nickf

Hi I've been fortunate to work in the bridge industry for the past 20 years. In the past few days, I've reached out to a bunch of connections who have offered a whole bunch of free downloads to help you fill in the hours and days during this uncertain and unsettling time. You can find the whole grab bag of goodies here. At the moment, we have: two digital bridge books from Master Point Press a lesson from Marty Bergen a magazine from Australian Bridge a newsletter with hands to play and quizzes from Vu-Bridge a bridge crossword a series of tips from Eddie Kantar a series of Hands of the Week to play Please feel free to share these with your friends, family and favourite bridge partners. Nick F Sydney

Pop into the NABC this week and ask one of the booksellers there, perhaps? nickf sydney

I was right. Again. nickf sydney

To the best of my knowledge, Fantunes was [and is] not designed by either Fantoni or Nunes. nickf sydney

I think you are not removed if you make a comment in the chat bar. nickf sydney

Statue of Liberty play isn't it? The italians were fond of it about 10 years ago. nickf Sydney

I've tried this gadget - I was sent a sample by the manufacturer. It's OK, certainly requires a fair degree of hand-eye co-ordination to use quickly and efficiently but its not a good substitute for a proper dealing machine for a club. It might be 10% of the price but a dealing machine is way more than 10 times a better investment. nickf sydney

Hi, we're arriving in CA for a couple of weeks on Saturday and it's been a while. Perhaps some locals can give we visitors some advice. I have no objection tipping service staff but have no idea what are the current norms for say: o taxi drivers o wait staff o bellhops And while I have your attention, can any locals please give some advice for things to do (family of 4, incl 2x teenagers) in LA, SF, SD and the coast road between LA+SF. We have some basic ideas but the guide books rarely take you off the tourist trail. More interested in good food, interesting neighbourhoods, activities a tourist wouldn't really know or think about etc etc. thanks in advance. nickf sydney

Matchpoints unfavourable RHO deals and passes. You hold: [hv=pc=n&e=sakq2hjdajt8cakq5]133|100[/hv] You open 2C, partner responds 2D (say any hand without a clear cut positive). What now? nickf sydney

[hv=pc=n&n=s97653hq76d74c762&e=s8hkj985dk82ckj98&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=1h1s2d2s3d3s4h4sppdppp]266|200[/hv] Matchpoints, all vulnerable. Your are East - your system is 4 card suits, Majors before minors, weak NT Your defensive agreements are a primarily reverse count based defense, with attitude and suit preference secondary. Partner leads a trump, declarer wins and plays a second high trump from hand. What card do you play at Trick 2 and why? nickf sydney

I think the only change in the past five years is an option NOT to display the first board when you load the table. What this means is if the operator opens the table before all four players are seated, it was possible that a player wandering to his seat may catch a glance on the operators screen of the first board to be played. Now, in the data loading process you can nominate First Board blank and you have to REDEAL the first board once the players are seated and have pulled the cards for the first board. Unlike other aspects of BBO, the VuGraph setup and and operations hasnt required much development. nickf sydney

Blame Steve Jobs, not BBO. The workaround, which works fine for me, is to use the iSwifter app. nickf sydney

They will almost certainly come from Damiani's family business (how convenient). Heard nothing yet. nickf sydney

I think the cards will have an embedded chip and players will be asked to play them in such a way that they are electronically read perhaps from a reader above - I think similar technology to how a car tag is read when you drive through toll gates. Presumably it's trivial to convert this data to a .lin file that BBO or other online services can broadcast. nickf sydney

I don't think a one word description like "2/1" or "Precision" or "Acol" is much use. Commentators like Al Hollander do their research and find system cards online for participants, where they exist. But he's an exception. Ideally you want organisers to upload systems cards to the interwebs before the event. Some events do so, but not a lot. nickf sydney