softcoder

Thank you very much. The 'Play Bridge Now' is not the most obvious name for a home page link, but that was the piece I was missing. Works fine. JGM

Hi, I don't run MS Windows so I would like to be able to watch the live Vugraph's in a browser window. is this possible. As of right this instant there is a live Vandy match in progress on Vugraph, but going to the vugraph schedule page and clicking on the Vanderbilt link just gets me to the ACBL web site. Subsidiary question, how do I turn on the audio commentary? Thanks, JGM

In an effort to get more young people into bridge, I am thinking of running a tournament for the local colleges and universities. I was wondering whether it would be possible to use BBO to run this tournament. I think I can assume that each player would have access to his/her own computer. The team from college 'A' would probably be located at site A and the team from college 'B' would be located at site B. 1. Would I need to make arrangements for a 'proctor' to be present at each site to prevent cheating? (The proctor need not be a director I don't think) 2. Does BBO have 'rooms' or features which would facilitate having this kind of match (open room/closed room etc.) 3. Could I act as director from yet another third location? Could I 'direct' more than one match at once? 4. Does BBO have features which would minimize cheating? If so what are they? 5. Has anyone ever done such a thing before ? If so what sort of Conditions of Contest did you find beneficial? Thanks, softcoder

How universal is this? My partner argues very strongly for natural here (if it can be natural, it is). My pard and I have a very hard rule; there is no cue bidding, (or RKC) until a fit has been established, and both partner's know it. So if it goes 3H-3S-4D that is natural. If it goes 3H-3NT-4D that too is natural. There are some rare exceptions, as when one partner can unilaterally set trumps (e.g. 2C-2D-3M ) but they are rare.

softcode The Yellow book is useable, especially if you already know 2/1. One thing that I like personally, but that never caught on, was Hardy's structure for Major suit raises. To get the most out of the Yellow Book, you should invest in the Orange book, if still available. I think it is called "2/1 Workbook". It is a workbook of problems and examples with references back to the Yellow Book text. It clears up a LOT of ambiguities in the way the Yellow Book is presented. I also think that the Green and Purple books (21st century) are a BIG improvement over the Yellow book. The Orange book is still valuable though. As far as Precision goes, it too has undergone quite a bit of change since the early years. The NT range now is more often 14-16 than 13-15. The 2C opener with only 5 clubs is falling into disfavour. And the 'impossible negatives' I think have been superceded. A decent treatment that is pretty modern is the Blue Book by Manley and Berkowitz. An influential book with lots of different Precision ideas, is Rigal's "Precision in the 90's".

You would also need to be aware of the fact that the style of cards is different in non English countries. In French, A Jack for example is a Valet, and hence has a V on it, not a J. The picture is different too. A King is a Roi, a Queen is a Dame so these have R and D as their letters.

Playing 12-14 NT in precision may be common but it is not standard. Many precision pairs play 13-15 NT (per Berkowitz and Manley's book, Precision Today); some (Meckwell e.g.) play 14-16 per Barry Rigal's book Precision in the 90's. I have not run across any (or any book) who play 12-14NT. (Which isn't to say there aren't some, just that it is not a default.) a 1D Opener in Precision tends to show 2+ diamonds, and 11-15 HCP. If 13-15 HCP it will be unbalanced, or semi-balanced.

Walsh? Slow down? That depends; Hardy in his books claims to follow Walsh. He says the 3D jump here is a weak 4-6. See p26 of Advanced Bidding for the 21st Century Ex 23. 62 / Q974 / KJT862 / 5 He says that after 1C-1H;1NT Responder jumps to 3D. Also after 1C-1H;1S jump to 3D, but you accept that you are taking the risk that there may be no fit. In my example hand: KT9xx ----- QT8xxx xx after 1H-1S;2C I think the jump to 3D is better than to rebid 2S. (Assuming of course that pard understands this to be weak.) Remember that Opener did not rebid 1NT so he is prob not balanced, and did not raise spades (as he would often do with 3 spades and a stiff diamond) so bidding 2S on a five bagger is not all that safe either, as Opener rates to have a stiff spade. True, in the abstract his shortness (if he is 5431, 5521, or 5530) is more likely to be opposite your longest suit, but given the bidding you can pretty much discount him having 3 spades. So the choice is play 2S on the 5-1 or 3D on the 6-2. As 2S sounds at least mildly invitational, and also tends to show a 6 card suit, (two lies) the better treatment, in my and Hardy's opinion, is to bid 3D. You might be in trouble but often not. As was the case on this hand, where in fact Opener did have 2 card support for diamonds, and did have in fact have a stiff spade. Provided of course that your pard understands 3D to be a drop dead to play bid, and not some INV or G/F.

Thanks for all the replies. No consensus seems to be the consensus :) We play Walsh/Hardy style 2/1 where 4th suit is one round force INV or better but not always G/F. The hands that generated the discussion: x AQxxx AJ KJxxx vs KT9xx ----- QT8xxx xx Our auction: 1H-1S; 2C- 3D; ??? 2C is non forcing but as it could be on a 3 card suit, and could have as many as 18HCP it is rarely passed. softCode.

What is the consensus meaning for a jump in the fourth suit, when that suit is a minor; weak? invitational? Must the suit of the jump be 6 cards long or could you do it on five? examples: 1) 1d-1h;1s-3c? 2) 1h-1s; 2c-3d? 3) 1c-1h;1s-3d? Thanks, softcode

In Chess each piece has a strength and a weakness. Even the Queen cannot move as a Knight. In bridge the spade suit is boss; it has no downside. I think it would lead to more natural bidding (some consider this desirable) if we changed the scoring table so that: Clubs and Diamonds were worth 30 pts per trick Hearts and Spades were worth 20 pts per trick. But the ranking of the suits would be unchanged. So that when the Opps bid 4m (game) you could still sacrifice in 4M (not game). And an auction like 1C-(1D)-1H-(1S); 1NT would still be legal. Now consider the effect on bidding. Because the minors are now more important, many conventions would have to be re-thought. For example: Since 4m is now game, the raise 1m-2m is too important to restrict to 'inverted minors' and now becomes the 'normal' 6-9HCP 3+ support kind of raise. But if you are going to do THAT then you dont want to be opening 3 card minors as a rule. So your minor suit openings are now at least 4 cards. Natural bidding. Also you cant really play '5 card minors' since with a 3=2=4=4 pattern you would be opening 1S. For pard to respond 2m over 1S is not nearly as attractive as when responding 1M over 1m as in current bidding. Since you are not likely to be playing '5 card minors' then the 'Forcing NT' is not nearly as attractive either. You do not necessarily have a home in 2m on a 5-2 fit as you do in current 5 card major systems. So 1NT now becomes natural. Once again natural bidding. The major suit auctions would be affected too. Currently 1m-2m can be 'inverted minors' since you are often looking for 3NT rather than 5m, and furthermore 2m has little pre-emptive value. However 1M-2M uses up much more room than 1m-2m. Therefore: 1) It does have some pre-emptive value, so you might not want to give that up to play 'inverted majors'. 2) It makes it more difficult to explore for 3NT also. So once again the best use it is more likely to be natural. Weak twos in the majors would still be a good idea for pre-emption. How about the minors? Is is still a good idea to use 2C as 'all strong hands' or is the prospect of a 4C game mean that we want to keep 2C as natural (even if weak) also? 2D Multi, 2D wilcosz etc. might also come in for some rethinking. I am not sure but even BIG CLUB systems might no longer be desirable. Everyone might have to revert to a Std-American or Acol kind of bidding. Would this be a good thing? Make it easier for new players to take up the game? So what do you think? Idea has merit? Worth playing a few hands on BBO to see how it works out? (Not that it is ever going to happen in my lifetime..... :) ) pgmer6809

Thanks that works great.

Hello: jmonty of BBO has invented a Big Club system called Revision (PDF's all on the web.) We would like to arrange a game against some good humoured opps to see how it works in practice. Anyone have any ideas on how to go about this? Sometime in the next 2-3 weeks. Not a big rush to schedule. Thanks, softcoder....

The partnership bidding room should have an option to allow you to log what is being said in the chat window. Come to think of it, logging what goes on in the chat window might be useful in other areas of the site as well. softcoder