jikl

On a side note, I would love to know how much the Ireland - Bangadlesh double paid. :) Sean

Agreed, Ireland beating Pakistan means Pakistan is already out, and Ireland likely to be in. Bangladesh may have just knocked India out of the World Cup altogether. Assuming Bangladesh are capable of beating Bermuda, then we have a weird situation where it may come down to net run rate if India beat Sri Lanka and Bermuda, and Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh, that will leave Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka tied on 4 points, with Bermuda having 0. For Ireland not to get through it requires some strange results also. But, hey, strange results are happening, why not? The only thing confirmed from that group is that Pakistan is out. Any other 2 teams can get through, including Zimbabwe and Ireland. Suddenly the West Indies - Zimbabwe match has become very important. Sean

Personally I agree with you Roland, but it sometimes becomes farcical. Ireland - Zimbabwe, great match. Sri Lanka - Bermuda was silly. Sean

That is a very strange psyche. I am tempted to ask if there were kibitzers. As others have said, with no other evidence he lucked out and EW keep their score. Sean

Apart from a potentially interesting match between Ireland and Zimbabwe, still going whilst I type this... Should the minnows be in or not? Sean

Interesting review of the teams on: http://www.cricket365.com/story/0,18305,6673_1977254,00.html Sean

Wolff is the main proponent of the ACBL attitude of if it hesitates, shoot it. Some say this is because of his simple bidding systems where less thought is required, it may even be a throwback to the Blue Team years. Whatever the case, great bridge player, needs to stay away from anything to do with the laws; bridge is a game where thinking is compulsory, in the Wolff world if you think you better make a bid that is absolutely closing like slam or something, even if it is slam and choice of contract you are probably in trouble. Sean

Think how many overseas players have represented Australia (especially Kiwis) (no that we are a huge threat) Sean

Perhaps a more pertinent question which 4 are capable of winning the World Cup? (Roland and I disagree) Sean

Good luck Phil, It is amazing how many of us are dog owners among the regular posters. Sean

I used to know a few people that would always sort their hands after the play so nothing could be deduced. *shrug* Sean

The 14-16 is a very different beast, most just make a decision on whether it is strong or weak and use their particular method for that type of NT for it. I am sure some people have a 3rd method for the mid NT. Sean

I think p has something like QJxxxx or QTxxxx, I can never imagine a reason for doing it on a 5 bagger. Yes I have UI, but I must trust my partner and therefore act accordingly with his/her bid. If I take into account my tank in some ways I am failing. What would I bid if the whole auction was in tempo? Sean

Interesting auction, partner has volunteered a bid where there was no need since you had another bid from an unpassed hand (I am guessing this since you would have mentioned otherwise) I think your partner has a strong 64 in ♦♠ with a void or singleton ♥ which means the only fit you have is in ♣, but I would bid 3♦, you can never find the ♣ fit. If partner moves again slow it down. Sean

Will Major Michael Mori have a career after the Hicks trial? Sean

Someone please charge GW with War Crimes. When the US defied the UN and attacked anyway, they basically became a dictatorship. You ****ing signed the UN charter, now it is inconvenient for you to follow it? Please. Sean

The other thing to think about is how often a major is actually a 4 card suit. If you are bidding all 4 card suits up the line (exception perhaps for 4441s) then most of the time a major is actually a 5 card suit. Sean

For $12 per year I would support the junior program alone, the game has no future without juniors. If the junior development doesn't happen, offline bridge will cease to exist. All the demogrpahics show that the average age is sort of getting older each year. (I say sort of, because when people die they are removed from the averages) Sean

Do we need any further evidence? Akhtar and Asif have pulled out of the WC due to injury after a mysterious journey to London when the doping tests were conducted. It seems to me the PCB are complicitly allowing their drug use. Sean

Happy Birthday Sean

Do you guys even know why a lot of the world hates the US? Sean

Blackshoe, I have an open invitation for you. You can co-TD a Tourney with me to see what online TDing is about. This is not meant as an insult, purely as educational. And I mean no disrespect in putting forward this invitation in this manner. Sean

As an example of two expert players having major disasters in esoteric sequences, this is my favourite one in print (The Big Game). This is rubber bridge and you are playing £100 Chicago. North is Micheal Courtney, South is Zia. [hv=n=sakt5432ha9863dca&s=sqhkq2dajt8764cqj]133|200|[/hv] North - South 2♠(1) - 3♦ 3♥ - 4♦ 4♠ - 4NT(2) 5♠(3) - 5NT 6♦(4) - 7♣(5) Pass!! (Alerts mostly paraphrased from book) 1: An Acol Two. His suits are rather straggly; however, if he had opened 1♠ and been passed out, he could have been missing as high a contract as 7♥ opposite say: [hv=s=s6hkj742dt876c932]133|100|[/hv] 2: Zia admitted that when he was recounting the hand that because it was MC he sould have bid 6♠ at this point. 3: Three Aces 4: One King 5: This is the master bid. Zia meant it to say'pick the right major-suit grand slam'. The point of 7♣ is to make North bid 7♠ with: [hv=s=s6hkj742dt876c932]133|100|[/hv] when delcarer may be able to cater for a bad heart break by establising the diamonds, or to bid 7♥ with: [hv=s=s6hkj742dt876c932]133|100|[/hv] when he can ruff a spade in dummy to cater for a bad spade break. Apart from this the bid was unwise, because it can lead to a majordisaster. Remember Zia had not supported either of Courtney's suitsat any stage. Courtney convinced himself Zia must have something like: [hv=s=s6hkj742dt876c932]133|100|[/hv] when 7♣ would be the best spot. With that hand Zia would have bid 4♣ over 3♥, but when you adopt these confusing sequences, bad things can happen. ------- Outcome: When Zia went seven down in 7♣ Courtney was unabashed; he pointed out his pass had cost only 300 - the spades were 4-1 and 7♠ and 7♥ were failing also. (From author) I stress that Zia and Courtney are two of the best players in the game, which is why it is instructive to see that even they occasionally have a disaster. ------- Back to me: I thought this might illustrate the points Justin, Fred and Mike were trying to make. Whilst many might not know who Michael Courtney is, it is still illustrative. Sean

I find this to be a revealing comment. You might know every law in the rulebook, you might be able to quote every law backwards and forwards. All well and good. Let's look at laws in general, not bridge laws, all laws. For instance in some places one loses their taxi(cab) licence for not having a bail of hay in their boot. Yes, an out of date law that has not been removed. New laws are introduced over the top of these laws; some would say they supercede the old laws, but you will find that this old law still exists because it has not been repealed. Let's apply this to the Bridge Laws. Yes, each new version supercedes completely the previous laws. However, we now have a situation where some very hastily written adjuncts that do not cater to all situations were introduced in between the normal law introduction phase, so yes we have some imperfect laws. Whilst all of your answers strictly apply the laws of the game, you would not be found to be in error anywhere in the world. The real question is whether these applications of imperfect laws are within the spirit of the game. An online bridge savvy appeals committee might overturn these obvious results ones. We are not far (at least I believe this to be the case) from having a complete set of laws rather than the incomplete one we are currently using. So this is a short lived problem that we have to deal with in the meantime. The one thing I found really strange was the fact you could only really quote laws because you are not familiar with aspects of online directing, therefore, whilst you could easily answer Uday's original questions, you have no practical experience here at all. There are far too many differenced between online bridge and offline bridge. A few quick examples: You have an hour before you have to go somewhere, you see a 50 minute Tourney. (This is the beauty of clocked Tourneys) You are playing in a Tourney, the phone rings, do you answer it? (Or someone knocks at the door) (Cat jumps onto your lap) These are not possible in offline bridge. There are so many possible reasons for delays in online bridge that are not possible in offline bridge. Having to wait on subs etc. -------- I already know your answer, programmers fault. This is your only answer because it does not concur with your beloved Law Book. Therefore this is not bridge etc, blah blah. Better not tell the ACBL that. What this comes down to practical application of law in situations that are not covered by law, I know, I know, they are covered in your law book, sort of. Realistically they are not covered at all, therefore it is time to use logic and imagination rather than blind faith to a flawed document. Sean

It was pathetic :( Sean