March 2025 - 8

(b) A logical alternative is an action
that a significant proportion of the
class of players in question, using the
methods of the partnership, would
seriously consider, and some might
select. "
So given my bidding plan, determined
as soon as partner opened
2NT, was to transfer into spades and
then bid 3NT over 3s, am I entitled
to bid 3NT as planned?
It seems that passing 3s is a logical
alternative to 3NT, and hence, despite
my plan, I must pass. Basically, by
Law 16B, I must ignore my plan and
pick my estimate of the least favorable
logical alternative. Unauthorized
information from partner's hesitation
suggests bidding will work better
than passing. My actual call was pass.
As a BBO director, how would you
determine your ruling if West bids
3NT, corrected to 4s by East? The
hand makes 11 tricks in spades (+200
or +650 by East-West).
The director should first verify the
hesitation claim using the BBO clock.
Next, if the break in tempo is confirmed,
the director has an excellent
resource to determine if pass is a logical
alternative by looking at the other
players in the field who were faced
with the identical auction. These
results were available at the conclusion
of the round. This occurred 21
other times with 10 passing and 11
bidding on. Pass is clearly a logical
alternative, and the correct ruling is
3s making five (+200 East-West).
BBO has the ability to institute a
completely non-invasive way to monitor
most potential Law 16B violations.
First, after a 10-second hesitation by
the BBO clock, a warning message
is chatted to the hesitator, " Please
make a call in the next five seconds. "
Second, all calls made after that (a
15-second pause in total) should
automatically be flagged for the
director. Third, if no call is made in
the five-second window, the system
should tabulate all calls made with
the same auction to the point in question
by the hesitator's partner. This
8 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2025
could be done immediately after the
round is over. This takes advantage
of BBO's unique structure where all
pairs play the hand in the same order.
These ideas will speed up the game,
not only for slow players, but their
opponents.
JON SHUSTER
Gainesville FL
Convention card help
In January's editorial,
" Understanding the ACBL convention
cards, " you indicated that " filling out a
convention card can be an intimidating
task for newer players ... " I agree
but believe this may even be more true
for longtime players who have been
using the prior card for years. You
pointed to the previously published
" Conventional Wisdom " series. While
I believe that series is an excellent
introduction, each article was necessarily
brief because it was restricted to
a single page of the Bridge Bulletin.
Even as a Bronze Life Master and
accredited as both a director and
teacher, I found this series much too
limited and lacking adequate explanations
for my purposes. Rather
than complain, I set out to resolve
my issues. After nearly two years of
rewriting and editing, I produced
an extensive online manual to aid in
understanding and using the ACBL's
2022 convention card, the " new
card. " The manual may be viewed at
my personal website at rr-nm.net/
bridge/conventioncard.html.
This single web page is a cross
between a technical manual and a
textbook about how to understand
and fill out the 2022 convention card.
I also used features which should
make it readable using any modern
web browser on everything from a
smart phone and tablet to a large
desktop monitor.
My hope is that this manual will be
a useful ACBL reference for everyone
from players of all levels.
MICHAEL HANNAH
Los Ranchos NM
Too gray for gold?
I'm writing to ask why there are
no (or very few) games on BBO that
offer gold points. I ask because I am a
92-year-old bridge player and former
engineer who enjoys the game and its
challenges immensely. I play regularly
on BBO with two partners, one
who lives in New Hampshire and one
who lives in South Carolina; I live in
Florida. I think that I represent many
players whose only option is to play
on BBO because of age and associated
driving limitations, disabilities,
limited income or other reasons.
I have about 500 masterpoints but
will never achieve the `rank` of Life
Master because I can't travel to the
face-to-face tournaments where gold
points are available to win. So it's
important to me, and perhaps to others,
to have an answer to the above
question.
MILES HALL
Panama City FL
Ed. note: Gold points are, of course,
designed to be more difficult to obtain
in order to make the attainment of
Life Master status more meaningful.
But although face-to-face contests at
regionals and NABCs offer the biggest
pots of gold points, there are many
special online games that offer more
modest gold-point awards. Among
these are the NABC Robot Individual
championships held three times per
year (prior to each NABC), the Digital
NABC held the week of Sept. 22-28
this year, ACBL Regionals at Home,
held three times in 2025, and the
Stardust games held four times.
For the complete schedule of special
online games, visit
acbl.org/portfolio/onlineevents/. 2
1
Letters to the editor are welcome
by regular mail and email.
Brevity is considered a virtue,
as is subject matter with relevance
to a majority of ACBL members.
Unsigned letters are not considered for
publication, so please include your name
and hometown. Letters may be edited.
All letters will receive a response. Send
emails to editor@acbl.org.
http://www.rr-nm.net/ http://www.acbl.org/portfolio/onlineevents/
March 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2025
