G_R__E_G

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their visits to Toronto. I finally got to meet a few of you (Fred, Justin and Adam) in person for the first time. My partner and I made it through qualifiers for the LMP and my team made it all the way to the quarter-finals of the Mini-Spin before getting knocked out. In that last match we only lost by 5 and my partner turned ill over the dinner break. I'm sure if that hadn't happened we'd have at least gotten past that match (tossing your cookies and playing bridge don't mix well).

The laws state that you "should" state your line of play. They do not state that you "must" state your line of play. As an example, yesterday I threw in LHO on trick 11 leaving me with the KJ of trump in my hand and the ace of trump gone (the Q was still out). I showed my hand a said that the last 2 tricks were mine. When you claim in this manner you are running the risk of the Director ruling against you by saying that you might play it incorrectly but claiming this way is not inherently a violation of the law. Mike is correct that you don't "have" to state a line of play but it's probably the smartest thing to do if there's any doubt at all - just ask Jimmy Cayne.

I've used a Blackberry since they first came on the market. I've had several models and I've never been unhappy with any of them. Of course, being a University of Waterloo alumnus I may be a little biased.

PS I'd like to nominate "Quietly catchee monkey" as the best topic title name of the month.

We are taught not to bid Blackwood with a void. We aren't taught that we shouldn't bid it with two voids so that 4NT call is obviously reasonable. :blink:

Okay - this is an exciting development http://www.bridgewin...-loud-and-clear . One small complaint...Why did I have to find out about this on Bridge Winners and only after the match was over? Did I miss an announcement? I really would have loved to be logged on for the first broadcast.

They are made by a wonderful Canadian company by the name of Research in Motion and can be purchased at an electronics store near you.

Quite true. Apparently tomorrow will probably be the hottest day in recorded history in Toronto. The goods news is that you can stay indoors and still get everywhere you'll need to go.

I too will pitch my tent in the pass camp.

Do you mean the COPC Jilly? If so then you only need to have a 50%+ game to qualify to play in the Natiional Final. Here is a link to the COC. http://cbf.ca/files/...cs/11COPCON.pdf

#1 seems like a clear pass to me. #2 is really interesting. I have a policy to not bid a grand at matchpoints unless it's a really strong field or unless I can clearly count 13 tricks. This hand might be one where I violate that policy.

Particularly at IMPS, the ♠6 has to be a huge standout.

Best burgers you'll ever have, four ingredients. Ground sirloin, Montreal steak spice, ketchup, soya sauce. I've heard that Montreal steak spice may be called Canadian steak spice in the USA. If you can't find it then I'd suggest buying some and taking it home with you if you're coming to the NABC. I can't really tell you quantities as we just wing it but I'd guess that for a couple of pounds of meat we'd use about 1/3 cup of ketchup, 2 heaping tablespoons of spice and a couple of teaspoons of soya. As for instructions - mix, grill, eat. :)

It was Donald Pleasence playing the President in Escape from New York and I'll start with 2NT.

Follow the play - south plays the dummy just as well as he bids.

I voted no but it's close. I think at IMP's I'd be more likely to but it's still not a given.

This will be my first NABC (I was supposed to go to one a couple of years back but my partner went and died on me - I've still not forgiven her). Being in my own backyard of course helps (I live 90 minutes north of Toronto and worked right downtown for several years). Anyone else going? Anyone vacationing in Ontario before or after that wants some suggestions of places to see?

+1

GIB uses simulations to make decisions. After S accepted the transfer, GIB would have run simulations and they would have told him that passing 2♥ was best. If these same simulations were run again it might come to a different conclusion. The same goes for bidding 3NT after the 3♥ call. While it may seem strange, from the information that GIB had it figured that the best contract was 3NT based upon the results of simulations. It's hard to believe that with a known 9 card fit that this was the most successful bid but with running a relatively small number of simulations it's not overly surprising that 3NT might be the choice.

The appearance of apps designed for mental midgets and insomniacs will follow a curve similar to the site's popularity amongst the masses. So to answer your question it's a feature that may not make it out of beta testing.

Here's the link to it from the e-mail that I received: www.vubridge.com/featured104.aspx It's not even so much that the hand is a poor one (it's not all that bad). My main issue is that the interface isn't even close to mediocre. I think if you're expecting people to pay for a service, you'd better make sure that your website looks professional. The way this looks brings into question all of the other work that they do.

I got one too. I don't consider one e-mail to be "spam" but maybe I'm less sensitive about these things than some. I'm assuming they've scraped e-mail addresses off of the ACBL site but I could be wrong. PS I agree 100% with Phil, what a horrible example hand to try to sell a service.

I think the main point that you're missing Al is that this is the Watercooler. It's called that for a reason. The watercooler is a place for light discussion. We come here for a brief respite from reading about compound squeezes and esoteric bidding systems to read about types of cheese and to possibly share a fart joke. If you'd like to discuss the effects of farting on global warming then I'm sure the audience would be more receptive.

I just read this entire thread. I can save any new readers some time, here it is in brief. - Climate change is not bad, in fact it's good. - No, it's bad. - No, it's pretty good. - Actually it's great!! - No, it's bad. Really, really bad. - Blah, blah, blah. - Al is a troll. - Blah, blah, blah. - Blah, blah, blah. Okay, I may not have read every post but I stand by my rendition.

It's illegal here in Ontario Canada as well. Funny story (at least I think it's borderline hilarious) - back when I was in university some friends and I had been out at a local watering hole. I was rather quite drunk and whilst walking home I decided that my friends shouldn't be walking, they should be taking a cab. Much to my delight a few moments later a "cab" went driving by. Two minorly unfortunate things were: a) I hailed the cab with the hand that was holding the bottle of beer that I'd smuggled out of the bar and b) what the drunken idiot thought was a cab was actually a police car. It wasn't even an unmarked car, it was a fully identified, lights on the top police car. Anyway, the fine at the time for drinking in public was $63.75 which was a small price to pay for such a fond memory of getting a ticket on the lovely main street in Waterloo, Ontario.