Introductions and the Like

[skrshawk]

This thread is a good place for including information about yourself and your bridge preferences.  To start things off, I'll give you a little more information about myself.

 

Hi, I'm your friendly neighborhood Skrshawk :).  I've been a member of BBO for about a year and a yellow for shortly less than that time.  I'm now the lead administrator for the Bridgebase Forums in conjunction with my yellow duties.  I started playing bridge with the help of Fred's Learn to Play Bridge program and quickly got my start on Yahoo which I quickly outgrew.  Some of my friends there I brought to Bridgebase and they are still thanking me :).

 

I'm an intermediate-level player (despite my inexperience) that plays SAYC, 2/1 GF, and some Precision.

 

You're next :(.

 

John

[geofspa]

Hi

 

I am no great "ex-spurt" but i do enjoy a good game of bridge.  Like John I started with BBO just over a year ago, I introduce people to BBO from Yahoo, MSN, and anywhere I can find them.  I have found some great friends online here at BBO and am meeting soem of them now for "real" games.  If anyone needs any help around the BBO site when the YELLOWS are not around please ask me ... if I can help I will, and If I don't know I will try to find out.

[keylime]

Well where do I begin....I live in Springfield, VA, a pocket suburb near Washington, DC.

 

I am the creator of Key Lime Precision, a strong club method with transfer positives, variable NTs, and fuses ideas from the most successful of methods such as Romex, Blue Team, Polish, and others. I play regularly at tournaments, and am teaching fellow players my system with success.

 

I currently have a national partnership with Larry Lowell, of Knoxville, TN. We play a 4 card major canape club system. We've managed in our short time together to score an overall sectional win. What we REALLY want tho, is a high ranking in the Spingold.

 

I am always open to playing with people, regardless of style, skill level, approach, or acumen - it's my sincere goal to further the game of bridge worldwide, and to reenergize the game here in the United States.

[hrothgar]

Hi all

 

My name is Richard Willey (better known as Hrothgar in the world of online bridge)...  I'm something of a crank, and probably best known for some rather vocal theories about bidding.

 

Look forward to discussing things with folks.

[IrishLefty]

Hi -

I’m Bob (IrishLefty) from Northern California.  The IrishLefty comes from me being a left-handed Irish blooded Engineer.  Because of work I was pretty much out of playing bridge for about 25 years and now I’m back.  So much new stuff to learn!  I tend to keep things simple when I know nothing about my partner (and vice versa) and I will start out relatively conservative.  So, as it says under my avatar, “Be Gentle With Me.”  At least until I come up to speed.  I will classify myself as an intermediate player that occasionally bids brilliantly.   ;D

[Guest]

Hi, I live in Melbourne, Australia, and have been playing for quite some years now and have always had a penchant for artificial systems, particularly the Marston - Burgess style of Strong Pass. After having had a year of now playing 2/1, albeit with many gadgets, I have come back to the fold with a new partner and am currently playing the latest version of Moscito.

We are lucky in Australia that our system restrictions are much more liberal than in the States. When I read of the draconian laws there ....even stuff that many lols in Oz play are oulawed. Like Richard, I also have very strong and sometimes idiosyncratic views on bidding.

Cheers

Ron Lel

[Lestat]

Hi, Like IrishLefty, I was away a long time, in my case 15 years.  Now retired I have enough time for both my vices, bridge and golf.  It's been tough coming back to bridge.  Lots of new conventions, relearning to think on defense, and finding new, suitable partners in a less-than target rich environment.  Even though things change, much remains the same.  Dwindling memberships, small club games, the occasional rude opponent, and occasional seemingly unfair ruling.  But the challenge is what has brought me back.  Bridge is the greatest card game ever.  Enjoy BridgeBase very much.

[Polly]

I am a pogo convert.  No longer chasing the ellusive "red" rating.  I am reading up on duplicate and not very good yet - so many conventions - but i like this site - a friend showed it to me.  I live in an area where I can't find 3 other people to play bridge - so ...online for my addiction needs :)

[Rhutobello]

Hello from Norway. Have loved bridge for a long time, but never had the time for playing it serious (club) Have tried out both zone and Yahoo, but my vote goes to Brigde Base :) Hope to see you on my next table ::)

[C2BJ]

:)I from Beijing, China

 

My Test.

 

[glow=green,2,300]Bridge Base Forum[/glow]

[easy]

Dont know how i missed this introduction section but here goes. My name is Fred Wills and I live in Miami,Fl. (eat your hearts out). I earn my living, teaching , directing, and (occasionally) playing bridge. I guess you would call me a student of the game as i must have over 150 bridge books of various nature. (i have the first goren bridge complete book my dad gave me when i was a kid)

 

I dont go to many tournaments in the states anymore maybe every other year to a national. i typically go to most of the  regionals that take place in southern Fl. About 5 years ago i discovered european bridge and now i go over there once a year and play in some tourney.

[inquiry]

hi

 

My name is Ben, and I live just outside of Washington, DC (USA). I have been playing bridge for nearly 45 years (I started very young).

 

Today, my bridge play is almost entirely limited to on-line (I play as inquiry in both the BBO and MSN zone... but exclusively BBO now), although I do own two full set of duplicate boards (one 32, one 36) and use to play a lot of tournement bridge (I have more ACBL gold points than anyother color). In my younger days I played bridge for money (but very low stakes).

 

Today, you will find me mostly silently kibitzing bridge games in the BBO to support my silly hobby of studying hands (bidding or play), rather than playing.

 

I have played many bridge systems...learning them in the following order.  goren, shenken, kaplain-sheinwold, CC Wei precision, Blue Club, 2over1, ROMEX (1st and 2nd versions, not the current one), several more precisons (superprecison), SAYC, power precision, WJ2000.  As one can imagine, I keep changing systems, because, what the heck, I am not very good at any of them.

 

My favorite bridge books are:

 PLAY - "Adventures in card play"

 Bidding - "To bid or not to bid" by Larry Cohen, and

              "Partnership bidding" by Robson/Segal

 Fun - any of victor mollo's bridge in the menagriae stuff

 

I have reread all my 100+ bridge book (except for the various Encylopedia's of bridge) at least once (and of course the books about Aunt Agatha by Freddy North, which no one can read twice).

[jjsb]

not yet french players introduce?? ok so here i'm :) . My name is Brethes sylvain 28 yo french living in reunion island that belong to french near south africa in the indian ocean (take a map :) lol ) . as far as i know my parents liked cards and i was born with cards in hand :( . haven't got real time to play seriously because of study but u cna find me sometimes haunting bbo .

 

regards

syl

 

oh my level ? well beginner to expert depends :) we all go througth that rigth :) .

[keylime]

Mmmmmm, crab.

[vikicata]

;D

[pbleighton]

Hi!

 

My name is Peter and though I learned to play bridge 30 years ago as a teenager, I hardly played at all until 6 months ago, when a friend introduced me to online bridge (in the intervening years I played chess, backgammon and (laugh if you will!) hearts).  I got serious 3 months ago, and started playing a few times a week and reading a bunch of books.  I am very new to BBO (a convert from MSN - BBO is DEFINITELY better).

 

I have been playing Standard, have been studying 2/1, and am ready to make the leap.

 

I find this forum to be highly informative and entertaining, and the response to my first posting (in the 2/1 ans SAYC section) was great!

[baronreit]

hi all my name is bob-but most call me baron because of my handle-baronreit.  The name  comes from my former business-a Real Estate Investment Trust-I live in Florida but have been traveling now for almost 2 years-presently in NYC.  My passions are golf and bridge in that order.  I am always around-like 2/1 but happy to play precision as well-which is the system I first learned  to play.  I am an easy going guy but take the game seriously.  I am always courteous-believe in giving undos always-and hope you bring a smile and good disposition to my table-bring your A game as well.  I am the organizer ot tourney play at BBO as an interim step as Fred  will bring us duplicate before to long. In the meantime come play with us

[mishovnbg]

  Hi, my name is Mihail Nedyalkov. I live in Bulgaria, Varna. My profession is electrical engineer, designer, computer specialist, teacher.

Begin to play bridge 12 years old, my father teach me.   I played duplicate bridge when it just began in Bulgaria and was 3 at first national team finals in 1976. I won many major national and international major tournaments, but only in Bulgaria - no money :'(. Last first place - 1987 year, Beloslav. I was away up to 2001 year: built house, raised children and planted trees :).

Now i return to my lover Bridge :-*. Already win several tournaments again but only at club level. Members of my club are national players Rumen, Kalin, Boyan, Rado, Joro, Mitko... They also often play in BBO.

  I read lot of books. I played lot of systems. I wrote lot of my own systems of biding and defensive signals. Here several of them: Culbertstone, Precision (goren, super, power), Romex, Lambda (strong pass), Polish club, Fers ... Std, UDCA, Russinov, Journalist, Combain (3th/5ht)...

  Bridge is competition. All play it to win/enjoy, not to lose. To win is not enough to be skilled, need to be also cruel - law of nature, sorry :-[. But for me to be rude is sign of poor spirits or lack of intellect>:).

  Now my target in Bridge is new biding system NTC. I write now v. 2.50 ( 250 versions, lol ). The meaning of my work is use of relays and transfers with few stepping bids and no more then 50 pages system 8).

  If I can help to somebody, i will do it. Can help with teaching ( mentor ) tables , but can't do it regular.

                                                  Mihail ( MishoVnBg )

[JRG]

My name is John Goold - JRG on BBO.

 

Born in England, lived most of my life in Canada,  and now retired and living in Costa Rica. Professionally, I worked in the computer field (starting with IBM mainframes before the age of the "personal computer").

 

I started playing bridge when I was about 19 and gave it it up for about 15 years after being thrown out of university (I eventually got back in and earned a BSc in computer science attending at nights) and starting to work.

 

Like another poster, I started out loving to learn new bidding systems. Started with "Goren" (Standard American of the time), Schenken's big club system, ACOL, Neapolitan & Roman Club (and a few years later, Blue Team Club). When I started playing again there was a lot to learn. The entire structure of "Standard American" bidding seemed to have changed, perhaps mainly because of the effects of negative doubles (Sputnik doubles?). I have had one real partner over about the past 20 years. We play bridge mainly to socialize. We started out with Standard American which changed at some point to 2/1. We spent time trying to play Sontag's Power Precision, but my terrible memory got us into more trouble than it was worth. So we reverted to a basic 2/1 with just a few frills.

[poquito]

Hi

 

I just joined BBO, and thought that I would introduce myself and ask a silly question to which I don't really know the answer.  I have been playing bridge on and off for the better part of thirty years, mostly off.  About 5 years ago I started playing regularly one night a week.  Since I work, that is all that I can play.  I am a LM almost a bronze LM.   I play SA mostly and a little 2/1.  

 

Now for my question, when asked are you an intermediate, advanced, or expert player, I don't have a clue on how to answer.  Are there any criteria for such ratings?  

[inquiry]

Hi

 

I just joined BBO, and thought that I would introduce myself and ask a silly question to which I don't really know the answer.  I have been playing bridge on and off for the better part of thirty years, mostly off.  About 5 years ago I started playing regularly one night a week.  Since I work, that is all that I can play.  I am a LM almost a bronze LM.   I play SA mostly and a little 2/1.  

 

Now for my question, when asked are you an intermediate, advanced, or expert player, I don't have a clue on how to answer.  Are there any criteria for such ratings?  

 

Welcome poquito. The BBO game site help screens suggest:

 

Intermediate = Someone who is comparable in skill to most other members of Bridge Base Online

 

Advanced =  Someone who has been consistently successful in clubs or minor tournaments

 

Expert =  Someone who as enjoyed success in major national tournaments

 

See if you can place yourself using this scale.

 

ben

[LukeG]

Hi all,

 

My name is Luke Gillespie.  I'm 54 and live in the Boston, MA area.  When I was young my grandmother and aunt lived with us.  They were enthusiastic card players (all sorts of games) and they got me going.  I was around 10 or 11 when I started playing bridge.

 

When I was in my 20's I hung out at the old Boston Chess Club and played in ACBL tourneys, enjoying some modest success.  At that point I played a Roth-Stone style and became quite comfortable with it.

 

By the time I reached my 30's I had lost two regular partners to California and had started a family.  For the next couple of decades I concentrated on family and community, and played less and less bridge.

 

I was still interested in the game, and followed it via the Bridge World (I bought a lifetime subscription when they first offered it) and the occasional book.

 

I started playing on OKBridge in November 1999 and play there about 95% of the time vs 5% here at BBO. I am interested in different bidding systems and will be playing Svan, a Swedish two-way club system, in the GNT at the Long Beach NABC.

[aisha759]

Hi everybody :blink:

I am turkish living in Jordan.... how long does it take to become a good bridge player? I am on a plateau at the moment!

I started out on yahoo, moved on to MSN, flew over to OKbridge (hated it) swam to BBO(not planning to leave it)...

I love this game, I'm addicted to it, especially online..

I play SAYC and ACOL, and trying to learn 2/1.

 

P.S. i learned how to play 10 years ago, but only took it up seriously 5 years ago (how stupid is that?)

 

Patience is a virtue ( so they say) maybe I'm not cut out for excellence, but i should get a star for percevevence ( did i spell that right?)

[bearmum]

HI -- My name is Jackie and I live in Perth Australia, but have lived in Melbourne Adelaide Brisbane and Sydney, and was lucky enough to have lived in Toronto Canada for 8 months, and almost 5 years in Denver CO (husband was working there.

 

We are now retired, and living close to 3 of our 6 grandchildren which keeps us on our toes!!

 

We (husband and I have been playing duplicate for about 35 tears-- and we are still making HORRIBLE mistakes, and play 2-4 times a week at our club.

 

I play occasionally at BBO and find the forums very entertaining and informative --- thanks to all the yellows and directors who put SO much time and effort into making playing in BBO enjoyable :blink:

 

I started playing CULBERTSON (now Im giving my age away :) ) when I was about 14 -- then Goren Schenken and finally Precision. I am reasonably familiar with Standard American and 2/1 and am currently trying Acol, as most of the members at our local club play Acol, and we thought it was a nice idea to swap partners occasionally with another married couple.

[slothy]

and we thought it was a nice idea to swap partners occasionally with another married couple.

Jackie,

 

I believe this sort of behaviour is outlawed in most Australian provinces?

 

35 tears?? thats a lotta tears :blink:)

 

Giving your age away...My niece, at the rather mature age of 6 (oooops 6 and a quarter she corrects me!) plays CULBERTHSON (she has a slight lisp poor child) so you must be at most 36???

 

And yes my dear Aisha perceverance is spelt perseverance..