jonottawa

I never claimed that the health of Toronto's bridge clubs or the lack of health of Las Vegas bridge clubs was related to psych policies. I actually have no idea what the psych policies of the Las Vegas clubs are. My original mention of Toronto was because I was making reference to my experience at the club level with respect to psychs and because most of these experiences for me happened to take place is Toronto. FWIW I chalk of the success of bridge in Toronto to a group of extraordinary people who have been involved in running clubs in that city for a long time. These people have, in general, figured out that it is smart to listen to the players and to offer them the kind of games and environment that they want. Their attitude toward psychs is just one example of this. One of these people was the person who invented ZT. Knowing nothing about the details, I am not in a position to pass judgment on ZT, but I will note that the person in question ran an extremely successful club for many years (and may still be doing so today for all I know). People genuinely seemed to appreciate being able to go into this club and know that they would not be abused. I doubt you would last there very long. Fred Gitelman Bridge Base Inc. www.bridgebase.com LOL Fred, you crack me up. Sunscreen is your friend.

LOL you forgot the Donn corollary: Unless you have: A / - / A8th / AQJT

I'm just gonna smolen the hand (5♥ 4♠.) I expect them to reach game at the other table and I usually try to outplay them unless I'm at least 60-40 that my bidding choice is superior whereas this is close to a coin toss.

But it is completely legal to run such a game. Law 40B2. http://www.worldbridge.org/departments/law...awsComplete.pdf Then that's the solution. Just bar all conventions except Stayman, Blackwood (you could run a special event called RKCB Friday!), Gerber, Negative Doubles and Jacoby transfers and all carding methods except standard. Then the future Fred Gitelmans of the bridge world will stay home. What's next? Squeeze-free Thursday? No endplays on Saturday? And Austin's bridge scene is a pale shadow compared to what Ottawa's was (is?). I chalk that up to personalities rather than psych policies. In Las Vegas of all places, it's hardly surprising that with all the other options available people aren't gravitating to bridge.

I am not suggesting that they should be permitted to do it - my point is that they should do it regardless of whether or not they have permission. The alternative is to drive players away and possibly to cease to exist. That is exactly what these clubs effectively do, but neither they nor the ACBL have been officially granted authority to change this particular law. Fred Gitelman Bridge Base Inc. www.bridgebase.com I don't really want to argue semantics with you but when you say the ACBL should turn a blind eye to it, knowing it goes on, you are indeed suggesting that they should be permitted to do it. I have no doubt that 90% of the players who are happy with a 'no psychs' policy would be equally happy with a 'no bidding/carding systems that I didn't learn from Audrey Grant' policy as well. It may be fun for them. It may well be what they prefer. It is NOT bridge. And since someone brought up the ZT policy I concur that it is a travesty. I'm one of the more rambunctious players I know and I've NEVER received a ZT penalty. I've seen plenty of ZT warnings and even received a couple, even though such warnings are completely at odds with the explicit wording of the policy.

I completely disagree with the notion that clubs should be permitted to ignore the laws. I'm quite appalled at the suggestion, in fact. If you don't like the laws, rewrite the laws. And FWIW I've never been a fan of psychs as a tactic and once had a regular partner who drove me absolutely nuts by psyching about once every other session, but they are a time-honored part of the game. I don't know if this link is current/accurate, but it seems to address the legality of it (if it's still valid.) http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/wc...les/psychs.html

Who cares if current economic conditions meet somebody's technical definition of a recession or not? That's just more Repug distraction from the real issues with respect to the economy: Bush inherited huge budget surpluses, virtually nonexistent inflation, miniscule interest rates, miniscule unemployment, rising living standards, reasonably steady rich/poor gap and a strong dollar. 8 years of Bush's war crimes, mismanagement, corruption and class warfare (massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich) have led inexorably to huge deficits, rising unemployment, the return of significant inflation, collapsing infrastructure, an energy crisis, falling living standards for most, a massive and growing rich/poor gap and the collapse of the dollar. Oh, and did I mention that the first baby boomers turn 65 in 3 years? 8 years ago America was the undisputed superpower of the world. Today, America is in decline and China is in ascendancy. Mostly due to a stolen election 8 years ago. Everyone's talking about this election being the most important election of our lifetimes. Uh, no, you morans, the one in 2000 was. This one's a squabble over deck chairs on the Titanic.

Congratulations Quantumcat! (Who is Quantumcat?)

Auto 5♦ now, anything else is pusillanimous. And I'm not expecting a 2-2-2? split. And I'm sending it back.

I agree that the coverage has been bad. Bob Costas has been annoying, but not as bad as the gymnastics commentators. I also thought the guy that planted himself next to Michael Phelps' mom was creepy. Embarrassing that Canada has zero medals. Time to bring back tarring and feathering. And make MMA an Olympic event so that GSP has a chance to bring home the gold.

I concur with the title of this thread.

Here is the auction: 2♠ - X - P - 4N (minors) P - 5N (I can't decide, you decide) - P - 6♦ (maybe we need the pitch and anyway I read in somebody's blog that 6♦ always makes this summer) - Float

Taiwan will probably be next. That's why it was so important to impeach Bush. He's robbed us of the moral high ground for at least a generation.

Hey Shube, I'll guess that you didn't scratch with the 62.8% game because the official form of scoring was IMPs and that you scratched with the -1.08 IMP tourney because the official form of scoring was matchpoints.

In my day, double was penalty, we bid 4 card suits, free bids showed extra, cue bids were either natural or showed a big takeout, we bid slams off an ace and the KQ of trumps and we LIKED it!

I felt rather hosed by partner on this one. He had: ♠K987 ♥AKT ♦754 ♣AQ3 I think it's 'normal aggressive' to shoot 3NT with that and let the chips fall. I agonized and passed (thinking we were on at BEST 2-2 Clubs, since he 'couldn't' have the hand he actually held.) At least I didn't shoot 5 Clubs.

♠872 ♥KT854 ♦KT9 ♣43 You're in 4th seat game all IMPs P - P - 1♠ - P 2♣ - P - 3♣ - P 3♥ - P - 3NT - Float

Probably shouldn't have posted this. It's impossible not to get too high as the cards lie (Spades 5-1 and Clubs 6-0, ouch!) absent a very deep position by somebody. My rewind was mildly undisciplined. I rewind fairly frequently when I expect no worse than down 1, but it's a better proposition white. Our side had just wrapped up +1380 against one of the same opps (he doubled 6♦ with 874 / AK94 / K7 / AJT6) with my blue card 4 boards previously and I was feeling a tad indestructible. I was more interested in the part of the auction that preceded the redouble. Would Ogust elicit more useful information than a natural 3 Clubs (which will almost never be raised)? If you find out pard has a good hand/bad suit, then shoot 6 Clubs? Yes, on the actual lie 6 Clubs is also a bloodbath, but isn't it a better spot and a decent shot once they whip 5♠? I might have held KJxxxx / xx / KQJ / xx Am I really supposed to raise with that?

If you followed a different line and my line makes, sorry to hear that. Just saying my line is 60% and change. If Pepsi has the queen, unlucky.

Roughly: 38.75% (clubs behave) + ((1/2 (diamond finesse))*45.22% (clubs 4-2 not jt doubleton))=60%+ You can also make with minor miracles if Clubs 5-1 or 6-0 but I left those cases out and still got over 60%.

Slam is better than 60% so surely you want to be there. Close perhaps, but 'extremely close' might be an overbid.

You are the 2♠ bidder. All red IMPs. - / 853 / K982 / K97652 1N (15-17) - P - 2♠ (Clubs) - X 3♣ (Qxx or better) - P - ?

If I'm 'playing a natural system' I certainly don't open 2♣ as I only have one of them and would prefer to emphasize one of my longer suits. Otherwise I open 2♣. Ten and a halfish tricks is too much for 1 Spade.

My ruling: 'You're right, if you had known that opener shows only 4 Hearts you'd probably be less inclined to run from 3N doubled. Would you like me to assign you that result instead?'

You did 'absolutely fine' until you asked partner if he could have opened 1♠. Such 'resulting' seldom brings out the best in a partner or a partnership. 'Great spot pard, very unlucky. wdo' would have been a much preferable response.