[Vampyr]

jjbrr, on 2012-February-04, 20:17, said:

had he been offered sponsored trips to bridge tournaments in his late teens he'd be a great addition to those teams.

Sponsored by whom?

[CSGibson]

Thanks for the kind words Justin & Jeremy. I've enjoyed my encounters against you as well, even though I invariably come away with the worst of it.

As far as whether I'd be good enough to play as a teen in junior competitions - certainly not right away. I didn't learn basic things like defensive carding or any conventional bidding until I started playing duplicate. I mean, I didn't even play weak 2 bids or stayman - it would have been impossible to find a partner I could play with with the exception of maybe my younger brother, who was raised in the same bastardized early Goren bidding system (and who still doesn't play duplicate, though he loves playing home games). Honestly, though, if I had been exposed to junior bridge in my teens I think I could have learned bidding and carding quickly enough to be competitive within a few years - that's basically what has happened now.

As far as why I didn't know about junior bridge, it is because I didn't know about organized bridge at all, which is a shame because I know at least a couple of the people my parents invited over for bridge parties over the years actually did play some ACBL duplicate, so I could have easily been introduced to the organization if those members were motivated. Although I might not have graduated college if I had a full-blown bridge addiction, so perhaps its for the best. Anyway, aside from advertising in schools or something, I'm not sure the ACBL could have done much that would have succeeded in finding me & introducing me to the junior bridge program.

[helene_t]

New job. Starting as a consulting statistician (and maybe doing some research of my own if time allows) at the cancer genetics group at the institute of molecular medicine in Leeds.

[blackshoe]

Congratulations. Sounds interesting.

[JLOGIC]

awesome, gl!

[clrandall]

My name is Candace. I am part of the Total Points Club.

Something many people don't realize is you quickly reach your level of play. You won't improve much from there. Chess is the same way. My game is intermediate at best.

Recent concerns? BBO requires a lot of bandwidth lately. People who pay for bandwidth may find it's more expensive to play bridge for free, than it would be to pay to play bridge. Just a thought.

[barmar]

clrandall, on 2013-April-19, 07:55, said:

My name is Candace. I am part of the Total Points Club.

Something many people don't realize is you quickly reach your level of play. You won't improve much from there. Chess is the same way. My game is intermediate at best.

I've been playing for about 25 years, and I think I'm still improving, although the rate has definitely slowed.

Quote

Recent concerns? BBO requires a lot of bandwidth lately. People who pay for bandwidth may find it's more expensive to play bridge for free, than it would be to pay to play bridge. Just a thought.

Use the web version, it uses less bandwidth. The download version is constantly communicating with the server in the background, to keep the player list up to date. As BBO grows, so does the size of that list and the rate of updates.

[mgoetze]

clrandall, on 2013-April-19, 07:55, said:

Something many people don't realize is you quickly reach your level of play.

More generally, things that aren't true often don't get realized by very many people.

[Cyberyeti]

clrandall, on 2013-April-19, 07:55, said:

Something many people don't realize is you quickly reach your level of play. You won't improve much from there. Chess is the same way. My game is intermediate at best.

Very much not true in both games.

In chess, I played at around 1500 strength for quite a few years, then met a much better player and improved to 2000 ish over the period of a 6 months (but required a lot of practice to stay at that level so gave it up some years ago).

In bridge again, you reach a level fairly quickly after which there is only slow improvement, but if you then start playing with better players, you will probably improve fairly rapidly.

[LaShelle]

Hi, my name is Pam and I am an avid player and lover of the game. I just went Diamond! Looking for a great partner in bridge and in life! Get it? You can find me in BBO and my name in there is LaShelle. I am a director, teacher and a well rounded lady who loves life, people, and traveling. Would love to go to a European Championship. Any invites?

[helene_t]

Moving back to the Netherlands by the end of July. Got a job as biostatistician by the Netherlands Cancer Institute. Will be working on chemotherapy for childhood leukemia and on epidemiology of kidney cancer. Just in time to attend Csaba's PhD defense party before he leaves the country!

[Trinidad]

Gefeliciteerd!!

Rik

[gwnn]

I got a postdoc position in Heidelberg, Germany, starting 1 October, for about 2 years. We will rock the overlapping 2 months with helene_t winning all weekend tournaments in NL.

[Zelandakh]

Enjoy! Is it at the university itself or one of the other institutes?

[gwnn]

Zelandakh, on 2015-September-15, 06:17, said:

Enjoy! Is it at the university itself or one of the other institutes?

I'll work in HITS, a bit outside the city. It's kind of a new institute but I liked the atmosphere when I visited. Now all I need to do is defend my stupid thesis on Friday!

[Zelandakh]

I found the HITS wiki page - seems like it has serious people behind it. With the thesis it is your turn to use your bridge skills for defending - lead your AKQ and keep tapping! In any case good luck with both that and the new position - I am sure your work is solid and you will have no problems.

[helene_t]

Moving back to UK tonight, starting on the 15th at a job at the UCLAN supporting local hospitals with statistics stuff.

Nothing wrong with the Netherlands but Gosh13 was not so keen on it after having been here a couple of times, and it is obviously easier for me to find work in the UK than for her in the Netherlands.

We will be moving back to Lancaster, agreed to buy a house in a hippie colony with own energy production lol.

[gwnn]

Don't want to start a new thread about this but you will see a lot less of me in the next few months than usual. The forums are great (there's little denying that the level is decreasing in time but I still think they're great) and a little drama never hurt anyone. But I simply don't want to be a bridge forumer who is doing biophysics on the side. I don't think it's normal to know all the major fights between forum posters and roughly when they happened and where they all align politically when I don't know the first thing about several aspects of my own scientific field. To be fair, one where I'm still only been immersed for about half a year, but the amount of effort I spend there as opposed to here is skewed. I will occasionally pop in but I will not post. I will come back when I feel I know more about the 20 amino acids than the 20 best defenses to 1NT.

If there's anything urgent, you can PM me here or on youtube (tgwnn). I will log in at least once a year so as not to lose my rights on BBF indies which would truly be a shame.

[Zelandakh]

That's a shame Csaba but understandable. I hope you are successful with your research. If you want to get hold of me any time then feel free to message me here or on Facebook. And perhaps we will bump into each other one day on BBO, assuming you will still have time for playing.

[Phil]

Bro, bridge will always be here. I took a long hiatus in my 20's and 30's.

There are other things in life that are a lot more important. But occasionally read a bridge book or do play problems, just to keep the rust off.