Sunday, March 14

Kolesnik, Baseggio oust four; Rosenthal, Robinson out The first round of the Spring NAOBC Premier KO Chris Willenken; Jan Jansma – Espen Lindqvist) in a close saw the top six teams sitting out. match. Up by 6 IMPs at the half, Dobrescu hung on to Notable upsets included the 48 seed Kolesnik win by 3. (Alexander Kolesnik – Bob Etter; Emma Kolesnik – Amber Lin) Last fall’s second-place partnerships joined two new defeating 17 Geril (Aldo Gerli – Leonardo Fruscoloni; John teams: Jacob Freeman and Finn Kolesnik teamed with Overdeck – Diego Brenner; Miguel Villas-Boas) by 3 IMPs. Gary Donner, Cecilia Rimstedt, Per-Ola Cullin and No. 41 Baseggio (Franco Baseggio – Andrew Stark; Jeff Marion Michielsen. The Donner team lost to Moss Roman – Ralph Buchalter; Andrew Gumperz – Phil Clayton), (Sylvia Moss – Roger Lee; Sjoert Brink – Sebastiaan Drijver; upset 24 seed Del’Monte (Ishmael Del’Monte – Howard Michal Nowosadzki – Jacek Kalita) by 6 IMPs after leading Parker III; Mike Cappelletti – Margaret Hart; Jeffrey Ferro). by 8 at the half. In the round of 32, both underdogs again came out Peter Weichsel, Bob Hamman, Kit Woolsey and on top: Kolesnik ousted 16 seed Onstott (John Onstott Bart Bramley joined Steve Robinson and Peter Boyd. – Jacob Morgan; Drew Casen – James Krekorian; Mike Passell Robinson fell to Fox (James Fox – Carlos Pellegrini; Neil – Mark Lair), and Baseggio beat No. 9 Lall (Hemant Lall Chambers – Allan Graves; Maximo Crusizio – Rodrigo Garcia – Reese Milner; Roy Welland – Sabine Auken; David Gold – Da Rosa). Down by 10 at the half, they lost by 22. Thomas Paske). Play continues today with the round of 16 and Dobrescu (Raluca Dobrescu – Ted Greenberg; Lynne quarterfinals. Koeppel – Mustafa Cem Tokay; Okay Gur – Gokhan Yilmaz), originally the No. 35 seed, took out No. 3 Rosenthal Click here for Premier KO Bracket (Andrew Rosenthal – Aaron Silverstein; Boye Brogeland –

Limited KOs complete group play with topsy-turvy results The 0–5000 and 0–1500 KOs advance; the two lowest emerged Chris Sloan - Michael Reeslund). completed the group phase on from another. Just two of the top Higher seeds fared better in the Saturday, reducing to 16 teams from eight seeds survived: No. 1 Nemes 0–1500 KO, where nine of the top 11 38 and 40, respectively. (Charles Nemes - Edward Maier - Rick advanced. In just one of the eight groups in Schoenfield - David Bogolub) and No. 3 Due to technical difficulties, the 0–5000 did the top two seeds Andino (Theri Andino - Steven Wallis - brackets were not available.

Schedule Premier KO IMP Pairs Premier Pairs All flights All flights All flights Sunday, March 14 Rounds of 16 & 8 Thursday, March 18 Qualifying sessions Friday, March 19 Final sessions Saturday, March 20 Semifinals Qualifying sessions Sunday, March 21 Finals Final sessions Online Bridge: Different Mechanics, Same Laws By Robb Gordon, ACBL National Recorder When we play online, we are still playing bridge. The Laws two identical convention of and ACBL Regulations still apply. But cards with their names facing facts, some things are different. Here are a few: on them. The rules apply to BBO as 1. Revoking and leading out of turn are impossible. well, except you need have 2. You must self-Alert. only one card. To make a 3. Because you are Alerting only the opponents, and convention card, log in. asking questions only of one or both opponents, partner Click Account on the right does not “hear” your explanations or questions and tabbed menu and select the that avenue of Unauthorized Information has been Convention Cards heading. eliminated. This saves a lot of arguments and bad It is pretty easy to recall a feelings. saved card or to complete and save a new one. 4. Breaks in are awkward. At the table, if somebody Remember to load your card takes a lot of time, you can see that they (presumably) by completing the Use With are thinking. In online bridge, it could mean that their Partner blank with your partner’s BBO name. tea kettle started whistling and they went to turn off the burner. Law 73E2: 6. The ACBL Convention Charts apply here. Make sure your If the Director determines that an innocent player convention is permitted in the game you are playing. has drawn a false inference from a question, For example, a 2♦ opening that shows a weak hand remark, manner, tempo or the like, of an opponent with length in one of the majors is an Open+ Chart who has no demonstrable bridge reason for the convention and is not permitted in any event in the action, and who could have been aware, at the online regional. time of the action, that it could work to his benefit, 7. It has come to our attention that some players have the Director shall award an adjusted score. more than one BBO user ID. Please only use one ID This rule applies. When you spill coffee or are distracted when playing in ACBL games with human opponents. by a phone call, it is incumbent on you to make sure We are screening for this. the opponents know so they are not deceived by your 8. Because you are playing in an ACBL game against inattention. human opponents, we encourage you to make sure your 5. The ACBL has long had a rule that partnerships have profile displays your real name.

Keep it Clean Most of us are honest and want to play the game properly. When you play against Fees an opponent you suspect is not playing in accordance with the Laws, or violating the Code of Disciplinary Regulations, please file a Player Memo. There is a version Entry fees for events streamlined for online play reports available at www.acbl.org/bbomemo/. You may in this tournament are privately text your director as well, but making a public accusation is itself a violation paid at time of initial of the CDR, so please report suspicious conduct in an actively ethical way! registration with no additional cost per “I’ve volunteered to be one of the investigators when there session. Each event has is suspicion of Unauthorized Information during online play. its own fee. There are a lot of factors to consider, not least of which is the suspected player’s experience level. Accusations of cheating are a serious matter. Anyone can do something strange on one deal; but when a pattern emerges, there is smoke. Where there is smoke, there is often fire. For charges to be filed, more than one investigator has to come to the same conclusion. The game will be better and more popular if we all behave ethically. Big Brother is watching you.” – Larry Cohen BBO Help Desk – How to Alert your bids In face-to-face bridge, you Alert your partner’s bids. In online bridge, you Alert your own bids. Here’s how to do that.

N N

WEST EAST WEST EAST

W E W E

1 S 2 S It’s your turn to bid, and you realize the call you’re The Alert button will turn red and a cursor will about to make requires an Alert. In this case, partner appear. Type an explanation for your call here. You has opened 1NT and you want to transfer. Before can also fill in the explanation later by clicking on doing anything else, click the Alert button. your bid after it appears in the auction diagram.

N N

WEST EAST WEST EAST

W E W E

3 S 4 S After you have entered your Alert and explanation, Next, select the appropriate strain. In this case we you are ready to select your call. Once you bid, it’s bid 2♥ to transfer to spades. Note: Since January, too late to Alert. Select the level of your bid. you say “spades” rather than “transfer” to explain.

WEST EAST

N N

WEST EAST

W E W E

5 S 6 S When you click the suit symbol, your bid appears During or after the auction, you can hover in the auction diagram highlighted in yellow and over any call highlighted in yellow to see the outlined in red. The auction continues. Note that explanation. If there is a red outline but no yellow, although partner Alerted his 1NT bid as 15–17, you you can click the bid to prompt the person who don’t see his Alert and he can’t see yours. made the Alert to fill in the explanation.