hotShot

Well the result is obviously teamwork. 1) You should not pass after 1♦, if openers ♦ bid can be artificial, you can dbl without shortness there. I don't like 1♠ because it's just 4 cards, but it sure has advantages. 2) If you had a 5 card suit, you could have bid it before. So partner should have a 3+-cards in the suit he suggests.

I use Version 4.3.0. ! I just used the right click menu to jump from kibing a team match, to kibing in the MBC (kibs needed permission). Now if i open the tourney subview at the table, i can only see running tourneys, and there are no folder bars displayed. So i can't change that.

True but irrelevant & I’m not sure if it is all about winning, I think people want a FAIR game. Tournaments that run with playing directors, have problems with deliberate hold up play, talk at table, mis alerted, non alerted bids and so on….. it is no longer bridge and I certainly don’t call it fun! jillybean Do you really think it is much better with not playing TD's? If you go to the table, can you see previous talk? Can you see if the description of an alerted bit was changed? Can you see when an alert text has been added? Can you see if a bid was alerted using the "chat to both opps" button? How do you know who was playing slowly, if everything is fine as long as you are around? How do you know who's fault it is,when the last board of a round is unfinished. One pair played the first two boards very slow, and now when, for the first time, their opponents need to think for a moment and they complain to you about opps speed to make you adjust in their favor. Even a non playing TD, is very limited in this environment. And don't underestimate the fact, that you don't know any of the players. I've been called because of a stuck opponent from players that waited 10s and from others that waited 5 minutes. Online you can only guess how long they were waiting at a table. How do you know that a player is deliberatly playing slow, has a very slow connection or can't act faster because of some disability? What if you can't communicate with some of the players at the table. I've run tourneys with and without playing myself, and i can tell you, both can run absolutely smothly, but a small number of troublemakers, destroy both. Of cause, if you are playing you can take less trouble than non playing. Do you read the tourney description, if a friend invites you to a tourney? I don't think it is displayed in the invitation dialog. I bet less than 25% know the tourney description and less than 10% know the rules. If they call for the TD, and nobody answers, players feel ignored and of cause get angry. They should get a message, that the TD is unable to join the table because he is playing. This would help, because they know theat they are not ignored.

I think every playing TD could live with Ben's suggestion :o. I don't know if the players will like it, but at least, one can point at the tourney description and say: "You could/should have known..." I think it is less experienced hosts, that have the feeling that they are doing everyone a favor, if they allow many more players. Esp. if players start to ask for it urgently shortly before tourney start.

Someone pointed out that a crook/impostor could do much better than this. But cheaters don't think they are crook's. They believe that live somehow has been unfair to them, and they are just bending the rules a little to adjust things the way they should be. The following is pure speculation: Imagine one of the worlds best bridge players is about to fail in the qualification to one of the top 5 bridge events. Does this feel right? Somehow he discovers that the contract they are playing could turn out to be sealing their fait or it could bring them back into buisness if his partner only knew ......... He could feel tempted?

I don't think it is ok, because your not allowed to make a bid that "may be suggested" by partners action. But it's close! Make it a ♣ more and eg. a ♥ void, and i'd allow it. Abd if partner decides to make a move now, i would allow any bid after that.

Where are witnesses when you need them..... Even at lawsuit there is often nothing more than that what victim and offender have to say. In those cases all that matters is, who judge/jury believe more. Why are crimes often commited at lonely places ? Are you suggesting they should get off, if there are able to avoid witnesses and obvious physical evidence?

It is a nice idea, but at bigger tourneys there are sections that change the round at different times. So tourney chat have to be cut down further. TD's need to chat to the whole tourney, so tourney chat of this kind has to reach playing tables as well. This might get complicated. You would still only be able to talk to players of the tourney and not to your friends that are e.g. in the Lobby. Additional data traffic will be needed, Because you need to know if the recipient of your message has finished playing.

Was 1NT alterted as weak? (If they do not play weak NT there is no problem since East holds 14HCP and a flat hand. This would be covered by judgement.) But if they play weak NT, a compleat system includes clear escape routes for 1NTx. It is very important for the weak NT player to have cristal clear agreements about that. So if they are playing weak NT, there should have been 2 alterts. Assuming N/S did not know that East's 1NT is weak. North sees 15-17 HCP with East, 15-18 HCP with his partner and 7HCP in his own hand. This means that West can hold 3 HCP at best. Assuming N/S knew it was a 12-14 NT by east: North sees 12-14 HCP with East, 15-18 HCP with his partner and 7HCP in his own hand. This means that West can hold 6 HCP at best. So it is pretty obvious to North that redbl is not a strong bid. But is it obvious to south? North bids are: pass, pass, 3♦ Does this show strength in any way? Shift a K form N to W, would that change the bidding? South has about 7-10 HCP to distribute on West and North. Even the fact that East passes 2♠, does not make sure the majoraty of the remaining points is with north. So by the missing alert, we have a clear misinformation send to south. So 1) there was a misinformation, but was there damage? What is the maximum strength for West redbl? 5HCP or even more? To rule this information is essential, because the weaker redbl is, the stronger south sees north. So 2) There is damage. But is 2) caused by 1)? No it is not! fortunatelly North bid 3♦. This is a shot in the dark, opps may not have fit, north knows they have the majoraty of points. Is south dbl penalty or a very strong take out? I think it is penalty, because there is a pass between the dbl's. It is hard to understand why north decides to run. So score stands.

You found the right edit -Button. you can just remove the content of the post,. Best is to write, "post removed" instead of what the post is saying now.

I think E/W will score well here, because they stopped before 3♠ :D. Both of them could have opened, But downgraded the hands. I don't think it's wise, but i guess this time it payed off.

A fully meshed movement would be nice. The more boards are played, the less important one lucky/unlucky swing gets. In a 10 Board tourney each board can bring 0-10% points to your score. In a 20 board tourney ist 0-5% points. In a championship with 100 played boards it gets down to 0-1% point. So with 2 lucky boards in a 10 board tourney you will be a top scorer, over 100 boards, those that score well each board, will sure get tot the top. THe more rounds are played the more opps you meet. This means that you will get strong and weak ones. Imagine a 8 Board tourney where you play 2 boards against world class players, there is no time to recover from that. I would like to play souch an event, but it would have to be announced a long time in advance because it only makes sence to play it with a established partnership. I would not want to be stuck with a pickup partner another 2 hours, if we notice after a few boards our play is not compatible. Perhaps ther eshould be a few qualification tourneys to deselect the slow pairs ant to test the partnerships.

Wrong on so many levels... First, you are perfectly correct to say that this method works best against pairs who do not have experience defending against it, however, the same can be said for ANY bidding system. With this said and done, the advantage of this type of method does not depend on partner having opening strength and suitable hand. So you are telling me that if you open a 4432 Hand with 4HCP, you will score well finding a partner with 3343 and 6HCP? Of cause you can expect to find your partner with (40-your points)/3. This is 12 HCP, if you are minimum and 10 HCP when you hold maximum. I would call that about opening strength. This is leading to a combined holding of 16 to 19 HCP you can be quite sure to have a at least a 7 card fit. But this also means that opps hold the majoraty of points and your side might be to strong for them to make game. The LOT does not keep you from going down, it says that it usually will not be too expensive. You are expecting to find partner with about opening strength and hope for a suitable fit. Just as i said. With less bidding space left, opps need a well prepared defence. Since opener revealed his distribution, it might be a good idea to enhance this information by showing 2 suits. Obiously bidding in second seat should be constructive. Partner in 4th seat knows a lot more about opps combined strength, and can make a better decision. Well about 54% of the deal hold game or more, but of cause the battle for the partscore is important. A significant part of these partscore are made doe to "poor" defence, usually as a consequence of insufficent information. So it might be a good idea to think about the lead. Partner in 4th seat is most likely to lead, so we should help him if possible. They can only stumble into something if they are unprepared. Since the majors are not well distributed, they will have to play in a minor or NT very often. They need to make sure NT is not a poor contract. As i said above second seat must bid solid. I'm sure we will see more of it, and a little bit later we will see good defences against it.

What you do here is open a hand that would (preemptive) rise a 4/5 card opening suit to the 2 level, hoping to find your partner with opening strength and a suitable suit. This will lead to a good result, if it keeps your LHO from bidding, who would have had an opening otherwise. It can lead to bad results if your partner has a weak hand too and opps are prepared to do a penalty double at 2 level. Like a forcing pass system, it works best against unprepared opps, and i guess the benefit is minor (if any) against prepared strong opps.

I think the best way now is 4♣. This should show single or void, slam interest and ask partner to start cuebidding. If you don't hear 4♦ from partner, he doesn't have the ♦A and you pass 4♥.

The rules give 8 minutes/board including picking u cards and writing the result. So online 7-8 Minutes should be fine. There are always some slow players, that would need even more time than that. They often benefit from fast opponents so that they can finish some rounds in time, but if they meet another slow pair they won't finish the round at all. I'm usually a fast player, meaning that i have to wait about 5 minutes each round at 2 boards/round or 8 minutes at 3 boards/round. I have no problem with that, i can read the forum during that time. I think the TD's need the time so they can make a ruling if neccesary.

A 4 level preempt can't be that weak, because as both sides are none vul, west needs to get 8 tricks (or you keep opps out of a slam), otherwise it would be to expensive. So the west hand has to be very close to having only 5-6 looser. East has the potential to cover a lot of these loosers. East knows that he can always go back to ♦. Knowing that west will be short in any other suit than ♦, west will know that 2 card support should be fine. I don't like the bidding style shown here by E/W, but there is nothing to complain about. Opener: I want to play 4♦. Responder: I'm strong and have lot's of ♠. Opener: I'm maximum + distribution, let's play ♠ slam. So what's the probem? North has ♠ in front of the ♠ length, and a save trick in that suit. He can hope for a second trick and double, but he does it on his own risk. No adjustment.

Maybe not all vugraph is world class. But just because a treatment of a special board is unsuccessful, easyly visible double dummy of cause, does not mean it not the best treatment for the majoraty of the boards. And maybe you live in some of the leading bridge nations and are used to a very high standard. But is still think the level at vugraph is very high. Higher than an online game sqeezed into your day.

Do i read your post right? You want a legal system where accusation is enough to lead to a punishment. Trustworty people who's word is good enough to throw a player out of a tourney lied to you, about their signals. The TD has no way to know what has been said while he's not at the table or what was said in privat chat. Enforcing zero tolerance online is not that easy.

Vugraph of cause !

Instead of discussing, if TD's may play in their own tourneys, let's develope ideas what can be done to support them. 1) The create tournament should have a "td is playing" checkbox. The software could than show a symbol like the lock or the $ with the tourney name. The tourney description could than include: "No enmies/PLAYING TD". The number of participants may than not be larger than xx tables. 2) Instead of the "Call TD button" there is a "chat to playing TD" button. The playing TD should be able to answer it in private or answer to the calling table. This way it is possible to talk to the TD even if he forgot to allow "chat to tourney". 3) If you right click on a chat message now you can copy it. The dialog should be extended with "report rude behaviour to TD". The last e.g. 10 chat messages of the user are than copied ad quoted to the TD. Perhaps the user should agree to submission first, to prevent communication that is too private to be transmitted. This would help non playing TD's as well. 4) Reduce the inactivity timeout. It now takes about 2 minutes, before the system/player notices he has lost connection. During tourneys this should be reduced. So players could sub a missing player themselves. 5) At 8 minutes/board each player has about 2 minutes (120 sec.) to make all his bids and play all of his cards. This is less than 10 seconds per move. If a player needs longer than that he should get delay points for every 5 seconds needed. If a board is unfinished, the side with more delay points will get Ave- the other side Ave+. Delaypoints can be erased, if the board was finished on time. (We need a clever idea, how to handle waiting for explanation here) Disconnects could lead to delay points as well. PS: Uday has been working on automatic tourneys. From the yellows point of view, they might be even worse than playing TD's.

3♣ is a good bid! Not because it is good bridge, but because it's an BBO tourney. BBO tourneys are short, scoring averadge boards won't help you to get to the top. Take a look at ACBL tourney #923 (12 Boards) winner 75%, second 63%. If you are a very good player, you will produce an extra trick for your side, if possible. Giving you a good score each board. If you are not the best players, you need to score unusual results, producing extreme results, hopefully more good ones than bad ones. A top adds about 8% to your score, averadge about 4%. If you produce 8 tops (8*8%=64%) and 4 botton scores, you will at least be in the top 3. if you produce 12 averadges you will end up(12*4% =48%) in the middle of the field. Let us see bidding goes: 1NT - pass - 2♦ - pass 2♥ -pass - pass Opener has something like 15-17, his partner less than needed for game, and they may not have a fit. So to North it is obious that his Partner has to have more than 12+HCP. South values are well placed behind opps strong hand. Since South did not bid, he probably won't have a 5 card suit. Since North hold 3♥ it is obvious that his partner won't have more than 3. If opps have an 8 card fit, he can have 2 at most. If north passes 2♥ he gets the result everybody gets => no gain. If EW rise to 3♥ or 3[NT], it is easier to beat them. => good score If E gets declarer he will most likely misplace a lot of points and cards. =>better score 3♣ is lead directing, so if E ist going to be declarer South now knows what to lead. => better score If there is no ♣ fit, it is almost sure that you have one in ♠ or ♦. => limited danger (it is limited in MP's anyway) If opps forget to dbl, one down -100 is better than -110. North bid forces EW into a top/bottom situation, hoping for the better end for his side. In this case, the better end is for EW. They should get: ♥AK and a ruff, ♠A and ♣A probably leading to -1 dbled. If he knew the hands he should have kept his mouth shut.

1) An option "Autoplay last card" that one can select would be fine with me, and i would use it. But since the tourney moves on if all tables are finished, i often delay my card for the last trick to type a quick "gl for then next round, opps" or "ty p, has been nice to play this tourney with you". You cannot trust the round clock if it says there are 3 minutes left. This could lead to people delaying the last but one trick for this purpose. 2) As a TD i would love to see a sever side autoplay the last trick This would save me some adjustment work. 3) I don't like the idea of autofinishing boards, if more than the last trick is out. It has been suggested that if the outcome is clear the board should be autofinished. Players that minimised their rate of error by playing slow, would gain an advantage over those who played fast to finish in time.

As already stated no psyche happend here. But any accusation is somehow believed by someone. If you are jogging through the park and someone shouts "hold that thief" you might get hurt, without knowing why. Obviously there are hosts arround who like to get rid of anyone who causes trouble. As usual it's not the mobber who is punished, but the one who is mobbed.

Nothing can make me preempt this at 4 level in any seat, the suit quality is not good enough. If i fill your '?''s with A,AK the hand might be good enough for 4♥, but why should i preempt with that?