allspice

I've tried in several occasions to use the NEW teams matchtool: that is to start a team without all the players and wait for someone toshow up. And what happens is that as soon as a table is complete, it startsplaying and if the other table isn't complete in about 15 minutes (nevermeasured this time) the teams match is cancelled: some players were the wholetime waiting for players and the other 4 just see their game interruptedsuddenly. Could a 'team matches' highlighted button be added to theHome Page (like the vu-graph one) when there is an 'open teams match'? Other possibility would be a 'broadcast' button to send thematch data to idle players. But I think that the Highlighted button would bemuch better. Nobody will be bothered with unwanted chat and those playersseeking for a team match can know there are vacancies in one. So far, I haven't been able to play in teams match built up entirely from V2 - Have always had to ask somebody in V1 to send a message to Lobbyasking for pairs/players. Allspice

Dear pirate22, How many of the players who don't comply with these rules is because they ignore them? 1%? I think I'm exaggerating! Except done to language, where I agree with Bbradley62, no player ignores he shouldn't talk until board is over, and he shouldn't abuse pd, opps or TDs. About the subs, TD should ponder and adjust the board when possible. A sub should not be left to finish a hand without thorough information, and sometimes time doesn't allow it. Veru / allspice

Q1: I don't play with random partners. And when I do, I agree which profile we are using beforehand. And I announce at the beginning of the round 'pd's profile' or 'my profile'. Q2: If they didn't announce, I don't decide: they didn't announce so all bids must be alerted (and by all, I mean ALERTABLE bids, not natural bids) Q3: You are right, alertable bids HAVE to be alerted, even if they are mentioned in the profile Q4: I do realize that not penalizing Beginners or Intermediate might not be, as you say, the best. But beginners or intermediates usually forget to ALERT a 2 weak opening bid, or a transfer. And when playing against an expert, and the round has a bad result for the expert, you can't imagine how many experts claim 'damage' to get an AVE instead of the bad result. And that is not bridge. So I tell the beginner or Intermediate that they should alert any bid that is not natural, and I inform them the rule, I enter a note in their profile to remember next time, and that's it. If this happens against another beginner or intermediate, I might consider a different position, if there was real damage. But, experts should ask for explanation before the 'damage' is done and not wait to get a profit when they know their partnership is not getting a good score.. Q5: An Expert, if you look for the definition in BBO, is a player who has enjoyed success in major National tournaments. An Advanced is someone who has been CONSISTENTLY successful in clubs or minor tournaments. None of this categories should ignore other systems. And if you can't recognize Texas from a preemtive, just change your category. But don't worry, usually Beginners and Intermediates do not play complicated conventions and the convention they don't alert usually are weak 2 openings and transfers. Sometimes stayman and blackwood. Because those are all the conventions they use. And an Advanced or Expert player should know them and recognize them. And if they don't ask, they can't complain later about them. Now, when the issue is expert vs experts, I expect an expert to know what he should alert or not. And if he doesn't, he didn't play and was successful in major National tournaments. So, he is not an expert. But if he wants to post like one, he must behave like one. Q6: You are right. But when I said you MUST ALERT EVERYTHING, I meant 'everything alertable'. Presumed you would understand. Q7: You are an Advanced player. You should know that you must alert bids 'if you have an agreement with your partner' . That means, if your partner is a sub, and you bid unNT, he has to 'understand' but you have no previous agreement. So there is where the profile comes useful. If you have a hand that can be described using that convention, and it appear in your partner's profile, use it. If it doesn't, you know he might not understand. So it's your risk. Profile should just have the basic for an occasional pd. CC should be loaded for any regular pd (in my case, I have 5 CC with different pd plus a favourite one). You are right about individual tournaments. But usually its a good practice for newcomers who don't have a group of regular pd to play with. You meet many people with whom you then might make a good partnership. I play many 'Free Express Fun Tournaments' and I have a nice pd I find there. Of course, one, from, lets say, over 100 that I met. But its a good practice when you just have a half hour to spend. When I put up individual tournaments, I usually do it enforcing a system (SAYC, std c) and I do it for beginners or intermediates, and with pre-dealt hands on one issue, that is announced in the tournament's title: un-blocking; ducking; counting; listening; leading; etc. I thing BBO has tons of tournaments but very few for low skilled players that want to improve and where they can learn something and practice it. Of course I limit the levels that have access to it to Beginners and Intermediates. I've done some for Novices and Beginners too about subjects choose the finesse or discards, or trick count. Pair Tournaments I create are usually for Advanced or Experts, 5 minutes per board, SAYC std if no system in profile, alert everything that is not SAYC std c, only Advanced + players. I keep my tournaments small. If you want a quality tournament you need 1 TD every 15 tables at most. So according to the TDs is the size of my tournament. And when adjusting boards, I don't just 'use the Gib'. I use my brain, which, for the moment, works better. I blacklist runners and stallers. And I can assure you that I have very few replacements to do. TDs have time to go from 1 table to another just checking if everybody is playing, if there is any irregularity in bidding, and be certain that the tournaments is going on smoothly. So, you may see we have some coincidences in our ideas. Rgds, allspice/veru

In live bridge, at the club, you usually know who you are playing against. And you know your partner. And players who don't play standard system have a card over the table where you can read without asking. Maybe at a familiar or regular bridge session you don't make announcements: but you must do them on a tournament or be penalized. But here, in BBO you play with people from all around the world, playing hundreds of systems. So, you should be forced to have a system in your profile. It might not be important when you are playing a free tournament but when you are playing a pay-to-play tournament, like a speedball, where time is short, you need a quick way to understand your opp's bid. I don't see the inconvenience in entering your standard system -SAYC, 2/1, ACOL, SEF, Polish Club, Precision, etc- and a list of conventions, -Stayman, Transf, RKCB 1430, Mich cue, unNT, short club, std card. or UDCA- and be asked if opp doesn't understand a bid. It's nothing that would cause exhaustion to anyone. I even have a doc with the systems I play with each pd and just copy and paste when I change partners. And I have my own profile for Indi Tournaments or when I play with a new pd . That is just politeness. Bridge on line is not Live Bridge. It's different. You don't know the person you have in front, nor at your sides. You are not asked to give away private information: just the system you play. allspice/Veru

If you have a list of your conventions, as your system just check: common conventions are on. If not, just standard system. Not so difficult. I play in the Indi Tournaments and when my pd bids, I just check his profile. If no info, I presume he plays mine. If a convention, I presume he bids his. And if this worries you, you are a player with enough knowledge to have an idea of what all conventions mean. I'm a TD and if an experts claims his intemediate opponent didn't alert a convention, and his opp has a complete profile, I don't take action. An expert can't say he doesn't know how to check a profile and, for example, deduce if a 2!h bid is weak or not. Now, if an expert with no data in his profile, playing against an intermediate, doesn't alert 1club precision, of course I adjust the hand against the expert. Its just fair. If you say you are an expert, behave as one. (same goes for advanced) If your profile is empty, you MUST alert EVERYTHING or be penalized. allspice/veru

TDs are exhausted of asking players to announce their system and carding at the start of the round. I've even set up tournaments where a profile stating system and carding were mandatory. And to no avail I finally got tired of fighting and booting players who didn't comply with the rule. Most of the players don't read tournament rules, regulations nor requirements. It's not the TDs - Players don't follow rules. I just refuse to play with somebody who doesn't have his system in his profile, his skill level and a country. Just to know what language he will understand. But as long as 'private' and 'other', and blank CC are allowed, the problem will persist. Veronica - Allspice

West can't have ♠AK because that would be his lead, to give his pd a possible ruff (he must be short somewhere). He shouldn't even have ♠A - He has one of the ♣ H, or he wouldn't lead small♣. And E has a ♠ H, because his preferential discard of the ♣ West might have the ♦ Q or J but not both. With ♠KJ (x) ♥x ♦Q or J x (x) and ♣ KJxxxxx he has a preemtive opening (though I would'n open a preemtive in a minor without AK and less if vunerable (nothing is said of that

3rd time I start this post. I don't know why they keep disappearing. According to the bidding, E has no more than 3 ♠ (a fourd card major is not convenient when opening with a preemtive) and 7 ♣. The information provided completes his hand: 1♥ and 2 ♦? (or 2♠ and 3♦ - I would win the lead in dummy and ruff a ♣, play 3 rounds of hearts, when E discards the ♣ (preferential for ♠?) I would play ♦K and a small ♦towards the A .. but will duck the 2nd round... Probably W will lead a ♠ back. If E has AK or AJ, I make my Q (thanks to the 10 in dummy), still have an entrance to dummy to cash my 4th ♠ or ♠ if one of the suits is 3/3 and the 6 ♥ = 10 tricks., If W plays ♦ and the distribution is different than 3/3, I still can play ♠ towards my Q ... If E goes up with A or K, just play him to have 2 honours and E 1. He wouldn't underlead his K after winning with the A, or would he? I would like to see a solution here!

I would pass. My pd, with 6 to 9 HPC would: a) double with no support for my diamonds, no stopper in spades, B) bid 1NT with spade stopper. If my pd had over 10 HCP he would say something. So pd doesn't have good cards. We are not going to make a game. Partial for them against partial for us can't be a great difference ... and I don't want to risk opps making a game!

I think this is an option in the Main Bridge and in the Relaxed but not in Tournaments. I tried to set it again today and there is no way I can see the hands.. except... when some "wise" player claims from the begining of the hand and then his pd can see all 4 hands (if he is declarer)... but there was no way to repeat the situation. I think this ocassionally happens because of some bug in the soft. allspice - Veronica

...and I can think of at least 10 other couples that play from the same IP and don't cheat. Even more: I have 2 IPs: I live in a farm and my telephone wires are oftenly stolen (I have a ADSL connection) So the company gave me an alternative wireles connection (like a cell phone chip with a USB connector) that I can use. Of course it is expensive: I pay for the downloaded Kbs, but if you are decided to cheat... of course you can do. But for instance I find a fellow who played against himself and watched from the kibitz box at the same time (xxxxxxxxxxxxx names removed by inquiry and about 120 more nicks...) Its like a security system for your house. If its known you have big treasures, there is no lock to keep them safe, except FORT KNOX. But for the simple burglars, those who just do it because they find a chance, those can be stopped. And by stopping those "petty-cheaters" you are preventing them to become an experienced one! Thanks to all who participate in this forums. They are really a great place to find out about Bridge and BBO. And as an additional benefit, meet some really nice and interesting people. As I mentioned, I live in a farm and have no other chance to play or talk bridge! So I'm really grateful to BBO. And anything I can do to make it better, I will! Regards, Veronica - allspice

I don't personally care if my opps cheat: I play bridge because I have fun and its a challenge and I want to keep my brain working! But when I TD, I would like to be able to allow kibitzer but not cheaters.. and that is impossible so I just close kib possibility. Which I think is not a good option. Player can learn a lot from kibitzing. If I could spot players with 2 nicks.. I would just boot them, and allow all the other kibitzers.

I've suggested this some time in the past. Is it possible with all the new features to add just a number (same as masterponints) to know how many nicks are logged with the same nick at that moment? That will really be a great blow for some cheaters that I've spotted watching in a table with one nick while playing with another... Communications between partners can't be detected (or at least, very seldom we can have proofs of it) and a good bidding partnership can deal with that, but seeing all 4 hands is too much advantage! Veronica - allspice

I was playing "#3317 Pairs Smile with me" and I suddenly realized that I could see all 4 hands when I was dummy. That didn't happen to my pd, who could only see his and my hands when dummy himself. But he told me he had experienced this once. How frequently this happens? Is it just a malfunction? It's the 1st time it happens to me. Can I know when this is happening to my opps? Sometimes I've noticed that opps have an unbelievable insight of my hand... Veronica - allspice

When I create a tournament in the web browser, in the option "upload pre-deal hands, My favourite hands appear. I don't know how to save there the hands there or where I must save the hands I selected from a file in my PC. Is there a special file to do it? Also, when I want to "exclude" or "include" members, a window pops up where I should type the names... and its impossible. Is there a way to do it other than un-logging from web browser, going into windows version and do it in the "old way"? Tanks, Veronica

I can't more than agree with Fred. If TDing in live tournaments I would NEVER EVER relay on a Gib (though I think they are great). But in BBO tournaments we have a little "issue": Some players, when a hand seems "not favourable"... tend to stall, so as to get and AVE (-3) which is FAR BETTER than opps winning a game or a slam, for eg. So, a nice (ideal but impossible?) little feature would be a little "clock" on each player to see how long each partnership takes (like in chess...!) and "whose needle fell! Not realistic. So when running a tournament, we must adjusts unfinished hands to our best judgement so this "stallers" wouldn't get away with their purpose. The Gib, in my opinion, is not infalible, exactly for the reasons Fred mentions. But it gives us an approximate idea of a result. (I was ruled against by the Gib, after I claimed, and opps delayed acceptance, explaining a squeeze. The Gib didn't see it, though the TD finally did, half an hour after the tournament was over). In my case I don't run big tournaments. Never more than 20 tables, clocked, IMPs, quick (6'x hand -I tried 5' but was hectic) and with no Kibitzers no lobby chat and only for players with full profiles. I can take some time to adjust. But when helping in clocked tournaments of about 200 tables, that is IMPOSSIBLE without the Gib. But, I don't always follow what the Gib says, I take a while to see if other line is possible. Now, please, in my 1st post, there was another issue: My MACROS don't work on the Web Client. Furthermore, recently I noticed that I can't see lobby chat on the Web Client. nor even the tournament lobby chat when in one. It's only me? Thank you allspice - Veronica

1) My MACROS (Keyboard Express) don't work in the Web Client. They work when only 1 sentence is involved, but when more than one, they all appear twice and with no new line. Is there a solution to that? 2) I was forced yesterday to upgrade my old Windows version, and now I don't have a GIB to adjust hands in the Windows version. Can't find the GIB in the Web Client for the same purpose (adjust hands when TDing) Thanks for any help you can give Veru - allspice

Or hitting ESC before the sustitution is done? Veronica - allspice

A revoke? I play On Line... and I've tried to do some ... Thanks to BBO, (Uday, Fred and the rest) the system does not allow it... if not... :P Veru - allspice

I've been using Keyboard Express to TD tournaments in the Windows Version. But they don't seem to work correctly in the Web Version. For example, a Macro of 4 sentences, posts the 1st sentence, then the 1st and 2nd together, then the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd and finally the 4 sentences together. It disregards the "new line". Can anybody help me with this? Thanks Veronica - allspice

could the "escape" key be set to stop the process? Don't have the experience in the web client, but.. is it the same? allspice - Veronica