Closed room comparisons

[mrdct]

Watching a teams match just isn't the same without live comparisons coming through.

 

When only single-table coverage is being undertaken, the operator at that table generally needs to be the person entering the other room's scores on top of worrying about getting everything else right. Here are a few practical tips to make it easier:

 

1. Ask the organisers and/or the tournament director, to have the teams provide you with line-ups at least 5 minutes before the match starts. That way you can load the hand data, enter the player names and get yourself settled before the 1st board starts. This will put you in a much more relaxed frame of mind.

 

2. If you are going to be entering the closed rooms scores from the open room vugraph terminal, you need to specify "B" for "both rooms" when loading the hand data file at the start of the presentation.

 

3. If someone else at the venue can be connected to the internet, having that person send the closed room results to you using instant messaging software (such as MSN Messenger) eliminates the hassle and security concerns of passing pieces of paper around.

 

4. If results are going to be passed to you on paper, have the person collecting the results write them down in exactly the same format that you will enter them (e.g. 3hs+1, 3nex-2, etc).

 

5. The best time to enter closed room results is immediately after a hand has finished. You usually have at least 30 seconds as the players put their cards away, write-down their score, organise the next board and contemplate the opening bid. Even if they do all that quickly, you can alway catch up during auction.

 

6. Another potential time-window is if a hand has reached an obvious claim position but play is continuing. You can safely ignore the remaining play, enter some closed room results, and come back to the eventual claim.

 

7. Finally, a second or two can be saved by resizing your desktop such that you can have the BBO main window and the "movie" window both visable at the same time. That way you can click straight to the "movie" when you have a moment to enter scores. Be careful to make sure the "movie" is showing the scoresheet of the other table.