pilowsky

Today, the President of the United States and the Prime Ministers of the UK and Australia announced a new swimming pool policy. From Monday at midnight EST, only Federated Australian UK & US alliance members will be permitted to swim in the North section of the pool.

Even better - the Vegas address is opposite a marijuana shop: https://www.google.com/maps/place/9030+W+Sahara+Ave+%23710,+Las+Vegas,+NV+89117,+USA/@36.1459721,-115.2957379,95m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c8bf6ff0abddc1:0x965c517629d62768!8m2!3d36.145638!4d-115.2954368!5m1!1e4

[hv=pc=n&s=sakq5haj75dakck65&n=s63htdj9873caq742&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp3np6nppp|pc|CJ|pc|C2|pc|C8]266|200| I just watched a video where Zia - with 19HCP says (at 7:00 min. in) " ."So with 24 instead of 25, I opened 3NT. My passed hand robot, clearly bruised with his encounter with Zia, figured that 7 was almost the same as 8 and bid 6NT. It turns out to be makeable on the lead, and when I step through it, I still can't work it out. The other person in the challenge went -2 in 7C, so I only lost 2 IMPs, but it's annoying not understanding where I went wrong. West leads the ♣J, which it turns out allows the contract to make. [/hv] Here's the full deal

Here's a picture of the car park. https://www.google.com/maps/place/28+Rue+Parmentier,+59650+Villeneuve-d'Ascq,+France/@50.6430271,3.1354302,3a,75y,101.23h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIe1Vx9BI2iTh0g4Unswtkw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DIe1Vx9BI2iTh0g4Unswtkw%26cb_client%3Dsearch.gws-prod.gps%26w%3D86%26h%3D86%26yaw%3D101.23426%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x47c3297cf690b0a5:0xf2987135319dbb27!8m2!3d50.6428811!4d3.1365843

Hitting the nail on the head and missing the point completely. I am saying that the combined hands are such that most combinations of opponent holdings result in NS being able to make 6 or 7. 61 out of 64 as it happens. Obviously, it may be the case that in many of these situations it is hard to make or depends on this being here or that being there. Are you suggesting that you should only try to make a slam when it is colder than an ice cube in a refrigerator in the arctic and you have a glass of Scotch that can't do without it?

Ken is about the same age as Bobby Fischer - he liked chess - as a spectator and apart from writing a and b and most of c also wrote a chess program.

A spinning wheel as you describe suggests a problem with your computer/internet, not BBO. Particularly if it isn't happening to others.

Only the person that is the "Captain" of the table can throw people. They can do this whenever they want and don't have to give a reason. If you don't want this to happen to you, start your own table. If you don't know how to do that, ask below. There are good reasons for setting it up that way. Being "thrown" from a table is not necessarily rude. Think of it as you walking into someone else's house and starting a conversation. Their rules apply, not yours.

I specified exactly the hands provided and then asked the program (playbridge.com) to generate 64 hands. When I save the .LIN file; it automatically opens in Bridgesolver, allowing me to step through the double-dummy solutions and count (using my fingers) the number of times it makes less than 6H. No programming skill is needed. The problem is presented with both hands showing and, as I said, "what is it about the South hand etc.". Clearly, it is easy to imagine all kinds of hands North where slam is out of the question. I agree that more simulation of North would be needed to work out the proportion of [fixed South - variable opening hand North combinations] leads to slam. I don't have enough fingers for that. Hence my question.

Your comment may be appropriate for a bricks and mortar Bridge club but it makes no sense on BBO. BBO tournaments operate under a completely different set of rules. The rules are called "standard" with a few add-ons such as "no rudeness", "English only" and sometimes "no psyches". When someone fails to alert their bid, something that happens all the time, there is little anyone can do. Your comment that the player is "Indian" (and presumably) therefore doesn't speak English well is a racist slur. English is the lingua franca of the subcontinent. When was the last time you played in an online tournament? Or used BBO at all? I can't find any games with your username from the last 3 months.

I generated 64 random hands with the NS holding you describe. Double-dummy, 3 made 5H. For the other 61, it was ~50% 6H and 50% 7H. What is it about the South hand that should make me want to investigate slam?

After the double of 2S (which makes double-dummy - albeit with the considerable handicap of my declarer play), I am informed that there was a hushed silence somewhere in London. As soon as I bid 3D, a howl of anguish emanated from the wife of my partner. Or so I'm reliably informed. I quite like playing online.

Another psyche from the Americans. Might be a case of 'roid rage.

The change in pricing structure is not across the board. I like the 8-board IMP's tourneys - the $0.10 saving was a bonus. Now, the IMP tourneys are $0.39, and the MP tourneys are also $0.39 (previously $0.45), so that both are now the same price per board. If you don't want to pay, you can play the challenge format against 'stars' or play Chess; both are free.

[hv=pc=n&s=sqjt87h6daq8632cq&w=sa9652hqt832dc542&n=sk43hkj9dkj9c8763&e=sha754dt754cakjt9&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=p2c(Precision)2sdpp3d3h3s4hppp]399|300|I was also torn between 2♠ and 2♦. I did ask about the meaning of 2♣, but with no answer, I was left to rely on my general knowledge about Precision. I picked 2♠ so that I would have a rebid of 2♦ if things went pear-shaped. Which they did. In the end, we escaped with an undeserved 4H-1. [/hv]

Is that on a Mac or PC? Where is the setting?

[hv=pc=n&s=sqjt87h6daq8632cq&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=p2c(Precision)]133|200| This came up today. East alerting his bid as "Precision". What should I have done?[/hv]

The electoral system in Australia is different from the USA system in some ways but not others. We have six states and two Territories. The Australian Electoral Commission runs the Federal election and determines the boundaries of the seats. The AEC is so non-partisan that nobody in Australia would be able to tell you how to get on to it or who runs it. Today, Zali Stegall - the independent conservative who unseated Tony Abbott (unrelated to but similar in outlook to the Texan) - proposed a "truth in political advertising bill" (to be administered by the AEC). The idea is to prevent misleading advertising by politicians. My question is: is it possible to be misled by a politician? Wouldn't you have to assume they always told the truth first? I think the Tucker (obviously I'm lying) Carlson defence would apply. Our current Prime Minister has such a reputation for mendaciousness that journalists - and the public in general - would be suspicious if something fell out of his mouth that appeared on its face to be truthful.

I just tried it (iMac/chrome) working fine.

The funny thing about SNL is that it isn't.

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|pilowsky,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot,~~v3fakebot|md|1SAQT932HAT963DAJC,S5HK7DK984CAJ8763,S764HQJ84DQ732CQ2,SKJ8H52DT65CKT954|sv|b|rh||ah|Board%207|mb|1H|an|Major%20suit%20opening%20--%205+%20!H;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points|mb|2C|an|Two-level%20overcall%20--%205+%20!C;%2010+%20HCP;%2011-18%20total%20points|mb|2H|an|Free%20major%20raise%20--%203+%20!H;%206-10%20total%20points|mb|4C|an|5+%20!C;%204-9%20total%20points|mb|4H|an|5+%20!H;%2018-21%20HCP;%2019-22%20total%20points|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|C8|pc|C2|pc|C5|pc|H3|pc|HA|pc|H7|pc|H4|pc|H5|pc|H6|pc|HK|pc|H8|pc|H2|pc|C7|pc|CQ|pc|C4|pc|DJ|pc|S7|pc|S8|pc|S9|pc|S5|pc|H9|pc|D9|pc|HJ|pc|D5|pc|S6|pc|SJ|pc|SQ|pc|C6|pc|SA|pc|C3|pc|S4|pc|SK|pc|ST|pc|D4|pc|D2|pc|D6|pc|S2|pc|D8|pc|DQ|pc|C9|pc|S3|pc|CJ|pc|D7|pc|DT|pc|DA|pc|DK|pc|D3|pc|CK|pc|HT|pc|CA|pc|HQ|pc|CT|]300|300| Here the robots, disgusted with my bizarre bidding, decide to show me how it's done when playing the club suit.[/hv]

The term "chaos tourist" was used by someone.

I watched quite a bit of the trial. And the moment when the verdict was announced. The defence appeared to argue that because a person carrying an AR-15 is being attacked by someone else with a skateboard then the person with the AR-15 is acting in a reasonable manner if they fend off skateboard man by shooting him.

I tried changing the date on my hands, and it allowed me to go back about six months. I would be interested to know if this is a glitch or a feature - My understanding is that BBO asserts IP on every hand played on BBO forever meaning (presumably) that they also keep records. I just tested a link from 26 October 2019 - it still works but the myhands query doesn't. Looks like there's a problem, Houston.