WBF Convention card

[peachy]

I downloaded from www.ecatsbridge.com the official WBF Convention Card Editor. I am completely lost as to how to navigate it to get a simple 2/1 card filled out. Can someone help me, or maybe provide a link to an intelligible program somewhere else where I can get this sys card done. THANKS for any help you can give. I have Windows Vista in case it matters.

 

Excited to go to Philly, this will be my first WBF event, in the Mixed Pairs, with a pickup partner no less and last minute plans. I really need this experience to have more sympathy for those foreign players who come to ACBL events and sometimes act like deer in the headlights. I will be the deer now :)

 

If anyone wants to say hello to me while there, I am 5'3" average slim, brown shoulder length hair and wrinkly face older lady with a smile - unless I was just blinded by the headlights...

[blackshoe]

Try here. Might be the same editor as on Ecats, I don't know. :)

[Free]

Why don't you use the MS Word file? It's so much easier imo.

[peachy]

Why don't you use the MS Word file? It's so much easier imo.

Where can I get the Word file?

[peachy]

Try here. Might be the same editor as on Ecats, I don't know. :)

It is the same :(

[Free]

Why don't you use the MS Word file?  It's so much easier imo.

Where can I get the Word file?

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/documents/files...nkWBFCCWord.doc

[peachy]

Why don't you use the MS Word file?  It's so much easier imo.

Where can I get the Word file?

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/documents/files...nkWBFCCWord.doc

Thanks, I also found it later on the ecats site (not hard, scroll down a bit....) Appreciate the help!

[Finch]

Don't panic.

The first time I played in a European Open event I read the CC regulations in advance and filled in a very detailed card with pages of supplementary notes.... it was a complete waste of time. Many people just have something with them pen scribbles on it, or something very sparse.

 

But it's still a good idea to have a properly filled-out ard.

[gnasher]

Many people just have something with them pen scribbles on it, or something very sparse.

Or something that they think belongs in their pocket for the duration of the event.

[MFA]

Many people just have something with them pen scribbles on it, or something very sparse.

Or something that they think belongs in their pocket for the duration of the event.

Sad but true.

[blackshoe]

Proverbs 22:6.

[JanM]

I'll second, third, fourth & fifth the comment to use a Word or Excel template and NOT the WBF CCE. The CCE is worse for me than for some, because I've been a Mac person forever, but it causes problems for PC people too. And never produces a computer-readable document that can be edited (unless you have editing capability for a PDF).

 

The only thing to be aware of when you use the Word template from the Ecats site, is that it's done as a table on both sides of the page, so if you need extra lines, you have to add them to all 3 columns and that will end up messing up the pagination when you try to print - so then you have to delete a line from all 3 columns to get back to the right number of lines.

 

Peachy, I'm sending you a "Standard American" Word card you might be able to use as a start.

 

And I do agree with Frances that most people in the Pairs events won't pay much attention to your convention card. Be careful to put anything relevant in the "Special Bids that May Require Defense" section and to describe your leads and signals well, and you'll be fine. For the teams, it's more important to do a complete job with the card, since once you get to the KO, hopefully your convention cards will be available for your opponents the day before you play them. But even there, unless you're playing something unusual, few people will prepare in advance.

[peachy]

Thanks again Ed, Free, Jan, Frances, everybody.

[peachy]

Don't panic.

The first time I played in a European Open event I read the CC regulations in advance and filled in a very detailed card with pages of supplementary notes.... it was a complete waste of time. Many people just have something with them pen scribbles on it, or something very sparse.

 

But it's still a good idea to have a properly filled-out ard.

You were so right, Frances. A typical example, a variation of the theme so to speak - French guy with a lovely smile and attentive manner, announced ''we play just very simple standard, nothing fancy". I said "okay, may I have a look anyway" . The System Summary area had about ten words, the rest of the card completely empty.

And the summary was, get this:

5c majors, strong twos, 2D Multi

[NickRW]

It seems that everyone thinks what they do is "standard" or close enough to not make much diffrerence. Just like playing at a club really.

[awm]

I do wonder a little about the WBF convention card. Elianna and I recently played in the mixed pairs in Philly; before we left I spent several hours filling out a detailed card on computer. My experience was that many pairs did not have a filled out card, and that very few had a thoroughly filled out one.

 

In principle I think that WBF's card is a lot better than the ACBL one, allowing much more space for a much wider range of treatments, highlighting an area for things opponents might particularly want to discuss, and so forth. However, at ACBL nationals the level of compliance with the system cards is much superior -- most pairs have fully filled out cards available to their opponents (I agree that club games and local tournaments may be much more haphazard in this regard).

 

The more thorough the card, the less likely people will go to the trouble to actually fill it out. It'd be interesting to figure out where the "middle ground" is -- my view is that the WBF card is probably too far on the "labor intensive" side.

[VMars]

It's not just that it takes forever to fill one out, but that they are harder to read because of the small type and that they are black and white with a lot of text.

[mike777]

I do wonder a little about the WBF convention card. Elianna and I recently played in the mixed pairs in Philly; before we left I spent several hours filling out a detailed card on computer. My experience was that many pairs did not have a filled out card, and that very few had a thoroughly filled out one.

 

In principle I think that WBF's card is a lot better than the ACBL one, allowing much more space for a much wider range of treatments, highlighting an area for things opponents might particularly want to discuss, and so forth. However, at ACBL nationals the level of compliance with the system cards is much superior -- most pairs have fully filled out cards available to their opponents (I agree that club games and local tournaments may be much more haphazard in this regard).

 

The more thorough the card, the less likely people will go to the trouble to actually fill it out. It'd be interesting to figure out where the "middle ground" is -- my view is that the WBF card is probably too far on the "labor intensive" side.

NO

 

it should never never take 3 hours to fill out your cc.. STOP!

[awm]

NO

 

it should never never take 3 hours to fill out your cc.. STOP!

This is a world championship. I think it's reasonable to expect people competing in a world championship to take it seriously and have real agreements. Spending a few hours filling out the card is not all that significant compared to the roughly fifteen hours of travel we spend getting to and from the event, the roughly twenty-one hours of bridge we expect to play during the event, and so forth. In fact I think that having a very sloppy card (or no filled out card) for an event where people are spending this much time (and often quite a bit of money) to travel from all over the world and compete for the prestige of a world championship is disrespectful to the other players.

 

With that said, a simple/short card that everyone fills out would probably be better than a long/complicated card that most people leave blank.

[keylime]

The WBF card I wrote out for LL and I, took two WEEKS to be up to my level of satisfaction. Then again, it took me two days to learn the jargon!

[Finch]

My experience was that many pairs did not have a filled out card, and that very few had a thoroughly filled out one.

My experience was the most pairs had a filled out card, but if you wanted to see it you had to ask for it. Playing with screens, most people seem to prefer simply asking what things mean rather than looking at the card.

 

When we sat EW, my partner put his (beautfilly filled out) card in his pocket. It stayed there for the full session, no-one showed any desire to see it.

[paulg]

gnasher was the only player in the pairs to voluntarily offer a card to me.

 

In the teams it was different and friendlier, since you were playing 16-board sets.

[blackshoe]

I wonder how all these people who never bother with System Cards would feel if the rules were changed to not require them.

[manudude03]

I know this has been said before, but...

 

While I can see why a lot of people don't bother with the WBF convention card, there really isn't any excuse for not having it filled out completely. While it might be different for anyone in ACBL (where the ACBL CC would usually suffice), there are only 2 occasions where a pair would have to spend a long time on the WBF card:

 

1. The first time you make the convention card.

2. You have a major system overhaul.

 

On any other occasion, it would only take a few minutes at most to make any necessary changes. I may as well add that that I have been required to make WBF cards for much lesser events (mainly for peggy bayer and junior camrose in UK, and was even asked for one at a local congress pairs event!). Even if you weren't doing it by requirement, I would certainly recommend any upcoming pair to spend some time making one of these, it might just reveal some holes in their system or clear up some misunderstandings.

[Gerben42]

In the German top leagues, you are supposed to fill out a German big convention card at the same format as the WBF one. So for a world championship, you just need to translate it.

 

Unfortunately, this means that many pairs who have played internationally just bring their English card with them. I don't care, but I know some whose English is less than perfect and this might cause a problem.