November Knockout Teams Entered

Homer’s Heros: patricck/quikjanz/barry/jenm
Breg: gerry/tarakiwi/bruzo/diatribe/sunline77
Beauty & the Beast: trudy nz/gogga/halfbach/nztipg8
TopTown Girls: jenter62/cyber/judz1/ikanarat
NO STRUMPETS: seychelles/egmont/mairi62/kermit
Antihomers: abeljan/andrewnz/hda/dolbeldjd/agt1
Central Gnats: mastersg/toddnz/noelwz/ljs
Bright Gals: gypsy1308/bassy1/homelea/robealley

Teams Entered for 2009 Championships

Pool A:
Homer’s Heros: patricck/quikjanz/barry/jenm
Palmy Punters: janwhy/ken 436/ljs/noelwz
TigerBees: buzzybee/tigerboy1/abeljan/andrewnz/hda/dolbeldjd
StarLites: hoki/clavis/jenstar/acolitecs
The GEMS: mastersg/tuckaway/blinkers/sandrac
Flawless: manawa/gypsy1308/major_blue/john_4nz
Gurus: karrolle/laguru/rhonddaswe/tehenga

Pool B:
Breg: gerry/tarakiwi/bruzo/diatribe/sunline77
Freezing Jokers: kiwi_joker/coldplay/ickool/judyon/alanz/pjf4130
Beauty & the Beast: trudy nz/gogga/halfbach/nztipg8
TopTown Girls: jenter62/cyber/judz1/ikanarat/fir
Cross Ruffers: hamish32/jo99nz/mpemble/glennis
Jinxed: jinxii/mccullagh/dancer 77/crochet
House: personnel will vary from week to week.

Reviewing Hands played on BBO

In my opinion one of the best features of BBO is that you can always review every hand played afterwards. Its better than just getting a hand record. You can go over every hand, trick by trick and card by card. You can even get GIB to do a double dummy analysis on a trick by trick basis (this feature works best with "lin" files). Here's some information on how to review hands:

1. The best way of reviewing a match that you have played is to do the following:
   Using the same computer that you played the match on open bridge base (without logging on).
   Then click the bottom button called “Open Bridge Movie from your Computer”.
   Double click on the folder which is named with your BBO name (eg tarakiwi).
2. You should now have a list of all the BBO sessions that you have played on that computer. Teams matches will be named something like “Tournament ### 03 26 08”. Where ### is a unique tournament number assigned to your match and 03 26 08 is the date of the match in (US) mm dd yy order. You may have to scroll along the grey scroll bar at the bottom of the box to find the right file (they are in alphabetical order). Double click on the appropriate file and Voila! You now have the full record of the match. If you click on any result you get the full record of the hand which you can replay card by card! Even better you can get to see (card by card) the full record of what team mates did. It’s great for “apportioning the blame!”.
3. Alternatively you can do much the same thing by clicking this link. Enter your (BBO) user name (eg “tarakiwi”) click “get hands” and you get all the hands you have played on BBO in the last two days. (You can adjust the time to retrieve up to one months worth of hands.)

Teams Entered for Winter Swiss

The Teams for the Winter Swiss competition (captains named first) starting tonight are:

1. Breg: gerry/tarakiwi/bruzo/diatribe/sunline77

2. Online Go Girls: seychelles/lmu/blinkers/sandrac

3. Ojays: jenter62/judy o/ikanarat/judz1

4. Trudy’s Treasures: trudy nz/gogga/nztipg8/bluelabel

5. Homer’s Heros: patricck/quikjanz/barry/jenm

6. Tiger-bees: buzzybee/tigerboy1/abeljan/andrewnz/kiwi_joker

7. The Masters: mastersg/tuckaway/clientje/cyber

8. Youthz & Oldz: susanjane/ninja89/hda/motbocaj

9. Oakura Apprentices: oakura/mccullagh/manawa/hermman

10. Musketeers: hoki/memell/ickool/halfbach/ken436/janwhy

11. Hugh’s BBC: best_minor/varange/glennis/crowie_11/whichname

12. House Team: - personnel will vary from week to week.

Posting of Comments

Anyone can comment on this blog site and I encourage all kiwi teams players to comment on any posts. You don’t need any prior account or password.

To add your comment click on the word “comments” at the bottom of the post. This opens a new window which has a box for you to type your comment into. Once you have finished your comment you need to type the letters shown into the “word verification” box. (The blog site includes this feature in order to foil spammers!).

Next you need to choose an identity. If you have a google account set up (and can remember the password) you can use that. However most of you will not have an account and so you need to check either the “name/url” option or the “anonymous” option. If you choose “name/url” you just have to put your name in. This can be your real name or your BBO name. If you use anonymous you don’t have to put anything else in.

I would prefer that anyone who comments use their BBO name but, hey, it’s a free country and I don’t mind if your use any other name or if you post anonymously.

You should be aware however that all comments are immediately emailed to me and I will remove any comments that are:
abusive,
offensive,
obscene,
slanderous, or
which are in any way demeaning of my bridge playing ability :-)

So, why don’t you try a comment now by commenting on this post? If you can’t think of anything to say just put “test”. That way when you do have a comment that you’re just burning to make you will know how to do it!

What is Kiwi Teams?

Kiwi Teams are regular teams matches that I (tarakiwi) organise regularly on BBO (Bridge Base Online). Kiwi Teams has been running since 5th March 2008. Matches are of 12 boards with a barometer. Kibbitzers and undo’s are allowed. Kiwi alerting rules apply. There is no requirement to play regularly and entries will be accepted even as a one off. Entries can be by team, pair or individual.

Currently (July 2008) matches occur every Wednesday at 8 pm NZ time. However, from October 2008 I'm planning to change to Monday nights. Wednesday nights may continue if I can find someone else to organise them.

Kiwi Teams is designed for, but by no means exclusive to, kiwis (New Zealanders). Most players are kiwis who play acol. The time of play and alerting rules are set to suit kiwis. All communictions regarding Kiwi Teams are in English. However, non kiwis are most welcome and we have a number of non kiwi regulars. You are free to play any system or carding methods. All standards of play are catered for.

In July 2008 we started a ladder competition which will run until mid September. Most matches during this time will be part of that competition but I will still arrange casual matches for anyone that enters before 5 pm on the night of play.

Each week an email is sent to a distribution list calling for entries. If you want to be added to my distribution list just email me or if you don't have my email send a message to tarakiwi on BBO requesting to be added to the list and giving your email address. (I don't want to publish my email on the web because it always seems to lead to an increase in spam!)

How to Set up Kiwi Teams Matches on BBO

1. It’s not hard to set up matches on BBO but it’s a good idea to have a practice beforehand if you’re a first timer.
2. Click on “click to play or watch bridge”, then “Team Matches” then click on “create match” and a box comes up for you to complete. Call the match “Kiwi Teams Match 1” (or whatever number it is). You don’t need to fill out “description” or “director”. Change the number of boards to 12. Tick the “barometer” and “allow undos” boxes. Then fill in the team names and players BBO names. Take care to spell everyone’s name exactly right. Take care to ensure you have the correct pairs playing as team mates (team members should be together in either the "Team 1" or the "Team 2" box). Then check everything and then click “create match” (bottom left). You will see everyone accepting and then after a little while the match magically starts. You sometimes get an error message that someone is not online. This usually means (for me anyway) that you have not quite got their name right but it may mean that they have logged off for some reason.
3. I recommend that you start on the set up process about 5 mins beforehand so that when 8 o’clock comes around all you have to do is click the “create match” button. It is also a good idea to make sure that all of the players in your match are on your friends list. That way you can “see” everyone and check in advance that they are all logged on. To add a person to your friends list when they are not online click on your own name when you are in the lobby, then click the friends tab, complete the friends BBO name in the box provided then click “add”.
4. If any player in your match is not online and available to play by 8.00 pm then you should arrange for a replacement. The quickest way of doing that is to call for participants from the lobby. Do that by using “the lobby” option in the chat box and sending a message like “need one adv + player for 12 board teams match – please message me”. This usually brings at least one response within short order. Choose the person you think most suitable, let them know that they are in and include their name in the team list. It is generally polite to then send a message to the lobby that the team is full.
5. BBO has further instructions about the “create match” function as part of its help site. This is the link to get there: http://www.bridgebase.com/help/3/common/text/index.html. Click on “contents” then “team matches” then click in the “create a match” area to get information specific to setting up team matches.