Walddk

I failed to spot the coffee, but I spotted something else B) Long live Ms. Lavazza and her Lavazza girls/women! Roland

1♣ (1♦) and 1NT are excellent bids. Then I took a couple of Rich Reisig's "nice pills" before I wrote this: 1. North should perhaps bid 3♦ instead of 2. 2. East's double shows extras. He has a minimum. 3. 3♣ is better than 2NT with a single diamond stopper he already showed. 4. 3♦ is wrong. South already showed his hand when he overcalled and is definitely not worth a second free bid. Then 2 more pills before: 5. 3♠ is horrible. West showed his hand when he bid 1NT. 6. 3NT is out of this world. 7. How West could not double 3NT defies belief. They all bid too much with too few values. Roland

New fixtures. From RR12 (women and seniors starting) we will be adding a 5th match in every round. Thursday, August 17: 4:30 am New York, 10.30 Paris, 9:30 am London, 6:30 pm Sydney RR11 Turkey v Italy Poland v Denmark France v Iceland Israel v Norway 8:15 am New York, 14.15 Paris, 1:15 pm London, 10:15 pm Sydney RR12 Sweden v Poland Spain v France Italy v Portugal Norway v Croatia England v France (seniors) 11:35 am New York, 17.35 Paris, 4:35 pm London RR13 England v Norway Poland v Bulgaria Italy v Russia Luxembourg v France Russia v France (women)

2♥ - 3♦* 4♦ - 6♦ P Is a practical approach. Yes, I missed a lay down grand slam on this layout, but I am not worried about it. * New suit by responder after a pre-empt should be a one round force. RONF = Raise Only Non Forcing, e.g. 2♥ - 3♥ can (should) be passed. Roland

Not sure if Walsh will ever catch on in Europe but he has lived in Europe for decades. ;) If Europe opens 44 with one club than I can guess they will not open 1d with 4d5c :) I don't understand your point regarding Garozzo. Yes, he lived in Europe for decades, but he has been living in Florida for a long time now, and he is still not a subscriber to the Walsh principle. You are right about 4-5 in the minors. Europeans who play a natural system do not open 1♦ with longer clubs, and I suspect that the majority of Americans don't either. Precision? That's obviously different when 1♦ - 1MA ; 2♣ can be 5-4 or 4-5. I don't like it, and that is one of the reasons why I don't play Precision. Roland

There is a reason (or many rather) why most European top pairs don't play Walsh. They don't think the upsides outweigh the downsides. One aspect that hasn't been mentioned here, unless I missed something, is that in most European countries they open 1♣ with 4-4 in the minors. I know that I can have a long debate with MikeH about this, but as he knows, I never did and never will understand the wisdom of opening 1♦. Garozzo and Richie Reisig are on the same wavelength, and what's good enough for them is good enough for me. Let me add that Bocchi - Duboin and Lauria - Versace also open 1♣ with 4-4 in the minors. One pair plays transfer responses to 1♣, the other does not, but they both believe that it's best to open 1♣. I repeat: what's good enough for them is good enough for me. Walsh will never catch on in Europe, not because it's an American invention (Americans have invented many useful conventions) but because "we" don't think that it's particularly good. In my view it's much better to bid your suits up the line, and I do not like the idea that responder might have a canape when he responds 1MA to my 1♣ opening. After 1♦ and 1♥ openings it's a completely different issue, because responder is cramped for room with a weakish hand and a longer club suit (also longer diamonds after 1♥ - 1♠). Roland

Are you implying that your boss is the one who decides if you grow a beard or not? I'm glad that I'm my own boss then ;) While you let yours grow (or not), we might discuss the dilemma the selectors will be in before the first test of The Ashes in Brisbane in 99 days. Provided that Flintoff is fit, who are they going to sack. Cook, Collingwood or Bell? Tough call, I pass. If only Freddie had been 100% fit, I wouldn't mind leaving out a seamer and go with only two (Harmison and Hoggard), then Flintoff and Panesar. Still four bowlers while you strengthen the batting line-up. This could very well be needed with McGrath back in the Aussie attack. However, I suspect that this is unlikely to happen, so they might as well flip a coin to see who they must tell: "Sorry, mate, you're the one who will be carrying the drinks". Let me stick my neck out and make this my starting 11. Trescothick Strauss Bell Pietersen Collingwood Flintoff Read Mahmood Panesar Harmison Hoggard * If Simon Jones is fit (unlikely), I will discard Mahmood. Ideally, I would want Cook there and leave Mahmood/Jones out. Then let Cook bat 3 and Bell 7. * No typo. Hoggard is an excellent nightwatchman, but in real life he is nothing but a number 11 batsman. Roland

As an example of how much our spectators appreciate the service the Polish organisers are offering, I would like to quote a short article in Wednesday's bulletin: Congratulations We receive many communication by email during the Championships. Here is one we would like to share with you. It was sent by Romania's Sergiu Ghizelea. I congratulate The Polish Bridge Union for organising the EBL Championships, for BBO-Vugraph transmissions (really first class quality) but there is a 'Nec Plus Ultra' that I want to underline: The software by Jan Romanski for evaluating and presentation of results is AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING! That is what I always want and I did not hope to find it! I can myself analyse any board for every team, even for every player! It's as if I can watch the play of all the teams at the same time! I'm really delighted to be able to do that! Hearty congratulations to the author and thank you very, very much to the people that have enabled the introduction of this immense quantity of data!

Organisers of major championships all over the world should be forced to go to the vugraph theatre and see how it can and should be done. The "problem" we may face after Poland is that it can hardly be better, but it can easily be worse. Then we will all be disappointed because we remember how the Poles did it. It's not easy for White Plains and Shanghai to come immediately after (even during) the European Championships. All we can do is wish them good luck. I know for a fact that Jan Martel has put a lot of effort into making the USBC a huge success. However, my fear is that she has taken on too much herself. She will also be operating. I sincerely hope that I am proven wrong. Roland

New fixtures for us. Only 2 rounds in Warsaw tomorrow: Wednesday, August 16: 4:30 am New York, 10.30 Paris, 9:30 am London, 6:30 pm Sydney RR9 Bulgaria v Italy Poland v Serbia France v Scotland Spain v Netherlands 8:15 am New York, 14.15 Paris, 1:15 pm London, 10:15 pm Sydney RR10 Wales v Poland Netherlands v France Italy v Ireland England v Turkey

sommer, jcmax, nohr07, thorvald, begse, Walddk2. With "only" 5 accounts I can't be at 8 tables, so Italy v Estonia, open room, I can't tell you about. We had Italian commentary there. As to the other matches you mention I will try to help you when I get some time after the last match Tuesday. Roland

New fixtures for us: Tuesday, August 15: 4:30 am New York, 10.30 Paris, 9:30 am London, 6:30 pm Sydney RR6 Wales v Italy San Marino v Poland France v Portugal Denmark v England 8:15 am New York, 14.15 Paris, 1:15 pm London, 10:15 pm Sydney RR7 Poland v Romania France v Russia Italy v Denmark Spain v Norway 11:35 am New York, 17.35 Paris, 4:35 pm London RR8 Sweden v Italy Norway v France Latvia v Poland England v Portugal

I am no technician, so all I know is that fred is aware of the bug and that he will try to rectify it when he gets a little time. As far as I understand, it's not trivial, but I know that fred will be busy (tournaments) for the next month or so. Maybe uday can tell you more at this point. Roland

During round 1, DenisO correctly pointed out that all banners were marked identically so that we may lose data for our VG archives. I got in touch with fred at the venue, and he promised to do something about it. Unfortunately, all files were created in the morning before the start of play, so the errors could not be rectified before round 2. However, fred has confirmed that all will be fine from round 3 Monday and onwards. Roland

Link to running scores in all matches: http://www.polbridge.pl/wyniki/2006/ec2006...OPENrunda1.html I have a feeling that we may have to replace the number after "runda" for every round. We shall see. Roland

Yes, I will give the link in the thread European Championships. Roland

I am not so sure. Phone ringing, urgent visit to the toilet, answer the door, etc. There are many ways hesitations occur where the "offender" doesn't even have time to type "brb". The star player did nothing wrong as I see it, huddle or not. Ben has pointed out why his bids were bridge logic, and I don't think it's anybody's business to message an opponent with regard to hesitations and the like. Call the director if you're unhappy and let him/her sort it out! Roland

It would be interesting to understand why different Federations make the decision to pay for Vugraph coverage. At the simplest level, I'd assume that there should be a relationship between the size of a national federation, the "real" cost of providing coverage, and the likihood of funding. One would expect that large/wealth federerations like Italy and France would be will to provide coverage for their member. Small/poor ones like the Russia federation would be less likely to pay the (fixed) costs to show a match. Poland is large, but not particularly well off, however, their expenses are (presumably) much lower. I'm especially curious why the Dutch federation isn't covering their matches. One interesting point: At the moment, individual federations are making the decision to sponsor coverage of "their" teams. Any idea what happens when the Italians meet the Poles? Will you have two teams covering the same match? Alternatively, will one team get loaned out to cover another match (or just go site-seeing?). The denser the coverage, the greater the chance for this type of overlap and the less efficient the idea of national sponsorship... I am sure that the federations in the three countries mentioned have sponsors to pay for their vugraph costs. So it's up to other federations to see if they can do likewise. I think we all wish they could. Regarding your question what some operators may or may not do when Italy play against France, Poland meet Italy, etc.: We will add an extra match to our schedule, and the operators (who are mostly Polish) won't even get a session off then. Even if they did, I wish them the best of luck. Richard knows very well how demanding it is to be an operator for 2 weeks. Roland

All federations who have been involved in vugraph broadcasts on BBO have received our guidelines. It reads: All tournaments are welcome to use the BBO software for vugraph purposes. We do not charge a fee for the use of our software (nor do we charge a fee to people who watch our broadcasts), but you will be responsible for all arrangements and expenses. For example: - 1. Providing computer(s) with stable internet connection(s) at the playing site. - 2. Finding and training the required number of operators for each session. - 3. Paying operators' expenses and salaries (unless you are able to find volunteers). We can't put it clearer than that, so if more nations than Italy, France and Poland had been interested, I am sure they would have got in touch with us. These are not new circumstances; that's how it always has been. You may recall that we covered all Italy's matches in Malmö 2 years ago. This time Poland and France have also seen the light. Roland

Because they are paying all the expenses and salaries for the staff they need to cover their matches. The same would apply to all other nations that wish to have their matches shown. Our limit of simultaneous tables is now 32, so in practice we would be able accommodate everyone. However, we also know that this is theory, because most federations don't have or don't want to spend the money for that purpose. Should they if they can afford it? That's a different question, and only local members can encourage them. Roland

It's not a distortion at all. Israeli lives are as precious to Israel as American lives are to Americans, and Lebanese lives are to Lebanese. Percentagewise Israel and Lebanon have lost many more lives during this conflict than USA lost on 9/11. Populations: USA: 295,737,134 Israel: 6,352,117 Lebanon: 3,874,050 (July 2006) The ongoing war in the Middle East is a tragedy, as was 9/11, and yes I cheer the USA, Israel, the United Kingdom, France, etc. for trying to fight terrorism, regardless of where in the world you encounter it. This is far from easy, but in my opinion it's dead wrong just to lean back and let it happen. You can't and should never negotiate with terrorists, so you have got to fight them with war. Roland

Ireland v Netherlands has been added to round 1. Russia v Norway has been added to round 2. Fixtues for Monday the 14th 4:30 am New York, 10.30 Paris, 9:30 am London, 6:30 pm Sydney RR3 Italy v Romania Poland v Hungary Bulgaria v France Croatia v Serbia 8:15 am New York, 14.15 Paris, 1:15 pm London, 10:15 pm Sydney RR4 Spain v Turkey France v Ireland Russia v Netherlands * Latvia v Italy * Bosnia/Herzegovina has withdrawn at the last minute so no Poland v B/H 11:35 am New York, 17.35 Paris, 4:35 pm London RR5 Italy v Serbia Netherlands v Norway Poland v Estonia Turkey v France Roland

9/11 wasn't a threat to USA's existence either. So your compatriots should also just lean back and take it as men, I suppose. What a morbid way of thinking. Or maybe you have other moral standards when it comes to the USA? If it same applies to *your* country, I would like to hear how you will be feeling if *your* family members are blown to pieces. Shrug? Roland

What did you expect Israel to do when Hezbollah kidnapped their soldiers and launched rockets all over the place? Lean back and let it happen? Exactly that happened during World War II because the Jews had no defence. Things have changed. The Jews are capable of defending themselves now, and they have every right to do that when they are attacked. So the Israelis are trying to destroy Hezbollah whose fighters hide everywhere, not least among what is known as "innocent women and children". Therefore, it's hardly a shock that there will be civilian casualties. Name a war that hasn't caused the deaths of civilians. It's deplorable, but also unavoidable. Roland

Everthing should be allowed except intentional propaganda. Since you have taken bits from my profile, it would be interesting to know if you think I have written 2360 posts of intentional propaganda. Roland