shyams

I play 2♥ over 1♦ as a weak jump. Consequently this early in the bidding I have no choice but to bid 1♥. Perhaps the bidding "problem" would have been better structured either with the bidding having progressed a bit or by showing both hands upfront.

What conceit! You are an utter bore.

Once again, you are refusing to engage with the basic comments that people are raising Why? Because because you can't actually respond constructively to the points that I made. The only thing that you can do is try to distract and run away. So true. hrothgar, something you will find funny (I hope). He criticises your spelling and then goes on to misspell principles :lol: :lol: :lol:

I did not know this. Amazing stuff. I googled the Acol Bridge Club (because I recall having played there once many years ago). The club website has this info about their history https://www.acolbridgeclub.com/about/club-history Quote: "Acol is not an acronym, but a village in Kent that gave its name to Acol Road in West Hampstead, London NW6. The club was founded in the early 1930’s at No.15 Acol Road" The club's present location is barely a 6-8 min walk from 15 Acol Road!

shyams 10.0 - 6.0 Garant_7 https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:293a7867.d3c3.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1596264575&u=shyams

ROFL. This is .... (I'm speechless). What a moron!

I have nothing against Karen Bass or any other candidate for that matter but I get a sneaking suspicion that the entire establishment (i.e. wealthy donors, political operatives and the ruling class) have collectively decided to sing from the same hymn sheet to create an aura around Karen Bass. I guess the wealthy donors can't stomach Kamala Harris; is she a bit too strong-willed for their liking?

Thank you for sharing. The article you shared contains this sentence (translated using Google) "The Department of Commerce estimated the fall in the U.S. economy in the second quarter of this year at 9.5 percent of gross domestic product, or $ 1.8 trillion. In the United States, quarterly figures are extrapolated to an annual figure, giving Americans a shocking figure on Thursday morning: 32.9 percent, the worst downturn since World War II." They also have included an info-box at the end of the article that compares European style of reporting with the American one (which I have not included here) I like how much clearer this reads compared to the other reports I have read elsewhere.

I think the proposal to quote the lower (i.e. non-annualised) figure is a representation with more clarity. To quote Ben Casselman, "Forecasters expect the report to show that gross domestic product — the broadest measure of goods and services produced in the United States — fell at an annual rate of about 35 percent. But wait. If you read that last paragraph quickly, you might have come away with the impression that the economy shrank by more than a third in a mere three months. That’s wrong." Today's BBC article (titled "Republicans to Trump: You can't delay 2020 election" -- link here) contains a sentence that reads "Mr Trump's intervention came as new figures showed the US economy contracted by nearly a third (32.9%) between April and June - the worst contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s". The sentence is obviously misleading; the contraction is in the range 8.0-8.5% during the one Qtr alone. Another useful reference point is that the Q2 '20 GDP is 9.5% lower than Q2 '19 (a year ago) which clearly shows that the phrase "contracted by nearly a third" is illogical. When Qtr-on-Qtr movements are small (which used to happen during normal times), the "annualised" metric is probably adequate. However, it does fail badly in conveying information during such exceptional times when the Qtr-on-Qtr swings are gargantuan.

I'm sure many of you may have heard of this matter from before he decided to run for President, but I found this one of the memorable incidents which (to me) defined how shallow Trump really is. Why Donald Trump Has Been Sending Vanity Fair Editor Pictures of His Hands for 25 Years Nobody calls Donald Trump a "short-fingered vulgarian!" https://people.com/celebrity/donald-trump-sends-vanity-fair-editor-photos-of-his-hands/

I'm afraid I disagree with two of the five bullet points above: IMO, the bridge world had typically tried to regulate itself per the "Victorian era gentlemen" & their code. In this (fanciful) world, everyone is a true-blue Gentleman who can do no wrong. Ergo accusing someone of being ungentlemanly is like slapping that person with a glove challenging them to a duel. Come on, let's please get rid of the notions from that long-gone-era and accept that people cheat. Sometimes, especially when the regulating organisations are unable to move their rearsides fast enough, one has to make an allegation publicly. Clearly the WC players who played against the cheats knew that something fishy was going on --- that they did not identify and demonstrate (to a degree of certainty that satisfies every onlooker) does not make it a lynch-mob. You may have seen the confessions on Bridgewinners by a couple of people. Do you think the first one would have materialised if one of the regular posters hadn't made a public accusation? Or the confession by the English expert (again on Bridgewinners) which was triggered by a tongue-in-cheek article about his greatness? Note that I am NOT advocating people making accusations willy-nilly; in fact, I am happy for the accuser to face consequences every time. Emphasis added by me. What is the "seemingly" meant to convey? Are you saying that you are one of those who is not satisfied with the case? I'm afraid that you, by using the word, are trying to somehow convey that the post-facto "evidence" is engineered to fit the case and therefore not suitable for labelling them cheats.

IIRC consumer spending accounts for 65%-70% of the US economy. If Congress does not pass a continuation of the relief scheme currently in play, the spending power of the average American will take a massive hit. This will definitely have an impact on the Q3 growth numbers. Unfortunately, the GOP isn't focused on relief cheques and the Dems don't know their a** from their elbow when it comes to crafting a useful relief bill. So there is a strong possibility that Qtr-on-Qtr GDP movement for Q3 could be anaemic.

This score reported earlier seems to be missing from the tracker.

I believe the USA has an (independent) Election Commission in name only. If true, this is a shocking state of affairs in a democracy of your size and importance.

shyams 5.5 - 10.5 hrothgar https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:1d2ec08c.d19a.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1596027043&u=shyams

http://bridgewinners.com/article/view/bidding-problem-2-heelofcrzh/

This is really useful, thank you. If I were South, I would probably have splintered 4♣ or rebid 4♠. It would not have occurred to me that the hand has become good enough where the overwhelming favourite of experts is a 3♠ bid. Anyhow, this was (mainly) posted as a play problem and my only thought was to win the first trick, cross to hand in trumps (draw a second round when they split 2-0) and lead a low diamond: If West plays an honour, I duck else I play dummy's 9 to put East on lead.

shyams 11 - 5 slavko2008 https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:2f5a5468.d0fb.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1595958783&u=shyams

Aren't the robots supposed to automatically default to advanced for this challenge tournament? I ask because I am currently playing my challenge with slavko2008 and I just blundered in a contract; surprisingly the bots blundered back after two more tricks. I just got a sense that perhaps the bots weren't really advanced-level. Thought I will post here to check.

My choice of lead is the ♦6. The contract is only 1NT which means that opponents do not have an overwhelming HCP strength. Our side will probably get in one or two times as the declarer goes about setting up his requisite tricks so our diamonds could easily get established in time for me to cash them. As for the choice of cards, I feel that the 4th best conveys the best information (allows partner to infer that I hold a long ♦ suit). If the contract were 3NT, it might be more useful to lead top-of-nothing to enable partner to switch if the hand so dictates.

He's such a narcissist! I wonder what will happen if the media started repeatedly saying that "there are better narcissists than Trump" or "He's not very good at narcissism" --- it will be fun to hear his reaction.

Congratulations on your performance so far. Best of luck for today's match. Tulin team may be strong but none of them are good enough to be great BBF posters --- this should give you an edge over all of them :) I definitely plan to watch on BBO today.

shyams 8.0 - 8.0 diana_eva https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:2095529b.d003.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1595852243&u=shyams

shyams 10.5 - 5.5 barmar https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:2d809cfd.cfe1.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1595837662&u=shyams

shyams 8.5 - 7.5 billyfung2 https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:dd9c4a56.cfe0.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1595837528&u=shyams