pilowsky

Correct. Glad we cleared that up.

I agree, we are both seeing the same thing. The issue is not where the boards come from; the point is that it is possible - as you also point out - to see all hands before you start playing. This makes it an excellent teaching exercise. I also enjoy seeing how an expert thinks about the play - so much so that I took some lessons from Pete. In any event, it's always fun playing with the robots because you get to see some truly wonderful bidding when you try crazy things. I just played the IT and here's what happened on board 7. [hv=pc=n&s=sakqt2h76dj82caq8&n=sj43hk98dkt754c64&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=4s4n(4%2B%E2%99%A3%3B%204%2B%E2%99%A6%3B%2017%2B%20total%20points)p5cppp]266|200| What does GIB have for the 4NT bid?[/hv]

Strangely, when I replay the hand afterwards the seats are in their normal (South at the bottom) orientation with my name in the South seat but it plays through as if the North robot is Declarer.

The reason that this seems bizarre to a non-American living in other first world countries is that Australia, UK etc. have community-rating; basic minimum health care (up to and including all cancer treatment etc) is included in this package which every single citizen in the country is entitled to - working or not. You are not under the thumb of your employer. I read in several places that one reason people didn't report Trump's bad behaviour when he was a reality TV actor was that they couldn't afford to lose their job. Because if they lost their job, they would lose inter alia the health care that their children might need. In Australia, your children's health does not depend on the whim of your employer. Yes, people smoke and overeat, and some people might think they should pay extra, but this does not happen. Cost the health system a fortune because you didn't wear a motorcycle helmet, some complain, but this emotion is overwhelmed by the but for the grace of, there go I. In America, your employer determines it: "they're increasing the employee's health insurance premium (which the employer is still paying the bulk of)". Effectively they are decreasing the amount of $$ in your pocket. Other countries with a similar level of wealth (and quite a few with less) don't do this.

Peter Hollands video showing him playing Instant tourney 311 is posted now in the messages sidebar. The same tourney is available to be played right now. As I said - I can watch the video first and then play the tournament after seeing where all the cards are. This is my point. It isn't very satisfying to play a game where some contestants may have seen all the hands before they start playing. There is also the problem that people can play the tourney multiple times until they get it right. So not really a competition but a bit of practice. This is where I agree that it is a good robot, something or other but not a game in the sense that any reasonable person would understand the term.

The top screenshot shows me South attempting to force north to bid. The bottom screenshot shows North at the bottom after play starts with me declaring in the North seat, Everything rotates - Prime is the only place where I've seen this happen.

The same thing happens on any size monitor if you resize the browser window so that it is small - or as pescetom says reset the font size. I use a very large television screen attached to my iMAC and get the same thing to happen if I make the window too small.

On the plus side, along with 6/6, it is a 'perfect' birthday.

I'm very unhappy to report that I share a birthday with Mike Lindell - and Elon Musk .

The main thing that's discombobulating about the weekly free is that you always come last because all the other players have watched Peter Hollands video and know what to bid and whether or not their finesses will work. It might be free and it might be weekly but any resemblance to a tournament is illusory.

So in America, employers are permitted to dock wages if they are unhappy with a particular behaviour? I happen to agree wrt coronavirus, but what if the employee drove a car that the Boss (yes Massa) thought was environmentally unfriendly - can they put a surcharge on that? This is how deeply the Master-slave culture is embedded in the American workplace. Here's a sign that I'm told comes from Australia.

I don't think the orientation changes anywhere else in BBO - and I play a lot of robot tournaments. This is the only place where if North is playing, then the North seat rotates to the bottom of the screen so that any bidding made by East is now on the Declarers right instead of left - it's rather discombobulating.

I like the change in Prime where I get to declare any hand I contract for. But, unlike everywhere else in BBO, if my partner robot 'wins' the auction, the whole table spins around. Because this is different, I have to readjust (in my tiny) mind any opposition bidding. Also, it's exhausting having to get out of my seat and move to the other side all the time. The other quirk is that if I set up a teaching table to practice a different method and am seated, say North and South, the undo 'feature' doesn't work. It does work for anyone I'm practising with - but not for me. I don't know if this happens anywhere else.

Is this some sort of joke? In any event, Australia uses Akamai which has developed countermeasures against DDOS (that sometimes cause our entire banking system to collapse). Next thing you'll complain that they get more time because their computer is closer to the server - as Michael Lewis wrote about in Flash Boys. The tides coming in; King Canute couldn't stop it, neither can you.

You're trying to run my clock. Just watch a chess clock video on youtube if you don't understand how it works.

The most valuable consequence of the fall of the BBO wall is that you can sign up for a tournament and then go and play on a casual table safe in the knowledge that you will be sucked into the tournament when the time comes and not left in the ether. I recall when I started playing - in the casual area - wondering what happened to all those people that just disappeared with "CausticSoda has left the table to join a tournament" lingering in their wake. I'm assured that this is the case; I hope it's true.

Quite the opposite. I still recall the NSA at the time (whose daughter is now half of a popular news/opinion show) being reported as saying something to the effect of: Well, we don't know much about Ayatollah Khomanei but how bad can he be? After all, he is a Cleric. I'm reminded of George C Scott's General Buck Turgidson in Dr Strangelove: "General Turgidson, when you instituted the human reliability tests, you assured me there was no possibility of such a thing ever occurring." "Well, I don't think it's quite fair to condemn the whole program because of a single slip up sir." http://bit.ly/OneSlipUpStrangelove They couldn't stop the bombers because CRM114 prevents communication - clearly, Kubrick had experienced CRM problems of his own.

1. If these "general understandings" exist, then there is no need for alerts. Your statement undermines your argument. 2. I haven't seen your system card or Nigel's, but it sounds like you are referring to profiles online, not system cards. 3. If by 'system cards' you mean the cards (and explanations) in the club, that's a different matter and is the reason for requiring alerts and is the reason for the statement "undiscussed" if it isn't. I've never played against Nigel in the club or online. Still, I would guess that his card has a little more detail on it than you imply. 4. Stepbridge charges 3.00 Australian dollars per 24 board game. If that makes it the preserve of the privilege, then Scotland is in worse shape than I thought. OTOH the free games on BBO are excellent but would still benefit from a clock - which amongst other things, is a great anti-cheating device. 5.You can't 'run their clock down'; they have to choose to think. Or are you suggesting that out of an abundance of integrity, you should always lose any losing tricks first to avoid causing the under-privileged excess anxiety? 6. I defer to others experience regarding "competitive" events - as opposed to the games that I - and most Bridge players can afford to play.

I heard the same thing from Persian friends after the US involvement in supporting the Shah. Sometimes doing things in the national interest of the USA isn't.

1. Directors of pay tournaments on BBO have access to a tournament log that provides the time for each bid, alert, play and other actions including public and private chat messages. This is the same on Stepbridge. 2. Interestingly, when I've used it, the recorded facts often tell a very different story to anything provided by the players. Of course the players are unaware of the time they've taken for any action and, in my experience, bridge players are very poor at judging time both online and face-to-face. Players on Stepbridge are also 'unaware' of the time they have taken. At the 5 minute mark, if the third board is not on the table, the program automatically adjusts the score as I explained previously. The pair that has taken the longest total time on the previous two boards gets 40% or -3 IMPs. BUT, the Director can adjust this penalty manually if they determine that there were shenanigans. I've often played, and opps complain, "We weren't the slow ones," but they were. A common cause of slowness and adjustments is the failure to explain in a timely manner. 3. As many have written in the past, there are plenty of issues with trying to make bridge a timed game. For example, who is charged when you ask for an explanation of the auction, especially as some players ask about every alerted call to avoid creating UI? Who resolves, in a reasonable time, the issue of a player saying, "no agreement". On Stepbridge, players are required to have convention cards posted. These are easily checked, and just as on BBO, questions can be asked and MUST be answered privately - talking to the table may lead to UI and is adjusted appropriately. BUT many pairs are auto-matched or do not have agreements, in which case - just as in the club "Undiscussed" is the correct response. Opps are entitled to know what the partner will believe the bid means, NOT what the bidder thinks it should mean. Oddly this concept is not well-understood in many circles. 3. What happens when there are connection issues, how can these be fairly assessed and will it create discrimination against the technology challenged and the technology deprived? Should I be blamed because the Scottish Government has provided access to superfast and fibre broadband to you, but will take at least another three years to give it to me? The same thing happens if a player in the club stays in the bathroom or decides to chat to their mother on the phone. Why should you get a mulligan because you have not adequately equipped yourself to play? Yes, it is your fault if you choose to enter a formula 1 race riding a horse and buggy - also, the waste from the horse may be dangerous for the other players using the correct equipment. 4. What happens when players fail to claim, possibly putting their opponents under time pressure? What does this mean? The player not claiming is putting themselves under pressure - this is, I presume - the reason for the 5-minute rule. Although, perhaps really bad players might figure that 40% is a good result against better players. Personally, I think there is room for improvement here. 5. I know that you do not approve of subjective rulings, but timing bridge is going to require the directors to make even more of them, not to mention the issue of parsing the logs for information. This turns out to be a minor problem. Complaints are few and dealt with very easily by the experienced team of Directors. It seems that the role of the Director is caught between a rock and a hard place. Judging from the comments on this Forum. I think there are four tiers of players. 1. Those starting out and trying to come to grips with an interesting game with seriously complicated rules. This is a very large portion of [layers and I suspect it is where there is most churn. In this group the Director does not want to offend the new player and wants to create a comfortable atmosphere. Certain things are banned (eg multi 2's). And rules are bent. 2. Overlapping with this group are the people that self-describe as intermediates/advanced. I include myself here. We have a pretty good grasp of the rules and the fundamentals of a commonly played system. We can also play quite a few things above beginner grade, but we struggle with Lebensohl and struggle to work out complex card plays ATB. I suspect we are the largest group of Bridge players. 3. Excellent players with a complete grasp of complex systems and able to work out difficult card play problems routinely. And explain them to tier 1 and 2 players coherently. 4. nullve. Who said: "It ain't nothing until I call it."? This concept applies on Stepbridge - we all abide by the final decisions of the Director. The computer helps them.

Which specific issues? He raised several.

I think the usage of 'conservative' vs 'left' is slightly different in the USA compared with Australia. I agree with the comment that both are anti-science but in different ways. The body politic, in the post-WWII pre-COVID19 era, settled into a miasma of euphoric indifference to the threats that we face. Not fearful of war or pestilence because these problems were 'solved' by science, the modern politician sees no need to waste money on backroom boffins frittering away "our hard-earned tax dollars" on pointless self-serving and unimportant endeavours. Forgetting that when a new problem needs solving it is Louis Pasteur's 'prepared mind' that finds a solution. By restricting funding for curiosity-based research in particular and any research in general, we are left with rulers that know 'things' because, well, it's just common sense, isn't it? What we are suffering from now is a prepared mind deficit. Just keep your hands off my stash.

https://bit.ly/WalterMastersonCRT

[hv=pc=n&s=saj3hat532dckj984&n=st765h764dakqj6ct&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1h2s4hppp]266|200| Played by 15 others the best result was 4H-1 for +2.7 IMPs West ignores its lead-reminding bid and leads the ♦T. One of the few leads that allows this contract to make. What's your plan? I was very close, but ...[/hv] The full hand as played by me.

Yes - I also see a similar problem.