Saturday, Dec. 5

Semis set in Mini, Micro Tides turn in Premier QFs The NAOBC 0–5000 and 0–1500 KOs are in the After the first 14 boards, the quarterfinal matches in the semifinal round today. NAOBC Premier KO were relatively close. In the Mini, original No. 28 Capal (Tracy Tulin (Stan Tulin - Cornelis Van Prooijen – Dror Capal - Warner Solomon - David Sherman - Peter Padon - Louk Verhees Jr.- David Bakhshi – Alon Birman) Hasenson) of the UK prevailed over No. 6 Heins had a 13-IMP lead over current No. 1 seed Lall (Hemant in Friday’s closest match, 97–91. Capal will face Lall - Reese Milner - Roy Welland - Sabine Auken - David original No. 15 Goulding (Philip Goulding - Craig Gold - Thomas Paske). Original No. 15 seed Rippey (Mike Biddle - Alan Leaver - Robert Zimmermann - Rippey - Kamil Nowak – Tarek Sadek - Walid Elahmady James Fox) of Pennsylvania, winners over Onstott. - Piotr Nawrocki - Piotr Wiankowski) led Gupta (Naren The other match is between Patel (Jayendu Gupta - Zia Mahmood - Simon De Wijs - Bauke Muller, - Patel - Mukund Thapa - Stephen Castellino - Paul Frederic Volcker - Thomas Bessis) by 18. Cornelius - Tanaaz Timblo - Shailesh Gupta) of This summer’s co-winner Levine (Mike Levine - Eddie California and international Todd (Katherine Wold - Jeff Meckstroth - Eric Rodwell - Geir Helgemo Todd - Marcel Verhaegen - Gabriele Zanasi - Tor Helness) had a 22-IMP lead over Lebowitz - Christian Lahrmann - Castor Mann. They (Laurence Lebowitz, - Adam Grossack - Zachary Grossack defeated, respectively, Wood and Hendrickson. - Michael Rosenberg - Dennis Bilde - Agustin Madala), the In the Micro, Niu (Xiaoyuan Niu - Jia Mi - Bing result of two game swings. The other co-winner Kolesnik Tong - Bindhu Aravapalli) of Georgia thrashed (Finn Kolesnik - Jacob Freeman - Bob Hamman - Bart Cowie 188–22 en route to a match with Rockoff Bramley - Peter Weichsel - Kit Woolsey) was up by 14 (Kyle Rockoff - Daniel Weiss - Gan Yang - Tak Chun over Korbel (Daniel Korbel - David Grainger – Joel Wong - Sarik Goyal - Ben Fisk), who beat Kayser. Wooldridge - Greg Hinze – Richard Coren). In the Lieberman–Lieberhaber match, it was See Premier, page 5 Lieberhaber (Aaron Liebhaber - Alan Davidson - Adam Siegel - Amit Duvshani - Lee Lin - Vladimir Kolbun) of New York who advanced to meet Ge Click here for Premier KO Bracket (Xin Ge - Sarah Chen - Serena Guo - Wanwan Ren - Brandon Ge - Brent Xiao) of California, who ousted No. 1 Throop of Massachusetts. Pairs events start today Play begins today in the NAOBC Premier Pairs, the Click here for 0–5000 Bracket 0–5000 Pairs and the 0–1500 Pairs. Each event consists of two qualifying sessions today and two final sessions Click here for 0–1500 Bracket on Sunday. fees are $100 per pair for the Premier Pairs and $80 per pair for the limited events.

Schedule 0–5000 KO Premier Pairs, 0–5000 Premier KO & 0–1500 KO Pairs & 0–1500 Pairs Saturday, Dec. 5 Semifinals Semifinals Qualifying sessions Sunday, Dec. 6 Final Final 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 Entry 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 – Convention Cards Convention cards disclose your partnership’s agreements to the opponents in accordance with the rules of bridge. The ACBL requires that you and your partner make a completed convention card available. Your full names – first and last – should appear at the top. When you sit down to play or register for a tournament with a partner, BBO will see if your partnership has a convention card on file by looking at your list of Personal Cards for your partner’s username. If it is there, you will be notified and the appropriate card is loaded once play starts. If your opponents follow this procedure, you’ll be able to view their cards as well.

1 2 3 After logging in, click on the Account Click on Convention cards. The To fill out a new card, click on New ACBL tab along the right edge. Your profile Convention cards section will open. Convention Card. If you don’t want to will open as shown at right. start from a blank card, you can also select one of the Stock Cards.

4 5 6 A blank convention card will appear. Continue filling in the card until it is To view or edit a card after it is filled Widen the window by dragging the complete. When the card is complete, out, select it from the list of Personal divider to the left. Click each blank line click the “Save changes” button at Cards at the bottom of the Convention to place your cursor, then enter the top left. cards section. appropriate information.

7 8 9 A prompt will ask you what you want When you want to view an opponent’s If the opponents have loaded their to do with the card. Select view or edit convention card during a game, start by convention card, it will appear as as appropriate. In order for the card to clicking on the three bars. a choice in this menu. Select NS be visible to your opponents, you must Convention Card or EW Convention designate a partner. Enter your partner’s Card. The card will pop up in BBO name as shown and click “Use another window. with partner.” Another match goes to overtime in Levine comeback By Amy Casanova Levine struck back with a big 14-IMP pickup on a doubled vulnerable slam, making, while the other In the Levine–Lebowitz match, the fourth quarter pair was only in game. Another 11 IMPs went into started with fireworks. These guys definitely got their the Levine column on an aggressive slam bid by money’s worth on this auction: Rosenberg–Grossack that failed by two tricks. On the last , 4♠ by Madala was down one, Dlr: North ♠ K Q 5 4 2 while 3♠ by Rodwell was down one, as well. Vul: None ♥ J 10 7 The match was tied. ♦ J 9 6 Lebowitz scored the first point in OT, picking up an ♣ 4 2 overtrick in a slam. Then 6 IMPs went to Levine when ♠ J ♠ A 10 9 8 7 3 both Lebowitz pairs went down in partscores. ♥ Q 8 4 ♥ A K 9 Lebowitz recovered 16 IMPs on the next two boards. They were up by 13 IMPs with two boards to go. ♦ K Q 10 2 ♦ 5 3 Board 7: ♣ K J 9 5 3 ♣ 10 8 ♠ 6 Dlr: South ♠ Q ♥ 6 5 3 2 Vul: Both ♥ 8 7 2 ♦ A 8 7 4 ♦ 8 7 6 2 ♣ A Q 7 6 ♣ 9 5 4 3 2 ♠ 10 6 ♠ K 9 7 4 3 2 Helness Bilde Helgemo Madala ♥ K Q 9 6 5 ♥ J 3 Pass 1♠ Dbl ♦ 10 3 ♦ A K Q J 9 Rdbl 1NT Dbl Rdbl ♣ K Q 10 7 ♣ — Pass 2♣ Pass Pass ♠ A J 8 5 Dbl Rdbl Pass 2♦ ♥ A 10 4 Dbl All Pass ♦ 5 4 ♣ A J 8 6 While at the other table, it was relatively short and sweet: Both Souths opened a strong notrump, followed by two passes. Bilde, sitting East, balanced with 3♠, Z. Grossack Meckstroth Rosenberg Rodwell which was raised to four by Madala. Rodwell doubled. Pass 1♠ Pass At the other table, Helgemo simply bid 4♠, which 1NT Pass 2♠ Pass was also doubled by Zach Grossack. 2NT All Pass Both Souths led a diamond, won by East with the queen. 2NT made nine tricks for plus 150, while 2♦ The match was won at trick two, as a low spade was doubled went for minus 800. 12 IMPs to Levine. led toward dummy’s 10. Grossack went up with the Lebowitz took 11 right back with a slam swing on ♠J, won perforce by Rosenberg’s stiff♠ Q. 14 IMPs to the second board and added another 12 IMPs on a Levine. minor-suit game swing on the fourth board. The last board was a push. Premier continued from page 1 However, after 14 more boards the tides had changed. picking up 10 IMPs on the last board, Tulin won by 4. Lall finished the half up by 10. Gupta came back to tie. Tied after the second and third quarters, Rippey and Levine was still ahead, their margin narrowed to 18. Gupta exchanged large numbers in the fourth as the lead Kolesnik was on the wrong side of a 64–28 run in the seesawed. Gupta gutted it out with a 5-IMP victory. second quarter. Korbel was ahead by 23 at the half. Lebowitz, who had stormed into a 16-IMP lead in the After three quarters, Lall was up 12. Rippey and Gupta third over Levine, gave 12 IMPs right back on the first remained deadlocked. Lebowitz outscored Levine in the board, featuring an auction with three redoubles. They third quarter 50–16 to go up by 16 IMPs. Kolesnik crept ended up tied and went on to a playoff. (See story, page 4). into Korbel’s lead, trailing by only 6 IMPs. And, finally, team Kolesnik, at one point down 17 IMPs In the Tulin–Lall match, the fourth quarter remained with 8 boards left to play, grinded it out, going 24–0 at the close. Five of the first six boards were pushes. Then Tulin end to win by 7. took the lead with a 12-IMP swing, 3NT down one at In today’s semifinals,Levine will face Gupta while their table while their teammates made 5♦. Despite Lall Tulin meets Kolesnik.

Semifinal pairings NAOBC Premier KO ------Mike Levine, Boca Raton FL; Eddie Wold, Houston TX; Jeff Jayendu Patel - Tanaaz Timblo, Vista CA; Mukund Thapa, Meckstroth, Clearwater Beach FL; Eric Rodwell, Clearwater Palo Alto CA; Stephen Castellino, Castro Valley CA; Paul FL; Geir Helgemo - Tor Helness, Monaco Cornelius, Mountain View CA; Shailesh Gupta, Aliso Viejo CA vs vs Naren Gupta, Woodside CA; Zia Mahmood, New York NY; Katherine Todd, New York NY; Marcel Verhaegen, Simon De Wijs - Bauke Muller, Netherlands; Frederic Volcker, Netherlands; Gabriele Zanasi, Palermo Italy; Christian Issy Les Moulin France; Thomas Bessis, Paris France Lahrmann, Denmark; Castor Mann, Lund Sweden ------Stan Tulin, Boca Raton FL; Cornelis Van Prooijen, NAOBC 0-1500 KO Netherlands; Dror Padon - Alon Birman, Tel Aviv Israel; Louk Xin Ge - Brandon Ge, Cupertino CA; Sarah Chen, San Jose Verhees Jr., Netherlands; David Bakhshi, London England CA; Serena Guo, Dublin CA; Wanwan Ren, Sunnyvale CA; vs Brent Xiao, Fremont CA Finn Kolesnik, Ventura CA; Jacob Freeman, Toronto ON; vs Bob Hamman - Bart Bramley, Dallas TX; Peter Weichsel, Aaron Liebhaber, Westfield NJ; Alan Davidson - Adam Carlsbad CA; Kit Woolsey, Kensington CA Siegel - Amit Duvshani, New York NY; Lee Lin, New York City NY; Vladimir Kolbun, Forest Hills NY NAOBC 0-5000 KO ------Philip Goulding, Wexford PA; Craig Biddle - Robert Xiaoyuan Niu - Jia Mi, Alpharetta GA; Bing Tong, Suwanee Zimmermann, Pittsburgh PA; Alan Leaver, Mars PA; James GA; Bindhu Aravapalli, Milton GA Fox, Canonsburg PA vs vs Kyle Rockoff, Gilbert AZ; Daniel Weiss - Sarik Goyal, Tracy Capal, Manchester UK; Warner Solomon, Totnes Evanston IL; Gan Yang, Pittsburgh PA; Tak Chun Wong, Devon UK; David Sherman - Peter Hasenson, London England Malibu CA; Ben Fisk, Cincinnati OH