nickf

you're so parochial wayne. Not only that Australia was grouped alongside NZ, among "others". How insulting - particulary after we were robbed of the cup last time. nickf sydney

thanks for the heads up Dave - you're definitely not borrowing my car when you come stay next month. nickf sydney

This sounds a bit self serving - hardly anyone in Australia plays strong 2s in a duplicate event. I suspect West probably though 2S was just natural and weak but I have trouble believing they suspected it could be strong. nickf sydney

This is a common beginners-intermediate mistake I see all the time. The 1345 is about as classic a takeout double as you can find but the player is afraid to double (in case it's left in) so grossly distorts and shows a 2-suiter (which should always be 5-5). At least 5-5 - that's a money back guaranteed shape. 4-5, 5-4 isnt just wrong, it's very bad and very wrong. nickf sydney

lots of clubs in Australia use the web services of http://www.bridge-club.org/ - one of the services they offer is pd finding service. see the info on http://www.bridge-club.org/hosting/services nickf sydney

... heh - I forgot about that one. I think we had a few marathon sessions of it too. It's right up there in my favourite all time movies. nickf sydney

When I was a student the guys in our house watched The Breakfast Club 13 times in a row. nickf sydney

I told you not to open your present until Christmas. nickf sydney

How many master points I may or may not win has never remotely been a part of my motivation for playing any bridge event. I play to win, I play to play with people I like, I play to learn, I play to beat better players, I play to smash worse players. But I never ever play so I can win masterpoints. nickf sydney

I don't have a lot of experience with 2/1 and was playing with someone last night who did - but we werent on the same page on this auction: 1C-1D 1N-2S 2NT-3C I passed 3C Notes - 1C could be 2+ - 1NT was bid under the pretext that I should show a balanced hand first, then resolve shape (I was 2434) - 2S was believed to be GF by he who bid it. - We were were playing NMF and while I assumed at the time it may not apply after 1C-1D I still thought it was technically correct to rebid 1NT. What's the contemporary consensus these days: - on the status of 2S? - on opener's rebid in the context of playing nmf - If 2S is F1, how about 3C now? Is that GF? nickf sydney

What happened to Ted and Carol? nickf sydney

That's not quite what happened - the players were filling in result slips and the TD/ Scorer was inputting them into his computer so we could have live official scoring on the internet result site. He noticed a discrepency between his scores and the BBO score. nickf sydney

Hi, I was operating a VG from Sydney yesterday - at the beginning of the final quarter of a very close match, declarer drifted two down in a contract and claimed -1 at a point when the defense had won five tricks, I think with 3 tricks to play. In the melee both sides agreed to down 1. I wasnt sure what to do, but left it at down two as per the record of play. Later on the TD came up to me and quietly mentioned that the BBO score was wrong on the board, and I mentioned to him what had happened but he no doubt correctly informed the result should stand as agreed, down 1. As it turned out, the 2 imp swing was irrelevant at the end of the match but what if during the alloted score check period the defenders realised they had agreed to a dodgy claim - is the BBO record evidence? Or do the players have to agree to the reconstructed line among themselves? nickf sydney

That reminds of when I visited the Grand Canyon - I was on a bus tour and as we entered the park, the driver told us to close our eyes - when we reached the perimeter of the park, he led us out of the bus still eyes closed and lined us all up along the barrier to the canyon. Then "open your eyes" - the sight in front of us was mind blowing. nickf sydney

I'm becoming a gleek. nickf sydney

In R6 of Stage I of our Butler Trials in July, I held a total 54 hcp over the course of the 10 board match. nickf sydney PS I didn't add it up as the hand record told me the session average.

Did I really laugh at you? Sorry, how humiliating. I suppose a year ago it was hard to predict: - our frontline bowlers would all be injured or otherwise crap - our world class batting line up would crumble time after time after time to a one trick pony English attack - the myopic performance of our selectors. - how bad the umpires were at times. - how ineffectual Ponting has become. But good luck to England - there's no question the better team won the series and after luxuriating in 14 years of being almost unbeatable it's nice that someone else has a turn at number 1 in the world rankings. nickf sydney PS And wayne, dont tell me the score from Saturday's rugby. I've erased it from my memory bank already.

I think that's a mild overbid but I'll be surprised if they qualify. nickf sydney

you could be right, although my information came from the on-site VG team. Maybe your source is more reliable. nickf sydney

Just a straw poll.... Q. In the past few days, it seems the broadcasts of the Spingold have been starting about 30 minutes later than advertised. How many people: a) noticed? b ) cared? c) were pissed off that they werent getting the result in real time? d) phoned a friend on site (or were SMSed or twittered) to get that vital result as soon as the last card was actually played? Me neither. nickf sydney

No, but I do know one of the regular posters here, mrdct, played against Deng Xiaoping in Beijing in one of those simultaneous world-wide bridge tournaments around 1991. It's a good story too. I think he was forewarned not to double the Chairman. nickf sydney

Which of the languages on the Rosetta Stone do you want to learn - hieroglyphics, Demotic or Classical Greek? nickf sydney

Not so, according to my understanding. Roland munificently offers his time and contacts with commmentators to most (if not all) bridge tournament organisers who wish to broadcast via BBO. Those wishing to organise their own commentator rosters are able to do so (Cavendish being the best example). Also, when Roland gets swamped, as is more and more the case these days, he sometimes suggests his time and other resources are too stretched for him to offer the level of support required and Tournament organisers would be better off organising themselves. Let me assure you, as someone who frequently has to organise rosters of commentators, it's a bastard of a job. And I suspect sooner than later the scope of the job will be far beyond the time, dedication, enthusiasm and resources of just one person. nickf sydney

Pretty good ad, it's a take-off of our annual Anzac Day (Apr 25) march when returned servicepeople hold a commemorative march through probably every town in Australia. Some of it may not translate well, but it's a pretty good reflection of we mozzies. nickf sydney

Down here, all costs associated with the National VuGraph Unit are billed as marketing expenses, not operational costs. The reality is, once you build up a kit of VuGraph bits and pieces (laptops, cables when needed, router, power cables etc - and I think I spent about $5000 a few years ago), our only running costs are wages ($2 per board for the operators, a little bit of bandwith, occasional hardware to build a lectern, etc). It's not a lot each event. nickf sydney