hallway

In fact most of the BIL's teachers have their own website and the notes from their lessons are posted on there for members to refer to . Links to these are supplied for all members to access 24/7 in the Lounge - Club News. For those that do not have a website and as a repostitory for the weekly News Update (Newsletter sent to all members weekly - which also supplies articles by many of the BIL's Honorary members ) two websites are currently under construction. When these go 'live' all members current and future will have access to all material generated by the BIL's activities.

:( or it could be his Mother helping him to learn :( - remember that one Karl ! :D

Chamaco, You do not realise - the handling of the applications is time consuming, - very time consuming, yet you are suggesting that I should double/treble that time to allow Advanced players access ! I had a very busy few days last week - I only got a portion of the applications dealt with - I have over a 100 still waiting to be processed ! And I have a question for you - How do I know from a BBO ID whether that person is one of those that will be a well behaved person or a poorly behaved person - until such time as they show their true colours ? If they prove to be one that needs evicting - By then I have had to process their application , enable their membership, monitor their behaviour, take time to read the feedback by LMM, by email and by chat from members, review chat log . Then when I evict them I have to (sometimes for months !!) put up with their personal harrassment of me. The bottom line is I do not have the time nor the mental stamina to cope with that. I have more than enough of it from the uncouth Intermediates I do inadvertently allow to join, (thankfully a small minority) Besides which Paul was 100% correct when he said that the mere presence of an Advanced player (unless, in the BIL, when they know that person to be an Honorary Member) intimidates newcomers to the game. Even the best and most charming of Advanced players are still human - when they see someone like me make some totally stupid bid/play being silent is an 'impossibility' !! The newcomers are the people I really want to help - people like myself who would love to be able to play bridge , but can't ! You want to further the skills of the Advanced then , if not yourself, encourage an Advanced to start a Private Club for the Intermediate/Advanced community.

I will reply to comments one at a time Chamaco At the request of some teachers I did allow some Advanced in as "watching' members - there are still a few, a very few who were/are able to accept the restraints put upon them. The rest caused trouble with a capital T . Just a couple of days ago I had a member classing himself as an Intermediate tell me I should not let a BEGINNER play in my BEGINNER Intermediate Tournament - - "until they learned more than the basics" !!! You are right some do apply as Nov/Beg/Int and are given a membership without question - few remain for long , they forget to change their profile when they come in from the MBC or when they enter a BIL tournament, then too the real BILlies are vigilant in the MBC and I am often greeted with - '....' is an Adv ;) !! As you said "your friend does not like cheating' - well neither do I like those that do - for them I will do nothing. You have it totally WRONG the scope of the BIL is NOT to improve the general skill of the BBO community. The BIL is my Private Club and the scope of the BIL - IS , has ALWAYS been and WILL ALWAYS be to HELP the BEGINNER to learn to play bridge. I included Intermediates for 3 reasons 1. Beginners cannot improve, lift their game just playing amongst themselves , we need to be challenged and that means playing with those more skilled than ourselves. 2. Most of the Seniors at my f2f club have never heard of the conventions my class use because of the information I have gathered on BBO. So the BIL can give those players, as they come online, a place to upskill and thus hold their own in the MBC. Whilst doing that my members can benefit by playing with them - they may not know the modern conventions but their declarer/defense play can be pretty canny ! 3. And too it leaves room for those that join as Beginners to continue to learn and advance their playing capabilities to the point where they are comfortable playing with/against the MBC Advanced community For the Intermediates as part of our first birthday 'celebrations' I am instituting an Honorary Graduate membership so that when they feel they have upskilled sufficiently they do not have to leave the BIL because they now class themselves as Advanced but will be able to remain and continue being helpful. I had the selfish notion that I could learn to play bridge too - not to be !! The running of the BIL takes up all of my spare time. My Hands record shows that in the 315 days the BIL has been in existence I have played on just 25 occasions with an average stay of 11 boards. Hardly likely to improve at that rate !! and yet I spend never less than 8 hours a day, 7 days a week on BIL business - and you say that letting Advanced join is "not an extra committment in term of time of resources. !!! My advice Chamaco - start your own PRIVATE CLUB for Int/Adv .I am sure Oliver and others will be pleased to come and teach for you. BTW - your reply to Sceptic - (believe me I have asked ) Chat cannot be disabled as you suggest. ************* PAULHAR - the reply you got from me was " I thought I only invited beginners" (from the MBC - via Lobby notice) (all BIL members General and Honorary <Advanced to World Class> were of course personally invited ) how many of them came I have no way of knowing. The Lecture Hall has no restrictions on entry. You say - "I fully respect Maureen's decision to shut me out of the lesson" when , which lesson ?? According to my memory I sent you an information sheet outlining the various Honorary member categories the BIL offers and invited you to ask for temporary entry to the BIL so that you could assess what is going on in there and then to decide whether you want to offer to help the membership . You have not, to date, expressed a wish to do that. Thank you for summing up your experience in the MBC trying to teach beginners. No more needs to be said . That is it ! The lessons that are offered daily in the BIL are suited for beginners who have moved beyond the basics and the intermediates. It was for that reason that JAKE (and the BIL's beginner members are truly indebted to him ) focused on a Lecture Hall presentation because with that format the lesson cannot be taken over by anyone. If it seems too simple for some they can simply flick their 'back' button and be gone. We shall be having more of these. **************** 42 - your comment #3 'will leave' - sadly no, far too many of them do NOT !! They send private messages to the teacher 'arguing a point' distracting the teacher. They make smart/nasty comments to the other kibitzers and when they get an ear full from me they then start sending 'put down' messages by private chat to the hapless beginner . I have had members asking to be replaced at a table as they need to shut off their computer because THEY ARE IN TEARS !!!!!! ( not an isolated case ! ) yet those lessons had been CLEARLY advertised as being aimed at BEGINNERS I have asked to have chat facilities to control this - they are not available to private clubs - so my work around is simple NO Advanced Advanced to the World's Best are WELCOME in the BIL but only when they come willing to help my members in an Honorary Member capacity . To be given that they must contact me direct with their offer to help. The BIL already has a WONDERFUL group of people HELPING DAILY - and I cannot ever fully express my gratitude to them for all they do and the difference they have made

Oh I have it figured out now !! - wonderful what a couple of hours sleep can do !! You answered the question - gave the wrong answer !! and then didn't like the sound effects - lol :D The question was - Is bridge a difficult game ? :D If you answered 'yes' (which you obviously did !!) you were told you were wrong. To use your description - the 'cow mooed' (gawd and I practised that for hours :blink: ) If you answered 'no' (which you obviously did not !!) you would have received a fanfare telling you that you are right. :lol: We are of the opinion that bridge is NOT a difficult game :D and that is the message we have for BBO's beginners - fear not we tell them, use the little grey cells and it will become easy - but the real beauty of it is that it will forever be challenging :D hmmmmm - could have sworn I only invited beginners from the Lobby, ah well these little grey cells do flicker quite often these days :angry:

The BIL(Beginner Intermediate Lounge) is again priveleged to be involved in bringing to the BBO Beginner membership another format to learn more about this ever fascinating addictive game. Teaching Sessions are now presented by the BIL using five different formats. Today it was a new adventure as we joined forces with JAKE (Michael Roche) to present a lecture using the main Lecture Hall. It was a first outing and there were indeed ,as was to be expected, some teething troubles - but that just makes the way forward all the more interesting and challenging - we have lots of ideas. I wish to sincerely thank JAKE for all the time and effort he put in to make this happen and I am pleased to announce that he has promised to start work immediately on a second lecture. We are repeating this lecture in a few hours time (Saturday 10 July 11:00 EDT) and (I haven't asked yet :D ) again in a couple of week's time <date will be announced when I have completed the arm twisting !! > I also want to thank those BIL members who allowed their names to be used. For those beginners who have not found the BIL as yet - Main Lobby/Play Bridge/ Private Clubs/ Beginner Intermediate Lounge - but be warned , I am a stressed out Aged Void with a very short fuse, very short indeed ! :D

Thank You FRED for making time in your already full days to do the adjustments necessary to the Lecture Hall so that Michael's MYTHS presentation could go ahead as scheduled. Thank you too for the Lobby notice. I was honoured to play a small part working with Michael to make this possible and bring to the BIL membership (and indeed to all the BBO beginner members) another means by which they can gain some insights into this great game. The BIL lessons are now being presented using 5 different formats . At one point I saw that we had 235 people present . Having given me the inch you know me well enough by now to know that I will want the full mile :D Hope you have taken that Wish List pad with you to New York !! (All the BILlies wish you Good Bridging there btw) At the end of the lecture we ran into a problem with wanting to take questions from the audience. We could not figure out how to switch from the full screen lecture 'page' to a partial screen allowing for chat. When I used the chat to lecture hall it came up as a chat bubble and the messages being sent to me also came in as chat bubbles that stacked one on top of the other (and were doing that disappearing thing of old) . You could not follow them as a conversation :D We switched to a Chat Room but there was no continuity of teacher / pupil discussion so it just kind of fizzled out. Never the less we were 'over the moon' and one can and will keep making them better. Please make it possible for us to have a chat message panel option .

What are you talking about ! ?????? quote:-O I watched the first BIL lecture where it was pointed out to me (by a cow mooing at me) that I was just plain wrong (again!) that bridge is a difficult game.

H E L P !!! Please someone come up with a work around for me before they come with a van and men in white coats to take me away !! When BBO was English based people applied to join the BIL - in English! To help those who struggle with the language the BIL has a wonderful team of helpers from the 4 corners of the world. I would put new members (country supplied) in touch with them if I thought they would get more from what we offer if they could discuss things in their Mother Tongue. BUT now !!!!! because BBO comes to their screens in whatever language they use they fill in the applications in that language. It is a perfectly reasonable presumption on their part . I am just an ignorant Kiwi - I only speak , write NZ English. I can pretty much translate American English and British English and if I delve deep enough into the memory banks a smidgin of schoolgirl French emerges long enough to recognise that "that might be french :P ". What do I do ?????? Ignoring the application is not in my nature - I might be a literally ignorant Kiwi but we Kiwis are bred to be polite. The BIL is there to HELP people. I already use every character space available on the Club profile to tell people what we are about to save people from applying if the BIL is not for them. This is stressing me out ! I need constructive work arounds - we are after all just seeing the tip of the iceberg as more and more languages go live - oh lord I already have members from 72 countries

Sorry Paul did not see your other post . I now see you are undertaking holding lessons for beginners in the Main Bridge Club. Good Luck :D

paulhar - from the nature of the application to join the BIL I and I alone decide whether I will send the applicant an invitation to participate in the Beginner Section. Many are accepted as BIL members - few receive the invitation to join the Beginner Section. I am disappointed :-( - I thought you might have taken up the challenge and offered to become a Teacher for the Beginner Beginners. Thank you though, I will use your quiz questions. luis - a pleasure to have you back at the teaching table today :-) As you say no harm in letting them hear of 'other stuff' - pique the curiosity ! I or a BIL LA are always there ready to remind them that they do not need to 'worry your heads over that just yet - time enough when you are reaching Graduation Day " btw - (nothing to do with this thread !) but during the BIL's first birthday celebrations, just a few weeks away, we will be having a Graduation Ceremony for those members who are now ready to go head to head with the Adv/Exp who have so generously helped them . Beware the BILlies are coming !!

I am the Mother of all BBO BEGINNERS :D I created the Beginner Intermediate Lounge for them to play in. They can attend a teaching session at LEAST once a day - sometimes as many as three 2 hour sessions and often two. The teaching team includes World Class/Star players and Experts from around the world - We Need More !!! Each week there are tournaments for them to play in - those that want to can compete for IBD points. This week we are trying out holding 3 in one day to go global ! - members hate to miss out on things . There are a Team of Host/esses from all corners of the world to help them over come any language difficulties and to help them to overcome the stress of learning to use the site as well as play bridge ! There are a Team of Lounge Assistants ably headed by Flytrap that assist the teachers to keep law and order during the lessons Each week they receive a Newsletter with a regular lesson by Byroner and articles GEARED DOWN to their level by a number of contributers and all manner of help and advice - BBO product reviews - extracts from JRG's BBO HELP files and much more. There is a team of 22 Advisors and 5th Chair mentors that use the Lounge to help the members to learn - most permit kibs at their tables so any who are around may benefit also. WE NEED MORE !!!!!!!!!! Members can have their favourite expert made an Honorary member so that they can just play together and learn - we have 15 Honorary Member Support persons. In the Lounge the levels are defined as being ** BEGINNER - newcomer to bridge - one who is learning the basic principles ** NOVICE - one who has played Bridge in the past but now needs to up skill for Internet bridge (e.g. playing duplicate/new conventions ) to be once again competitive ** INTERMEDIATE -one who has a good understanding of the basic principles and is learning the modern conventions and those who are developing the skills to become an Advanced Player For the true Beginner we have their very own website . Access to this is by invitation only not even the most friendly of Intermediates are allowed. Each week there is a quiz for them to answer, there is a questions section where every question is given a serious response. there is a Hints section wee gems that beginners need to help them remember. Never the less it is still a scary thing for beginners. :) and few join up and even fewer participate - but those that have joined will benefit from reading what is written. That applies to this thread too - Ben has worked hard ever since the first day the forum was established to keep it within bounds (when it has gone beyond he knows I will have something to say :D ) Paulhar - can I pinch those quiz questions for them ? Now what I would truly, truly, really, really like is for someone to put up their hand and say they will come and TEACH a BEGINNER Beginner's class - that is the challenge - because as has been spoken of in these threads many who class themselves as beginners really know quite a bit and teachers are but human and they lift the lesson to those that speak up - :( and the Beginner beginner does not do so and is LOST . I know I am one :blink: I am now able to restrict entry to a pre play of the hands to the beginners and the LA's are well versed at keeping law and order now - I think we could pull it off. It would be worth a try !! :) Maureen (hallway) Founder /Manager Beginner Intermediate Lounge aka B/I lounge or affectionately the BIL members of which are fondly referred to as BILlies B) currently over 1400 actively involved.

Happy Birthday MISHO !! from all your friends in the B/I Lounge. BTW I need some more of those Maureen's Mistakes - question / answers. I now have a website for my beginners (pity JT refused to let them be on here - then all BBO's beginners could have been learning from my mistakes !!! ) ah well - nevermind - just think of all the learning the BILlies will be able to do from from MISHO's MUSINGS :-))

Thanks all. :-))

As Aisha says every TD loves Subs . Without Subs every tournament would flounder. The 'life' of a TD simply cannot be described - only experienced. At every brief respite we check the sub list - one minute we are in a comfort zone with half a dozen on the list - two minutes later just when I need one - aargh !! they're gone !! Some TD's get into a habit of sending out those Lobby notices at regular intervals to keep the list being 'topped' up. Some use an automated message sender programmed to send out a given message at regular intervals - a necessary tool for a TD running a tournament with a large number of tables - time really is of the essence ! Either way this does not, I assure you, mean that the subs on the list are not wanted . We need and love Subs

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=skqj963h52da875c2&w=sahj4dqt92ckjt984&e=s87542ha93dkj643c&s=sthkqt876dcaq7653]399|300|[/hv] What should we have done ? Thanks

Good as in behaviour - totally understanding, totally accepting - that bridge is a PARTNERSHIP game. Good as in ability - all those things stated in previous posts but to be not just good but to be very very good you also have to have been born with the ability to use 'full vision analysis'. just as most of us are either right handed or left handed so too do we 'see' - you don't believe me ? - ask any advertising agent !! Watch me at a bridge table and EVERY time that I ask to see the played cards I will look first to my LHO because that's the one I won't be sure of . When my partner does it - she looks first to her RHO because that's the one she won't be sure of !! Which boils down to the fact that because we always sit E/W most of the time neither of us 'see' what south is doing ;) Those that go on to become very very good NEVER have to ask !! Food for thought ???

Clicking OK saves the notices I receive to my hard drive for review later - just as well - every day there are dozens and if I am in a hurry even just clicking OK seems to take for ever !. What I would really like though would be for the newest messages to be ON TOP . 1. Application from a prospective member - no details so I fill in the reply box telling them what they need to do (yes ! I do copy/paste - wouldn't have any fingers left if I didn't) and then click Ok and up pops another message from the same person details supplied - so now I have to send another message to say disregard my last message :-(( Once one sighs , 3 times one grits ones teeth, 6 times in a row and ..... 2. When a member has been away for a time they will get the relevant ones first then can ignore the outdated ones . Have not tested it lately but there used to be a limit to the number of mail messages that were kept for an absent member - so having the new ones on the bottom meant they were the ones that remained undelivered. Interestingly some messages go off on a wee tour of cyber space - one I sent took 80 days (I's telling the truth !!) to reach the mailbox of the intended :-)) BUT it DID get there !!

Denis, Please email me to explain how the messages from the BIL get to you. We never send BIL cancellation/postponements to the Lobby. We use the Lounge's Chat/Mail facility which sends out the message to everyone on the membership list. Chat - means it goes to all the members online at that time and Mail means that it is left as a Leave Mail Message to all those not online. So if you are not online when the announcement is made you should be getting the message the next time you log in. Depending on when you next log in some messages could be out of date by the time you get them but you will get them . We have a straight Chat broadcast to members (online only) which is used for reminders of events that are about to start or are in progress . We have a Leave Mail to all members facility - which is used for longer messages - these go to all members to retrieve when the next time they log in. The only time we message the Lobby is when we need to plead for subs !

Koen Any such events are not in any way limited to the Lounge . If any member thinks an initiative of mine is worth using they are of course more than welcome to copy it (they are even welcome to learn from my mistakes and ask me to what to do/not to do ) and vice versa (if I see something happening in the MBC that I think could be adapted for the Lounge you can be sure I will follow it up ) - The original Think with Fred session was in fact held in the Main Bridge Club . Whatever the Event - be it a Think with Fred, Listen to the Experts Think, Pro/Am Tournament, or any one of half a dozen different lesson formats that we use they are all geared DOWN to beginner, intermediate level. Everything I organise for my members (beginners & intermediates) is meant to help build their bridge knowledge . To become good, even great at any endeavour you have to have learnt the basics thoroughly first and in bridge, imo, it is absolutely essential. What I wanted to create was an enviroment where those starting their bridge journey could build a platform of sound bridge basics by having somewhere where they could learn these from those gifted to teach. That simply was not available in the MBC - yes there were a great many kindly Advanced players who tried hard to help - did one learn anything after being at a table for two hours - no confusion, confusion, confusion because they all had 'their' way and they would each be talking of concepts one had never heard of ! In the BIL we have a wonderful group of Honorary members in a number of categories (Advanced through to World Class) who help the membership in many different ways . Each category has it's guidelines / restrictions. Koen, when Advanced players attend a session in the BIL - some try as they will just can't keep their fingers off their keyboards !! The lesson is geared DOWN to our level and so they comment to the Kibs because what the teacher has just said to do is not what they would do ! It's not what the teacher would do either playing for real ! Worse still they message the teachers privately which distracts the teacher and then we have to wait for the teacher to 'come back to us' . And my screen lights up with members asking me to tell the offender to be quiet and/or boot the so and so !! We cannot cope with diversions. :( - maybe next year ! As babies we had to learn to sit/stand/walk/run !! And so do we bridge pre schoolers. If you have reached Advanced status you have already learnt to run - whether you will ever make it as sprinter remains to be seen :( but nothing that happens in the BIL will help you with that. Organise a Listen to the Experts session in the MBC or use one of the Public Clubs yourself - just go for it - anything I can do anyone can do better !

The BIL has been extremely fortunate to have Fred do two Think with Fred sessions They are really really special - Fred has the gift of making the complex understandable even to us beginners. The BIL has also held two Listen to the Experts Think sessions whereby a group of Experts rotate between playing and commentating - the last one lasted 5 hours ! While I am extremely grateful to those who take part in these Special Events my greatest gratitude is to those Teachers who put in untold hours preparing lessons and once, twice and yes even four times a WEEK give 2 hour lessons to help the members improve their game. Where we Lead may others Follow.

As in bridge there are no guarantees - tourney due to start in 5 minutes - 51st request - fingers numb from typing - stress levels rising ! I Play in your tourney Sorry members only :-) What you laugh at me for ? You ignorant lady I nice person you should not laugh at me. Panic as I scrambled to explain that I was not 'laughing' the smile was to take the edge off the rejection - the 'conversation' continued until I realised my tourney had started without me !! Luckily they were all happily playing no directing needing to be directed. I guess what I am trying to say - there is no right or wrong - global chat is a minefield !

Thank you Rado for the play sequence we will redeal the hands and follow your guide and see how it should have been done. (for 7 !! ) The lead was the ♥Q Thank you Ben for rearranging it so that it is easy to follow - that was a nice surprise :) Two ♠ Jacks !! no wonder it didn't work - lol - sry I must have written it down wrong - I did check that there were 13 cards in each hand !. ZAR points ! - perhaps you could persuade Zarpetkov to come to the BIL and give the members a session or two or three on how to use them - please. Guys - SEVEN !! ♠ that was never a consideration ! there had already been a Grand Slam bid and made during the session - to contemplate TWO !!! not possible. :( the blood pressure would never stand it ;) The 6♠ Slam was number two - obviously one too many seeing as it was down 1 :( Then trying to figure out why it failed was a case of 'too many cooks spoiling the broth' ! - when in reality - Ah well - maybe tomorrow ..... Thank you for your help

My friends have urged me to ask, so please give us the answers. E/W Vul Dealer South Contract 6 ♠ by East [hv=d=s&v=e&n=s5hkt983dakj54c72&w=sk843ha4dcaqjt643&e=saqjt96h52dqt872c&s=s72hqj76d963ck985]399|300|6♠ EAST. [/hv] What should the contract have been ? IF 6♠ was correct how should it have been played? Thanking you all in anticipation <_<

Maybe we amateurs would not have become quite so defensive had the purists actually taken us up on the opportunities we offered them to teach us. I have time and again invited any who so chose to come and Direct for me. My name up front as Host - no shame to them if they make a hash of it - but good experience for me if they have all the right answers. No one has fronted ! Gweny & Marc have time and again invited any who chose to run a TD clinic to teach us. Yet the BBO_TD Club Room often sits empty ! and I have received no invitation to attend any lessons B) We do the best we can and I believe we cater very well for a fair cross section of the BBO membership. The simple fact of the matter is BBO is a GLOBAL community. Take the BIL for example- such a tiny portion of the BBO membership and yet It is global geographically - I have members from 65 different countries It is global chronologically - I have a 10 yr old and a 90 year old member and every which one in between It is global bridge wise - I have a new member who as NEVER played a single hand and also there amongst the Honorary members shine a fair sprinkling of Stars. The whole spectrum of the membership should be catered for. Yet when I read what some are saying it seems to me that because I have not learnt the Blue Book from cover to cover and sat an exam and been certified ( lol I am I con <_< fess certifiable ! ) I am not therefore a fit person to be Directing the tournaments that I do for my members !>? My members do not seem to mind - but then they don't know what's in the Blue Book either ! We (well I ) would be less defensive if others would be more constructive - TEACH US !!