HeavyDluxe

10K?! Wow... I'm not even 1% of that yet... If I post three most random things in this thread to get to the century mark, that would be pathetic. Right?

My thoughts, FWIW: North's 2♣ followed by 2NT is fine. I'm pretty sure I prefer that to opening 2NT direct. I've got big cards. From South's seat - Flat hands sure seem to play up to, and not a whole lot beyond, their high card power... So, with south's hand, I'd bid 6NT direct and then be done. 2♣ - 2♦ 2NT - 6NT

Ditto! :P

My thoughts, which basically echo what has been said already: 1. Can an Ace be shown as "shortage"? Yes and no. 'Splintering' on a stiff ace seems to make evaluating the hand harder for the rest of the auction (at least for people I play with). So, typically, I avoid that. However, sometimes that's just the most descriptive bid for your hand... Here's where the my old nemesis 'bidding judgment' rears his ugly head. 2. Can North break J2NT sequence and bid 4H direct? Yes... This is the weakest action (see brianshark's response listing)... I think this is what I would've bid at the table, actually. 3. What should South have rebid ? Should be 4C to show shortness? (Again an honour card J♣) If you mean over 3♦, I think south should bid 4♥. South's hand simply isn't great. If north had bid 4♥ direct, south should pass. I personally think that South had no business with either J2NT or a splinter... But, given his shape 2NT was the worse option, IMHO.

2♠... why would I lie?

I like the whole auction - including the 2C opener. Sometimes the right spot goes down.

That's it... the font needs to be available to *BOTH* the WINE c: drive (~/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts/) and linux (/usr/local/share/fonts/) Thanks!

Hi all... Posting here, rather than start a new thread. I just installed ubuntu 8.04 and the lastest WINE package via Synaptic. I installed BBO and it starts/runs fine except for one minor glitch... When you are playing or kibbitzing, the suit symbols on the cards (underneath) the number are not visible - displaying instead as an empty red or black square. The cards, when played, show the suit symbols in the center of the card, but not on the edge. You can imagine this makes it hard to know what your hold if you're void in one suit of either color. :) I copied the symbols.ttf file off my Windows machine and mv'ed it to the .wine/drive_c/windows/Fonts directory as some folks suggested, but the boxes persist. Any clues? Thanks!

I have to admit wishing there was an intermediate/advancing commentator in several of the Vugraphs I've watched. It'd be great to have someone who could prod the rest of the commentators with the questions the "average club player" might have. Also, someone like that might have the effect of continuing to steer the conversation back to the game. If someone is prodding with questions (or even the occasional misguided comment) it would be harder and harder to get distracted by pets and other stuff.

A couple thoughts... First, as long as BBO is an open site (and I hope it remains so) there are going to be ignorant people on there. They're going to say they 'play SAYC' when they actually mean some unique blend of Standard and meditative guesses. These are the same people who alert every bid as 'natural' or refuse to disclose the meaning of a bid because '[they] don't have to tell you that'. While this sucks, most of us have been there (we simply took the initiative get out of that rut). Secondly, I think it's perfectly appropriate to explain to someone that SAYC is a *defined system* and they're not actually playing SAYC... I keep the ACBL SAYC link handy, as well as links to BWS and Fred's Learn to Play Bridge software. By and large, I think polite mention of this will get some people to study a bit more and act a little more informed.

I think the bidding looks fine and would pass.

Well done to both of you! Thanks for your constant posts and presence here!

Thanks to all who participated in the 2008 Spingold/Wagar Pool... Sorry for the delay! As promised, here are the final standings: 1. cherdano (45pts) 2. hrothgar 3. NickRW 4. Peter Gill 5. HeavyDluxe 6. 655321 Congrats, Arend! Your picked a pretty middle-of-the-pack Spingold, but were powered victory by totally p0wning the Wagar picks. A couple other notes, just for giggles: ♣ The overall spread from winner to 6th place was 15pts. ♦ If we were playing for the Spingold picks alone, hrothgar would be the runaway winner. He scored points for almost all his picks (only 'zeroing' on two) and backed the winning Gromov team for a whopping 24 pts by itself. If he entered an 'average' set of picks for the Wagar, he'd be the winner... ♥ The 'total' spread was relatively tight between all pickers, so well done! ♠ My closing thought would be that the weightings *might* be worth a little refinement for any future pools... But maybe I'm just being bitter! Thanks all... And congrats to the winners. Next pool: Beijing?

Well, just thought I'd post an update on the scores to date... Right now, cherdano is in a pretty commanding lead (about 20 points on paper), but he has maxed out his points. His last 'live' teams in the Spingold - Gromov and Weed - were his picks to lose in the semifinals. So, even if one of them goes on to win it won't be worth more than 6 points to him. Currently in a solid 2nd is PeterGill, thanks in part to some solid picks in Wagar. In fact, Peter will score some serious points for his pick of the Cayne team. 655321 actually could win handily, given that he still has Meltzer, Gromov, and Weed as live picks. More tomorrow.

I would've landed where Arclight was... 1NT with a design to pass 2♠, raise ♥s, and raise any minor. I'm curious why Noble would bid 2NT over ♦s, though...

Ok, this is by far the most one sided poll I've seen. 2H and sit FTW!!

Small group... but I've got everyone's entries. Good luck! Oh, and I forgot my guess for margin of victory - 10 IMPs in the Spingold.

This does make me wonder why BBO doesn't 'stall' partner and RHO's bids in the display - simulating the concept of screens. This isn't a criticism, just an idea. What prompted me thinking about was the VuGraph for one of the pre-NABC junior sessions. Jlall was the operator, and he was entering bids two at a time to not give away any information. It should be a simple thing to do something similar in 'high level' tourneys on BBO. If someone is *really* stalling, their 'screenmate' could call the director. But that would make it so I wouldn't know who was in the tank/lagging - partner or opps. This idea is probably chock full of holes... But, just thinkin'.

Here's my shot: SPINGOLD * 4 losing quarterfinalists: ♣ Meltzer (#8), ♣ Sadek (#7) , ♣ Goren (#55), ♣ O'Rourke (#3) * 2 losing semifinalists: ♦ Lynch (#12), ♦ Schwartz (#6) * Runner-up: ♥ Weed (#2) * The winner: ♠ Nickell (#1) WAGAR * 2 losing semifinalists: ♦ Mancuso (#4), ♦ Jacobs (#5) * Runner-up: ♥ Fireman (#1) * The winner: ♠ Baker (#2) One FINAL note: Remember you can edit your picks until 1PM Las Vegas time today. At that point, I'll pull all the picks out into a spreadsheet for scoring. Thanks!

Yeah, that's the reason I thought give ppl 'til tomorrow to submit. At least by that point you're down to 32 teams to choose from... If we extended the deadline into Thursday, we basically 'lose' the Wagar. I'm no opposed to that. Then you're picking from 16 teams in the Spingold. If the group feels strongly, we can extend the picks into Thursday. Thoughts?

Announcing the 2008 BBOF Spingold & Wagar Pool! Pick the outcome of the main events at this year's Summer NABC and win big prizes... After all, what greater prize is there than bragging rights and the adulation of your bridge peers? Submissions should be posted to this thread so everyone can see who's in. If you really want, you can PM your submission to me instead. If you submit via the thread and change your mind before the deadline edit your original post to reflect the change, please. Submissions must be made/received by 1pm PDT (20:00GMT) on Wednesday, July 23rd since that's when cards hit the table in Las Vegas. SPINGOLD * 4 losing quarterfinalists (3 points each) * 2 losing semifinalists (6 points each) * Runner-up (12 points) * The winner (24 points) WAGAR * 2 losing semifinalists (4 points each) * Runner-up (8 points each) * The winner (16 points) For a total of possible 92 points. When you list your teams, please list the LASTNAME of the first person on the roster and the teams seed #, just so there's no confusion. For example: Gordon (#38) or Gordon (#22) Team rosters and (eventually) brackets can be found here. Tiebreaker: What will be the margin of victory (in IMPS) in the Spingold Final on Sunday? Results will be posted to no later than Monday morning (EST). Good luck and happy VuGraphing!

Assuming that hrothgar speaks for at least a handful of others, I'll throw up a thread tomorrow morning announcing the pool and seeking submissions... We'll aim for a submission deadline of Wednesday @ 1pm Las Vegas time (PDT) since that's when cards hit the table. Thanks for the tip, Roger. They say you can bet on anything in Vegas, right? :( Good luck! We're pulling for you all. More tomorrow.

Well, it looks like the rosters for the Spingold and Wagar teams are up on the ACBL site. Anyone have any predictions which will dazzle and excite us? Gerben offered a pool for the '07 Bermuda bowl... I wonder if there'd be interest in something similar after the bracket thins a little? Anyway, should be some fun viewing! PS - Good luck to all the BBOFers, particularly - I suppose - to the team of Matt, Phil, Han, Roger, Josh and Bruce in the Mini I.

I think I'm only worried *if* the ♣2 is a singleton, then I'm worried about losing the ♠A, a ♦, and a ♣ ruff. I think I can solve one of these last two problems by playing two rounds of ♥s then leading a ♠ towards dummy. If E has the ace, they may get their ruff, but W is stuck leading back into me and I've got a pitch somewhere.

Again, I'm swimming at the deep end of the pool, in spite of the lifeguard's whistles... But I am trying to improve, so I need to take my knocks. I'm a little confused with the lead (since it seems I have the ♥2). But, anyway, I'm playing the ♣8 (low)... I'm thinking that W started w/ QJxx in clubs. If I lose to E, I still have 7 more tricks (♣AKT9, ♦A, ♥T, ♠Q) and can win any return. So, I'm at least going plus.