Walddk

Would you care to tell us which experts recommend that you respond 2♣ with that hand? Roland

1♠, 6+ hcp, 4+ spades, forcing for one round. New suit by an unpassed responder is always forcing. Roland

If 2NT is at least invitational, this is superior: 3♣: Max, unspecificed major* 3♦: Weak with hearts 3♥: Weak with spades * Over 3♣ 3♦: Which major? 3♥: Spades 3♠: Hearts This way responder becomes declarer whether opener is min or max. Roland

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=sk6h10dc10975&w=s8543h75d5c&e=sqj9hdj9ckq&s=sa107hdcaj64]399|300|Scoring: IMP N: 3NT Lead: D10[/hv] This was the position before declarer played his last heart. East was caught to either unguard one of the black suits or toss a diamond winner. If he does, declarer can set up his 9th trick in clubs. Most of us would routinely have followed with ♦4 when a diamond was returned at trick 2, and that would be the end of the defence. Throw all your high diamonds away and retain the precious 4, your lifeline to partner's 5 and the heart trick declarer reluctantly had to set up for him. Well spotted by fluffy, Harald and Frances. At the other table the contract was a make at trick 1 when East led ♦4! Give East ♦5 and West the 4 and there is nothing the defence can do. Did anyone say that spot cards are insignificant? More often than not they are, but here they are not. The beauty of bridge! Roland

Not only did you interpret it correctly, you also seem to have a sense of humour. Some don't; that's life, albeit a sad life as I see it. Roland

=Really=? was the "sin" their disagreeing with the other commentators or something more interesting than that? "Den som kun tager spøg for spøg og alvor kun alvorligt, han og hun har faktisk fattet begge dele dårligt!" "Taking fun as simply fun, and earnestness in earnest shows how thoroughly thou none, of the two discernest." (Piet Hein, Danish scientist and poet, 1905-1996)

As far as I recall (I was commentating too), the commentators did not disagree. All but one among 9 at the two tables would have doubled. The 9th will not be invited again :blink: Roland

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=sk6hk1098dkq6c10975&w=s8543ha7532da532c&e=sqj9h4dj10984ckq82&s=sa1072hqj6d7caj643]399|300|Scoring: IMP N: 3NT Lead: D10[/hv] This hand from yesterday's open teams final in Antalya is one of the most interesting I have seen for a long time. The Israeli NS pair arrived in 3NT after South had bid clubs and spades, North hearts via a transfer bid (1♦). East led ♦10 to partner's ace and ♦3 came back to declarer's king. The Indian defenders must have had the agreement that you return middle of the remaining three. Anyway, the contract made, and the board was flat. Should the contract have made after diamond to the ace and a diamond back? Roland

What's so strange about that? Isn't it normal that system is on after a 1NT overcall and no interference by RHO? Roland

TD's ruling: table result stands (-1210). No appeal since it would not have changed anything as far as the result of the match is concerned. I did announce the rulling a few times during the following set (although we had the women then). Maybe you were not present at the time. Roland

It will be updated as soon as we get a minute. Stage 2 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, will indeed find its way to BBO. 15 rounds of 20-board matches from July 3-7. Roland

Tuesday was much better when, after 1½ sessions, our Turkish organisers had enough of EBL's unstable network. They got one of their own, and since then there hasn't been a single disconnect. Well, yes, there was one for about 5 seconds when the hotel had one of its frequent power cuts. So now we know where the problem was. Sadly, no one wished to claim responsibility, a reliable source at the venue tells me. "No time to fix it", was the laconic reply. Walddk2 ... (BBO cap off, Roland Wald cap on): I wish they would spend more time on bridge related matters rather on arranging countless posh dinners for "important" people. Roland

It's the opposite in most parts of Europe because it was made public by Garozzo in the 60's. A and Q ask for attitude. K for unblock or count. Roland

- 1. Because it is time consuming, and I want to focus on my job: coordinating vugraph! - 2. Because I believe in education rather than punishment for first time offenders. I do take notes, however, so if I am confronted with the same idiots more than once after I have asked them to calm down, I'll get in touch with one of the other yellows, usually sybarra, macaw and inquiry. My yellow status doesn't include banning users, and that is probably a good thing. You are no doubt right when you write that the culprits don't read posts in the forums, but where else can I put it? This is the only BBO bulletin board I am aware of. Perhaps a reminder of what is considered bad behaviour should be highlighted in the lobby news on a regular basis. I am pretty sure that most users can't be bothered to read "Rules of this Site" no matter how many times you encourage them to do that. I am perhaps the most public figure on BBO and as such I receive more private messages than anyone else. I have the option of being invisible everywhere at all times, but I have decided against. That will obviously also expose me to abuse, but I will live with it. The purpose of this post is to defend the innocent: local volunteer operators who have no chance of defending themselves when they are verbally abused, even when it's beyond their control! I am prepared to take the responsibility for what commentators and operators do. Nothing is easier than passing the bucket when one is not involved directly. Blame me, don't blame those who donate an enormous amount of time on making our vugraph broadcasts run as smoothly as possible. All I am asking is that complaints are forwarded in a civilised manner and to people who are in a position to respond and defend themselves. There comes a time when even I have had enough, but that has not happened more than 4-5 times over 6 years. When it happens, my philosophy is: don't quit; try to do something about it! Roland

Monday was a very frustrating day as far as our broadcast from the European Open Championships in Antalya was concerned. The problems started at 10:00 local time and it all ended prematurely around 18:10. I lost count, but my estimate is that we had at least 60 disconnects. Eventually, after 44 of the scheduled 56 boards our operators had to give up. Very annoying of course because we had a great match in progress: Mahaffey v Zia in the Round of 16. At this moment we don't know what caused the problems, but we do know that it was a local problem. Perhaps the hotel server, maybe the EBL server, conceivably something else. The IT manager at the hotel is still working on it, and hopefully he will resolve the problems before our broadcast tomorrow. It was not a BBO problem; the Turkish organisers were helpless, and so were our hard working operators of course. Believe me when I say that it was much more frustrating for them than it was for us. I don't know how many of you realise how demanding it is to catch up when you are thrown out every 30 seconds. The operators never lost their heads; they did all they could to get this going. It was far from perfect in the true sense of the word, but it was commendable under the circumstances, and we should all thank them for their efforts! As long as we have the internet, we do not have a guarantee of a stable connection constantly. That is how it is and that is how it will remain. Some disconnects are sporadic, some are frequent, and some are even long lasting. Can't be helped, we just need to live with it. So far so good (or bad if you prefer). Now, with this said, I am truly sad to say that today was frustrating in another way too. The abuse we (operators, organisers, commentators) had to face through private chat messages was beyond compare. I have tried some in my time as the coordinator, but never before was it as bad as it was today. I could likely have 50 or more banned, but I can't be bothered. I choose to spend my time on more important matters. I can take (most of) it, my fellow commentators can too, but when our volunteer operators are being bombarded with foul language, it is time to say enough is enough. I am sure that none of the Forum readers did this, but I know that the operators got a load of rubbish thrown on to their faces because they kept crashing. For goodness sake, what is this? Does anyone really believe that they did it deliberately? If you really must complain because you can't have it your way all the time, send a private chat message or e-mail to Fred, Uday, Rain, Ben (Inquiry) or me, but do *NOT* attack innocent people (operators) verbally. They do not deserve that whether they are at fault or not. They were *NOT*, and yet many had the nerve to tell them how useless they are. They are not useless, they are brilliant and they deserve a lot of respect for their hard work! Yes, we had a bad day at the office, for reasons unknown at this point. Can happen in all ways of life. It happened from Antalya today, but some tend to forget how many wonderful hours they have spent in the vugraph theatre. Today was bad, agreed, but is it really the end of the world? Roland

I am going to open a new thread on this issue within an hour or so. Look for "Disconnects and Frustration". Roland

1♣ - 2♣ 2N* - 3N * If you play 2NT as 12-14 balanced (easy to remember). Some let 2♦ take care of that hand. Roland

There is no need to bid 4♠ unless you have the agreement that it's RKKC, and you don't since you want responder to bid 6♣ next. 4♥ is not only a splinter but it also shows a huge club fit in context of the limited 3♣ raise earlier. I'll go along with Frances' auction. Roland

The finals of the mixed pairs were scheduled initially. However, our operators at the venue needed some rest, and although all events are important, our coordinator decided that Thursday would be the best day for it. The same is going to happen Thursday next week when we are (were) supposed to broadcast from the semi-finals of the open/women's/seniors' pairs. We removed the 21st and 28th from our vugraph schedule web page yesterday. Sorry for the invonvenience, but I hope you understand that rest is needed during a tournament two weeks long, and in sweltering heat. They had 41C (106F) in Antalya yesterday and today, and it's not going to be cooler any time soon according to the forecast. We will be back Friday with the qualifying in the O/W/S teams. Occasionally, we get complaints from users who think we don't do enough, or don't do the things we present well enough. Thankfully, Fred, Uday and myself get many more from delighted people. Here is one example (among many) from the e-mail box today: May I just say how much I appreciate the BBO service - it ought to be nominated for a prize for the best free internet service (if there is one). Andrew Petrie England ... Roland

(NO) Appeals The procedure to decide upon judgement cases is a very careful one nowadays. Before taking such a decision TD’s consult each other and strong players to be sure that a majority opinion is chosen. This means that an appeal committee normally will support the decision taken. Only in cases where fresh and relevant information becomes available or the original decision was a borderline one will the committee consider overruling it. This means that in most cases appealing is useless and money (60 Euros) could well be forfeited. ... I interpret the last two lines differently than Dave Thompson. In effect, the committee is saying that you should not appeal unless you can afford to lose your 60 Euros. Fortunately for the Dhondy mixed team they ignored that fact, appealed and won the championship after a drama beyond compare (I haven't forgotten USA v Italy when Versace left the table). 1600 specs were waiting in the vugraph room for 45 minutes last night European time while the AC was deliberating. Roland

[hv=d=e&v=b&w=s9742hq10daqj972c5&e=sqj863hak6532d6ca]266|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1♥ 4♣ dbl pass 5♠? Sabine felt she was too good for 4♠ and intended her 5♠ as a general slam try. Zia tanked for 4-5 minutes, consulted the ceiling and floor, couldn't find anything useful and eventually raised to slam. He was hoping that Auken had something like ♠AKQx ♥AKJxxx ♦x ♣xx and all she was looking for was a club control. North holding ♠AK had a feeling that they wouldn't have a better place to play, so he doubled. However, despite this disaster the Emre (Zia) team won comprehensively in this R32 match but later lost in the Round of 16. Russia v RIOLO (Fantoni) will be our quarter-final match on vugraph this morning. Roland

Can't get 100 for honors without your queens :> 150 for aces maybe. =P Oh yes you can. AKJ10 in a trump contract earns you 100 points. Roland

Apparently, Sabine and Zia didn't have an agreement either. Zia is usually a quick player, but he was in the tank for 4-5 minutes before he .... (did the wrong thing). By the way, what would 4NT and 5♣ have been by opener? One has to to see the 5♠ call in context I think. Roland

This happened on vugraph earlier today with Sabine Auken (opener) and Zia: 1♥ 4♣* dbl** pass 5♠? * Natural ** Card showing, typical spades. What is 5♠ now? - 1. Asking for trump quality? - 2. Asking for a club control? Do you have an agreement with your regular partner? Roland

Our comprehensive coverage of the European Open Championships in Antalya, Türkiye, will start Monday in the wee hours (even for Europeans). Mixed Teams, Round of 32 and Round of 16 tomorrow. We will be broadcasting from 4 tables Monday and Tuesday, 2 tables in the finals Wednesday. For format please go to ... http://www.eurobridge.org/bulletin/07_1%20.../pdf/Bul_02.pdf Page 3. Another interesting aspect in that bulletin is that the players are discouraged from appealing, unless they insist on losing their deposit. I don't think I have seen that before. Any views? Roland