There are various reasons why a player may not complete a hand

1. Connectivity issues
2. Substitutions
3. Unexpected distractions
4. Difficult hands
5. Naturally slow play
6. Inattention to the clock
7. Deliberate tactic intended to prevent opps getting a good score

As TDs we have a number of tools available to manage these issues
A. Add time to clock
B. Adjust hand using GIB result or manual judgement
C. Choose to allow the default 'Average' score to stand
D. Punish players by adjusting against them
E. Verbal warning at table when play is too slow

I try to use all of the above to achieve a fair, free flowing tourney where no-one is waiting too long. However, it may be that we need to work up a document which formalises our expectations and likely actions. I think there also needs to be a formalised procedure for when a player disagrees with a TD decision.

Over to you


 

We are close to getting a Pairs Ladder set up very soon, and I for 1 would like a regular partner or 2 to play on the ladder.

ian84 Int 2/1, Sayc with most std gadgets

I'll be running 2 new tourneys over the weekend

Saturday Sizzler - 8 board 4x2 pairs IMPs 6mins per board  will start on Sat 14 Dec 7pm UK/UTC 2pm Eastern

Serious Sunday - 1st one ran on Sun 1st Dec. I would like this to be 16 boards 4x4 MP Pairs but for the first one I cut it down to 12 bds to accommodate our Indian players. Going forward, I would like it start at 6.30 UK/UTC, 1.30 Eastern. This will also now be 6 mins per board, cut down from the 7min standard as requested by the players in the first tourney.

Please let me know what are your preferences

I was playing in the Main room with an IAC friend and his reg non-IAC partner. I picked up a p identifying himself as an expert.

I opened the following hand in 1st seat with 1 . All pass and I make +3. Partner says '1  18 pts?' I say 'Yes, how would you bid it, p?'. By answer, he leaves the table.

I don't usually play LTC unless I'm with a p that's playing it. There was no mention of LTC in the expert's profile.

My IAC friend suggests that maybe I should open this hand with 2  - which I might well do if I was playing LTC.

In hindsight, it occurs to me that I might open it with 4  . I'm not a big fan of opening at game level, as it generally doesn't need much from p to be in slam territory, and game openers are generally played as shut out bids.

I got told off by Hoki for suggesting a 2 opening on a similar hand last week.

Thoughts appreciated

My hand:
  AKQ732
  A3
  KQ52
  4

My p's hand
  J4
  T85
  JT96
  JT53

1. Chatlogs
In the Windows client, you can set it so your chatllog is automatically written continuously to a file on your computer. The Web version doesnt have this facility. In order to save a chatlog on the web version, right click in the chatlog, then press 'Ctrl+A' to select all the text, then 'Ctrl+C' to copy it to your pasteboard. Now open an MS-Word or Open source clone, left click at the start of the first page, then click on 'Edit/Paste Special then select 'Unformatted text'. You can now use 'File/Save As' to specify the filename and directory to use to store your new doc. If you just use 'File' it will store the doc to the default directory used by the application.

2. Chat management
Users such as Teachers, Teaching Assistants and TDs made use of a really good little chat management package called Keyfast to create scripts that could be sent to the chatbox either 1 click at a time or could be automated. The fact that the Keyfast software was a pirated copy of a version specially developed and given to the owner of the BIL club is niether here nor there, everyone used it

The web offering, the BBO Chat Manager is adequate for most peoples needs, the main drawback to it is that it supports only 1 file of chat-lines. Also, there are some very sophisticated features within Keyfast which some of the BIL teaching assistants use which cannot be emulated in the Web version, and is thus their main reason for sticking with the 'old' version.  Keyfast itself doesn't work on the Web version (or at least not the pirate copy that everyone has).

Other solutions: Many teachers like to prepare their teaching scripts as a Word doc, and copy and paste line-by-line from the Word doc into the chatbox on BBO. this has the benefit of being able to organise your files, but can be a little clunky switching between the Word doc and the BBO session.

3. Club facilities
In the old Windoze client, the Club-Owner BBO-Id is given extra capabilities on its associated table. There is a text file attached to the table, in which the BBO-Ids of all the Club members are stored. For Private clubs, this then allows only those Ids into the Club room, and can also be used to control admittance into Club tournaments. These membership control functions can be emulated on the BBO Web version, where an external text file needs to be created and utilised. This usually means that Creation of Club tournaments and events can only be done by one computer unless you duplicate the Club membership file across several computer, or use a shared file.

However, the major facility that is missing from the Web version is the ability to broadcast (by chat-only, chat+mail, or mail only) to the Club membership. In the Web version you can Chat 'To Club', but this in fact only transmits your chat message to those that are in the Club room at the time. And you can put out a mailshot to the entire club, but it requires the creation of a distribution list containing the name of each club member within the My BBO Manage friends function

(more to follow)
 

I'm running an open mentoring session on Thursdays directly after Grant's session on Bidding Theory. For the past 2 weeks we've been looking at Stayman and transfers and I envisage at least another week, probably 2 on the topic. After that, I'm open to suggestions. The basic format of the session is bid, play and discuss, usually on a teaching table and using either pre-prepared hands, or specially generated ones using the Dealer generation facilities. The discussion is open to all participants, but we're lucky to often be visited by Mark Hugger(obsugar), Donna Stoker(DonnaS), Grant Griffin(GGriffin0), Joe Garcia(ylyxotee) and Todd Hole(masse24), whose contributions I gratefully acknowledge.

Any comments on the sessions, suggestions for improvements etc gratefully accepted. Also, I'd welcome suggestions for the next topic(s) that you'd all like to see covered. thx, Ian