Summer Wine Indy

It was meant to be restricted to a small, 20 max, friends-only indy, sort of a get-together party (and so I could play too!) but I typically forgot to set the friends-only restriction when opening the tourney, and before I knew it, the 20 slots were taken. But, optimistically, we got to meet new people and it was fun, without any incidents, barring the odd disconnection. Surely a tourney like the one on the picture below is a nice sight to behold :)

Congratulations to the winners:

Tournaments, unplugged

Saturday was my personal black day for tournaments, both as a TD and a player,with all the usual issues blown out of any sensible proportion. It never fails to amaze me why rude, antisocial people ever take to bridge at all. I am still at a loss what the particular offence, "native goat roper" is supposed to mean, for example. It may well be that I should better remain in blissful ignorance about it.
Life, however, can be so sweet on the funny side of the street. It took me several days to stop sulking, and see everything from a new perspective.
Top auction:

Top alert:

Top lesson:

The multi is my pet-peeve. I would hate to get repetitive but the problem of abusing multi keeps raising its upgly head over and over.


Top reason for calling TD to a table:

Please, tell my partner to stop drinking beer! During the previous tourney he told everyone "Cheers!" instead of "glp"!

Minibridge, anyone? :)

Well, this is my latest discovery (as in discovering the wheel...). I have always been curious about minibridge, especially since it seemed to be a more natural way to introduce an already keen, very cute 8-year old to bridge (and, hopefully, he will realise sooner than me that bridge is not a computer game!).
BBO offers minibridge as an option but whenever I tried to make a table, noone joined. So yesterday I was lucky to hop into the 4th seat and actually play some! Gosh, I loved it! Here is how you play it: you count your points and press the appropriate button; then you look at the combined point count for both pairs.

The pair with less than 20 hcp become defenders (if both sides have 20, you just redeal). The person in the other pair that has more hcp is able to see partner's hand, and, after analysing the hcp power and distribution declares - yes! just declares - a contract (there is a menu between the play zone and the chat zone):



It feels very unusual, and is in fact great fun :)))
Apart from being a fun way to introduce kids to the game, I thought it might actually be a great tool for beginners (and obnoxious novices) because you can practise declarer techniques and counting. For defenders, as well - counting partner's hand is slightly easier but nevertheless quite a challenge - well, at least for me!

In fact, I liked it so much I will continue researching this topic!

Happy Birthday to TD ah que!!!
Many happy returns of the day, and many fun tourneys! Be very very happy!

Summer Wine Teams #15

Thanks to sailormoon, we managed to run the Summer Wine Team Match #15; this time the playful wines were Porto & Riesling. The formal result was boring 19 imps won by the Portos (ze micas - jocarr fractal - rae123) but I believe we all had great fun - even the bubbly Rieslings (sailormoon - joe_45 mschwartl - jwheelerh) who threatened to make a fearful come-back during the next match!
Special welcome to JoCarr who played in our team match for the first time!

LazyHazyCrazyDaysOfSummer Tourney

Well, we all survived the tourney :). In the very first place it was started because during that lazy hazy and just sleepy afternoon of summer there were no free tournaments to play. In strict adherence with Murphy's Law, though, while I was configuring a small tourney for friends, at least 2 other were created. This drew an angry remark from one of the TDs - really not sure why, as his tourneys are usually huge, and there were so many people online that I was surely no competition for him. AND his tourneys are excellently managed, too - despite the fact that he is brave enough to run 150 - 160 pairs + single-handedly.
The first round was fairly quiet. Then the hazy-lazy-sleepy atmosphere turned a brighter shade of crazy, with me turning a whiter shade of pale by the minute (btw, how many calories does a TD burn during an 8-board, IMPs, unclocked?). Disconnections, reconnections, slow play, players who don't speak English, unhappy opps (no alerts and no intention to even attempt one) and even name-calling. Though it might all be part of the game, figuratively speaking, from a technical stand-point, I think, these are no minor offences (except the incidental disconnections, of course). My solution is blacklisting such offenders, and praying they will not be joining under any other nickname. Anyway, it could have been much worse, considering the temperatures soared to new highs during the afternoon!




Still, it was great fun - despite the glitches!

Willover's Tango

Top Reason for Calling TD:

playerX: my partner hasn't played a card for 1.5 minutes
fractal: your partner can't - he is the dummy....

Happy Friday 13th :)

It was very lucky for me, actually. Off-bridge life and biz are going great; I am almost in love with Drupal (hopefully, not unrequitted 100%); and on-bridge I think I set a personal record today - ran a tourney with 200+ pairs. Luckily with the help of 3 coTDs! Spiralsnow, AnnC8 and Vapa came to the rescue!



Top reason for TD presence request:

Tourney 620 Director needed by xxx at Table 031 Player said:we need a warm body at south

Beat that, eh?

I do miss Summer Wine Teams, though! Hard to imagine, but is a fact - it is easier to gather 400+ people willing to play accidentally than 8, just 8, in the same time/place continuum for a teams match! Go figure! :(

An interlude: philosophy of bidding ;)

"Aha !" said Pooh. (Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.) "If I know
anything about anything, that bid means fit," he said, "and
fit means Game," he said, "and Game means Imps and
Listening-to-Me-Humming and such like. Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um."

More mistral is sweeping

through BBO... The # 337 Pairs Heart of Gold tourney was a disaster. From a newbie's standpoint, it was a very interesting situation. One opp opened 2!d, alerted proudly "multy" (sic! yes, and I know I am a beach/y babe!), and the auction went on in Chinese. Yours truly sighed and hurried to google, which brought up multiple versions of multi(1, 2, 3 - want more? go goggle on google), and it didn't make the situation clearer. Wiki looked reassuringly short but wouldn't you give it up when you have approx. 6 minutes to read, digest, and defend something that starts with:

An opening bid of 2♦ classically shows one of four types :

1. Weak two in a major suit (6-11 HCP)
2. A strong balanced hand of a defined range
3. Strong three-suited hand
4. An ACOL 2 type ; typically in a minor

Often the convention is played with only one of the strong options being present, ie a three-way bid.

Cool eh... In the end I got into a very multi mood myself too - and to say I was majorly pissed off would be an elegant understatement in Queen's English:
1. Opps refused to explain properly, even when p asked and called the TD.
2. P accused them of cheating - quite a grave accusation; they were being sloppy and even arrogant but that is not really a crime; failing to alert properly is penalisable, though.
3. TD replaced my partner in the next round (took the original one out) and I only noticed half-way through the bidding that the new one doesn't play anything I do, and vice versa, and doesn't or wouldn't speak English.
4. I asked the TD to sub me, she promised to do that after I finish the board, and then forgot. So I left - didn't disturb the game, as the new p was playing it so that should have given ample notice to find a sub to replace me.
5. When I did log back to BBO, the ex-p was already playing in another tourney with someone else. Oh well.... And they say women are fickle?!?!?! C'monnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn... Give me a break!
Pretty please...

Choose your tourneys carefully....

Contrary to its proclaimed title, Enjoy The bridge, the TD pijo5 made the experience not quite enjoyable by constantly urging in a somewhat harsh manner players to play faster. Might be a language problem. However, bridge is supposedly a thinking game (unless you are an expert) - so think twice before joining. You need to play very very fast.
Just for the record, we always finished at least 2 minutes before the allowed time elapsed. And, as a matter of fact, I typed this whole post while playing the last board - in fact we were defending, quite successfully for one down!

Summer Wine 012

Well, it started in a peaceful, quiet way. The Amarone team (bazylc - grez, nikbon - fractal), the Allegirini team (rob63 - mschwartl, sburke - emmee) and a couple of friendly kibs were toddling happily towards the finale with the Allegrini winning by quite a bit when suddenly Rob remembered that Amarone means Verona, and Verona means Romeo and Juliet, and what Romeo and Juliet might mean to Rob I dare not enquire but this set him to such a romantic mood that neither his intrepid partner could bring Rob back to our californicated, Corona-driven matrix of a planet, nor their sweet team-mates who were moaning for guns to shoot their way out.
Just 22 imps is worth the trip to Verona, I think! :)


This clip is especially for you, Rob, please stay as wonderful as we have always known you to be :)

Summer Wine Teams 011

Well, finally the team I was playing (Pinot Noir: joe_45 - sailormoon, nikbon - fractal) managed to break the losing streak of so many events - despite the fact that our very own mschwartl (aka Marty, aka Sunflower since yesterday!) was running around with a baseball bat and threatening to boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew. That was scary but obviously not enough, and the last board provided the much needed imps to steal the match from the Pinot Blanc Team (bazylc - grez, mschwartl - sound375).
What can I say, Marty - try, try, try just a little bit harder... :)

Congratulations :)))

Congratulations to my terrific Russian p Konstantin (Gomon_k) who swept 13 pairs off their feet during the Moscow Open Pairs Championship 2007. Way to go!

Busy Day on BBVu

Happy Birthday, Bob :)))))))

Happy Birthday to Bob Holmes!!!

Many happy returns of the day and may all your wishes, slams and finesses come true!

We love you, Bob - be very happy! :)

p???????? sry bye

Cool... But where do you go to, my lovely? (Bear with me, I am trapped in mostly Right Said Fred clichés today!).
***
This is the umpteenth attempt to start this topic, which is hard enough to formulate, let alone develop more or less comprehensibly. So I will scatter the notes around, and if you have the patience to read to the end, you'll make your own story of it.
***
Maybe the market is too small for a John Gray to write "Saycers are from Mars, Precisionists are from Venus", but even if he did, I'd rather stick with Eric Berne as his Games People Play is more readily transposable onto the bridge table (and surrounding chairs), albeit it may be lacking practical advice.
***
Or we can try and rehash "Zen, or the art of partnership maintenance". This extract is copied from an article on other types of relationships but, in my opinion, even a pick-up partnership or a close encounter in an indy tournament has all the features of a relationship dynamics.

A young woman approached the Zen master in a meditation hall. "I am searching for perfection so that I may be truly happy," she said. "How do I find perfection?"

"Bring me a butterfly and you will have your answer," he replied.

So the woman set off for a nearby field of wildflowers dotted with beautiful butterflies. Anxious to learn the secret, she chased a butterfly until she captured it. But when she returned to the master and opened her hand, all that remained were the crushed wings of a once-lovely creature. "What have I done?" the bewildered woman asked.

"Bring me a butterfly and you will have your answer," the master said.

The second time she returned she opened her cupped hands and exclaimed, "Master, I have brought you a butterfly." But this time the creature lay in a circle of glistening dust; it had beaten itself to death. And once again the woman asked, "What have I done?"
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"Bring me a butterfly and you will have your answer," the master said.

When the woman returned to the field a third time, she noticed a glorious butterfly drifting from wildflower to wildflower, drinking deeply from dewy petals. Gently, she picked a flower and set it on her shoulder. After a while, the creature landed on it. Slowly, the woman began walking back to the meditation hall. When she arrived, the butterfly was still perched lightly on her shoulder.

"Now you have your answer," the Zen master said.

Easy does it.

***
In Success at Bridge Victor Mollo writes:

"Technique in bidding or play can be studied, practised and eventually mastered. Kindness to partner is a virtue requiring a rare combination of gifts - patience, detachment, forgiveness, and above all, the ability to dissimulate.
You are either born with these precious gifts or more likely you are born without them. It is purely a matter of luck."

***
Allegedly Easely Blackwood warned that if you try to convince partner that he is in the wrong he will play badly on the next deal. If you succeed, he will play badly on the next ten. Dare try?
***
Last but by no means least, my absolutely favourite bridge teacher Bob (bobh2 on BBO) put it best in his post on the BIL forum:

Now, here's some advice for you. If your object is to win at bridge, play with partners who are playing winning bridge and keep them playing that way. This is a simple fact. Bridge is a partnership game and a huge factor of winning has to do with taking good care of your partner. They do best when they are chirping along, not stressing out. Your behaviour and style at the table matters a lot. This is not hard to accomplish, you just have to be aware of this, and do it. What I have just said applies to the game regardless of your skill level or anything else. It is a universal truth.

***
Or, to quote Right Said Fred, "You're my mate, and I will stand by you" pretty much sums in up.


Btw, this is the official partnership song for the Summer Wine Teams matches. As to the guys who are too sexy for your table, you might politely suggest that they take their little tush some other where, in the hope it will be better appreciated by someone else. No hard feelings here, we are all different, and that's fine; yet you might wish them luck cos, I suspect, they might need quite a lot of it. ;)

BBO Basic (summary)

to-do list:

• add hyperlinks with expl.
• add links to alternative sites
• when all is ready, move the whole bunch to a static site for reference
  

General Approach: Standard American
1NT = 15-17 HCP

• Stayman
• Jacoby Transfers
• 2S for minor bust
• 3m (3 Minor) invitational
• 3M (3 Major slam invitational)
• Gerber
• System ON over double
  

2NT = 20-21 HCP

• Stayman
• Jacoby Transfers
• Gerber

3NT = 25-27 HCP
!!! Make sure your partner knows you are (not) playing 3NT as Gambling 3NT!

• Stayman
• Jacoby Transfers

Minor Suit Openings & Responses
3+ suits* - bid suits up the line
2NT = 13-15 HCP
3NT = 16-18 HCP

Major Suit Openings & Responses
5+ majors. Responses:
2NT = 4-card forcing raise (Jacoby 2NT) (* now I play it with 3+ cards support as a fit showing GF bid; discuss with partners)
3M = limit raise
3NT = 15-17 HCP

2Clubs strong (artificial)
2D - "waiting"

Weak Twos
2NT - feature-asking bid. Raise only non-forcing (RONF).

Strong Jump Shifts. Preemptive Jump Overcalls. Neg. X thru 2S.

After Opps' Take-Out X:

• New suit: 1 level = forcing. 2 level - NF.
• 2NT = limit raise or more.
• Preemptive Jumps.

After Suit Overcall:

• New Suit: non-forcing.

After 1NT Overcall:

• Stayman only.

After Opps' 1NT Opening:

• 2C - majors only **

Standard Blackwood
4th suit = 1-round force
Unusual 2NT & Michaels

Leads & carding:
Standard leads, carding & discards

(Sun)Day at the races...

It was certainly a very strange day, lots of ups and downs, and I suspect some bridge mistral was sweeping through BBO all day yesterday.

It began OK. I coTDed my first tourney with Gamer1800. It is a bit hard to play and keep an eye on the tourney proceedings, even though we barely had to make any substitutions. There was one incident, when a player called his partner an idiot for doubling opp's contract or some other capital offence. This got him to the very top of the enemy list (yeah, isn't it sad there should ever be need for one...), and I sincerely hope he will stay there and not run into any of us again. Such extraordinary creatures who presumably never make mistakes should be kept on Vesuvius: it is private there but sulphorous. Btw, Gamer's tourney got mentioned in BIL's Gazette (19 May 2007):

BEGINNER/NOVICE TOURNAMENTS

There is some good news for those who want to play/compete in tournaments that are restricted to beginner / novice level - somewhere for you to ‘get your feet wet’ , where you have a chance of being in the top % .

Gamer_1800 is going to be running ad hoc tournaments in the BBO Free Tournament section every day . These are not being run under the auspices of the BIL as he cannot commit to any specific schedule - he has power supply problems. So they will be listed at short notice randomly. You will have to look for his id in the Host Field in the tournaments - the titles will not mention the BIL. However, I am sure it will be clear that they are restricted to level.

He has my permission to announce these in the BIL 10/15 minutes prior to the start (except when a lesson is in progress).

Those of you playing in them must ‘cut him some slack’ when it comes to subs - a tournament cannot continue if he cannot find a sub so it may well be that he will from time to time have to use an Intermediate/advanced player .

The Sunday Teams League match was a pleasure indeed, as Marty and I played with Bob (rq4mulae) and Norrie (Norrito1 aka club2over1), and what made this encounter even more pleasant is the fact that we won, despite my misbids, misclicks, misplay, misdefence, mis-you-name-it-i-did-it...

Unfortunately, later I ran into another rude fellow, and got so pissed off that reported him to BBO abuse. Yes, Virginia, it was THAT bad... He could always get off the hook though by claiming temporary insanity due to climatic conditions. On the other hand... Maybe I was a bit too short-fused myself, and shouldn't have bothered with that luser at all? In a brief moment of poetic rapture I began writing this poem but only got to Line 5 - the muse disappeared AWOL:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

Well done, Lawl Brigade!

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE ON SUNDAY TEAMS MATCH!

Thanks and best of luck to The Splinters, it was great pleasure to play with you, guys!