Walddk

The Cavendish Invitational stays in Monaco for 2013, October 21-25. Read more about it by clicking on the link below. Page 4. http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2012/03/bulletins/db8.pdf

http://newinbridge.com/

It is not so easy to figure out what the organisers want. They used our now redundant guidelines (9 questions), and when asked whether they would like us to provide commentary, the answer was: "yes we would like to have commentary but not imperative. If so we have in open room French and closed room english." When I logged in to BBO about 15 minutes ago, there was a mail message from aramesh. I forgot the exact wording, but the bottom line was that BBO wants high quality commentary and that I was encouraged to sign up on the schedule web page, preferably for voice. I don't know yet if I am available for some of it, but even if I am, I can't register for voice, simply because there is no speaker icon. One can click on "I'll commentate", but there is no button with "I'll voice commentate."

I received details (five attachments) from the organisers on October 4th and forwarded, as instructed, the email to vugraph@ 45 minutes later. As for listing the event on the vugraph schedule web page is now out of my hands. However, I saved the email, so those who are interested in getting a copy can email me at roland_wald (at) hotmail.com

Well, a pause for 10-15 seconds after a card had been called from dummy in normal tempo is a long tank in my world. Besides, the 2 would have been the card no matter what when playing UDCA (my opinion). Although East claimed that they would not give a positive attitude signal from two small, as the King could be from KQ empty.

[hv=pc=n&s=sj3hakqj954da4c65&w=sakq875h8762dtcq7&n=st96hdkqj963ckt98&e=s42ht3d8752caj432&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1h1s2dp4hppp]399|300[/hv] I would also think that a diamond switch looks the percentage move. No luck as you see, declarer will take the rest. But this is not the end of the story. East huddled for 15-20 seconds before playing ♠2. West cashed another top spade and switched to a club, the killing defence. Declarer wasn't happy and called the director. East admitted to having paused for perhaps 10 seconds before playing the 2, because he wasn't sure if the king asked for attitude or count. E-W have been partners for about a year. What is your ruling? Did they get lucky, or did East pass UI, suit preference signal for clubs?

[hv=pc=n&w=sakq875h8762dtcq7&n=st96hdkqj963ckt98&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1h1s2dp4hppp]266|200[/hv] 2♦ was a one-round force. You lead ♠K (asking for reverse count) and partner follows with the 2, declarer with the jack. There is one more spade to cash of course, so you do that. Now the trick three decision. We may not be able to defeat the contract, of course, but if we can, what do you suggest?

You and 14 others received an email after I (among 20) got one from Donna Compton. I came out of retirement (Hi LC) and provided 15 new addresses; Donna was delighted. What bothers me is that BBO, by the look of things, does not take vugraph commentary too seriously. - 1. As pointed out in an earlier post, on August 10th I offered 34 addresses to potential voice commentators. Reply: 'not needed at this point.' - 2. On numerous occasions over the years Fred has told us that BBO loses money when we have vugraph presentations. They hijack potential users for money tournaments. Donna is trying valiantly now (well done to her!). After I got the invite, I asked her a few questions. Three of those were ... 'Who is the coordinator, the person who directs commentators to the appropriate tables?' Reply: 'That would be me…but I don’t exactly know what I am doing…helpful hints are welcome!' 'Say 12 sign up for a session, how do you ensure that we won't get ten at Table 1, two at Table 2, and none at Table 3, 4, 5 and 6?' Reply: 'I want two at each table…Is there an automated way of doing this? I do wish you were coordinating - I have no clue what I am doing but will do everything I can to ensure a great show. I will be online at the start of each segment and I guess I can go into each room and tell the commentators to go to other rooms. Are there other ways? I am hoping that everyone will sign up online so I will have a list for each segment and I can send out an email and assign people to tables. But if people won't sign up in advance, then I can't do that method!' 'How do you ensure that commentators who like to work together are at the same table?' Reply: 'They can tell me those kinds of things…again if everyone will just sign up online, then I can send out emails a day ahead and coordinate those that like to work together and those that don’t!' Dear BBO. I announced my retirement more than six weeks ago. I had no contract, I have been unpaid from the word 'go' to the word 'stop', so I thought three weeks' advance notice was fair. According to barmar I have been nothing more than an 'assistant'. Fair enough, but if that is so, then there must be someone else, the one in charge, who can answer all the questions a new coordinator has. I don't understand a word of what Al is saying in his two comprehensive posts (that is way over my head, but that is my problem), but I do understand that things worked extremely well when things were done manually. And finally, in order to avoid misunderstandings: No, I do NOT want my job back!

I did that every time a new event was listed. Desi and I spotted very few mistakes, and they were corrected immediately afterwards. Even if I wanted to, I can't do it any more, because I don't know what the organisers enter when they fill in the form. That's exactly why it was a good idea that they approached me first; not in order to determine whether the broadcasts were worthy of our attention (they all were/are), but simply to ensure that times were what they were meant to be. Additionally, quite a few organisers don't speak or write English very well, some not at all, so they wrote to me in Norwegian, Swedish and German and a couple of other languages I speak. I was in a position to translate before I forwarded the relevant info. This is also a thing of the past. The latest example is a broadcast from Norway, an email I forwarded to vugraph@ (as requested by Uday) upon arrival on August 29th. This tournament has not made it to the schedule page yet, presumably because it's in Norwegian and has been sent back to the organisers for translation. Finally, the fact that I received the details well in advance made it so much easier to select relevant events for voice commentary and approach potential commentators with some time to spare. So those of you who were not sure why I stepped down may understand it better now. What might still have been has turned into automation, although I even offered to do it all myself if it was a burden for Desi to set it up on the web page. This point was ignored when I got replies from Uday and Rain. I tried to convince the management that full automation is not a good idea, but I did not succeed. I saw it as a "take it or leave it", so I left it.

As far as I know there has not been any tournament with voice commentary since August 23rd when I did my 41st consecutive voice session from Lille. Is the Buffett Cup (starting Monday) going to have voice? I am asking because no-one approached me or any other member of the squad, and I don't see the speaker icon on the schedule web page. "BBO will be in touch" was the last sentence I and the other 300 got from Uday when I, shortly before Lille started, announced my resignation as the coordinator after the WMSG.

No no, if this is how barmar sees it, there is no need to remove anything. He is obviously entitled to his opinion. I must confess that the word 'assistance' makes me smile and weep at the same time. For your information, Barry, I actually *ran* BBO Vugraph for 10 years, single-handed. The bridge world seemed to acknowledge that fact when I received the 2011 International Bridge Press Association Personality of the Year Award. You are no doubt an excellent programmer, but vugraph organisation is perhaps not your strongest suit.

... or it's really too bad BBO wasn't willing to work with Roland on this. I suggested a compromise in an email to Fred about a month ago, but the response I got was that he is not involved. The decisions are made by Uday, and I accept that. Anyway, it's too late now, and I am enjoying my retirement. Still no word as to who is going to take over. Sadly, the organisation of written commentary collapsed after I switched to voice. I would hate to see the same happen to voice commentary. I really want to be proven wrong, but I doubt that I will, because there is probably not another idiot out there who thinks it's a brilliant idea to spend the time it takes to organise this properly.

I am still getting loads of questions about why I decided to step down as the BBO VuGraph coordinator. I could not have put it better than Mark Horton did in the editorial of the September issue of BRIDGE Magazine in England: "Roland Wald (the 2011 International Bridge Press Association Personality of the Year) became inolved with the embryonic Bridge Base Online VuGraph presentations in 2002. Since then he has logged an extraordinary number of man hours as an organiser, commentator and observer. That immense effort has seen bridge develop on the Internet into a spectator sport, with the big tournaments attracting colossal audiences. However, BBO has decided to automate the system to the extent that Roland now feels it is time to retire. Bridge players everywhere owe him an incalculable debt."

You also have to be a machine to think it's a good idea to run a tournament like this .... INDIAN Corprorate Bridge Tournament New Delhi, India Saturday, 2012-09-15 21:45-23:45 Pairs session 2 (1 tables) Sunday, 2012-09-16 00:15-02:15 Pairs session 3 (1 tables) 06:00-09:00 Pairs session 1 (1 tables) ... Nothing wrong with technology, of course; a human made the error, but this could also have been avoided before it hit the schedule page.

I still claim that automation is a step in the wrong direction. Because no machine can spot the following human error: Mitravihar club Centenary State level championship 2012 Nashik , India Saturday, 2012-10-27 00:30-02:30 Semi Finals 1/2 (2 tables) 08:30-10:00 Quarter Finals 1/2 (2 tables) 09:30-11:00 Quarter Finals 2/2 (2 tables) Sunday, 2012-10-28 04:30-06:30 Semi Finals 2/2 (2 tables) Only a human realises that you can't play one segment of a semifinal before the quarterfinals, and it would have been a no-brainer for him/her to correct if he/she had been approached by the organiser.

Spot on, Jeffrey. One has to be active, not passive and wait for something to happen. It won't. Before Lille when I announced my resignation I was asked and sent Uday a list with potential voice commentators (34 altogether as far as I recall), real names as well as user ID's. I also offered email addresses, so that my successor can get in touch and ask people to sign up for specific events. Those addresses were not needed at that point, I was told. As I am on that list myself, and given that I did not receive anything yet, I assume that this person has not been found/selected. Alternatively, he/she is not going to follow that procedure. It's a good one in my opinion, but it takes some effort. Nothing happens automatically no matter how much automation you introduce.

The problem arises because most organisers don't know what GMT = Greenwich Mean Time (or UTC/Zulu) is. They think London = GMT all year round, although it only applies six months a year. Strange you could argue, as Greenwich is located in London, but that's how it is, and here is where the 'human touch' comes in. If nothing else, my job for 10 years made me an expert on time zones, and I was therefore able to step in and correct 'obvious' errors before they hit the vugraph schedule web page. Then I would be able to approach potential commentators with correct session times. The automation procedure makes things uncertain and was the main reason for my departure. I made that point in several emails to the management, but I was alone when I expressed my concern. When one is not comfortable with a new formula, it is time to call it a day.

I think one of the biggest challenges for BBO will be that the new system seems to be passive (wait for commentators to sign up) rather than active (a human sends emails and gentle reminders to get commentators to sign up). I fear BBO will suffer a decline in both the quantity and quality of commentators unless/until they can sort that out.

Answers to your questions at http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/news_fetch.php?id=291 from May 2010

Regarding Wednesday the 26th October we know that we (again) will get all six semi-finals (listed below). SF4 will have VOICE for Match B, the other two segments for Match A. SF4 Indonesia vs England (VC) Netherlands vs Italy (BB) VOICE USA1 vs USA2 (BB) Netherlands vs France (VC) France vs Poland (SB) USA1 vs USA2 (SB) SF5 and SF6 to be announced when available. Look in the Lobby News.

Regarding Tuesday the 25th October we know that we will get all six semi-finals (listed below). The top match (banner marked with an A) will have voice and that will probably not be the same for every segment. SF1 USA1 vs USA2 (BB) VOICE Netherlands vs Italy (BB) Indonesia vs England (VC) Netherlands vs France (VC) France vs Poland (SB) USA1 vs USA2 (SB)

Thanks everyone, greatly appreciated.

Regarding Monday the 24th October we only know our matches for QF4 (the first segment of the day). The schedule for QF5 and QF6 will not be announced until Monday morning and afternoon European time. QF4 USA2 vs Sweden (BB) VOICE Italy vs China (BB) USA2 vs Indonesia (VC) England vs Sweden (VC) Netherlands vs USA1 (VC) Germany vs France (SB)

Here is our schedule for day 8, Sunday the 23rd October, at the World Championships in the Netherlands. First 'three' segments of the quarter-finals, including carryover: QF1 Italy (-0.3) vs China (BB) Netherlands (+14) vs Iceland (BB) VOICE USA2 (-3.3) vs Sweden (BB) USA1 (+2) vs Israel (BB) England (+4) vs Sweden (VC) USA1 (-14.5) vs Denmark (SB) QF2 USA2 vs Sweden (BB) VOICE Israel vs USA1 (BB) USA1 vs Netherlands (VC) China vs France (VC) USA2 vs Indonesia (VC) Germany vs France (SB) QF3 To be announced Sunday during play. Match A will have VOICE. QF4, QF5 and QF6 to be played Monday.

It is hardly a surprise that I get many more private messages than anyone else. The thing is, however, that I can't avoid them even if I wanted to (+++ will not work for 'yellows'). Do the messages bother me? Generally speaking no, but sometimes it is so overwhelming that I must ask people to slow down via a message in the room. Will I ever interfere with what my fellow commentators do? No. They have the option of disallowing spec chat and are entitled to use that option if they wish. Anything they choose is fine with me. And to Raija (peachy), believe me when I say that you would also choose that option if you got as many messages as fred and I get. Because if you are going to respond to all of those messages, you would not have time to commentate, and that's what you are there for: to service all kibitzers with comments related to the play and the event. Furthermore, if you try to be selective and ignore some of the chat, you also know that you will offend some people when they don't get a reply. In my view it's a perfect mixture that some allow chat and that some don't. Those who don't have a reason for not having +++ up. Fair enough. Roland