Walddk

I suggest that you do it the way you have seen it in Norway just now. Let the current leaders be at the BBO table and let their opponents come to them. You will likely get new leaders frequently, and you will get lots of pairs to the one table. Even new pairs if the leaders keep the lead for a longer period of time. Roland

If people really want to cheat, I am sure they can find methods with or without the help of the internet. It happens in all sports, and it has happened in bridge. Yes, they can have electronic devices implanted behind their ears for example, but I don't think any of us should be concerned. They need a messenger, and they need a 3rd person, the surgeon who is going to implant the device. He may be wondering why the patient wants this kind of aid. When you have at least 4 people involved, the risk of being caught is very big. Roland

If you read my post again, you will see that this is not necessary. There is no law that forces the organisers to start with board 1 in both rooms. It is common, in Europe at least, to do it the way we suggest in our guidelines. Let's take a 16-board segment as an example. If you let the open room start with boards 15 and 16, and the closed room with board 1, you are pretty certain that the open room audience will get 14 of 16 comparisons. If you start with board 1 in both rooms, as is often the case in North America and in EBL and WBF events, it's random, and spectators may have to go to the other room frequently if they want to see comparisons when the boards are being played. Roland

As Jan Martel knows, BBO has a strong preference on this issue, as outlined in our vugraph guidelines: "Vugraph of team matches is so much better if both tables are being broadcast simultaneously. We strongly suggest that you try to arrange this if at all possible", it reads. Furthermore: "For team matches with 8 boards or more per segment we recommend that you let the open room start with the last 2 or 3 boards, the closed room with board 1. This way the open room audience will get comparisons when you reach board 1. Traditionally, we always have many more spectators in the open room and they would appreciate as many comparisons as possible". Two matches, four tables also fine of course. No matter what, we think that one match, two tables is better than one table from two matches. The most important factor is that the organisers are not always able to get runners to bring results from the other room, and if they manage, the runners don't bring them frequently enough for the operators to enter. By having both tables up from one match, the operators and spectators alike won't have to worry about this aspect. Comparisons will come automatically, and team matches with no, or even delayed, comparisons are not as interesting for the spectators as when the results are there when the boards appear. Finally, if you can't see running scores from other matches on a web site, perhaps the operator(s) would be able to give them occasionally - alternatively that they are relayed to one of the commentators, one in each room. Those scores don't necessarily have to come from the operators (they should concentrate on operating, and many are not experienced enough to multi-task). You could perhaps have another person at the venue who is willing to do this job. Roland

Our fixtures for Thursday the 3rd are: RR09: Sweden v Latvia (schools) RR11: USA1 v Singapore (juniors) RR12: Poland v France (juniors) Roland

Happy Birthday from me too. I believe Ben is out of town at the moment. Roland

Wednesday is a day off in Bangkok, so next time you will hear from me regarding our fixtues is Wednesday afternoon/evening Paris time. Roland

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sj106hq1084dj1098ck6&s=saq4hak763dkq4cq10]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1♥* (3♣) 3♥ pass 4♥ all pass * 2NT would have been a better opening. Lead: ♣A. You are in an excellent 4♥ after LHO has made a weak jump overcall (3♣). West cashes ♣A and continues the suit, RHO following with the 3 and jack. Over to you. (if you are not a beginner/intermediate and you insist on replying, please use hidden text). Roland

The vugraph files are saved here: Explore Bridge --> Bridge Library --> Vugraph archives --> All recent broadcasts ... Our daily fixtures in the round-robin (RR) are e-mailed to me about 14 hours before the first match the next day. I don't mind posting them here when I get them. Tuesday's matches are: RR7: Norway v USA Blue (schools) RR8: Italy v China Hong Kong (juniors) RR9: Singapore v Norway (juniors) Roland

AKJ to 7 and out. If you have the 10 too, it's a bonus. Roland

I don't understand 4NT, and I don't understand 5♠ now. Either he bids 4♠ over the double, or if he thinks he is too good for that, 4♣ followed by 4♠ (slam invitational). In my opinion the hand isn't worth more than 4♠ opposite a normal take-out double. Roland

Well done England; a very convincing performance! Beating Pakistan by an innings inside 3 days is strong going. Roland

Unusual, two places to play, at least 5-5 and often even more shapely. Could be diamonds and hearts or both majors. Assume the red suits and respond accordingly. Partner will correct to hearts if he has the majors. On the actual hand, to make things simple, I would respond 6♦, pass or correct. I am prepared to play 6♥ if partner has hearts and spades. A more sophisticated way of responding is 5♣ to cater for diamonds and spades with advancer, but you need a firm agreement here. I would not venture 5♣, or even 6♣, with a pick-up partner. You may find it impossible, but I am sure some would take it as natural. He/she may even pass 6♦ although he/she has the majors, but it would be illogical. Stanger things have happened though. Roland

No, Israel will not be attacked, other than by the rockets they are getting from Lebanon and Gaza at the moment, combined with the occasional suicide bombings. There will be no attempt of invasion. The Arabs have learned their lessons after the War of Independence 1948, Six Day War 1967, and Yom Kippur War 1973. Saudi Arabia and Iran may support the Palestinians financially, but they will not get involved with military. In the very unlikely event that this will happen and Israel will be in trouble (also unlikely), USA will interfere. The Americans will not allow the destruction of their only ally in the Middle East. Roland

1♥ in both cases (F1). I ignore the double and bid as if there has been none. No point in redoubling when you know they have a safe haven (diamonds). Let me start describing my hand now; saves room compared to waiting. Roland

1. Yes. It doesn't even show diamonds as I play it. The double shows hearts, not hearts *and* diamonds. I know that others promise both suits when they double. 2.1. Mini-splinter for hearts. 2.2. Mini-splinter for hearts. 3. Doesn't exist in my system. Roland

alcohol, hash, etc I know of several players who would be completely ineffective unless under the influence of alcohol and have major difficulties being competitive when playing in tournaments where alcohol is not allowed at the table. The same goes for smoking. I am pretty sure I'm right when I claim that nowhere are you allowed to smoke in the room. This has created problems for many nicotine addicts. As we have seen during many vugraph presentations, this results in frequent and long breaks. Long, because in many places you must leave the building in order to get a cigarette. These breaks are known as bathroom breaks, but we know what they mean. Roland Is this an argument to bring back...smoking, drinking and eating in ALL forms at the table? :D :) Or an argument to end social bridge in all forms Stating facts whether one likes them or not. Nothing hurts like the truth. As far as I know it's still allowed to chew on one of Mike Hargreaves' awful Canadian chocolate bars. Roland

1. I predict that Southampton Football Club won't gain promotion to the Premier League in 2007, 2008 and 2009. 2. I pre-dict that David Bird will re-duce his number of hy-phens to a maxi-mum of 10 per 16-board-session before December-31-2008. 3. I predict that I won't make any more predictions in this thread before January 1, 2008. This is obviously the boldest of them all. July 28, 2006 (bold). Roland

alcohol, hash, etc I know of several players who would be completely ineffective unless under the influence of alcohol and have major difficulties being competitive when playing in tournaments where alcohol is not allowed at the table. The same goes for smoking. I am pretty sure I'm right when I claim that nowhere are you allowed to smoke in the room. This has created problems for many nicotine addicts. As we have seen during many vugraph presentations, this results in frequent and long breaks. Long, because in many places you must leave the building in order to get a cigarette. These breaks are known as bathroom breaks, but we know what they mean. Roland

Show your full pattern of the hand. Can be done on various auctions, these two for instance: 1♠ - 2♣ 2♥ - 2NT 3♣ Opener has a 5413 pattern. He "patterned out". 1♠ - 2♣ 2♥ - 3NT 4♣ Same as before, this time 17-18 hcp, interested in slam if responder doesn't have too many wasted values in diamonds. In both examples opener could conceivably have a 5404 pattern. Roland

Let me start by emphasizing that I am not accusing anyone, and I cannot point to any specific incidents, but it would be nice to have a debate regarding doping in bridge. The Floyd Landis case in the Tour de France has made me raise this topic, and it would be nice to hear your view on doping in bridge. You may for example want to answer the following 3 questions: 1. Would any drug (or blood transfusion) make you a better bridge player? 2. Would any drug (or blood transfusion) enhance your stamina and consequently give you better results? 3. Would any drug make your performance worse? My own answers are: 1. No. You are as good or bad as you are. No drug can help you improve your game. 2. Yes, and that could well be a factor in long events. You will make fewer mistakes when it matters, because you are able to concentrate longer than your non-doped opponents of the same skill level - hence making fewer silly mistakes. 3. Yes indeed. Sleeping pills, marihuana, cocaine, etc. will surely not be beneficial to your game. Feel free to add other aspects. Roland

You must be joking Mike. 1NT!? That would be constructive. How else can you disclose that LHO responded on zero, or RHO on 8? NT responses* after a take-out double should show values whereas a suit could be a bust. * Not a 2NT response to a second seat double of a pre-empt. Roland

Since we almost always have a westerly wind blowing across Denmark, it's a pretty good bet to predict that we get the Midlands weather the day after. If it had been straight westerly, we would get Scotland's. :) I'm glad we don't. We would run out of brollies and wellingtons very soon. Some wicked souls claim that the word "sun" is non-existent in a genuine Scottish accent ;) Roland

Beach?? I hope that's a typo. You obviously mean CRICKET, and if you're in the Netherlands, the least you can do is to tune in to BBC Test Special Live. You may argue that you can bring a radio to the beach. However, if TV is not an option for you (that may well not be), you should spend some of your money on getting Sky. The heat on the beach is unbearable. The heat on the cricket pitch is heavenly :) On a more serious note, I think many of us are suffering from the extreme heat at the moment, not least in countries where a/c is not standard. That applies to most places in northern Europe. Roland

Bart Bramley, one of the best analysts in the game, had a look at it, and he sent me a novel I will save you from. Probalities, percentages, etc. He went through all kinds of combinations, also when hearts are 3-5 when we may get into trouble if trumps break 3-2 or 2-3. His conclusion is that low to the 9 spot is substantially superior to any other line: roughly 10%. His first thought was that ♠K followed by a low to the jack was best, but at first he forgot to take the possible trump coup into consideration. "However, you have convinced me that your play (low to the 9) is better. I had not recognized that the coup prospects were so good. Your play loses outright to RHO's singleton 10 (1 case) and wins outright against RHO's other singletons (4 cases) and his Qxxx or 10xxx (2 more cases). That leaves 3 cases of Q10xx, where the coup chances are excellent. If we estimate the success of the coup at only 67% (which seems VERY conservative), you pick up 2 out of 3 such cases, for an overall success rate of at least 80% (8 out of 10 4-1 splits) compared to only 70% for king and low to the jack". The letter is much longer than that. Thanks to Bart for his effort! He is surely the man to ask if you need a thorough and accurate analysis some day. Roland