thepossum

Just happened again near the end of a tourney Managed to use up 5 precious minutes on one hand - painfully slow, then it speeded up. Then slowed down again I am trying to find out where the problem is. Anyone else noticed :) I'm trying to monitor resource use at times it slows. Checking other software, opening and closing things. Is it at our end or yours, or in between I am looking at the pattern of IMPs in my tourney. It appears somehow related to how well I am going. The better you are going the slower the machine becomes until you have been sabotaged enough to speed up again. Maybe that's it :) I think I am leaning towards painfully slow internet between us and you - it seems to slow down other browser intensive pages too :)

I always get concerned that a 2 level rebid risks being passed :( I think people went straight to 3NT and didn't risk anything going wrong - sorry just checked. Quite a few people went via 2NT, quite a few straight to 3NT and only one braved 2D :)

I find the difficulty in reading the Bot's leads to be quite a strength :( Was that a singleton, small from length, middle of nothing. Nope I appreciate its not necessarily apropos of the OP but I have noticed a tendency to lead away from a King through an AQ on occasions :) More seriously though I have looked at its opening leads a bit and was surprised at how disciplined (???) it appears to be This is from the point of view of declarer. I keep struggling reading its opening leads in defence :(

:lol:

I also noticed this during an ACBL MPs tourney a few hours later :( Apparently even the forum interface was slow at the time too :)

I am genuinely concerned about the apparent nexus (?correct word) between advertising, corporations and government To think that health consumption is driven by advertising and media and not by doctors or health research or anything much

Thanks for the discussion. I have been struggling over recent years trying to work out who/what/which philosophy is most responsible for the world's problems Its not as simple as I used to think

I'm curious. I've rarely seen the bots overcall with 4 of anything?? I keep trying to work out GiB's leads but I would place KQJxx with South and 8+ points (possibly fewer if nice and distributional) It looks reasonably straightforward Sorry I am with the OP - the thread changed

Half the field found 3NT and half were in 6D-1 [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|thepossum,~Mwest,~Mnorth,~Meast|md|2SJHQJTDAKQJT3CQJT,S643HK52D8CA96543,SAK752HA93D952C87,SQT98H8764D764CK2|sv|b|rh||ah|Board%204|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|mb|1D|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20!D;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|1S|an|One%20over%20one%20--%204+%20!S;%2011-%20HCP;%206-12%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|3D|an|Opener%20rebid%20--%206+%20!D;%203-%20!S;%2017-20%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|3S|an|5+%20!S;%207-11%20HCP;%208-12%20total%20points;%20forcing|mb|P|mb|3N|an|6+%20!D;%203-%20!H;%202-%20!S;%2017-20%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|6D|an|2+%20!D;%205+%20!S;%2011%20HCP;%2012%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|CA|pc|C7|pc|C2|pc|CT|pc|C6|pc|C8|pc|CK|pc|CJ|pc|H4|pc|HT|pc|H2|pc|H3|mc|11|]400|300[/hv] I thought my bidding was reasonably accurate. 5D would have been acceptable I guess in IMPs, and I admit I would have considered slam after appropriate exchange of information on controls. I accept from the letter of the points, if I downgraded my stiff Jack maybe I overbid slightly but it seemed too good for 2D. These little things mean the difference between 3 and 6 level contracts At least I briefly visited the correct contract on the express train to slam

How does giving MEdicare greater resources/power to negotiate cheap drugs with big-pharma play into possible unnecessary demand for said meds

Still reading with amazement, and continuing to overanalyse things But how complicated do people want to make things and how many tricks do some people need to bid slams I ran a few little sims and asking for Aces, Kings and the Queen of trumps works I miss Standard Blackwood sometimes - or maybe a combination of 1430/0314 and Queen (if its South asking) ask followed by simple number of Kings (if North is asking) After (how) many years trying my hardest to understand GiB 2/1 I can still get tripped up on the simplest of auctions

Someone tried to encourage me to go there for a fun game once but they are usually just teachers looking for a victim

All beyond me but I put it through a major Bridge program and its interesting which systems find 7NT and which don't I would like to think that even my basic methods could have found one of the Grands, in a genuine tourney, occasionally, or on average I seem to bid better when I don't overanalyse things

I shouldn't be hard on GiB. Earlier in the same tourney I accidentally clicked an incorrect bid and ended up with a 100% top :rolleyes: - II just cant believe it :lol: I tried to bid 5 clubs game, accidentally clicked 5 diamonds (jump cue) and ended in 6 C :rolleyes:

Hi Just wondering if I am alone in ever getting really creepy psychopathic controlling sinister sort of vibes from GiB I appreciate its supposed to be a dumb unthinking piece of code but there's something else there, and the sound of the cards being played is evil too Or am I just projecting Has it an intentionally inbuilt creepiness? Sometimes it just puts me on edge. Or maybe its the bidding system when trying to find a contract - sorry did I put in something that needed *** I don't remember putting anything in there Am I alone in feeling these things? But seriously you not be made to feel wound up with each bid playing Bridge. That is what dealing with a psychopath feels like It could just be the device that I am using. Its creepy too. You feel there's more going between me, my fingers and the server than simple events Like sensing things about you. Oooh our bidding is getting to him. I can feel it coming through Its like having every single (maybe all but one) degree of freedom eliminated I just had the last hand of a very good tourney ruined by trying to navigate to one of a few obvious contracts. I think eventually I made my record negative score. Just MPs, last hand. Who cares

Recently in an ACBL MPs tourney I was disappointed to find myself in this 6D slam due to the flaws in the bidding of diamond slams I was even more disappointed to find that 6 out of 30 in my section had bid the unmakeable slam but only my East bot managed to defend I include the bidding of the different options in the hope someone can advise on where I went wrong :) Sometimes I think this site is very authoritarian or moralistic or dictatorial. You didn't bid the way we like so we will punish you. :( ME [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|thepossum,~Mwest,~Mnorth,~Meast|md|3SAKQJ2H72DKT52CJ8,S9843HA3DQ4CQ9752,S5H9654DAJ983CAK6,ST76HKQJT8D76CT43|sv|o|rh||ah|Board%201|mb|1D|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20!D;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|2S!|an|Soloway%20jump%20shift%20--%20rebiddable%20!S;%2017+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|3C|an|3+%20!D;%2011-21%20HCP;%20!CKQ;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|3D!|an|Support%20for%20D;%20no%20splinter%20--%202+%20!C;%204+%20!D;%202+%20!H;%20rebiddable%20!S;%2017+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|4N|an|Blackwood%20(D)%20--%204+%20!D;%2021-%20HCP;%20!CKQ;%2015-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|5H|an|Two%20or%20five%20key%20cards;%20no%20queen%20--%202+%20!C;%204+%20!D;%202+%20!H;%20rebiddable%20!S;%2017+%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|6D|an|4+%20!D;%2021-%20HCP;%20!CKQ;%2015-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|HK|pc|H2|pc|H3|pc|H4|pc|HQ|pc|H7|pc|HA|pc|H5|pc|C5|pc|CA|pc|C3|pc|C8|pc|D3|pc|D7|pc|DK|pc|D4|pc|D2|pc|DQ|pc|DA|pc|D6|mc|11|]400|300[/hv] The other five tables had South bidding 1 spade and making the decision to go to slam. That's the difference :( And on those tables the bot switches to a club on trick 2 :( I know I have problems with Soloway bids but this seemed perfect even with just AKQJx. Nice 2-suiter, support for diammonds, very nice spades :( I should have just bid 1S and headed for game which is how I thought it would end up :( Before anyone has a go I was disappointed when we ended up in 6 and not unhappy at the Bot finding the obvious defence. Sad that it couldn't find it for anyone else :( I thought maybe my bid distorted the possible distributions but no, my hand is dummy. Look the Possum doesn't just have a singleton loser in hearts. He has two :( Maybe my bidding distorted the possible shape of North (the hidden hand) but look at it :( So how come my bidding resulted in the obvious defence but nobody else's did :( So I'm thinking it thinks that the North bot ducked the Ace on trick one. But maybe in that case there is a chance of a ruff in hearts LOL I have too many emoticons. I had no idea there was a limit on emoticons ROFL What do I keep doing SAD

Are you talking about MPs where everyone in your section was playing 6H with 2 losers :) You can try to minimise your losses. Personally I stopped playing Just Declare because they have all these stupid contracts that good players wouldn't bid :) I only like playing contracts that me and my partner bid - that's Bridge and life ideally But bidding 6 with two losers does happen sometimes :( I am investigating an interesting one now where only 6 out of 30 of us bid 6 (with 2 losers) and for some reason for 5 players the Bot threw away the easy defence, but for me it defended perfectly. Trying to work out why Its very hard to avoid 6-1 situations in suits like diamonds for some reason

:lol: Sorry no insult intended Ken. I was talking about me :) I think the thing that I am most curious about is the nature of the trading and whether the likes of the SEC have any interest in the matter I am impressed at their use of public information and expertise etc An impressive short indeed

Hi all I just came across this interesting story regarding Alzheimer's research and medications, and recent investigation It is made even more interesting by the connection with short-selling against questionable research Would love to hear any comments, especially from assembled experts and others Interesting read to us ordinary people P Interesting Story PS I should credit Mad in America again for bringing it to my attention

I also ran a little sim based just on Aces and Kings using Gerber. Interesting :) Even not needing the Ace of spades. But it helps on choosing which slam My basic method in this case is Gerber then take a chance I had forgotten to ask if it was MPs or IMPs :)

Maybe Michaels and an invite? EDIT Just looked at the spoiler

The worst of the behaviour seems to have gone. Lasted for a few days Who knows :) What I did. I observed and tested. Its also hard to get screenshots of invisible rather creepy UI behaviour too Whatever was going on does seem to affect BBO's app much more than many other sites. Maybe not surprisingly My money is on slow Internet/slow DNS/OS or SW update or something impacting on missing events. There was a lot going missing somewhere for a few days Just thinking next time it happens I will try and make a video capture and commentary :) - but that could impact on the UI issue But if I did it using my phone pointing at my computer with one hand the commentary would be along the lines of Nothing happened Nothing happened **** this click nothing happened *** that one worked. I didn't want that click to happen Why does it feel I am moving my mouse through treacle etc Note I will also make sure its a hand that going well. Hate to show my card-play limitations to the world

Interesting indeed and well beyond my basic methods. I wouldn't even remember which minor transfer I'm supposed to use After a bit of thought I went for Gerber followed by a decision on which slam. Not perfect but it could work I know this seems very contorted but if RHO had interfered you could use Lebensohl to get clubs etc

:lol: :rolleyes:

Still behaving strangely It relates seemingly to mouse clicks and responses in various interfaces. It happens on the forums as well as the app I haven't noticed it so badly on other sites Could just be disappearing events, disappearing responses, who knows. It makes the system unusable I am trying different ways to identify where the problem is but historically and strangely nobody ever wants to address strange Internet issues, or other possible technological explanations, or even creepy interference with comms If I manage to pin down the problem any further will let you know :) EDIT I am trying to find similar behaviours on other sites or pages - possibly just very slow internet - maybe the more complex pages show it up more Trying to isolate it through a mobile, hotspot. Strange behaviour on both devices so not necessarily just my HP Windows box - with Norton - nearly forgot that - keeps popping up all the time. But its annoying especially when there apparently is so much interference with how our hardware even functions these days. Seriously I have installed enough new stuff (at all) for a while for it all to be explained by resources usage on my devices. But every click in anything - even an edit box takes forever I cant find evidence of anyone else interfering with my WiFi. Could be spectrum. Talk about frustrating. Who knows where the problem could be Sorry for using emotive words but it feels evil I just remembered something. Yesterday Norton popped up saying some apps needed attention. I don't normally (maybe never) do updates through Norton but yesterday I did. Updated about 6 seemingly fairly harmless applications. That changed yesterday. Along the way over the years something major changed to make everything appear creepy and evil. Maybe back in my day things were simple and there was less place for creepiness. Things went wrong but you usually knew where