jmc

Where is the best place to play competitive spades online? What are the best communities? Is there a forum? Does anyone know if ACBL score can be used to run spade tournaments? What is a normal spades tournament format? I am looking to start a live spades game on Friday nights at a local bridge club.

The new BBO App runs great on my Asus Transformer Prime Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sand which tablet. When I tried to use the flash based BBO it was barely usable. The new app is smooth and fast. I really am looking forward to being able to log into my account and kibitz or play with my friends while sitting on the couch. I was disappointed that the software won’t let me use it in landscape or portrait. Right now it only has the one vertical orientation. Check out the Bridge Baron app for android or ios to see an app with good portrait and landscape options. I also thought the interface was a bit confusing at times. It took me a minute to realize I could hold down a button to get an explanation and then slide my finger off without activating the button. Some of the buttons, like the score sheet and configuration cog, don’t “feel” like they do anything when clicked because the state of the button doesn’t change or “pop” to make it look pressed. After pushing the score sheet button, it took me a minute to realize I needed to click the back button to go back I kept trying click the little vertical triangle in the upper right corner to “close” the score pad. This button doesn’t do anything when looking at the score pad. The back button feels really far away from where the action is. Would it be possible to make it so I could swipe left from the main screen to go to scores and played boards and then swipe right to go back again. Perhaps an additional right swipe could move me from the main screen to a settings screen or a friends list. Swipes are great on touchscreens. Maybe you could find a use for swipe up and swipe down as well. Are the little card symbols going to be pressable? Is the chat button? I love the user interface directions that show blue when its that directions turn to act. I’m not a huge fan of the wooden table motif, but I think it all comes together well. I’d prefer to see IMPS or MPS scored on the last board instead of the running total. Perhaps that could be an option. I’m not sure what you have planned for the more button and the triangle upper right button on the table, but do you need both? If that title bar is going to be up there all the time, I’d like it to display the time. Some sorting options in the tables to kibitz area would be nice. I think some thought to the implementation for phones vs. tablets might be in order. Tablet resolutions are getting higher and higher. You might be able to show more data than you can on a phone. BBO flash displays fine on my tablet. I hope some of this was helpful. This is a great first release! Thanks BBO for all the hard work. I can’t wait to play some tourneys on my tablet! jmc

I have used the software on both an HTC Droid Thunderbolt and my Asus Transformer prime. So far so good. It runs WAY better than the flash version ever did. I would really like to be able to use it in both portrait and landscape mode on the tablet though. I am going to try and get in some hands tonight and then I'll post a bit more. TY BBO!!

I like Billy Miller's treatment in the February 2011 ACBL bulletin where the jump reverse shows a "splimit" bid. This is typically a 13,14 point hand that counts up to an invite with heart shortness. This allows our 1D-1S-3S bids to stay "pure" with the advertised high card strength, yet let partner evaluate game opposite the lower high card point hands that value up. If you are an ACBL member and interested you can access the February Bulletin through your "Member Page".

Playing more or less natural after a precision 1M-2C how do you handle the following assuming that the club bidder always clarifies balanced by bidding 2NT at next opportunity. Does my suggestion below suffice? The auction goes 1S-2C-2H-2NT-3NT- xx, AKQx, Kxx, Jxxx Bids 4H. KJ, AKQx, Kxx, Qxxx Bids an artificial 4C showing slam interest in H? Kxx, Ax, Kxxx, Axxx Bids 4S. Kxx, AKx, Kxx, AJx Bids an artificial 4D showing slam interest in S?

I like to raise partners 1M response to my precision 1D opener on 3-cards. After 1D-1M-2M I'd like to use a spiral raise structure of some kind to find out what type of support and raise the 1D bidder has. http://bridgepro.blogspot.com/2007/04/spiral-raises.html Gavin Wolpert's suggestion here for standard players looks good, but all the minor suit information seems less worthwhile playing precision. Does anyone here who plays precision have a good alternative structure to differentiate min/max, 3/4 card raise and possibly other info?

I sincerely believe that what primarily keeps women only events alive in the ACBL is money for women playing as pros on teams in women's events.

The time is at hand. I need a partner in Louisville, Kentucky Frid, Sat. If you know anyone who plays there, let 'em know!

I wouldn't treat this as a forcing pass if my 2/1 here can be just a 10 count. I think generally to be a forcing pass we need to voluntarily bid game when red. What is the general consensus as to when to play a forcing pass? Would you consider this a forcing pass if you bid it with some random "good" player. Does partner's minimum for an opener factor in to whether its a forcing pass?

Yes, I think he's in Lexington. My recollection is that is about two hours away from Louisville. Probably too far to drive for a club game. Anyone else interested? BUMP

I will be in Louisville, Kentucky and would like to play at the club there on Friday and Saturday during the day on the 18 and 19 of May (this coming Friday and Saturday). Anyone interested?

We have switched to a semi-forcing NT in all 4 seats. This works well with our 14-16 NT range and lets opener pass after 1M-1NT with most 5332 hands. I have really been surprised at how many hands we win after 1M-1NT all float. I have yet to lose mps even when responder had the 3-card limit raise, though this is scary. Removing the invitational jump shift from the semi-forcing NT feels a lot safer. At mps, I don't mind the gamble much, but at imps I think its pretty risky if p can have a good 11 with a 6-card suit. This is the main reason for switching away from Bergen type raises. If we were sticking with F 1NT, I don't think I'd change. I appreciate your suggestions. I really like the 1M-3M mixed raise against good competition, but find that for the mps fields I am usually in, the 1S-3S preemptive raise still creates a problem for many pairs. In the 3rd bracket of a regional last year we played a pair where one partner dbld the 3M for take-out and his partner thought it was more "values' and left it in making. Playing the 1M-3M as mixed we just play that both 1M-2M can contain the preemptive raise.

Does anyone know of a good book or website that discusses invitational jump shifts or has some example hands? I did read the Larry Cohen article that discussed them on bridgewinners but it was pretty emaciated.

I am considering switching to invitational jump shifts instead of Bergen raises. What are your requirements in regards to a fit for partner's suit? i.e. 1S-3D, can 3D bidder have Hx of spades? Can he have two small? After the jump shift are new bids by opener game forcing? Any other suggestions for this method? I am playing this in a precision with 2/1 completely game forcing context. If anyone has links to other threads concerning this, I'd be much obliged if you'd share them.

We play 1NT as "semi-forcing" in a Precision context. Our NT range is 14-16 and often contains a 5-card major. This means when we open 1D, 1H, 1S we pass partners 1NT with virtually all 11-13 5332 hands. Occasionally we miss a 5-3 M fit when responder has a 3-card limit raise or a 3NT on 25 with 13 opposite 12. I was initially very worried about this but Fred Gitelman in another thread said: The alternative of rebidding 2m with a 5332 14-count (or any 5332 hand for that matter as is necessary if the 1NT response is truly forcing) is frowned upon by what seems to me to be a growing number of experts these days. One of the big plusses of semi-forcing 1NT is that 2m rebids usually deliver 4 cards in the suit bid. If you use 1NT as 14-16 then "usually" effectively becomes "always". You might check the thread here: http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/44676-14-16-or-15-17-1nt/

I used to be a big fan the Edwards program, but after numerous windows 7 issues I switched to the following and have really liked it. Its free and well maintained. http://www.conventioncardeditor.com/

I am also curious about when to call the director because of a psyche. Playing in the NABC Fast Pairs in Toronto the opponents psyched and I made a joke about calling the director for the "psyche book" but didn't. Should I have? Did I fail to protect the field from this pair if they frequently psyche? What say those of you who play national pair events? Call the director after an opponents psyche or move on?

My concern is that I only have two sound options: on or off. This means that I often turn sound off when kibitzing so I don't here the constant click of the cards playing but I then frequently miss chat messages from friends, etc. I would really like the ability to turn on message notification but turn off other sounds.

1D-2H is 5+S 4+H and 5-10- 1D-2S is 5+S 4+H and 10-12- This functions as an invite with at least 5-4 in the majors. 12+ hands start with 1S and rebid a game forcing 2H over partner's 1NT.

We do allow for 6-4 spades and hearts in the reverse Flannery auctions 1D-2H (5-10-) or 2S(10+-12-). This allows us to bid the 6-4 game forcing hands without using check back. This opens up several check back auctions that now have no meaning. I would like to have suggestions on how to use those idle bids. I have some ideas but didn't want to poison the well until others had a chance for suggestions.

I think it is just as easy to show the game forcing 6-4 by bidding the 6-card suit then the 4-card suit and then the 6-card again. i.e. 1D-1S-1NT-2H-2NT-3S or 1D-1H-1NT-2S-2NT-3H. The new major is game forcing here as with an invitational or worse 6-4 one could start with either a Reverse Flannery 2H or 2S over 1D or bid 1H over 1D followed by 2H over 1NT.

Partner and I recently started playing 1D-2M as reverse Flannery / Rodwell over 1D. This has freed up several auctions in our two-way check back system as we no longer need to show both majors via check back. For those of you playing reverse Flannery / Rodwell over 1D, what do you do with the empty sequences like 1D-1M-1NT-2C (forcing 2D)-2D-2 of the other Major and 1D-1M-1NT-2C (forcing 2D)-2D-3 of the other Major? What do you think these would be best used for? We currently play that after 1D-1M-1NT: 2OM is game forcing and is a natural shape out. 3c, 3d, 3OM show game forcing, slam interest 5-5 or better. 3M shows a good major suit slam interest. After 1D-1M-1NT-2C (forcing 2D)-2D-: pass to play with diamonds 2M shows 5 and and invitational values 2OM ??? 2NT weak with long clubs 3C clubs invitational, does not want a correction to the Major 3D diamonds invitational, does not want a correction to the Major 3M invitational with 6+ in the major. 3OM ??? 3NT shows a 5332 willing to play 3NT after 1D-1M-1NT-2D (game forcing 2D) 2M shows 3-card support 3OM ??? 2NT minimum balanced We play a fairly vanilla Berkowitz-Manley based transfer precision.

The password and typing problem using Flash on a tablet operating system is very frustrating. The key to entering a password is to type carefully and assume you have entered everything correctly. Then when finished hit enter on the virtual keyboard. The letters won't have entered into the box visibly or in the "normal" way to you, but it will almost always work to log me in both on my mobile phone (HTC Incredible) and on the various tablets I have tried (Motorola Xoom, Blackberry Playbook, Samsun Galaxy 7.5 inch original). Playing on BBO is doable, but chatting and alerting are very difficult. I'm not sure why flash won't show the text I'm typing but it makes using it very, very unfriendly. If BBO could make this work easier on the software side it'd be great. It reminds me of the old terminal days where you had to set echo on to see the characters you typed.

We play that the auction continues naturally and responder or opener can just "shape out". I have never liked having the big club bidder's natural suit bid as some kind of support ask, but I know others like this method. I think playing natural followups except in specific limited situations is best. If you really want much more science you might as well play a full relay system, in my opinion.

I had an email exchange with J. Baum the president of the ACBL about the possibility of taking some action to get spades players into local bridge clubs and for the League to have a presence at the 2 big spades tournaments every year. Nothing came of this but he did indicate that the ACBL owned some spades related urls. My email in part from March of 2006 and Mr. Baum's response follow: Second, let me begin by talking about a card game called spades. Spades is a trump based card game similar to bridge. The game is played by 4 players who are seated and partnered as in bridge but spades is always trump. There is no dummy and players can also bid "nils" for taking no tricks. This game is thriving both on the internet and perhaps more importantly among high school and college students around the country. Spades has only two major tournaments a year and has thus far failed at creating a national sanctioning body. In many ways spades players are in a similar position to whist / bridge players pre ACBL. They have no clubs. They play in coffee shops and student unions. Why am I prattering on about spades players you might be wondering. I think that the acbl should consider stepping in and becoming involved in spades. Many bridge players play in spades tournaments and the game would be simple to learn. More importantly, the opportunity to get spades players (did I mention many of them are young?) into our clubs, perhaps even playing games for spade "points", would be a chance to recruit them into OUR great game, Bridge. I am convinced the acbl would benefit mightily. My father and sister have both recently become interested in playing bridge because of how much they have enjoyed playing spades. Imagine if acbl clubs had a spades game on Saturday afternoon, immediately followed by a bridge intro and minibridge game. Some players would surely stay. They could then watch as the Saturday Bridge game players trickled into the club. Maybe they would see the intensity of play. Some might stay and kibitz. Imagine how easy our members could invite family members who didn't know bridge to play spades. The game is much easier to learn, but provides great training for bridge in terms of play of the hand. It has to be easier to recruit players for bridge among those who play cards than those who don't. The ACBL could test my ideas by running a pilot program. Persuade a bridge club owner or two to publicize and run a spades game and offer some bridge indoctrination immediately before and after. When the players arrive explain the clubs main purpose is for bridge and introduce the role of the acbl. ACBL score could easily prepare swiss pairings or some other type of playing bracket. Post sheets just like in real bridge. Following the game invite whoever is interested to play a few hands of minibridge. Announce any upcoming bridge lessons and emphasize how many bridge games the club has every week. If this is at all interesting to you, I have spoken to club owners willing to give it a try. Even if none of these ideas about acbl and bridge are interesting to you, at a minimum I think you should consider having the acbl sponsor a booth or some kind of presence at the three large spades conferences every year. It makes sense to market to our fellow card players. Two conferences are held by The Spades Connection and information can be found at http://www.thespadesconnection.com/news.php. The largest tournament is the World Series of Spades and information can be found at http://www.grandprixtournaments.com/ Currently there are 4000 spades players online at the Microsoft Gaming Zone. There are only 1000 bridge players. Jay Baum's response: The Spades idea is a good one and one we have done a little work on with very little success.We do own spadesrus.com and NADSL . com (North American Duplicate Spades League). If one of the clubs in Omaha starts a game we would be interested in the results.The boards and movements can be the same as a bridge game , so the transition to duplicate spades would be easy. ACBL is also setup to be the rating record keeper through slight adjustments in ACBLscore.Thank you also for the idea about the major tournaments.Will pass that on to marketing. Hope bridge is still strong in Omaha. Kindest regards, Jay Baum, CEO ACBL