Walddk

I have now been informed that it will happen Sunday at 9:50 Paris time, 8:50 am London, 3:50 am New York, 7:50 pm Sydney. We will be broadcasting the last segment of 16 boards with live expert commentary at 2 tables. Roland

It's all new to me. We have not been contacted regarding a broadcast from that event. However, if it appears, I will try to get ad hoc commentators. Roland

Saturday's schedule (last 3 rounds in the round-robin): Round 19: Sweden vs. Argentina (BB) Round 20: USA2 vs. Brazil (BB) Round 21: USA1 vs. Italy (BB) + TBA We may also add a match in round 20. Roland

Brilliant; you can make 5NT, but not 5 of either minor. Why not go down like the rest of the world? Are you saying that you can stop in 4NT when everyone else is in 5 or 6 of a minor? In that case I congratulate you. Gold and Townsend must be seriously bad then, because they ended up in 6♦. I know that it made. It's a 4 or 7 hand. Roland

And they just beat second placed Egypt by 18-12. Congrats! Roland

If the balanced hand is suited for a 3-card raise, you should raise. Typically when holding a small doubleton in an unbid suit. This is a classic: K105 54 A9543 AK4 1♦ - 1♠ 2♠ Rebidding 1NT is inferior for two reasons. You may be left to play there when you have a 5-3 spade fit, and even if responder is strong enough to check back for a fit, you are committed to playing NT from the (likely) wrong hand. If responder is weak and only has four spades, you are normally quite safe playing on a 4-3 fit at the 2-level. Finally, if responder has at least invitational values after the major suit raise, he can ask for shape and strength by inserting a relay (2NT). Many experts play that after 1x - 1MA 2MA In other words: you are not committed to playing a game in the major raised. Responder will investigate if he is interested. Roland

And this one in Danish (it makes sense): Far, får får får? Får får får? Ja, får får får? Nej, får får ikke får, får får lam. Roland

Friday's schedule is as follows: Round 16: China vs. Italy (BB) Round 17: Germany vs. Canada (VC) Round 18: USA1 vs. Netherlands (BB) Roland

Although it may hurt Frances to see this, we will get our first match from the Venice Cup Thursday. Here are the fixtures: Round 13: Italy vs. Egypt (BB) Round 14: China vs. England (VC) Round 15: Japan vs. England (BB) As was the case Wednesday in rounds 11 and 12, we may add one match to rounds 14 and 15. No promises though. Roland

No, he is playing for them. Justin's real name is Alkoud el-Justinahmed. Sadly, he was sitting out when they finally won a match :D Roland

If we were to decide, we would most likely have a couple of Venice Cup matches during the round-robin. The thing is, however, that we don't have a say as long as we are only connected to the onsite vugraph match in each round. The decisions are made by the onsite commentators. If it is technically possible, in combination with getting enough volunteer operators, we would be happy to add one match in every round. Then we could even decide which match to go for, and then we would have a chance to show the women. I suspect that we will get something from the Venice Cup eventually; if not before, then in the knockout phase, but at this point it's nothing but a guess. With all due respect to the women, the Bermuda Bowl has and should have (my opinion) first priority, simply because it's a fact that this is the wish of the vast majority of the viewers. Roland

Wednesday's fixtures: Round 10: China vs. Portugal (BB) Round 11: Italy vs. USA2 (SB. Garozzo, Forquet and Zia among others) Round 12: Italy vs. Sweden (BB) We may get a bonus match in the middle round, but nothing confirmed yet. Roland

After the European Championships last summer two of the three Israeli pairs split up for different reasons. Israel have very few top woman players to choose from, so with two partnerships gone with the wind, the federation didn't want to spend the large amount of money it costs to have a team of 6 players, a non-playing captain and a coach in Portugal for 2 weeks. It's very expensive as you can imagine. So a political decision if you like, but nothing to do with world politics. The federation simply decided to spend the money on other bridge related issues inside Israel. That decision wasn't popular everywhere in the country, but it was made, and when the WBF learned about it, England, the team that finished just outside the qualifying spots, were invited instead. Roland

Constructive criticism should be welcomed by the WBF. It is a bad idea to rely on a local server as is the case in Portugal. It's fine for the 60+ spectators in the onsite theatre, but it's bad for the 8,000 or more online viewers. I know that Dave Thompson managed to talk the WBF out of it before Sydney. It's much better to create a stable internet connection (broadband) using ethernet cables (and definitely not wireless). Telling this to the responsible people in the WBF should be clear and accepted with gratitude, since the aim must be to promote bridge worldwide. They may not believe me when I say this, but at least Dave Thompson knows what he is talking about. He has tried it all by now. Roland

It may seem strange, but it's not. Qualification for the BB, VC and SB happened at the European Championships in Malmö, Sweden, in the summer of 2004. The Russian ladies did not qualify. The English women didn't either, but they are in Estoril because Israel withdrew a few months ago. Roland

Tuesday's fixtures (all from the Bermuda Bowl): Round 7: Australia vs. Brazil Round 8: England vs. USA2 Round 9: USA1 vs. Poland Three very good matches in prospect. Unfortunately I can't deliver good news regarding more matches in every round. Getting volunteer operators at the venue seems very difficult, but Hervé (zmud99) will keep trying. Roland

More useful info regarding data from our vugraph broadcasts. Yvan Calame from Switzerland has this: http://www.bridgefederation.ch/2005/wtc/index.php And Nikos Sarantakos from Greece presents: http://www.sarantakos.com/bridge/vugraph.html Finally, we have our own archives. Explore Bridge! ---> Bridge Library ---> Vugraph archives ---> All recent broadcasts Roland

We won't quite ignore you (on the contrary!), because our fixtures for Monday are also from the Bermuda Bowl. They are: Round 4: China vs. Canada Round 5: Egypt vs. Russia Round 6: USA2 vs. USA1 With a little bit of luck we may be able to add one match to at least one or two of these rounds, but it's still uncertain at this point. Roland

Thought we were talking about the double of 2♦ only and not the subsequent auction. Feel free to play double as penalties. I prefer to play it as take-out, and I told you why. Roland

I don't understand what you are aiming at. The person who bid 2♦ is 4th in hand and unlimited. You may then ask what I will do if I have a penalty of 2♦. The answer is pass, and I will wait for partner to (likely) re-open with a double, since he rates to be short in diamonds. He knows that I may have a trap pass of 2♦ depending on his own length in the suit. Now you get it both ways. You can double for take-out with 4513 and 3514 patterns and pass it if you have something like 2542 and extras where you would like to penalise the opponents. This is no different to playing negative doubles. If you want to penalise opps after your partner opened and RHO overcalls, you must pass, because a double would be negative. Roland

I live by the rule that double of low level contracts is only for penalties if: 1. It's obvious that the opponents have a misfit. 2. Preceded by a redouble. As to 1) It's not. As to 2) Irrelevant here. So double of 2♦ is for take-out. Roland

2♠ is not even forcing on a competitive auction, so North should have bid 3♣ on his second turn, just as he must bid 2♣ or 2♦ if opener had passed over 1♠. Then South has an easy 5♥ over 5♣. In another situation where it goes 1♣ X pass 1♠ p 2♠ will indeed show extras, roughly 18-21, but with only 3 spades North can't support them right away. A detour (2♣) seems right to me. Now South can jump to 3♥. He has a very good hand in context. Roland

If 2♠ promises another bid, thereby driving you to game most of the times, you will get to a no play game more often than not in my opinion. Here is just one example: KQJxx Axx xx xxx Axxx Qx Qxx AQxx 1♣ (2♦) 2♠ I suppose we agree that opener must support to 3♠. Now, according to mikeh responder raises to game because he promised another bid. I even gave opener a goodish minimum, and yet you will go down in 4♠ even on the most favourable lie of the cards. I find this unsound. Roland

Where did I say that it's a 5♦ call? Please advise. Roland I just misread it Roland - I saw that you thought 4♦ was an underbid - and assumed that you intended 5♦ - instead of 4N. You'd better read it again then, Phil. I did write 4NT. Roland

If this is not a 3♠ rebid I don't know what is. Shows 16-18 where I come from. Roland