h2osmom

ok, fair enough, but someone with palsy dropping a card face down has no penalty. If the dropped card doesn't get exposed to partner it can be picked up and play resume with no penalty. If a slight stutterer corrects himself, it should be the same; the card intended should be allowed to be played.

What if declarer has a mild problem with stuttering? Not allowing him/her to change a designation in the same breath seems more than draconian to me.

Happy birthday Justin! Hope your day and year are all you wish for.

No, I never suggested a limited blue ribbon event. I don't even agree with having one. Thank you, was fun regional for me.

I have an idea for fall nationals, and I have written to ACBL about it, but I didn't get any response. I am wondering if anyone has similar thoughts to me. Fall nationals are BAM nationals. There are open BAM, women's BAM, and the Reisinger BAM. The limited events, like the 0-1500 Spingold are pretty popular, and I think there should be a 0-1500/0-5000 BAM event at fall nationals. I also think that 0-5000 Blue Ribbon pairs is an event that shouldn't exist. Red Ribbon pairs already is a limited qualifying ribbon event. I think the problem is in scheduling a limited BAM event. Women's BAM is concurrent with Open BAM, and National Swiss is concurrent with Reisinger. I think the women's BAM could be eliminated. 0-1500 and 0-5000 BAM events would be far more well attended, and developing players usually don't have a lot of BAM experience. It would be really nice to have a limited BAM running concurrently to the Open BAM. Please post if you have thoughts about this, and also how to better present this to the ACBL if you agree that it would be a positive change. Thank you.

Why is no one bidding 3c here non forcing?

Did it show clubs? If so, it probably would have been better to not alert or call it anything unless Opener must make a specified set of rebids to show min or max. Or maybe we should alert our passed hand 2C response to 1M as "natural and forcing for one round, with no artificial follow-up structure". It certainly is highly unusual and unexpected, since the vast majority use some form of the "D" word. no, it had nothing to do with clubs, it was just limit raise values and they would continue bidding to find the right strain.

In the New Orleans nationals, flight B GNT, there was a pair who played no fit drury. It showed limit raise values and said nothing about a fit in opener's suit at all. They both referred to it as drury, and seemed not to know that most people play that drury does indicate a fit.

OK, since I posted that question I got my renewal for ACBL, which asked for a donation for USBF, supports US players in international competition, so maybe that's all USBF does? If so, why isn't it part of ACBL rather than a totally separate body? Also, I noticed there have been 50 views since I posted original question and no responses. Usually this is a vocal group, maybe no one knows?

Probably I should already know this, but I don't. USBF is in charge of teams for international competition. What else do they do, and how are they related to ACBL, if at all?

I think no alert. Many who play inverted minors play 2 level bids as stoppers, and I haven't heard them alerted. Maybe I am wrong though.

My question is about the GNT's. I know of more than one instance where a player had no intention of attending nationals, was arguably the best player on the team they played on for trials, and that team did, in fact, win the trials. It's likely that without that player a different team would have won. So the district is sending a worse team to represent them when that player The rules do allow for substitutions within certain parameters, as long as there are at least 3 original players. My question is, is this ethical even though it is legal? Just to be clear, I was not affected by any of these instances. I just wonder what the general concensus will be. Thank you.

I don't think 15 minutes for each play would help, but actually taking the time I have would make a difference. I often play too fast and then realize I have erred. So taking a few seconds more could make a difference for me. I wouldn't have the patience to write down every card, it would change the game enough for me as to make it no longer enjoyable. Doing it as an exercise though, could help with developing better play and defense. I do notice that the top players play far slower than I do, or than is even allowed in regional events, so using the time one needs obviously helps with better play.

A lot of top players play on BBO and are nice enough to allow kibs. Most people appreciate and enjoy these matches. An example in addition to the cayne matches, is the dearbilly matches. Initially kib chat was free and allowed. And Billy often offered to play 5 hands with some kibs at the end of the matches. Then kibs started abusive chat, and now, while kibs are allowed to watch, there is no kib chat allowed in those matches, and Billy doesn't play with kibs. It would have been far preferrable if particular kibs could have been disallowed, either permanently, or maybe particular kibs even just gagged. In the cayne matches there is constant chatter and banter as well as intelligent discussion and relevant questions asked/answered. There are a few people who are abusive, either to the players, or some benign kibs. Larry has had to stop kibitzing during at least one match because of that. Again it would be preferrable if host could take action against particular kibs. Would that be a lot of work in the software? I seem to recall that MSN gaming zone had something like that available; the ability to boot a particular kib. Thank you for your attention.

that's right, I remembered that for 3M bids, no idea why I didn't consider it for 3d.

We were playing 2 way nmf; I thought that 3d over 1n would be a hand with invitational values and not forcing. Am I wrong?

[hv=n=sjxhaqj98dj98cqtx&s=sat9xxhtxdakqxxcx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] north opened this hand 1h, south bid 1s, north 1n. We had agreed on 2 way nmf, so I bid 2d. North rebid 2n. Now I bid 3d. North bid 3s. What should I do now? I chose 4h. I thought that would be the best game as I didnt want to ruff clubs with my long lousy suit. Partner wasn't certain that 4h was an offer to play; he thought I might be looking for a slam. What could I have done different/better? I was south. Thank you.

I have noticed that my scores first session are likely to be as much as 10% higher than later sessions in a day will be. I don't feel tired at 7 or 8 pm, but that isn't borne out by my scores. I hate that!

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=sk97643hat4d93ct9]133|100|Scoring: IMP p p 1h p ? 2h or 1s here? which is better?[/hv]

I would suggest trying to find community members who are interested in playing at the university once or twice a month. Hand pick people who would be tolerant of slow plays, experimental bidding systems, and changing formats. Maybe publicize a spades tournament sponsored by the bridge club, to attract people who have a few basic card play skills. Provide free snacks; if you can convince someone to bake brownies or something it could help. If the college can't sponsor the club to this level, it's likely some bridge players can do it. It;s finding them that's the problem.

I would love to see the option to either allow, or disallow, specific kibs.........

It's interesting, my son (who is 27) has told me on more than one occasion that he thinks it's far more important that I played games with him than that I read to him as a child. He says, "Reading to your kids is fine, but if you don't, they will learn to read in school anyway. If you don't teach them to play games, they might never learn."

I really like the idea of the measures Jan suggested for transparency as she outlined them. Jan also stated as a reason for not using the method that the WBF uses is that most people don't do the preparation prior to playing, of looking at posted methods and defenses. To that I would say something along the line of, once burned, twice shy. Of course it's entirely possible that a major event, like a Bermuda Bowl will be played with top players having to scramble to defend against some methods. Maybe even probable. But once that happens, those players will decide whether or not they want to be in that position again. Also, these competitions are watched extensively by the players who are likely to be in future top competitions. So, once it happens a time or 2, people will either learn to check the posted methods, or to be prepared for the unknown. All transition is somewhat painful. That doesn't mean the change is wrong.

self splinter in clubs for me as well.

Hi Justin, I just want to say I think this is SUCH a nice offer! I would love to apply if you aren't full yet. Thank you!