Compare your Bridge bidding with pros in World Bridge Series – Rosenblum Cup

On Friday, October 15, 2010 Bridge professionals duked it out in the World Bridge Series Rosenblum Cup tournament. Check out how you would bid hands in comparison to Eric Rodwell – Jeff Meckstroth, Fred Gitelman – Mike Moss, Geoff Hampson – Eric Greco, Bob Hammon – Zia Mahmood. And to amuse yourself, compare variance how THEY bid and played some challenging hands – beginning at page 6:

http://www.worldbridge.org/bulletin/10_1%20Philadelphia/pdf/Bul_14.pdf

EBU introduces “BB@B” (Best Behavior at Bridge)

Following up on the American Contract Bridge Leagues “ZT” (Zero Tolerence), the European Bridge Union as initiated its own version with a more positive spin. The EBU’s “Best Behavior at Bridge” focuses more on the carrot than the stick, offering this handy code of conduct:

http://www.ebu.co.uk/publications/Laws%20and%20Ethics%20Publications/BBandB.pdf

• Greet others in a friendly manner prior to start of play on each round.
• Be a good ‘host’ or ‘guest’ at the table.
• Make your convention card readily available to your opponents and fill it out completely.
• Make bridge enjoyable for yourself, partner and opponents.
• Give credit when opponents make a good bid or play.
• Take care of your personal grooming.
• Ensure that your mobile phone is turned off.
• Enjoy the company as well as the game.

The EBU’s BB@B offers a refreshingly positive perspective to Law 74, Conduct and Etiquette:
http://www.bridgehands.com/Laws/ACBL/Duplicate/Proprieties.htm#law74

A. Proper Attitude
1. Courtesy
A player should maintain a courteous attitude at all times.
2. Etiquette of Word and Action
A player should carefully avoid any remark or action that might cause annoyance or embarrassment to another player or might interfere with the enjoyment of the game.
3. Conformity to Correct Procedure
Every player should follow uniform and correct procedure in calling and playing.

B. Etiquette
As a matter of courtesy a player should refrain from:
1. paying insufficient attention to the game.
2. making gratuitous comments during the auction and play.
3. detaching a card before it is his turn to play.
4. prolonging play unnecessarily (as in playing on although he knows that all the tricks are surely his) for the purpose of disconcerting an opponent.
5. summoning and addressing the Director in a manner discourteous to him or to other contestants.

Ditto on the ACBL’s no-nonsence clear yet more somber Zero Tolerence guidelines:

http://www.bridgehands.com/Z/Zero_Tolerance.htm

The ultimate purpose of the Z-T policy is to create a much more pleasant atmosphere in our NABCs. We are attempting to eradicate unacceptable behavior in order to make the game of bridge more enjoyable for all. Below are some examples of commendable behavior, which, while not required, will significantly contribute to the improved atmosphere:

Being a good ‘host’ or ‘guest’ at the table.

Greeting others in a friendly manner. Praising the bidding and/or play of the opponents.

Having two clearly completed convention cards readily available to the opponents (This one is a regulation, not just a nicety).

The following list are some examples of behavior which will not be tolerated:

Badgering, rudeness, insinuations, intimidation, profanity, threats, or violence.

Negative comments concerning opponents’ or partner’s play or bidding.

Constant and gratuitous lessons and analyses at the table.

Loud and disruptive arguing with a director’s ruling.

If a player at the table behaves in an unacceptable manner, the director should be called immediately. Annoying behavior, embarrassing remarks, or any other conduct which might interfere with the enjoyment of the game is specifically prohibited by Law 74A. Law 91A gives the director the authority to assess disciplinary penalties.

The following procedures have been given to the tournament directors for implementation.

At the start of each event, the director shall make an announcement that the tournament will be observing ZERO TOLERANCE for unacceptable behavior. It is requested that the director be called whenever behavior is not consistent with the guidelines outlined above.

The director, when called, shall make an assessment of the situation. If it is established that there was unacceptable behavior, an immediate ¼ board disciplinary penalty (3 IMP in team games) shall be assigned to all offenders. This may involve any one or all four players at the table irrespective of who initiated the unacceptable behavior. If both members of a partnership are guilty, the penalties are additive (¼ board EACH = ½ board!). The Board of Directors strongly believes that assignment of disciplinary penalties will improve the overall behavior at our tournaments.

If it is determined that the same offender is responsible for a second offense in the same event, then the offender(s) shall be ejected from future competition in that event. An offender removed from an event shall be deemed to have not played in the event, no masterpoints will be awarded and no refunds will be made. All previously-obtained results shall, however, remain valid as to their effect upon other competitors. In the case of a serious offense and in the case of multiple offenses (three) during a tournament, a disciplinary committee may be convened to determine whether the offender(s) should be allowed to play in other events at the tournament and/or whether additional sanctions may be appropriate.

Warnings are strongly discouraged and will be given only when there is no clear violation or in cases where the facts cannot be determined. Offenders are to receive immediate penalties. Regardless of who may have initiated unacceptable behavior, ALL offenses are punishable. Retaliatory behavior is a punishable offense. Frivolous accusations will also be considered as offenses under this policy.

In accordance with the Laws of Duplicate Bridge, a director’s decision to impose a disciplinary is final; however, all such decisions may be appealed. An appeals committee may not overturn the director’s decision, but could recommend that the director reconsider the imposition of a penalty. It should be noted that the committee may feel that the penalty assessed was not severe enough and may refer the matter to a disciplinary committee.

A Zero Tolerance Report Form shall be available for players to report incidents which occur away from the table; and for directors to document complaints and action taken. The DIC shall provide a summary report of all behavioral penalties to the Tournament Chairman and/or Recorder.

By the way, here’s a few additional ACBL tips on etiquette:

1. Not paying sufficient attention. See Slow Play
2. Making gratuitous comments during the play as to the auction or the inadequacy of the contract
3. Detaching a card from the hand before it is the players turn
4. Arranging the cards played from a previous trick in a disorderly manner or mixing the cards together before the result has been agreed by all players
5. Making a questionable claim
6. Prolonging play unnecessarily

For the latest on the ACBL’s Zero Tolerence policy, see:

http://www.acbl.org/play/zeroTolerance.html

Free daily EMAIL notification for our BridgeBlog posts

We are in the process of rolling out some exciting new services at BridgeHands. To accommodate these services, we have upgraded our communication channels to you.

As of 2021, BridgeHands now offers an improved user interface to view our video at:

www.patreon.com/bridgehands

Monthly Membership subscription prices are:
Aces: 300+ video hours
Kings & Queens: 200+ hours
Jacks: 100+ hours
Newcomers: 26 Introductory videos
We also offer livestream videos for our members.

Our recorded videos are now organized by:
– Polling You (187 videos)
– Play (174 videos)
– Bidding (149 videos)
– Hand Evaluation (98 videos)
– Social (87 videos)
– Advanced (56 videos)
– Newcomers (28)
– And another 84 categories that cross-reference popular concepts such as:
Slam (64), Finesse (54), Promotion (49), Defense (49), Controls (45),
Ruff/Trump (43), Losing Trick Count (36),  Competition (34),
Notrump (32), Suit Quality (31), Opening Lead (26), Cover Card (26),
Cuebid (24),  Blackwood (24), Counting (23), Strong Jump Shift (20), etc.

Warm Regards,

BridgeHands

*** ARCHIVED FOR HISTORICAL REFERENCE ONLY ***
Please see above for current BridgeHands membership subscriptions now offered at our Patreon website.
This post is intended for casual visitors not wishing to sign up for our Free, Premium, or ULTRA subscription membership programs (for more information, please refer to our membership subscription post).
Our “Bridge blog” now has a feature to automatically notify you whenever our blog has a new posting.   However, when you sign-up for BridgeHands subscription *membership* (Free, Premium, ULTRA or Teacher offering), we will already begin sending you EMAIL highlights (see post on our membership subscription program).  As you may know, blog messages (posts) are shorter informational messages, often one page or less in length. One standout feature of our blog posts is that YOU have the opportunity to provide us and your colleagues feedback on articles we post. 
This new blog notification service is in addition to our current BridgeHands EMAIL subscription service for our newsletters (through Constant Contact), which many of you have already joined. And as an aside, our Bridgeblog now contains an even shorter feed with our super-short Twitter messages (less than 2 lines of text, often with a link to a webpage, blog, picture, video, etc). So short Twitter messages (tweets) are posted very frequently, with blog posts in the middle, with our longer Newcomer-Novice and Intermediate-Advanced EMAILs issued less frequently. While the latest tweet posts are available at our Bridgeblog, you can always view our new and older tweet messages directly at our Twitter channel:
http://twitter.com/bridgehands
To signup for the daily EMAIL newsletter, go to the right side of our Brigeblog home page that reads:
“EMAIL our News to you
Allow BridgeHands to EMAIL you daily when we have new blog posts here”
Once you’ve completed the “opt-in” steps, whenever we submit a new post on our Blog, our Google Feedburner EMAIL account will automatically notify you. If for some reason you’d rather not signup for the free bridgeblog notification service and are looking for a brief digest to our blog headlines, you can always get our summary information directly (along with links to our stories) at the Google Feedburner website here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bridgehands
By the way, if you’d like more details on our Bridge blog and what a so-called “blog” is all about, please check out our “About” menu navigational link at the top of any blog page or click here for details.

Twitter comes to BridgeHands

As of October 9, 2010, BridgeHands has joined the Twitter generation. In addition to viewing our “tweets” (posts) at Twitter here:

http://twitter.com/bridgehands

…you’ll see our most recent tweet posts at on our Bridgeblog home page here:

http://www.bridgehands.com/bridgeblog

So what are tweets anyway? These are very short messages of up to two lines of text (far less than blog posts like this). Tweets offer a very short, quick snippet of information, often with a hyperlink enabling the viewer to click on the link for additional information. Since tweets are very short messages, they are easy to create and read. And NO, we promise not to blast you with trivial tweets.

Happy Trails, BridgeHands

What’s up with BridgeHands blog changes?

 

Shhh – you’ve discovered we are adding new categories to our website blog!  And did you notice we are adding functionality to allow subscription logins, too?   Hmm, what’s going on here?

First off, don’t worry – we will continue to freely publish our BridgeHands newsletters and podcast interviews.   Once we complete all the heavy lifting getting things in order, rest assured we will keep you posted with all our tinkering.

Warm Regards,

BridgeHands