fifee

Hosting a table in the Main Club has difficulties which are not easily resolved. 1. Would be great if we could restrict petitioners for joining to the "level of playing" requested. Then we would not have to turn everyone away who clicks on "find a game" if they are not at an appropriate level for our table. 2. Would be advantageous if the Table Host could interact with petitioners and not just "reject" them. For example, you are serving an expert table. An advanced player requests a seat. You might want to ask if he has a partner to invite. Most players want a "good game" - challenging for their particular level. Are either of these possible? I don't mean to be a complainer, just trying to explain how I feel when I open a table at BBO. Thanks for everything you do. BBO is amazing !

I have heard kibs complaining about chat at tables. I have heard players complaining about chat in a tournament. Could our brilliant programmers allow an option to "Ignore Table Chat" or to "Ignore Public Chat at Tournament (except of course from TD)"? The former could help the kibs in Vugraph who just want to watch and not listen to the commentators, too. :)

Best wishes for a long and happy life together ! :)

Please do not ignore the fact that whichever side opens has a definite edge. It is much harder to get into the auction after an opening by opps. If opener can be light then responder must be disciplined and solid with responses. No 3 level rebids by opener with sub minimum opener, etc. Lots of pdship agreements, etc. There is a lot to say for opening that 10 point wonder with a nice 6 card !H suit. :P P

I agree, Gabor ! Why should vugraph operators be exposed to such nonsense? Commentators who want feedback can have +++ in their profile to hear comments from kibs, why not do the same for vugraph operators? Roland, we all applaud you, the volunteer operators, onsite organizers and bbo for the marvelous effort that is sustained to put us all there live ! Watching as cards are played, and matches are won and lost. We watch history in the making ! It is an incredible opportunity for all of us and we appreciate what goes into making it happen. Bravo!

I had an interesting discussion at Vugraph this morning with another player who shall remain nameless til later. We watched a hand at Flame's match where Flame's opp opened 1♦ in 2nd position and after partner bid 1♠, opener rebid 1NT with: [hv=d=e&v=b&s=s4hq932daq87ck765]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Debate ensued about the NT rebid with a stiff ♠. We agreed that we would not have opened this hand but even if your hand is not sub-minimum, what would you rebid? I think rebidding 1NT or 2NT with a stronger hand should guarantee a balanced hand. The exception for me would be a hand with a stiff Ace or King and no better rebid. Am I out of touch here?

I was lucky and caught the first part of your match this morning. You played very well ! Your system was interesting with the strong club opening and the relay responses. Congratulations. I was wondering why some of the responses had a 0-11 HCP range. That seemed too wide to be productive. Were you using REO carding?

BBO is an international bridge website. BBO members are from over 100 countries, from all walks of life, vastly differing cultures and religions with love of bridge in common. BBO is a virtual bridge melting pot. Anyone who cannot tolerate people in spec speaking in their native language should find a bridge site which meets their lingual needs.

I like light action so someone must be conservative, at least a bit more conservative than Justin. For the most part, I will keep the bidding open for my partner with an Ace or with a King and a fit and some shape. The better the shape, the less I have to have. The better the fit, the less I have to have to respond. With 4-6 dummy points and 3 cd support, I will bid 1NT and then show a preference for partner's opening suit. ( Not enough to raise to 2 immediately for me.) With 4 card or longer support, depends on agreements. Bergenesque raises are 0 to whatever for jump raises. I prefer the tighter Goldway raises which are mostly 3 point spreads. With no fit, depends on shape more than count. The shapelier, the less HCP needed to respond. :P Be thoughtful, most importantly. Thanks, Ben, for helping me get back into forum!

Now we know the truth. South Park rules!

I like Rain's rules for The Watercooler: 1) No personal attacks. Insults are a No-No. You can have issues with someone else's opinion and attack that (in a civilised manner hopefully), but don't go after anyone personally. 2) No advertising, no spam. 3) No obscenities. Posters who engage in hateful, vulgar, threatening, knowingly illegal and inaccurate posts may be suspended not just from forums, but also our related websites. In general, please follow this rule of thumb (which is a good rule I've picked up from another forum): If you aren't comfortable emailing a post to your grandmother/mother/colleague, then it probably shouldn't be posted here. By posting in this forum, you have also agreed to the terms stated here. If we stick to these, we will have an opportunity to get to know each other better without causing flame wars.

Why would it not be kosher? No specs would eliminate one possible source of unwanted chatter during a tourney.

That's all well and good, Richie ( the one and only boss :D ), but what about those invitational hands where you might have game if you could find a fit or know more about partner's hand such as: does he have 3 cd support? does he have support for my long minor? does he have 4 cards in another major previously undisclosed? After finding a fit, you may need to invite at that point, as well. I prefer no relay after 2♣. Prefer 2C to show invitational values and ask for more information about opener's hand. This fosters the more natural responses and handles the hands where we need to invite even after we find a fit, etc

It would be nice if I had the opportunity to try BBO money bridge. Uday says BBO thinks it is illegal for me :P Even though I live in West Virginia where it is legal, my cable company serves Maryland and West Virginia and the money bridge is illegal in Maryland. Anyone have any suggestions? Uday did not have any solution when I spoke with him in the lobby of BBO. Waiting and wishing for my luck to change in wild wonderful West by God Virginia. :D

I like 5D which would imply Clubs stopped, too. Partner may take it as bidding out your hand pattern. He will definitely know you are interested in slam.

Btw, always 1S opener on all the hands as shown.

Give me one more club and I will open 1C. Distorting distribution is counterproductive. Esecially on 65 hands, you must give partner an accurate picture if you want to wind up in the best spot.

I prefer pass after a 1NT opening. The purpose of a weak NT opening (or weakish) is partly pre-emptive. 1. We know we don't have game, so penalizing the opponents is desirable :P 2. It is not clear what is the best strain for us. So pass and hope our opponents will feel like they are being robbed and will enter the fray. :wub:

I need an official clarification for NT Opening alerts and I am sure to find the answer here :D ACBL now requires the partner of the NT opener to announce the pair's opening NT range when his partner opens 1NT. 1. Could anyone tell me the WBF policy regarding 1NT openings? and 2. What protocol do we follow at BBO regarding announcing/alerting 1NT bids? (My thought was that we were to alert any non 15-17 NT opening.) Thanks in advance ♥ Patty

If you are opening 15-17 1NT, then I agree with Mike- pass and table a great dummy for partner. I agree that hand evaluation is more than HCP. At NT I will add 1/2 point for a 5 card suit or a full point for a good 5 card suit. I add 1/2 point for good middle cards and 1/2 point for a hand with well placed honors. With this hand, you have lots of good card combinations but still can't bring the hand up to invitational value for me.

I do not accept. You are at the top - 22HCP but no 5 card suit, no good middlin' cards, ♣ AQ is tight which is also a negative, no runnable suits either. sigh.

I think the point of the award is to honor and recognize someone who has stood out throughout the year and helped promote the game of bridge. Congratulations to Fred and his team ! Great bridge and a great opportunity which you and your fellows have given us with vugraph ! Perhaps the IBPA was avoiding "Man of the Year" when they awarded "Personality of the Year" :D

I agree with 2H the first time. You must pull the 3NT x and I would tend to show the 4 card Club suit at this point. Partner probably has 18-19, too much to overcall 1NT. You are simply looking for the best fit because 3NT does not look appetizing with your 3 HCP :)

ianbgs, sayc is boring and has some serious inadequacies. You might try 2/1. It's always good to learn new systems so that you can better defend against them. Precision or Strong Club systems are good, too.

It is to me, playing 2-way check back Stayman. 2♦ is an artificial game force, asking for cheapest information not yet conveyed. So it has higher priority to show 4 hearts before 3 spades. Example: 1♦ - 1♠ 1N - 2♦ 2♥ Opener has 4 hearts and perhaps also 3 spades. If responder is not interested in 4 hearts opposite, but has 5 spades, he will just proceed with 2♠ to see if opener has 3-card support. Remember, 2♦ is game forcing, so you can take it step by step from there. Roland In the version of 2 way checkback developed by Goldway, priorities after 2C or 2D are: 1st show 3 card support for partner's suit 2nd show 4 cards in other minor etc They did not use a puppet to 2D after 2C. All hands with 10 or more points would go through 2C or 2D with 13+ and therefore 2H or 2S rebid by responder would show weak distributional hands. This makes it easy to show a hand with less than 10 points. Fairly simple and straight forward and extremely useful. :)