shyams

Here's a Matchpoints hand for your consideration: You are South (Vul vs. NV) and are playing with a robot (i.e. GIB 2/1 system). Part 1: [hv=pc=n&s=sak872hakt95d53c5&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1sp4s(Preemptive%20raise%20--%205%2B%20!S%3B%208-%20HCP%3B%204%2B%20total%20points)p]133|200[/hv] Do you plan to pass 4♠ or explore slam? If you intend to bid on, what is your action plan? Part 2: [hv=pc=n&s=sak872hakt95d53c5&n=sjt964h2dkqj2c982&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1sp4sppp]266|200[/hv] Let's say you pass partner's 4♠ bid. Now, West (robot) leads ♥4, dummy plays the singleton ♥2, East (robot) play ♥J. How do you proceed with the play? Useful notes: a. This is ROBOT MPs. And everyone who bid as above will get the same lead as you (i.e. you aren't the only lucky one to not get a club lead). b. Opponents trumps split 2-1. How many sure tricks do you have in 4♠? In a nutshell, your objective is to make one or two more tricks than what you already have. What is your best approach to making the extra overtrick? Finally, did you do something good when drawing trumps? Describe what you did in the trump play.

A DP to E/W? Really????

Or perhaps make a WhatsApp group where people can know when the other person has read their message. Who really looks at email nowadays? :rolleyes:

A. Does simple systems mean 4-card major/ACOL? If 5-card majors is implied, then East has no problem following low. B. Did RR follow to tricks 2-4 with the correct cards (i.e. give count correctly). If yes, then there is enough evidence with East to be able to legally play low.

MPs - Red vs White - You as dealer hold: [hv=pc=n&s=shqj6532dq3ckq943]133|100[/hv] What is your call?

Has the Clinton campaign been underperforming in the last few days? The odds of a Trump victory are shortening on UK betting sites, although the reduction is a small fraction.

The infographic appears to be designed specifically to give prominence to the "What Trump Said" portion of the page. It's like collating all his horrible quotes and presenting them in easily digestible forms for the NY Times readers.

If betting odds represent likelihood of an outcome (and I'm not saying they do), at this time Donald Trump is 22.2% likely to become President. Odds offered on a betting exchange are 4.50 (or 7:2 odds in English style)

Good luck for the rest of the challenge, Phil.

The HCP distribution suggested by South's vul 2♥ still makes it unlikely that declarer will place the cards that way.

I lost both sets by wide margins. I'm sure I am out of contention For your records, I lost by 77 IMPs.

We are adopting the Eurozone model :). We push away any decision involving pain/downside further into the future in the fond belief that a problem ignored is a problem solved. After all, as Keynes said, in the long run we are all dead. And obviously the dead don't care about the problems of the living.

Here is a serious poll question for the Americans with a vote on Nov 8th. If Hillary Clinton were a man (while remaining an ex-Senator, ex-Secy of State, ex-whatever), would he (Mr. Hill Rodham) be: a. More ahead on opinion polls (vs. Mr Donald Trump) compared to what currently exists b. About the same level on opinion polls compared to what currently exists c. Worse on opinion polls compared to what currently exists

This is the typical "We Americans know Capitalism, no one else does" response to any suggestion involving the Government's involvement in Industry. However, the idea of Govt creating industry has always existed even in the US. Have you ever considered why solar power has become so popular in the US over the past 10-15 years? Because George W Bush's administration initiated a program for incentives/subsidies for solar power which the Obama administration continued to support/expand. The solar sector added tens of thousands of jobs to the US economy. And even when some subsidies are routinely withdrawn or reduced, the solar power revolution continues to flourish because it has reached a size significant enough to be self-sustaining. The so-called 'cash for clunkers' is another example of Govt reinvigorating an ailing industry and helping it become self-supporting through a short-term intervention. Even the internet which you quote actually was primarily a success due to various Governments (notably the US Deptt of Defense). ICANN, which was critical to the proliferation of internet as we know it, was originally established by the US Govt. If you think ICANN is trivial, try and imagine a websphere where one had to type numeric addresses to access various sites. So NO, PLEASE DON'T view my post through your prism full of distorted notions about capitalism. Such prisms tend to complicate simple pictures to render them confused & meaningless.

In 1975, the US population was 215m and the numbers employed was 78m. If you take percentages, the past workforce ratios were lower than the present. I'm not disputing your notion that the future could be people not working. However, I am not sure how the current employed figures buttress your theory about the future of the workforce in any manner.

I like hrothgar's post of a few minutes ago, made on Bridgewinners. I suspect your OP here did not get the requisite response mostly because I (and others like me?) did not understand the cryptographic elements in the body of the text. However, upon a repeat reading (+ some thinking), I just realised that the entire ACBL "random seeding" process is crazy, and easily hackable. And although knowledge of their randomisation technique is not needed to reverse-engineer the key, their transparency on this matter -- e.g. that they generate 2000 sets at a time -- is downright crazy and can only help someone who really wants to "break" the process and engineer the hand records in advance.

It may be possible for the US Govt to create new industries, instead! For example, a feature of many advanced economies (incl. the US) is that we scrap/waste most of our items even though they have potential "economic value" left in them. It is possible for the Federal or State Govts to create markets/subsidies for reuse or recycling. Once the ball is rolling and industries are established around such processes, the subsidies themselves become secondary. If you don't believe me, look at the soda cans recycling systems in the US of A. I believe in the past if you recycled your empty soda can, the supermarket would refund you a nickel (not sure if this still exists). Due to this, many of your soda cans were historically recycled and continue to do so even today. My cursory google search led me to reports showing that over 2/3rd of all aluminum cans are recycled in the US. In contrast, the recycling rate in the UK is much lower (probably 15%-20%). And every such "new" industry has huge potential to create jobs!

It's like a 3000 metre race; there are no medals awarded for top 3 positions after two laps. IMO, you have a great opportunity to score MAX VPs on every match starting round 9 thru 18. Without causing offence to other teams involved, the only opponents who should take some VPs off you starting round 9 are Egypt, Indonesia, and Bye! Also, the weaker teams are more likely to tire easily and play worse on days 4-6 compared to days 1-3. Hope some of them can deliver shocks to their early opponents. Finally, although Bye in round 19 is bad, it allows you to sit back and your "psychic energy" to degrate the relevant teams' performance (joking :)) In summary, it's how the Spanish team sets up psychologically for the challenge. If your goals are re-drawn for matches 9 onwards, perhaps you will expend less efforts on days 1 & 2 and crush every opponent day 3 evening onwards.

In my view, this statement includes two prominent assumptions: ...A. That the USA is the greatest country in the world (guess what! it isn't); AND ...B. That the "other parts of the world" coming to your shores will degrade the USA thereby rendering it no longer the greatest (guess what! they won't -- not even close!) If anything, it is the immigrant population of the past few decades that helped make the USA great (vs. what it was before)

I'd like to play too.

There is something called stretching the methaphor. And you just did! Beyond it's breaking point!

@Kaitlyn S Don't worry. There are 100s who are happy to play with you.

Didn't mean to upvote. Instead, I meant to say "Huh?"

It doesn't mean South is THE Gawrys who could interpret "THE Klukowski" and what he intended as the meaning of the bid. Does it?

What if I choose to not open 1-4-4-4 20+HCP hand with a 2NT instead of a 2♣ or a 1m opening? Would it not solve the so-called dilemmas you have posed in the OP or the rejoinder?