jmc

I agree that variety of events is nice, but I don't think the acbl as a whole agrees. Kansas City has a great regional that runs an imp pairs, a barometer pairs, and some other events along with the normal pairs, K.O.s, and compact K.O.s. When I went this last December I heard lots of complaining about the schedule. Poeple felt like they couldn't play in enough K.O.s. It seems that a certain segment of players that travel for bridge are only interested in sucking up as many points as possible. The K.C. regional table count appeared to be down this last year anyway. This coming regional will probably be even smaller as those K.O. fans and gold seekers attend in Omaha or Gatlinburg for the K.O. insanity. There is little incentive to change the generic K.O, K.O., Swiss formats that most regionls use. jmc

I don't wish to ruin the district. I wish to increase the tournament attendance. This may be the last regional in Sioux Falls ever. The powers at be want to give the district's sanction away and let someone else have the regional. Bobbie doesn't think enough people here want to have it. She doesn't think its worth it and I think thats sad. I was just curious if money prizes would bring in more people. It very well may not unless the prizes were huge. My thinking was just that I go to 3 or 4 regionals a year. Typically there are some trade offs. For example, I might plan on going to Minneapolis, Des Moines, Omaha, and Sioux falls but if Denver offered some prize money I could see myself swapping it for Minneapolis. I also think it would be good if the media had an easy way to answer the question, "Who won?" There really is not an easy way because there are tons of winners. Even though the national ACBL only officialy runs the NABC's, and the rest are done by subunits, I still think it really runs all the games. Their policies are tight. Their sanction must be given AND you must hire and pay the directors they select. At most tournaments the directors and their per diem are one of, if not the, largest expense. Omaha is the largest regional in the district here. They had 2150 tables of bridge with 1100 individual players. Sioux Falls will be lucky to have 800 tables of bridge. Many good players will not leave town for tournaments. So, I guess the money idea was just a part of me bemoaning the state of tournament bridge here. jmc

Why is it the ACBL is the primary tournament organizer for bridge in the US? Why aren't they nothing more than a masterpoint recording and memorializing organization? Anyone (any TD) can run a chess tournament and have the United States Chess Federation sanction and rate the games. Why can't I hold my own tournament here in Sioux Falls, have it rated, and perhaps give prize money? Could I have a once yearly "club" game. I think I could, but I couldn't have it as a silver or gold point event. Are masterpoints given out for the Cavendish? How much prize money would I need to offer for you to come and bring a team or pair to Sioux Falls, SD for a bridge tournament? jmc

I often feel there is a bias against younger players (anyone under 50?) by tournament directors. I feel like many have lots of attitude and act like its my fault they were called. Maybe we should rename the directors and call them referees. Maybe that would change the attitude a bit. At a recent regional I overcalled in the following auction: 1D <pass> 1S <2S by me> opponent pulled out the stop card and bid...3D. Her partner bid 3NT on a 7 count. I called the director at the conclusion of the auction and, before I lead, mentioned the non-jump stop. The player stated that she missed my bid and intended to jump in D. The 3NT made and I called the Dir back as I had a problem with the result. I think pass was reasonable by my RHO. Director comes back and admonishes me that my 2S MUST be aletered if its natural. This is stated while the finger is wagging at me and a very stern voice is used. I explained that I did not believe that it was alertable and quite standard in my seat. She returned for the last board of the match and said," You were right about the 2S but the result stands." Tell me again about the "professional" directors the ACBL hires and compensates. jmc

I would be willing to pay to use Deal inside of a partnership bidding or teaching table. Maybe it could be set up with a similiar rental program as the gibs? jmc

Our district regulations require the paper Daily Bulletins at the regionals in our district. jmc

The Sioux Falls, South Dakota Regional is coming up October 14-18. I am in charge of preparing the Daily Bulletin that contains some articles, the schedule, and the results from the day before. Does anyone have a good template or design for these bulletins? Have you been to a regional where you thought the layout was great? Have you written and prepared one? Any suggestions or samples would be appreciated. jmc

I often play on BBO late at night and am not able or patient enough to play with people I know personally or who are members of a "trusted circle". I find it irritating when a new opponent sits down and immediately asks for a score reset. There are a number of reasons for this and I will list them below. Sometimes the new opponent or opponents ask why I do not reset. This post will be my new linked explanation for them. Please feel free to comment on your thoughts about score reset requests. Why I do Not Reset The Score 1. Clearing the score clears my movie results and makes it so I can not review the last hand or other previous hands. Often after a session I like to scan through this to find boards that need discussion or that I might want to post online. I much prefer to review this than use the my hands link. 2. Please look up at the board number. I have been playing here awhile. Opponents come and go (often after 1 or 2 hands) but I stay the same. I want to be able to review my results and resetting every couple boards, when I'm going to be here for 50, is silly IMHO. 3. People discriminate in score reset requests. The vast number of requests come when I am plus 30. Last night I was minus imps for 60 boards in a row: not one reset score request. Coincidence? I don't think so. 4. It is more difficult for me to keep track of plus or minus imps with multiple resets in a session. All the newcomer has to do is set his baseline (i.e. the current imp score) and he will always know if he is plus or minus for his time at the table. i.e. if you come to my table and the score is -17.2 imps for you, take note. Later that number is your 0. If you're higher then, "Well done!" If you are not, please stay a little while more ;-). 5. It is my table. Either my partner or I are hosting it. We do not have to reset the score and, in fact, we will not. You can whine and stomp and complain, but we will not reset the score. If you have strong feelings on this, you should just go host your own table. Bye now. What do you think? Share your view and please give any reasons of your own. jmc Let's play some bridge! The score be damned already.

Their are so many misconceptions behind this problem that I won't even begin to address them. I can't believe how many people believe throwing money at problems will solve them. Where are the Ayn Rand fanatics? Objectivists needed before this becomes a global tax. jmc

I'll look for the article barmar but I think you are wrong. I think J. Baum wrote the article in Nov and implied the new system would begin in January. I think he also implied the method was ready and kinks just needed to be worked out. I'll try and find it to read it again. To announce and wait nearly a year before saying whats up is still ridiculous IMHO. jmc

Stardust- I enjoyed it as much as the book, though I felt the movie forgot a few fun characters and details from the book. Simpsons- I am an occasional tv episaode watcher but not a big fan. I was etra impressed by the movie and really enjoyed it. Matt Damon Action Movie- I can't bring myself to call this the actual title name. These books were based on a trilogy by Robert Ludlum. While the first movie had some relation to the first book, the second movies stand totally alone with no relation to the first two books. This is very disapointing. The plot line also turns Jason Bourne into a confused former assassin/murderer. In the books he is a US agent who begins my trying to hunt down a European assasin. He losses his memory and forgets who he is. Movies 2 and 3 continue the plot. The books describe a US trying to do its international duty and hunting down bad guys. The movies describe the US assasinating Americans, Europeans, and others. Robert Ludlum is rolling over in his grave. Shame on the makers of these movies and shame on his family for selling them the titles without protecting his work. I have not been so disapointed with a movie since they made "Memoirs of a Geisha" with an all Chinese cast in China. IT WAS ABOUT JAPAN! jmc

I agree that rating systems are very complex. They can also have some unintended consequences. i.e. there are chess players that play just enough to keep their ratings fresh, but not too much because they don't want to risk dropping below 2000 or 1900 or whatever. I'm sure the ACBL does not want to discourage people from playing in any way. BUT... My current concern is that the ACBL announced a system was coming. The announcement made it sound forthwith. Then it disapeared. This is neither professional nor proper. ACBL members spend dues and entry fees to have a quality run organization. If it wasn't ready, they should have announced they were considering it, or entertaining proposals, or <gasp> not announced it at all. jmc

It has almost been a year and this "new rating system" is still only pie in the sky. I am disapointed that the announcement made it seem imminent and nothing has happened. Vote of no confidence for the ACBL's lame duke announcement. jmc

Rob, I know this all began as a way to free up 2c and 2d for something other than the precision bids. What is the incentive for the new scheme? Is it just to make available a super light 1NT? I think this method is interesting and fun to think about. I also think you'd have a nice table feel advantage vs. most opponents who have never played against it. It'd probably matter little to great ops but really consternate those who prefer not to think too hard at the table. In Chicago at the NABC I had a guy call the director because I opened a 10-13 NT. He asked me if I had to prealert that and when I told him no, he asked if it hadn't been made illegal. ;-) I said no and he said, "I'm calling the director anyway." I can't imagine what kind of heart palpatation he would have had if I alerted a pass as maybe 0-7 or 13-15 or a precision 2c or 2d opener. Should I have asked for a 0 tolerance violation? I would like to hear what people say when you start passing 13-15 balanced hands! LOL. GL with everything and play this in a regional asap. Jonathan

I find that the BBO noises are louder than any other noises or system beeps by 2-3 times. This is a bit irritating. I have been meaning to substitute my own quieter sounds for years, but I have never gotten around to it. jmc

I didn't have to accept the transfer. I can also just bid my own suit and then support which will lead to normal cue bids etc. I decided not to do that. It was likely a mistake by me. I am reading Ken's cue bidding book and it has lots of good ideas. I've been thinking about how to add them to Precision. So what is the best line for 6? jmc

There is no doubt I probably failed to use the asks as efficiently as possible. We really don't have a way to ask for jacks in this system. I asked about controls and then the H suit planning to ask about the club situation. That may not have been the best order. jmc

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=sjhkq1065da6543c72&s=sak72ha82d10cak843]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Partner and I are playing Precision and have the following auction with no interference: 1C-2D-2H-2NT-3H-4C-5C-5H-6C-6D-6H-all pass 1C is 16+ forcing, artificial 2D shows 5 or more H, 8 or more points and is a game force 2H implies a H fit and asks controls 2NT shows 3 controls 3H asks about the H suit 4C shows 2 top honors in a 5-card suit 5C asks controls in C 5H shows 3rd round control in C 6C asks shortness or length 6D shows shortness, doubleton I have two questions. 1. What is the best line of play for 12 tricks on a D lead? 2. Should I have looked harder for a grand? I could have asked about spade controls etc. My thought at the time was that with only a 5-3 trump fit, the grand would need a 3-2 break in H and a 3-3 club break. Any thoughts appreciated. jmc

WOW! I love the new ability to make this full size on my monitor. It is soo crisp. It even looks good at the best resolution on my flat panel tv. There are a few elements that do not scale well. The stars next to player names are very fuzzy when enlarged, as are the numbers representing BBO points. I'm sure this is because they are pictures instead of scalable graphics. This is a great usability change overall. I really miss the lack of sounds though. I assume they are not implemented yet or can i just not find 'em? Jmc

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=s9754hdaq1074cq964]133|100|Scoring: IMP 2H-P-P-DBL-P-P[/hv] Assuming rdbl is SOS. Should South rdbl? jmc

The 3H bidder's hand was as follows: [hv=s=saxhaq10xxxdxxcaqx]133|100|[/hv] I normally play a big club system and felt uncomfortable in this auction. I chose to bid 3NT and it all worked out. I really wanted to bid 3S but thought partner would assume a 6-card suit. Giving up on a slam here with 3NT seemed a bit dangerous to me. jmc

Does someone have links for these references handy? Are they all available free online or are they purchasable books? Info appreciated. jmc

You hold: [hv=d=w&v=n&s=sa6543hqjdaqj72c9]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] The auction goes: pass-pass-1C-1S-dbl-p-2C-2D-2H-3D-3H-pass-pass-3S-P to you. What is your call? What is going on in this auction? After 3H would you have bid something else? jmc

Playing 2/1 you hold: [hv=d=n&v=b&s=skj1085hdk54ckj732]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Partner opens 1H you bid 1S and partner bids 3H. You have agreed to play 2/1 game forcing and this bid shows 16 to a terrible 18 and 6 hearts. What is your call? Please assume no special agreements but explain what normal agreements you would assume with a good pick-up partner. Explain a follow up plan if you have one. jmc

Assuming you play 1x-1y-2NT and 1x-1y-3x as Joshs suggests above (6cd suit and 3cd support or 4cd support and a stiff, max 6cd suit less than 3 cd support) then how do you play the following: 1h-1NT (forcing)-2NT 1h-1NT (forcing)-3h 1s-2x(game forcing)-2NT Assume your opening NT range is 10-13. Does your answer change if your opening NT range is 14-16? jmc