95 BB Final (USA vs Canada) Pseudo-live Broadcast

[roghog]

Nikos and DenisO have converted the hand records into a computer file. The plan is to do live Vugraph broadcasts of the 95 World Championship.

 

Like any broadcast, there will be expert commentators (thanks to Roland). We need volunteers to operate the Vugraph. We will send you records of the bidding and play.

 

There are 10 16-board segments, and we'd like to broadcast 2 segments per day.

 

The exact dates and times (and the whole project!) will, of course, depend on the availability of operators, but we're hoping to do it in the second or third week in January. Please contact me if you think you may be able to help, even if you'd only have time to do the odd segment.

 

It's all a bit of an experiment, and an attempt to offer something slightly different to BBO Vugraph fans. At the end, Nikos' fantastic Vugraph Project site will keep it all for posterity.

 

Hoping to hear from some willing volunteers!

 

Roger

[fred]

I am especially looking forward to commentating on my 2 -1100s from this match playing against Meckstroth and Rodwell ;)

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[mrdct]

As one of the early supported of the virtual vugraph concept for old BB finals, I'm more than happy to chip in for some operating duty. The proposed window of 2nd or 3rd week of January sounds good to me.

 

I'd be interested to hear what people think about whether the virtual coverage should be single-table or dual-table. I would suggest an invisible operator rapidly key all the closed room data for a segment upon start-up and the open room (visible) operator then pace him or herself at around 5 minutes per board and enjoy the luxury of being able to actually act upon an instruction by the commentators of "next". Commentators and spectators will be able to look at the full bidding and play from the closed room as and when they want to and we wont be diluting commentator resources and spectator numbers.

[nikos59]

I admit I had in mind a two-table coverage, but I am almost persuaded by mrdct's suggestion. What others say?

 

It also occurs to me that the Virtual Vugraph will proceed in a much faster pace

than real Vugraph, between segments as well.

 

ns

[mrdct]

I've just done a test of the closed room data for the 1st segment and it took 59 minutes for the 16 boards. I was reading the info off a computer screen, so I'm sure it would be much faster if I had printed the scanned pages out and highlighted the sections of the text with the play details.

 

A possible compromise for fans of two-table coverage would be for the closed room operator to enter the play data as quick as they can, whilst the open room operator enters data at a more relaxed pace.

 

I think it will be quite an art for the operators to find the right pace and the right places to send the players into the tank. I think the operators can be somewhat guided by the match reports where the length of the discussion of particular points of play could be a good guide to slow down a bit. The commentators can also help out a bit by advising the operator to slow down a bit if necessary.

 

Carding is quite interesting too. The match reports usually don't describe the actual pips so some knowledge of the general carding style of the players would be useful info to give the presentation a tad more realism.

 

I'm not a great expert on scanning, but it may be better to scan the match reports in tiff format rather than jpeg.

[mr1303]

Hi Roger

 

I would be more than happy to help out. I do have an exam however on Sat 14th, I'm vugraphing the Camrose trials on Sun 15th, and I have Portland Bowl matches on Wed 18th and Sun 22nd, but if it doesn't clash with those, I'll be happy to help

 

Regards

 

Mark

[DenisO]

I'm not a great expert on scanning, but it may be better to scan the match reports in tiff format rather than jpeg.

Just wondering what might be the advantage of tfif format ? I've just used the batch converter utility in Paint Shop Pro to convert 10 jpeg scans and the output tifs are slightly larger, even though I used something called LZW compression, whatever that might be.

[mrdct]

As I said, I'm no great expert on scanning, but I have received scanned documents in tiff format before that were really clear and only about 100k per page.

[nikos59]

Yes, but these pages are extra-large.

 

n.

[Walddk]

I've just done a test of the closed room data for the 1st segment and it took 59 minutes for the 16 boards.  I was reading the info off a computer screen, so I'm sure it would be much faster if I had printed the scanned pages out and highlighted the sections of the text with the play details.

 

A possible compromise for fans of two-table coverage would be for the closed room operator to enter the play data as quick as they can, whilst the open room operator enters data at a more relaxed pace.

 

I think it will be quite an art for the operators to find the right pace and the right places to send the players into the tank.  I think the operators can be somewhat guided by the match reports where the length of the discussion of particular points of play could be a good guide to slow down a bit.  The commentators can also help out a bit by advising the operator to slow down a bit if necessary.

 

Carding is quite interesting too.  The match reports usually don't describe the actual pips so some knowledge of the general carding style of the players would be useful info to give the presentation a tad more realism.

 

I'm not a great expert on scanning, but it may be better to scan the match reports in tiff format rather than jpeg.

From a commentator's point of view I am opposed to the idea of rushing through a 16-board segment in an hour or so. Some hands are easy to analyse, others deserve a thorough and time consuming analysis. Then add all the conventional bids as well as judgement in bidding, play and defence, and you will be cramped for time if a board only takes 4 minutes on average.

 

The likes of Michael Rosenberg, Bart Bramley, Fred Gitelman, David Burn, Richie Reisig (and others surely) may be able to do all this within the alloted time, but the vast majority of commentators can't.

 

16 boards in about 2 hours, as is the case in real life, and you get a smoother and more enjoyable broadcast for everybody involved. If the expert commentators can't keep up with the pace, how can you expect the less skillful among the spectators to comprehend what's going on?

 

It's a fact that it's easier to be an on site commentator, because you speak faster than you type. Commentating on the internet is a different ballgame altogether, because most people must look at their keyboards while typing. At the same time they have to keep track of layout, bidding, play, defence, and also what their co-commentators write.

 

Sometimes this is difficult during a normal broadcast even though the players are in the tank occasionally. In my opinion, when it comes to a recorded broadcast like this one, it will be an almost impossible task if you give less time. Yes, the operator can stop for a minute if he/she is asked to, but how can you be sure that the operator will notice that request by one or more of the commentators?

 

Believe me, operators often miss public as well as private messages while a broadcast is in progress. I don't blame them; they are busy with other important matters.

 

Roland

[fred]

I agree with Roland that it is best not to rush through this (provided of course that operators are available who are willing to devote the extra time that will be needed to slow things down).

 

This is based on the assumption that one of the main reasons for entering the data in this manner is to provide an enjoyable show for the audience. I get a lot of feedback via e-mail from people who watch vugraph and it is clear that, for many people, the commentary is at least as important as the bridge itself.

 

I understand that this idea was inspired by the desire to capture the actual vugraph data in files, but if we are going to use BBO vugraph to facilitate this then I think we might as well try to make it a good show for the audience.

 

This is not a "demand" from BBO management - only my opinion.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[barmar]

I operated the Vugraph at the Reisinger final this year. I can do this if it's the weekend of the 14th (we have a Regional the previous weekend and District GNT the following one).

[Walddk]

I suspect that it will be virtually impossible to find a time slot that will make everyone happy, but the most important issue will always be to find enough volunteer operators.

 

You don't know what I know, but I am sure you have a feeling. Right, our live vugraph schedule will be more than hectic in the months to come. Four new just in today for January and February (not listed yet), and there is no reason to think that we will get less after that.

 

However, I suggest weekdays if at all possible. As you all know, most vugraph broadcasts are on weekends (Friday often included).

 

Good luck to the organisers. This is not an easy task but certainly a cause well worth fighting for!

 

Roland

[roghog]

Thanks, Roland. We are progressing well, and still hope to broadcast mid January.

 

Incidentally, would anyone like to see how their club members fare on the hands? If you have a dealing machine that takes .dup or .pbn, I'll happily email you the files.

 

Roger

[Walddk]

The time schedule has now been finalised and will be posted on our vugraph web page shortly. 10 segments of 16 boards. The timetable is as follows:

 

1:

Thursday, January 26 at 18.30 New York, 23.30 London, 00.30 Friday Paris, 10.30 am Friday Sydney.

 

2:

Friday, January 27 at 15.30 New York, 20.30 London, 21.30 Paris, 7.30 am Saturday Sydney.

 

3:

Saturday, January 28 at 15.30 New York, 20.30 London, 21.30 Paris, 7.30 am Sunday Sydney.

 

4:

Sunday, January 29 at 15.30 New York, 20.30 London, 21.30 Paris, 7.30 am Monday Sydney.

 

5:

Monday, January 30 at 17.00 New York, 22.00 London, 23.00 Paris, 9.00 am Tuesday Sydney.

 

6:

Tuesday, January 31 at 14.30 New York, 19.30 London, 20.30 Paris, 6.30 am Wednesday Sydney.

 

7:

Wednesday, February 1 at 14.30 New York, 19.30 London, 20.30 Paris, 6.30 am Thursday Sydney.

 

8:

Thursday, February 2 at 14.30 New York, 19.30 London, 20.30 Paris, 6.30 am Friday Sydney.

 

9:

Thursday, February 2 at 18.30 New York, 23.30 London, 00.30 Friday Paris, 10.30 am Friday Sydney.

 

10:

Friday, February 3 at 18.30 New York, 23.30 London, 00.30 Saturday Paris, 10.30 am Saturday Sydney.

 

.....

 

Team USA:

Bob Hamman, Bobby Wolff, Eric Rodwell, Jeff Meckstroth, Richard Freeman, Nick Nickell.

 

Team Canada:

Eric Kokish, Joey Silver, Fred Gitelman, George Mittelman, Boris Baran, Mark Molson.

 

.....

 

As predicted, it was impossible to make it convenient for all time zones, but I think the organisers did a fine job by finding time slots that won't conflict with our live broadcasts. Take notes; it's too good to miss!

 

The 12 players have now been invited to offer their commentary for the occasion. Let's hope that many of them can find the time to tell the audience why they did that and not that.

 

Roland

[Gerben42]

That's great! It will be interesting to see the player's comments on their actions.

[cherdano]

Thanks, Roland. We are progressing well, and still hope to broadcast mid January.

 

Incidentally, would anyone like to see how their club members fare on the hands? If you have a dealing machine that takes .dup or .pbn, I'll happily email you the files.

 

Roger

How about a BBO tourney of with the same hands some time before the session is broadcast? I think it could be both fun and instructive. I would be willing to run one as TD.

 

Arend

[roghog]

Great idea, Arend.

 

I'll need your email address if you'd like me to send you the .dup files. Easiest way is for you to send me an email from the Forum.

[glen]

I'm very sad to report that Mark Molson, member of the Canuck 95 team, passed away suddenly yesterday.

[Walddk]

Yes, tragic news indeed, and we are all very saddened. I was in touch with Fred yesterday in Albuquerque, and a decision regarding the broadcast will be made when he returns to LV on Monday. Fred was shaken up, because Mark Molson was a dear friend of his.

 

I'm sure you will approve of whatever decision we think is appropriate under the circumstances.

 

Roland

[fred]

I'm very sad to report that Mark Molson, member of the Canuck 95 team, passed away suddenly yesterday.

This is indeed very tragic.

 

Mark was in his mid 50s and, by all appearances, he was in excellent health. A couple of days ago he collapsed on a golf course in Florida (Mark was an outstanding golfer). He was taken to a hospital and it was found that he needed immediate heart surgery. He did not survive this procedure.

 

Mark settled down late in life and married Janice Seamon, one of America's leading players. They loved each other very much and had a beautiful little girl together. They were one happy family.

 

I had been a close friend of Mark's for many years. We had a lot of good times together. We were also teammates (and occasionally partners) on Canada's team during some of the most memorable moments in my bridge career. I learned a lot about bridge from Mark - not so much about the technical aspects of the game, but about something more important: Mark helped to teach me how to win.

 

You see, Mark was what I would call a great competitor. He never gave up and always brought his best game to the table. He was a real fighter, but at the same time he was charismatic and charming - everybody liked Mark. Mark was also a well-rounded person. Despite being a true world class player and a great champion, bridge was not his entire life. All of these qualities are unfortunately rare for bridge players, even for those at the highest levels.

 

The bridge world is in shock right now due to this tragic loss. I am currently at a tournament along with several of Mark's many friends. We are all deeply saddened by Mark's sudden passing.

 

He will be greatly missed.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[Echognome]

Am sorry to hear about our loss to bridge. I have never met Mark Molson, but I have certainly read about him in books and articles. We are losing a fine player indeed.

 

I also give my condolences to Fred and others who have lost a dear friend.

[Guest Jlall]

I can't believe this. When Fred said Mark was by all appearances in great health, he meant it! Sorry for your loss Fred, Mark will be missed.

[Al_U_Card]

What a loss. I played against Markland on occasion some years ago (he was Dr. Jekyll to his then partner's MR. Hyde....) and was amazed by his demeanor and personality. I have only fond memories of him.

[glen]

I was playing in an Ottawa sectional in the early/mid 80s – Mark and Boris would play any tournament anywhere near them, so they had come down from Montreal for the weekend, and were at the very next table in the Open Pairs. They finished two boards and passed them to us, and then when we had completed the same two boards, Mark rushed over and started to talk to me at a mile-a-minute (km-a-minute in Canada) about the super complex endplay and squeeze that he had found on the hand. At that point I knew:

 

- Mark was willing to talk to anybody about the game, even young want-to-bees;

- Mark was highly skilled, and even back then saw things in the cards that most others could not see;

- Mark was super passionate about the game.

 

He never lost any of this. He’ll be sadly missed by all of us.