DJNeill

Hi all, The next two weeks, Saturday Oct 17 and 24 will be shifted to the next day, Sunday Oct 18 and 25 (still 10am edt), due to a conflict. Look for table: djneill. Thanks, Dan

Hi all, This is Dan Neill ("djneill" on here and BBO). Every Saturday at 10am EDT (NY time) I will be hosting a 2/1 bidding practice table or team game for 8 hands. After each hand, we will stop and discuss the bidding and play. This is part of www.fifthchair.org and it is completely free. The system notes are somewhat standard for tournament 2/1, found here. All interested in improving their 2/1 bidding (and getting expert commentary) are welcome to attend. If you would like notice of cancellations, please PM me which email address to send notice to. I hope to have someone else help me avoid such an occurrence (hint), but this is starting out. Thanks again, Dan

Hi, It would seem to me that it would be good to limit the number of wasted person-minutes caused by a TD delaying a tournament. Why not institute a maximum? The more people signed up, the fewer minutes (total) it can be delayed. Or why not just treat it as one of those "don't do it too often" things like booting people, or cancelling tournaments. I'm sure I'm not the only one frustrated when free tourney TD's delay the start. I unregister when they do that. Thanks, Dan

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has had a chance to get and review the new Audrey Grant and Eric Rodwell 2/1 book. I am looking forward to finding the next great 2/1 book after Mike Lawrence's workbook. Thanks, Dan

Hi all, This event is not on BBO vugraph, but the site has bulletins, photos, articles. http://www.federbridge.it/campionati/2009/...LBSG/indice.asp Thanks, Dan

Washington Std notes - look at end of 1N opening section: http://www.geocities.com/daniel_neill_2000..._Std_2nd_ed.txt Thanks, Dan

Hi all, To what degree are cell phones allowed at the ACBL Nationals nowadays? Thanks, Dan

Hi all, Yeh Brothers Invitational 2009 in Australia this year. Entrants: http://www.yehcup09.com.au/entries.php Yeh! Thanks, Dan

Hi all, I'm looking to split a room on site the First Wednesday through Friday nights inclusive at Houston Nationals in March. I don't have a room yet. Please email or PM me if interested. Thanks, Dan

I already know it's a happy birthday for you but Happy Birthday, Dwayne!

Hi all, What is standard here: (2H)-2S-(P)- 3H = ? 3S = ? This is never discussed in any books I've seen. Thanks, Dan

Hand 10 of http://www.acbl.org/assets/documents/play/...ston/63664m.pdf I got a low heart lead in 5D-X after (1C)-P-(1H)-5D;(X). Thanks, Dan

2 latest vids from The Onion union standoff andy rooney (60 minutes)

Hi Fred, Would it help to get the technical details from the error message (a button called "see details" or similar comes up but I forgot to screenshot it)? I was partnership bidding with constraints along with gib as the opponents for an hour on XP with the gib update (but not the reinstall then update) and I got the same error. On the same table, I configured options to unenlist GIB, saved, then went back in to reenlist GIB and GIB started working again. 5 minutes later the same error happened. No big deal. I'll try a reinstall. Thanks, Dan

Hi Long John, Research the people on myhands and see if there is a pattern. It takes a lot more evidence than one hand. Write to abuse at bridge base dot com if you find at trend, but these forums are not for discussing specifics of the hands in question, from what I've read before when people complain on here of cheating. BBO has resources devoted to this but don't expect to be involved in the process. Thanks, Old Ben

Modern Constructive Bidding. Marshall Miles. This was a continuation of his earlier Competitive Bidding in the 21st Century which reviewed well, but more on the uncontested auction. The topics necessarily are more well-trod than those of the other book so it does not break a whole lot of new ground for a seasoned player. It kind of rambles through modern 2/1 and explains the motives for treatments used by tournament regulars, about the level of complexity of Washington Standard. The author has some original ideas, particularly on strong 1C and 2C responses. But overall there is not much useful here for anyone that reads Bridge World. In my opinion, the author's style is consistent in the books I have read. For people new to Miles it is a little dry, no CAPS or catch-phrases or rules of <number>. He tends not to be exhaustive but presents an argument for each treatment and moves on, as if he were talking to himself. It would be interesting to discuss bridge with him (probably not with Mike Lawrence but his books are the best by far).

Hi Glen, Tolkien has nothing on you! Thanks, Dan

Hi, It doesn't seem to say what 2M...4M jump means in the book. The book suggests a jumpshift should be to: a) set the suit for RKC/cues (nope, suit is not good enough) b ) ask partner for a control-rich hand (might get too high without a side trick source and misfit) c) show a strong hand without getting past game (possibly yes) d) show a strong 6-4 hand (nope) The example of c) in the book is 1H-3C on AQ x Axx AQTxxxx, which is like your hand but stronger. Can 1D-1H work any better? I think so. You can sniff at slam in certain sequences like 1D-1H-2H, 1D-1H-2D, or if partner shows an unbalanced 3fit. Most sniffing is impossible with a strong jump shift, but at the table I would understand that 1D-2H-2N-4H is very unlikely to have slam. Thanks, Dan

It's completely normal for a good player playing with a clueless partner to do non-standard things that their partner won't pick up on, even if it is not disclosed to the opponents. Operating, looking at opponents' cards, opening all 13-17 HCP hands with 1N, worse stuff. I'm not saying this is good or bad, but what you need to assume if you know RHO is cagey and LHO clueless. Thanks, Dan

Hi, I think at a local club, "pressure" adds up to as much extra tricks for me as operating squeezes. Pressure (or a light draft) leads to operating squeezes that never should have existed. So in a bad field, there are more squeezes. Thanks, Dan

Hi jillybean, I'm not the expert TD you want but I do know that 1) you are running a free tourney, you can do what you want (99%) 2) there is no damage here (played in 3-0/4-0 fit at 3-level with easy plus in major) 3) a psyche is a deliberate gross mistatement of values - this is a 4th suit bid intended as forcing Thanks, Dan

Hi, If not for the windows client then for the flash app, when kibitzing, normally the results are all N-S in the movie history for that table (or other pairs who have occupied the seat at that table). Mostly people are kibitzing for a particular pair and want to know that pair's history, so can we have histories for E-W and N-S available. Thanks, Dan

Hi AUC, For configuration, this has everything you need: http://www.bridgebase.eu/vugraph/mumble.php Spingold has shaky coverage - it depends on volunteer commentators and availability of a couple admins. Thanks, Dan

Hi, Browse to c:\bridgebase online\conv cards, find the file in question, right-click...copy. Right-click on a blank area in same folder and "paste". Then rename the copy. Thanks, Dan

Never mind, they show up delayed and what was appearing was a first attempt to open the table. The real session just showed up. Thanks, Dan