hallway

Welcome back !!

There I was away fighting a couple of wars on my own home front !! In the BIL it is a constant battle with those who would RUIN everything for everyone given half a chance. and now this ! ECE - you are the BIL's Official yellow - we NEED you. If you go I will have plague others to do translations for me !! STEVE - you have been an Honorary member of the BIL from day one - we have delved into the mysteries of lin files together - you are the guy who told me to " HANG TOUGH - don't let them get to you " come on Lad if this Aged Void can still be here 7 months down the track (admittedly by the skin of my teeth - lol ) you too can Hang Tough . Your Junior Flight initiative MUST NOT flounder - those youngsters are the future of this game you both love so much . Fight for them. I am (I hope) slowly growing a thick skin , in the BIL the detractors come and go (the hassle is they keep replicating or is that cloning - aargh!! ) P L E A S E S T A Y !!!

I have been somewhat pre-occupied the past few days and had not seen this thread. FANTASTIC initiative !! I will spread the word amongst my members - I have quite a few Juniors from age 10 up. You MUST NOT give it away now - if this Aged Void can resist hitting the Remove Club button twice (yes it does ask !!) then so must you two.

SOOOOO PLEASED they are not case sensitive !!!!!

Am I having a SENIOR MOMENT today ? Have version 3.6.7 In the Lobby I seem to be able to make the View - Skill levels work just fine In the Main Bridge Club however I cannot ;) Selected Beginner showed 9 tables (no one seated ) the Hosts comprised of 5 Advanced 1 x intermediate, 1 x expert, 1 x private and 1 beginner Tried Novice and got 7 of the above mentioned tables Tried Private got 16 tables including the above mentioned 7 Is it me or a bug ?

I second Deanrover's suggestion. It would be a wonderful thing to be able to distinguish between a message I need to 'down tools' to respond to and that of a friend simply logging in.

Phil's sessions will start on Tuesday 9 March at 12:00 EST (17:00 UTC)

THANKS !

I have a problem with Missing Subs They vow and declare that they have clicked upon the Sub button not once , not twice but numerous times. When I need them and I click on the TD's - Show Substitution button - :rolleyes: nobody there ! I have tried telling them 'please do not kib' in case their name vanishes into cyber space if they enter a table. (Does it ?) It is a trial and a tribulation for Aged Voids

Beginner Intermediate Lounge Teams Match League Gazisifo gazisifo@yahoo.com has put in a tremendous effort to start up a Team Match League for the members of the Lounge. He has 10 teams - each with 4 players and 2 subs - some even with their own Coach ! all signed up and raring to get started. The essence is to have FUN but I can see this shaping up to being a real contest ! While several of the members have offered to help out setting up the match and dealing with the subs it would be beneficial for the members to have on hand a genuine Director - one who can quote The Book - one whose rulings / adjustments can be accepted without question. Calling for Volunteers Please Gazi will supply all the necessary information in regards to Team details and match times. He has arranged administration and team captain meetings for the coming week so we should see a start in a week or twos time. If you can help please contact gazisifo@yahoo.com or send him a leave mail message on BBO - gazisifo Thanks :rolleyes:

Do you have to have version 3.6.3 to up load Tournament Rules (they are in lin)

Where has all the mail gone !? It was so great during the past 2/3 test versions not to have to worry about the mail disappearing into cyber space. I could answer member's chat and even run a session with the mail safely tucked away in a corner until I was ready to deal with it. It was just fine too using the 3.6 update over the past few days BUT not today now that it has been released to one and all - poof mail all gone !!

of course in the BIL we have no such trouble - all we have to do is click on the Black table button on the right hand side of our screens and all is revealed :rolleyes:

Thank you ,Thank you, Thank you The teachers, the lounge assistants and myself all say - Thank You I can now cross that Wish of the List for the Beginner Intermediate Lounge Wouldn't mind a dollar for every time I have typed "please keep chat private or to kibs only" over the past 4/5 months !! The members will all say Thank you too - no more being 'growled' at . and the Chat Log is back to being single line :D (mind you I did especially like it's brief appearance in double spacing) but the run-on was a nightmare !! What other treasures will I find ?

On Friday 23rd Janaury the members of the Beginner Intermediate Lounge were again treated to an awe inspiring lesson as Fred held one of his THINK with FRED sessions to help the Lounge celebrate the start of the 2004 season. He was partnered by Shep* (her Sayc /BB sessions are held on Mondays & Tuesdays every week ) and ably opposed by paulg (Monday each week) and OliverC (Saturday precision class) . Thank you. In spite of all the queries to the contrary these hands were all random deals. From the volumes of feedback I have received I know that those that were able to attend are now determined to make the most of the opportunities the Lounge will provide them with during the coming year to improve their playing skills and make them good bridgers. The most important message that he gave the novice /beginner members was to concentrate your energies on Counting the hands Signalling in defence Declarer Play Bidding Judgement Focus on these before learning lots of conventions. Fred took time out from a INT hand to talk through the Rule of 11 and then demonstrated just how useful a tool that can be. For the members that missed it I will copy the notes from the Chat Log in the next News Update. ALL the members THANK YOU FRED . The really GREAT news is Fred has promised to return again one day. Let the learning begin in earnest - the lesson schedule is in the Lounge Club News.

No ! - no access permissions

How do you get the My Controls options to work ? I get "sorry board adminstrator not enabled permission for this part of control panel " Thx

I endorse everything Ben has said . There are a number of posts already in the forums where I have urged members to avail themselves of this learning tool. If you didn't believe me then believe Ben. Membership of the Beginner Intermediate Lounge has given members a direct link to both through the Lounge Club News these past months and of course if you want the answers to the BIL's News Quiz you need to have Bridgemaster 2000 - Beginner Edition which has over 100 hands geared to the beginner and not so beginner levels.

Justin - fear not - the BILlies are coming !! BTW the members that were there during your visit the other day thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The Beginner Intermediate Lounge's youngest member is the sprightly age of 10 - TEN !! <I had beetter confess I have not actually seen the birth certificate !! > I am getting more and more applications each day from people who are telling me they are in the 16 - 35 age bracket who want to join because they have discovered bridge on the internet and now want to LEARN how to play it. And ,imho, if they are not going to join a Bridge Club they have found the very BEST place on the Net to LEARN and become addicted to the GAME. BBO's Beginner Intermediate Lounge is proud of the diverse range of learning / competing activities that is offered TO all ages BY all ages

None of this would have warranted a mention had everyone READ the Tournament DESCRIPTION !!!!! (I make no apologies for this being a pet theme of mine at the moment - love the new padlocks maybe (well maybe) people will wonder why they are there and READ !! ) The person calling the Director because they thought someone had physched most certainly DID NOT !! In B/I Lounge pro/am style events the ONLY Director calls permitted are in conjuction with connection issues. In this instance it was a Member's Choice - they could ask anyone to play with them from Novice/Novice to Novice/*WorldClass WE are ALLOWED to make as many stupid bids as our confused brains can dream up - the purpose of the excercise is to ATERWARDS to be able to compare our stupidities with the wisdom of the learned from which we hope to LEARN. You are all making much too much of this. I accept Paul's apology I am positive that it was posted here in the Advanced/Expert section as something for the learned to muse upon. I thoroughly enjoyed myself - it was the very FIRST B/I tournament that I have actually played in. For the record my 1D opener on that hand came about because I had not discussed a pre-empt range with my partner and in f2f I play 6-9 , the vul made it tempting but with 10 I decided to take the slow road which actually led to my partner playing the hand in 3NT making 7 !!!! so be it. I am saddened to read this Jef but as you say you have considered quitting the Lounge on other occassions then obviously the Lounge is falling short of your expectations . If I have been derelict in my endeavours it has been through no want of trying - I will take solace from the very large notice I have pinned on my office wall - "You can please some of the people some of the time BUT there is no way .......... you can please all of the people all of the time" I am sorry you are one of those the Lounge has failed to please - I am sure you will have no trouble finding a niche to suit you and I wish you nothing but the best of good bridging. Seeing as this post is in the Advanced/Expert section and seeing as the vast majority of the members who took part thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I therefore have every intention of repeating these Member's Choice Tournaments from time to time I will take this opportunity to aquaint the Adv/Ext community with the ground rules which will apply. So if in the future you accept an invitation you will know what is expected of you. Member's Choice = any B/I member can invite any BBO member to be their partner . Any Guest not a B/I Honorary member will be given a guest membership for the day. Members are urged to make the most of the opportunity provided to invite one of the Hons to partner them and/or seek a partner from among the multitude of skilled players to be found throughout BBO. Tournament Conditions = All systems Allowed. All artificial bids to be alerted. Undos Allowed. Director Calls for connection issues Only. Table talk permitted Purpose = To practice what has been preached . To learn from the learned. I hope any of you invited in the future will accept the challenge of playing in a Tournament that is NOT a competition - remembering that there was once a time when your bridging skills were no better than mine :)

As Ben points out there can be numerous explanations for any action that occurs at a table. I think in the first instance the onus is on the TD to make full use of every character space available in the Tournamant description to lay down the Rules for that particular tournament. In a B/I event - table explanations are encouraged -our events are for practice - confirming that a 4nt bid is rkc0314 is just fine. It is getting the auction 'right' not the outcome that is important for us. At the start of any Tournament, imo, the TD should allow time for some 'housekeeping' I have now written myself a TD Checklist under the heading "T Start" I have listed 1. Add 5 minutes to first round for housekeeping 2. Welcome 3. Post Tournament Description (people just do not read the name and/or the description - aarrgh ) 4. Post "If you accept the conditions of contest for this tournament play on and good bridging if NOT now is the time to exit in good order - I will be around shortly and anyone still at a table who does not meet the tournament criteria will be removed" Allow I minute for that to sink in 5. Go to tournament lobby and scan profiles - remove any who have not budged. 6. Find subs as necessary. 7. Advertise for subs who meet the criteria required and invite them to list ect. etc. I would much rather give the same amount of my time to looking after 5 tables all happily playing doing their very best than to 50 tables full of unhappy bridgers. How large a tournament is has no value for me.

Thank you for your replies I will pass them on to the pair who asked.

How should the Bidding have gone on these two hands for an optimum result ? Hand 1 Dealer North Non Vul North T97 AK983 8632 A East AQJ863 T762 AK T South K54 5 JT975 7432 West 2 QJ4 Q4 KQJ9865 Hand 2 dealer N Non Vul North Q2 Q9642 T2 AJ97 East AT AT AK98763 32 South K763 J83 J54 KT6 West J9854 K75 Q Q854 Thank you in anticipation :)

instead of scrolling through lobby and then trying to click the name as it leaps about with people coming & going could you not use the Find a Friend button - saves me some frustration at times :-) M

Hope (Nada) has organised a Beginner Intermediate Lounge Tournament for Saturday 24 January 17:00 EST 22;00 UTC 2K's (Kiwis & Kangaroos from DownUnder) Challenge the Globe. She needs all B/I Lounge members who are ex-pat Kiwis and/or Kangaroos to register with her and pair up . So message her (hope) on BBO or you can message me (hallway) here . All at home Kiwis & Kangaroos pair up and be ready to register. The Tournament will be restricted to Beginner Intermediate Lounge Members Good Bridging Maureen Lounge Convenor