boris3161

I'm not sure it is possible to create team matches for some time in the future. Mostly one creates a team match and it starts immediately all the participants have confirmed. Keep watching for your OZ/Ireland match :P

Thanks for the replies. OK - so my mistake! Could it/should it be more intuitive? If everyone makes the same mistake, it tends to suggest that the user interface could be improved...

The dialog for setting up team matches has a diagram of the two tables. I have recently set up a couple of team matches and I'm 90% sure that the resultant tables didn't reflect the initial set up specified. The teams were correct but the seating arrangements weren't as specified. Next time I create a match, I'll take screen shots to prove it or otherwise - but I wondered if anyone else had noticed the same thing. Software is 5.0.1.

I hated the moving ads when I first downloaded the revised software (and, initially, I taped a card to the screen to cover them up!) - but I have to say, I don't notice them any more. The brain is a wonderful thing!

Yes - you are, of course, correct - it is 2/1. As an acol player, I tend not to notice the difference.... More details of the GIB CC are available at http://online.bridgebase.com/doc/gib_system_notes.php

Not quite sure what you are looking for but I use GIB a fair bit for practice and I find it very useful. It uses a slightly strange (to me) version of SAYC but you can enquire about what the bids mean - you soon get used to its slight idiosyncracies in bidding. In the play, it isn't perfect but it is pretty good. For some reason, most people tend to sit N/S when playing with GIB - so scores can be very different depending on where you sit. If you sit N/S your imps are compared with other human players (mostly). If you sit E/W your scores are (mostly) compared to what GIB does. On the whole it is much harder to score well sitting EW - this means that GIB generally outplays the humans who use it. But now I've commented on this it may change..... ;) Chris

You offer this as a justification of the benefits of mixed sex marriage? Perhaps same sex marriages are the only ones likely to succeed. Mixed sex marriages hardly seem to offer a successful model these days. B)

Yes, you are, of course, correct. It wouldn't be perfect. Double dummy solutions aren't always easy to find in practice. However, most of the time, you can get within a trick or so of the double dummy solution and it can provide a good indication of what might happen. I suspect the partership bidding tables are used often by beginners who may not have the speedy analysis skills of the experts and I think it could be helpful. I hadn't appreciated that all four hands weren't available in some circumstances - certainly that would limit the times GIB DD analysis could be available. Even seeing all four hands, I'm not sure I could work out how to take 13 tricks in your example deal! Yes, I could save the hand, open the lin file and analyse it (I didn't realise pb tables created lin files until recently) but wouldn't it be better to make that facility available rather more simply? I'd find it useful and I thought some others might too - it was just a suggestion, not a complaint or issue. Thanks for giving me a workaround but I'd still like the capability if it sould be provided without too much effort.

I would find it very helpful to assess the outcome of our bidding sequences if the GIB double dummy solver could be accessed while in the Partnership bidding rooms. After bidding, you usually need to assess whether the final contract is reasonable and the double dummy solver (when taken with a pinch of salt) can be a great help in determining this. I know experienced players can, in no time at all, look at a hand and determine if a contract makes or not - even when including a double strip suicide squeeze - but for lesser mortals, I think it could be useful.

Dysons are very good - but are they worth the extra money? Probably not. One thing I have never been able to understand (as a single man) - the instructions say you should change the filters every three months - I can't recommend any vacuum clearner where you have to change the filters every time you use it! :)

Not sure whether it's a bug or a feature: when you are in the Partnership bidding tables, the table list displayed in the chat area appears to be the list for the Main club. Not especially serious as bugs go... :D

Playing acol, I wouldn't feel comfortable to bit 1nt with a four card spade suit. So, the decision for me is between 1♠ and 2♣ - clearly 2♣ describes my hand better so that is what I would bid. If my partner responds with ♦ or rebids ♥, I am probably not strong enough to show my spades. C'est la vie.

It might also help your case if you spelt her name right.....

I don't like the ads - or the fact that they change during play - it wouldn't be so intrusive if they were static - but if they help keep BBO free, I'll put up with them.....

Ok - so you found BridgeMaster - can you enlighten me? I haven't found it in the new interface yet. Thanks.

The most polite thing to do, if you find yourself at a table with inappropriately skilled players (too good or too bad), is to finish the hand, thank them and move on. If you do that, you should not get banned.

I'd like to second what Wayne has said here - I too was disgusted by what happened in the tourney - especially when someone told Ron that you should NEVER open 1nt with a 5 card major! I wonder about the format of experts commenting on the hands during play - I've not found it a very helpful format - I found Ron's analysis of the hands after the tourney much more beneficial and easier to understand and comprehend. The behaviour in that session was still not perfect, but it was a whole lot better. Thanks, Wayne, for your sterling efforts managing that session. Going through the hands again later along with the chat log revealed even more gems of wisdom from this bridge icon. Even if it wasn't perfect, it was a great session and thanks to everyone involved in organising it

In a similar way, TDs are usually kibitzing the tourney - would it be worth making that distinction as well? (Or is this getting out of hand?)

If, for example, two Turkish players are playing together, I think it would be churlish ops who would object to a discussion being held after a hand in Turkish, especially if someone was to say "do you mind if I explain my bidding/play in Turkish?". However, if the conversation carries on during play of the next hand, most of us would have no way of knowing wnether it was still on the original topic or exchanging unauthorised information. Most of the time, you can trust the honesty of opposition, can't you? :)

Your partner is presumably showing a weak hand with 5+ diamonds. You have a weak hand with some support for diamonds. It looks like a good pass to me. You probably have about 20 - 22 points between you and 2 diamonds may or may not make - going any higher doesn't look like a good idea.

Nah - it's just that we're all addicted to BBO and spend more and more of our time playing bridge and less on other things that we're supposed to be doing... :unsure:

Twice recently, I've been in a chat room along with more than 30 people. The list of those present only shows the first 17(?) people. Would it be possible to make the list of people scrollable? I guess chat rooms were originally intended for use by a limited number of people but they have recently been used as an assembly area for the BIL/ACOL teams league and by Paulg for a lecture on opening leads for the BIL - both excellent uses of this facility. Not urgent or important - but it might be nice to be able to see who is there.....

How about the "pseudo legal eagle" who insists a pass in first seat on 12 points should be alerted? Or insists that a weak nt (12-14) is unethical? Or that a weak 2 bid must contain exactly 6 cards headed by 2 of the top 3 cards and 6-10 points - if not it is cheating?

I recently purchased the 117 level 1 deals. After playing them, if you go back into ordinary play, the bidding is not visible. My guess is that the bidding screen is switched off for these hands and it doesn't get switched back on again when you exit. Workaround is to exit BBO and re-enter again after playing the bridgemaster hands. BTW - they may be basic but it's never a bad thing to remind yourself of some of the basics! I bet there are few people who would get every hand right first time.....

Fred, Please accept my unreserved apologies. My post was intended in fun but it obviously hit a raw and very understandable nerve. Your points are well made. Thanks for the time you took to respond - and for all the time you put into BBO and associated efforts. It is much appreciated.