Dom

Something I see worryingly often in tournaments is the TD hassling tables to play quicker when the round time isn't over. If you have 4 minutes left on the clock to play out half a hand, why should it matter if everyone else has finished? You should be allowed to take those 4 minutes, defense or declarer, to think properly about your plays, and you shouldn't be hassled to play faster. If the TD wanted shorter rounds, they should make a tourney with 6 minute rounds, or whatever is faster than they currently use. Dom

Also you can no longer see when someone at your table chats to the lobby (I don't have lobby chat on, so maybe you would if that were the case) which you could before.

Flame, I thought 10 was considered an honour when it comes to leads. So you'd lead low from 10xxxx or 10xx unless you held the 9 also. Dom

I think this is to stop people accidently saying things they shouldn't to the table (like, why did he bid 2♥, he's too strong for that, etc.) whilst discussing play with other kibitzers. Well, that's a side-effect, but whether or not it's the reason I don't know.