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Thanks for your answer. I was able to play one virtual club game because I was invited by my partner. So does that mean I will able to enter that virtual club's games from now on without invitation? However, for a player who had never played in any virtual club, what's the way to start getting into one? Also, the ACBL BBO clubs you mentioned, what are they and where to find them? I can understand why there should be some restrictions for players to enter a virtual club game. Online bridge can never replace the fun of f2f bridge.

Isn't Zenith Daylong using truly random deals? -- I hope it is, otherwise I have been a fool LOL!

Can someone tell me how to register to an ACBL virtual club game? When I try it says "blocked, this tournament is private, only selected usernames are allowed to participate." I am an active ACBL member. Thanks!

How could this be possible Leo? Even I can play. (If you still remember who I am.) Hope you get this resolved by now.

All bridge players on BBO should voice our concerns, together we have to stand up against corporate greed. If we don't, we will start to lose even more, once they see they what they can get away with, they will start to take away those free games, free tables. Imagine you will have to pay just to watch vugraph? BBO was meant to be a great platform for bridge enthusiasts, for us to enjoy the game and improve our gameplays. It's not for shareholders to sit there collecting profit from those who like to sharpen their brains. When such a nice platform was being sold to a company, corporate greed will start to invade if we let our guard down.

GREED + STUPIDITY = hey let's increase the rake to 30%!

It's a BAD move by BBO. But I do not see a lot of discussion about this in the general BBO discussion. I think we should all voice our concerns.

I am really sickened by the recent changes of the prize pools in reward tournaments. As a long time BBO member, I used to play lots of reward tourneys, the $1 robot, 5$ robot, Bingo reward (remember those?) you name it. I always thought BBO was a well run platform, with players interested and their enjoyment of the game in mind. I even remembered the time when they raised the prize pool of $5 robot reward from 80% to 90%. (Indeed, a 90% prize pool of a $5 game still brings in more revenue than a 80% pool $1 game, per table. And they run on identical software, requires little extra cost either $5 or $1.) Even though the entry fees for most of the tournaments increase over time, it's kept in a reasonable range. And just like the raise of entry fees of ACBL tournaments, we don't like it but it's understandable. But the recent drastic reduction of the prize pools of the reward tournaments is a totally different monster. It basically changed those games, those games which have been successful for decades, now killed. I am not sure what their reason is for such changes, but it makes BBO looks greedy and, more importantly, dumb and incompetent. If the purpose of the prize pool reduction is to increase the profit, then I would rather they increase the entry fee (just like they did with all other tournaments) but keep the prize pools intact. Changing the prize pool is not the same as changing the entry fee. The former changes the structure of the game and makes it a different game for players while as the latter simply asks the player to pay a little more for the same enjoyment (just like inflation in all other products, we don't like it but we can live with it as long as is kept in a low degree.) This is such a simple concept that every bridge player can see. But whoever made this decision apparently could not. We need bridge players to manage this platform ( as it was to begin with), not just a greedy American corporate CEO who sees financial chart but can't see a simple squeeze. This has been a very sad month for BBO. I hope more players voice their concern, so collectively we can defend against corporate greed and keep BBO a nice place for all bridge players. *If the reason for such prize pool reduction has nothing to do with profits, I would like to hear from the officials.

How is everyone doing in the 15 minute race now? And with the new web version/mobile app how many hands do you usually get to finish (without counting passout hands) in 15 minutes? It seems to be the robot has become slower since they got rid of the flash version of BBO. Any thoughts?

[hv=pc=n&s=shdk6ck84&w=s9hdjtca7&n=shq6d5c65&e=shj97dcjt]399|300[/hv] No trump, north on lead, five cards ending, declare needs three tricks. When Queen of hearts is played and south discard a small club, West is squeezed in three suits. For some reason I think I have read about this type of squeeze before but I couldn't remember exactly. I looked up online but couldn't seem to find a good answer. (Three-suited strip-squeeze??) So, what is this squeeze called? Thanks for helping!

Yeah Pending... typed too fast.

It would be nice when displaying a running tournament detail info, its ending time can be included (would be even better if you can add the starting time as well). Also the new web version doesn't seem to refresh the "depending" tournament quickly, comparing to its previous version. Hope you can fix this. Thanks!

I heard the same thing about Al Roth. Maybe -- if someday I am playing with three drunk players in a complete casual game -- I would try to do the same :D So no one would catch my revoke :D

Deviating from your agreement is fine as long as your pd doesn't know about this tendency. For example, if the partnership frequently opens 1NT with some 14HCP while the card still says 15-17, then your opponents are entitled to know this. In order to determine how "frequently", your opponents may call TD whenever your deviation occurs just so the TD can keep track.

If South opens 1♦, and the scoring is IMP, it might be easier to reach 7♦ IMO. When north is the dealer.... it seems not so easy without a fancier system, especially in MP when everyone is NT crazy.

3♠ looks natural, or at least its bidder has a plan of how to handle the auction afterward. By responding 3♣ over a strong 2♣ opening, you have to be prepared to look for a fit starting at the 3 level. If your hand can not afford to do so, it might be better to use an artificial 2 level response depending on your system.

My intuition is 2♠. But the more I think the more I can understand why 3♠ has supporters :) However... it's not vul. So I stick to 2♠.

5♠. I could write a whole essay about my reasons, however, since I can't guarantee any of them would be right... I will just put my answer here :)