Walddk

He has 7 diamonds and 5 spades (no pre-empt with a 5-card major), so I'll give preference to diamonds. Roland

Minority 1♦ for me. No, I am not worried about missing a game if partner passes (happens once in a million years; all pass *and* a game missed that is). I have continuations for any 1MA response, but that is not the topic. Roland

Never thought about that until you mention it now, Rick. You are right, I never get requests from users in that part of the world, and surely many of them know how to ask in English. So it must be a cultural thing. To be honest, I don't need more requests ;) , because, as you can imagine, I get loads as it is. Every time a new spectator arrives, he/she (understandably) would like to have the link to running scores. For obvious reasons I don't have time to give it every 15 seconds. Murat's suggestion is of course excellent. I just don't know how difficult it is to implement. Until something happens I tend to give the link in the open room every 5 minutes or so, and I ask my fellow commentators in the closed room to do the same. Finally, I don't know if you have noticed, but I have also asked our operators to put the link in their profiles. Roland

Sure we are going to broadcast. Let me show you what Rick Beye, the ACBL chief TD, sent me the other day: "We would like to start broadcasts (Spingold and Wagar) on Thursday (the 26th), to continue through Sunday. I can not tell you what events we will do Thursday-Saturday until I see the entry into the two events. So, I won't have the event information until Monday afternoon, 7/23." Consequently, we are not going to list anything until I have that specific information, but broadcast we will. Tournament schedule to be found at ... http://web2.acbl.org/documentlibrary/nabc/...chedule2007.pdf Roland

Great start to the championships; very entertaining bridge, and a textbook example of strip and endplay in 6♦. I am looking forward to watching it all. Due to security we are going to miss the first 2-3 boards in the closed room for the duration. Our operators will not get the files until the players have completed at least a couple of boards there. When the operators are in a position to go ahead, they will enter player names and results on the missing boards as soon as possible. So please bear in mind that this is no fault of the operators. Blame it on the organisers if you really must blame someone. Roland

OK, loose ends are bad, so let's add the last part: Part 2: Club ducked, second club to dummy, trump. East must win or we can use my initial line. East now plays a high heart. Ruff high, cash one high trump, cross to a diamond, ruff another heart high, cross to the other diamond, and lead the fourth heart pitching a club. The position has now transposed to the initial 3-card ending. As far as I can tell, edmunte1 got this right all along, but no one seemed to believe him. If you disagree with him (or me), I need to tell you that you also disagree with Bart Bramley! (Who dares?) :P He also wants to declare and has been as specific as outlined in my last two posts. Roland

OK then. I want to declare! Since this is a very complex hand as you have all spotted, I will divide it into two parts. Part 1: Win ♥A and advance ♣Q. Let's assume that West covers. You win the ace in dummy and lead a spade. East ducks (option 1) and from there you enter dummy twice in diamonds to ruff two hearts high. You cash ♣J and exit with a trump to East's ace. There are four cards left. After East, perforce, cashes a heart (as you pitch a club), you have a low trump and two diamonds, West has a high trump and the high card in each minor, and dummy has a low trump and one of each minor. On the next heart West is squeezed. If he ruffs high you throw a diamond from dummy and claim. If he throws a diamond you ruff in dummy and ruff a club. If he throws a club you ruff in dummy and cash dummy's club, which is now high, pitching your last diamond. If West refuses to cover at trick 2, you continue with a club to dummy's ace and proceed as before. The same neat ending will materialise. Now, let's assume that East rises with ♠A. Then it gets very complicated. West covers the club at trick 2 (option 1). On a trump lead East wins. Suppose he plays a second trump. (I will examine the other possibilities later). You lead a diamond. 1. If West splits, win, pull the last trump and cash the second club, then lead another diamond. West must duck, else your diamond spots win a trick on power. Duck in dummy to endplay East, who is now heart-tight. Pitch on his first high heart; then he must set up dummy's 10 on his next heart lead while you still have a high diamond as an entry to the good heart. 2. If West plays low, duck to East. Now you will be able to ruff your fourth diamond in dummy no matter how East defends. If he plays a high heart, pitch a club. (In most variations I will pitch the first time East plays a heart). If East continues with a low heart, ruff high, unblock diamonds, ruff a club with your remaining low trump, ruff your fourth diamond, and you have a high trump at trick 13. If West ever discards a diamond, just draw his last trump and cash a diamond. After East wins the diamond, if he plays anything but a heart, win, unblock diamonds, ruff a heart high, cash your club (if you haven't done so yet), ruff the fourth diamond and exit with the third club. West must win and put you back in hand to claim with good trumps. Variation: Suppose East wins the trump ace and plays a high heart immediately. Pitch a club. Now if East plays anything but another heart, transpose to (1) or (2) above. If East continues with a high heart, ruff high and draw trumps; the ♥10 is your 10th trick. If East continues with a low heart, pitch a diamond as West ruffs; later you can squeeze West in the minors for your 10th trick. ... The last problem arises when West ducks the first club. I'll come back to that when I have recovered my breath. It's 1:10 am here :( Roland

I disagree. Partner may well have 10xxx, and unless you peek, you are not going to lead ♠A followed by a small one from AQJ9x. As to your comment regarding a possible penalty pass if you double, I really don't believe that you are serious. Roland

Double would likely be my first impulse at the table, but the more I think about it, the more I like 1NT better. 1. Partner does not have four hearts and 5-6 hcp. 2. Partner rates to have some length in spades (not even a weak raise by my RHO). 3. In the event that partner has 5+ cards in diamonds or hearts, he can still pull 1NT. * * Double would also get us there, but there is no way back to 1NT when that is right. The downside of bidding 1NT is that we won't get to 2♥ when partner has exactly four and less than 5 hcp. But even then 1NT may play as well as 2♥. Perhaps he has a 4432 shape. Roland

Clear pass. Even thinking is a gross overbid. From all sensible textbooks: "Pass in second seat after 1x or 2y (weak two) does not deny an opening hand. It denies a hand that is suitable to come in at this point." Roland

I disagree strongly. I would lead my 5th best diamond ;) Roland

I am impressed if one napkin is enough. I used 6 pages of a large notepad before I figured out if I can or can't make it. Took me close to 50 minutes, but I think I have the answer. Is it worth spending 50 minutes on, you may ask. Probably not, unless bridge is your living. It is for me. I realise that Michael Rosenberg and Bart Bramley have the correct answer in perhaps 15-20 minutes. They are world class analysts, and I am not. Anyway, they won't be able to spend all that time at the table whether they want to defend or declare. Dummy double problems to do not occur at the table. Roland

At this point I am not going to reveal if you are right or not, but you are in your hand after trick 1. Do you enter dummy with a diamond and lead a spade up? If you do, you still owe to tell us where your 10th trick comes from. Roland

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=s654h10876dak7ca76&w=s987hkdqj102ck10932&e=sa10hqj95432d98c84&s=skqj32had6543cqj5]399|300|Scoring: IMP S: 4S (E opened 2H) Lead: HK[/hv] As South you have arrived in 4♠ after East opened a weak two in hearts. West leads ♥K. Yes, I know that 3NT is where you want to be when you look at all four hands, but that can't be helped. 4♠ is the contract. Do you want to declare or defend? Please be specific no matter which side you support. Roland

The 21st European Youth Team Championships will take place in the Italian resort of Jesolo, just North of Venice, from July 11-21. The event comprises a Junior series (for players born in 1982 or later), a Schools series (for players born in 1987 or later) and a Girls series (for female players born in 1982 or later). We will be broadcasting from one selected match (two tables) in each round, mostly Juniors but occasionally Schools and Girls too. Information at http://www.eurobridge.org/competitions/07J...Information.htm This should be great fun to watch. Roland

While that's ostensibly a nice idea, in real life the actual commentators are often rather different to the ones Roland has tried to schedule in advance. Some people don't turn up when they say they will and/or people who weren't sure they were available log on and/or the schedule changes and people don't know or are no longer free and/or there are more/fewer tables than scheduled and/or..... All very true. You can't be certain that the list you see in the vugraph lobby (if there is one) is the same in the vugraph theatre. Furthermore, we often add some as we go. This is for instance the case when we are having broadcasts from USA when fine players are knocked out. They will then get some time to serve as commentators. Those players are often good commentators too, and there was obviously no way we could have scheduled them in advance. Roland

There is currently no way to distinguish commentators from ordinary spectators, other than looking at which users comment when you are in the room. I know that fred at some point in the past liked the idea of having scheduled commentators listed in the vugraph lobby. It was on his "to-do-list" then and I guess that it still is. Personally, I don't think it's a big issue. Roland

Over the past few months I have received many private chat messages and e-mails regarding slow play during vugraph broadcast. Not the kind of messages one would assume in this context: the play is too slow. To the contrary! They are unhappy because declarers (and rarely defenders) claim too often. Consequently, our operators do the same. Many spectators can't see why a claim is in order. One of the points is that most kibitzers are intermediates and or advanced and that it is very difficult, sometimes even impossible, for them to see why declarer has the rest, or the rest minus 1 trick to give a couple of examples. I don't think that we will ever be in a position to decide that the players must play the hands out in order to make the presentations more spectator friendly. I do know, however, what I think if we really had that option. What do you think? Roland

Excellent point. Many tend to double cuebids indiscriminately, so if they don't, their partners never know which inferences to draw. Does he have nothing at all, or does he have something in another suit? Doubling cuebids, and often Stayman, transfers and splinters too, helps the opponents more than us in my opinion. They get two extra steps: pass and redouble. Your partner is hopefully still there and he is also supposed to pay attention to the auction. Good players come out with good answers more often than not, also without a double. Just look at the Italian stars. They never double cuebids. Roland

That's in fact quite a lot of time for Helgemo! He's often much faster than this, but mostly on "mere technical" plays. When there's several possible plans and he's got to judge the layout, he uses more time. But still far less than most world class players. I've seen him play a 5♦ once, where he glanced at dummy for only a second before executing a squeeze without the count in about 15 seconds, without a single pause for thinking (or breath). (European junior teams 1992.) Right, he would not be feeling comfortable at all, and not the Helgemo we know, if you asked him to slow down and approach the likes of PO, Barnet, Robson, Feldman, Muller, Rosenberg, Aa and Grøtheim. Geir Helgemo is a vugraph operator's nightmare! :D What strikes me as amazing is his ability to go through almost all aspects in no time. Tor Helness*, his regular partner for years, takes much more time. In my view they make one of the very best partnerships in the world and I really fancy Norway's chances in the Bermuda Bowl. Brogeland - Sælensminde and Tundal - Grøtheim are not exactly novices either. * A few years ago someone (could it have been fred?) asked who the most underrated world class player is. I said Helness then, and I haven't changed my mind. Roland

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=s1082hq32daq4ca1095&w=sj95h964d10987cq63&e=saqhaj1087d632cj74&s=sk7643hk5dkj5ck82]399|300|Scoring: IMP S: 4S Lead: H4[/hv] Geir Helgemo played the hand exactly as Justin predicted. He won ♥K, three rounds of diamonds ending in dummy and a low spade up. Dano De Falco rose with the ace and exited with ♠Q. Helgemo ducked and Dano was endplayed. He tried ♣J, but Geir won in hand, drew the last trump, finessed ♣10 and the unlikely overtrick came automatically. Here is my estimate as to how long it took Helgemo to play the hand: Trick 1: About 20 seconds to plan the play. Tricks 2-5: Less than 30 seconds. Trick 6: Dano exited with ♠Q and Helgemo gave that some thought, perhaps 20 seconds which is not lightning fast with him at the helm. As Justin pointed out, he had to decide whether to play East for AQ doubleton or AQJ. Trick 7: About 2 seconds to win in hand when Dano tried ♣J. Helgemo has seen that before. At the other table the contract went 1 down when declarer played a trump prematurely. 11 IMPs to All Stars. Roland

You're playing against Versace - Lauria (well, that's a lie because for this particular deal De Falco had replaced Versace after he had lost his connection for the 10th time). Anyway, if you play a low diamond at trick 2, they will both tell you that they have an even number. Roland

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=s1082hq32daq4ca1095&s=sk7643hk5dkj5ck82]133|200|Scoring: IMP S: 4S Lead: H4[/hv] Cayne v All Stars yesterday on BBO. You arrived in 4♠ after North opened 1♣ and East overcalled 1♥. Trick 1: ♥4 (3rd/5th) to East's 10 and your king. Take Geir Helgemo's seat and plan the play. If you were present, you are kindly requested to use hidden text. Roland

Happy Birthday!

I find it hard to believe if anyone thinks that I would not invite a commentator back if he/she disagrees with the others. Commentators are not necessarily supposed to agree; they are supposed to analyse hands, express and exchange views, and entertain the audience. So to make it clear once and for all (I thought that :rolleyes: would be enough to tell that I was joking): The 9th commentator is definitely welcome back. Only commentators who are rude towards players, fellow commentators, organisers, specs, etc. will not be invited again. They are fortunately few and far between. Roland