Walddk

Team rosters and systems are now available at http://www.ecatsbridge.com/Events/wbf/2007...hai/default.asp

Since I am responsible for inviting commentators, I would like to make a few comments. I was there (open room) for about half of the match in question: boards 13, 14, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and I was also among the commentators. When I left the following had been commentating: Liz McGowan (cuttysark), David Greenwood (jtr), Richie Reisig (reisig), Jim Hay (ahh), Arifin Halim (ahalim) and Liliek Sudirahardjo (westjava). After I left Henri Schweitzer (ritong) joined at some point. I am obviously familiar with the comments that were made while I was there, and after I read your post I have been through the commentary for all 14 boards. My overall judgement is that the commentary was relaxed, humorous and sometimes ironic, perhaps even sarcastic as you point out. It is obviously inappropriate for any commentator to be disrespectful to a player. BBO does not condone that, and if I think a commentator has been rude, I will let him or her know. I think it's fair to say that the bridge shown during that particular match was a great deal below the usual standard on BBO vugraph, and I don't think it is disrepectful to make that point. When a pair gets a response to Stayman wrong, or when the 2♣ bidder forgets their agreement (we don't know which), I think it's perfectly legitimate to comment. We are all humans, and sometimes we say something we should not have said. BBO vugraph commentators are no different from other people around the world. I honestly don't think that rudeness was part of the commentary, and it has definitely nothing to do with where in the world we are and where the commentators come from. To the best of our ability we treat everyone with the respect he/she deserves. However, I can also understand your disappointment if you think that the commentators did not show respect for the players. You are entitled to your opinion, and if that is the case I am prepared to take the full responsibility and apologise. I trust everyone I invite to join as a commentator. I can't control what people type, but if a commentator oversteps the line (let me repeat that I don't think it happened here) I am the one to blame. You have to take the rough with the smooth when you are in my position. I am truly sorry if we disappointed you and perhaps other spectators. We will do all we can to do a better job next time. Roland (Walddk2)

Quote from the ECats site: I have been asked to withdraw the lists of teams until they have been approved by the Credentials Committee. I will re-post them as soon as possible. ... Almost all of them were there for quite some time, Norway's included. By the way, provisional time schedule for the Round-Robin each day is: 10:30, 14:00 and 17:30 (local time) As far as time zones are concerned, Shanghai is on GMT +8. This translates to: Los Angeles is 15 hours behind, New York 12 hours behind, London 7 hours behind, Paris 6 hours behind, and Sydney 2 hours ahead. Roland

I would also have been in a spade game long time ago, but as the auction progressed maybe I should be glad that I did not bid at the 4-level. It seems like partner has wasted values in hearts, so passing now is clear. Advancer promised zero on defence and is looking at two tricks opposite a partner who penalised them in 4♥. What more can you ask for? Roland

Aha, 1♠ muddles the auction, but ... 2♣ can be a sort of advanced cue. 2♦ can be an anticipatory advanced cue ... will make the auction clear as ink I take it. I am lost. Roland

Why 2♣ in the first place? There is no need to bid 2♣ even though it establishes a game force. I could picture an auction like this: 1♥ - 1♠ 2♦ - 3♣* 3♦ - 3♥ 4♥ - pass * Fourth suit. Opener has basically shown 5-5 in the reds and a minimum (4♥), responder 4+ spades, exactly 3 hearts with (at least) a slam invitational hand. When opener raises to 4♥, the weakest bid possible, it's time for responder to sign off. Roland

The great news today is that the Chinese Contract Bridge Association (CCBA) has provided 8 (!) operators for us for the World Championships (Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and Senior Bowl) in Shanghai from September 30 - October 13. If everything goes according to plan, we will be broadcasting from 6 tables (3 matches) in each of the 21 rounds in the qualifying. We will obviously also get comprehensive coverage when we reach the knockout stage. Our gratitude to the CCBA and Song Zhao, China's Mr. Vugraph, for all his hard work. Those of you who have been following our vugraph presentations from China know how well organised they are. Furthermore, the operators are excellent. Hervé Lustman (zmud99) will be working for the WBF, but he will also be our man at the venue. With all this put together we are in very capable hands and have every right to look forward to watching the world's best players in action. I don't think it takes much imagination to foresee that we will set at least a couple of new records in October: - 1. Number of users online. - 2. Number of spectators in the vugraph theatre. - 3. Number of spectators at a single table in the finals. Useful links: http://www.worldbridge.org/tourn/Shanghai.07/Information.htm http://www.ecatsbridge.com/Events/wbf/2007...hai/default.asp Roland

We were up and running for 5 mins about 10 mins ago. Alas, everyone has been booted again. Sorry for the inconvenience. Roland

Well, Fred, Uday and Ben (inquiry) live in USA, Gerardo in Argentina, and it's in the middle of the night for them. I don't think it's fair to expect that they are awake 24 hours a day. Roland

I suggest that you walk your dog, even if you don't have one. If nothing else, it's good for your heart :o Roland

I think it's a general problem at the moment (09:05 GMT). The BBO server has been down since approximately 07:45 GMT. I have notified the administrators. All we can do is wait and hope that the problem will be resolved shortly. Roland

The results are in the Wednesday Bulletin -- at least the remaining teams are listed with the match-ups. Match-ups for the Round of 32 yes, but would it not be a natural thing to list the results of the previous round too? Like .... Nickell vs Clayton ??? - ??? etc. etc. My point is that the bulletin has zillions of results from all kinds of side events every day (most of which are impossible to read with a normal vision), so why not results from the most prestigious of all tournaments? Roland

I have made some really bad objections in my day, but this one takes the cake! You object to a pass with that crap at IMP's? IMO, the order of sanity: 1. Pass 2. 2♥ 3. Psychic double 4. Psychic 1NT 5. Psychic 2♣ Michaels 6. Blackwood 4NT 7. Gerber and, roll the drums, 8. 1♥ I agree wholeheartedly but would like to switch 7. and 8. :) Roland

I think this is a poor excuse if it is a valid one. Let me take Norway, one of the smaller countries, as an example. The country is divided into 25 districts (kretser), and they are quite capable of handling vugraph presentations everywhere. Different people are in charge, and that does not cause a problem. Just look at the Norwegian Bridge Festival starting Friday. Nine days on the trot, multiple events, outstanding result service. Perfect. Harald Skjæran (skaeran) can no doubt shed more light on how this is undertaken. Denmark is even smaller, 11 districts, and also there it is possible to go ahead without further ado. In those countries they read the technical manual, have a few hours of practice, and off they are. This is not brain surgery. It's actually quite simple if you have talented organisers. There is one big difference, however. I think the ACBL books hotels years in advance and forgets about negotiating an internet deal when they do. In other countries it's part of the package because it's taken care of well in advance. Internet coverage has high priority in Norway, Poland, Denmark, England, Netherlands, China, etc. I am far from convinced that this is the case as far as the ACBL is concerned. Roland

A BBO member sent me this a few minutes ago: "I was on site in Nashville Saturday and Sunday, and was about to hop on BBO in my room when I saw that the hotel charges $12/day for internet for guests. Wow. I don't know if this means anything as far as what the ACBL would have to pay for vugraph internet access."

As mentioned in my initial post, this is what I got from Rick Beye on 11 July. 24 hours after "Monday afternoon, 7/23" I haven't received any such information, and that is the most disappointing aspect from my point of view. Yesterday I even took the time to ask a couple of players onsite (they were online briefly) to remind Rick of his promise. Denis rightly points out that we are getting a poorer service no matter what happens from here. Perhaps we are back to the "hotel charges a fortune" issue. I have no idea. Since I am known to be an organised person, guessing is not my kind of game. When I am presented with facts, i.e. accurate information, I am ready to act. Apologies in advance if the schedule shown on our web page is inaccurate. Roland

I have been through our vugraph archives, and last year we were broadcasting all of the Spingold R32 and R16. None of that will happen this time. When we came to the quarter-finals (scheduled to be shown on Thursday) one of the four quarters was dedicated to the women's finals (the 3rd of the Wagar Knockout Teams). That match was a one-sided affair, so back we were to the Spingold the segment after. As you can imagine, I have received loads of private chat messages and e-mails over the last two weeks. All of these had "when and why" in them. A couple of specific e-mails today from Rosede A. Olson of USA addressed the issue of the Wagar. Ms Olson has asked me show them with this comment: "Please post my e-mails re the broadcasting of the women's events. Maybe it will spark a discussion that might get the ACBL to the point that it would believe that showing those events was a more financially sound move than not." Her first e-mail to the ACBL with a copy to me was this: "I do wish you would broadcast at least the semi-finals and the finals of the women's teams events -- such as the Wagar Women's Teams at the ACBL Summer Nationals, as well as the open teams. I know you have to be asked by the sponsor of the event and have enough operators -- but I wish you would mention it to the ACBL, as I am doing with this e-mail. I know there are a lot of people who would be interested in viewing the event." Ms Olson got this back from the ACBL: "Hi Rosede, There is no charge for you to watch the broadcast. Unfortunately there is a major cost for the sponsor to provide the coverage and the funds are not currently available for additional events. Regards, Butch Campbell Manager - Tournament Department American Contract Bridge League" ... That reply was not satisfactory for Ms Olson, so she sent another e-mail to Memphis: "As an addition, when you look at the next couple of months of the vugraph schedule on Bridge Base (Norwegian Bridge Festival, Finnish Cup, Governor's Cup from Indonesia, 10th European University Championship, and tournaments from India, Crete, Netherlands (3 times), England, New Zealand and Bulgaria), it just seems so sad that the country that has the most bridge players in the world cannot manage to sponsor the vugraph showing of six specific events over the course of a year. It also seems like such good publicity that I would think it would increase the playing of bridge in the U.S., and thereby bring more money into the coffers." .... So here we are at this point. Feel free to join the debate if you care. Roland

Our schedule for the Spingold is now up on our vugraph web page http://online.bridgebase.com/vugraph/sched...?order_by=event However, as I did not receive additional info from ACBL since the last e-mail on July 12, the schedule can only be described as provisional. There are instances where the two teams agree to start the evening session 30 or 60 minutes later, Rick Beye wrote. In my opinion it would be a good idea to let the players play and let the organisers organise. I did write that after Rick's last e-mail, but I am not surprised that my opinion doesn't count. We had a similar problem in England (the players decided when to resume). I told Max Bavin about the problems that would create, and since then the English have been very cooperative. They actually stick to a fixed time schedule now! Rain retrieved the Spingold schedule from last year, so I made my guesses (timewise) after I had a look at that. Unless the organisers do something at the last minute, there won't be broadcasts from the rounds of 64 (Tuesday) and 32 (Wednesday). We had them both a year ago. Given the uncertainty regarding the time schedule, I have decided not to assign commentators in advance. It would not be fair on them if they are to stand by for 30 or 60 minutes. It's virtually impossible to get any accurate information from ACBL, but I am used to that by now. I wish they would be more interested in presenting live internet vugraph, but I am not holding my breath. Reliable sources tell me that they do indeed care. If that is so, it's a pity that it doesn't show. Roland

Quote from today's bulletin: The Nickell team is missing a regular, Richard Freeman, who could not attend because of illness. The nature of the illness is not specified. Roland

Not unless they make a last minute change to the schedule, and if they do, I think they will show one of the quarter-finals from the Wagar (women). Anyway, I also wish Phil & Co. the best of luck! Roland

Maybe you do, I don't. I even have a rhyme which makes it easy to remember: Third from three or four Fifth from five or more The Rules of 10 (5th) and 12 (3rd) are not a North American invention. Although they date back to the days of whist, they were introduced to bridge by Welith and Wenneberg from Sweden. Roland

Quite right, I prefer 1♣ (unless 1-4-4-4) for two reasons: - 1. I like transfer-responses and I will obviously get them in more often if I open 1♣. - 2. The 1NT response becomes more accurate than after 1♦. However, I do not feel strongly about it and am prepared to open 1♦ if my partner wishes. Or something like the Zia-Rosenberg approach: "Sometimes we open 1♣ and sometimes 1♦." I am not concerned about 1♣ - (1♠) - X - Pass I rebid 1NT if I have a balanced hand, spade stop or not. Those who open 1♦ and rebid 2♣ if they don't have spades stopped indicate an unbalanced hand in my view. I think it's much more important to show the hand type with say ... 1042 Q5 AJ95 KQJ7 This is balanced, not two-suited. So 1♣ I open and 1NT is my rebid, with or without overcall. Roland

Your intention is commendable, Murat, but it won't solve the problem (not for me at least). Say Frances is ungagged for one session, then leaves BBO and comes back 15 minutes later to do the next session. It would really be too much of a hassle if she needs to be ungagged again. Roland

I think you should bypass a major every time you have a balanced hand, so I would have no problem with 2NT here. The continuation Frances suggested is excellent and exactly what I and many others teach students here. Rebidding 1♠ (may or may not be a balanced hand) creates some problems with a hand like this: ♠ KJ54 ♥ Q108 ♦ Q87 ♣ AJ4 1♣ - 1♥ 1♠ - 2♦ 2♥ This sounds like a 4-3-1-5 hand to me, and as responder I would be very disappointed to find a 4333 in dummy. As opener I would feel much more comfortable if it goes 1♣ - 1♥ 1NT Roland

I forwarded this problem to Mark, and I agree that 2♠ is superior when 2♣ is game forcing. What I did not tell Mark, however, is that I found the hands in an old issue of a British magazine. Yes, Acol was the system (as it still is for the vast majority in that part of the world), and now you are well and truly stuck. I guess you must rebid 3♠ to show this powerhouse and create a game force, and now you can most likely wave goodbye to the laydown 7♣. ♠ 8 ♥ A96 ♦ AQ64 ♣ AJ1083 ♠ AJ107543 ♥ KQ ♦ K ♣ KQ9 They still teach newbies Acol in Britain. Hopeless, really. This is just one example. Users who are frequent visitors in the vugraph theatre know how much I dislike the system, but more importantly, top class English players like Tom Townsend, Peter Crouch and Geoffrey Wolfarth are in the same camp. Roland