[keylime]

Fred, Uday -

BBO has like 999 great things. It is the true embodiment of open source progression in areas.

However there is one item, just one, that bugs the living poo out of me. It's the inability of the CC to show "alertable" items.

Many players that come to play in ACBL-sanctioned events (alongside unfortunately a few directors) do not realize that WJO's are regular but IJO's are alertable. Furthermore, certain "delayed alerts" aren't being alertable because I feel the members aren't aware of "delayed alerts" in general.

If there any possible way to have some red ink into the CC to help everyone out?

[bestguru]

Here is case 1 for members not being aware of "delayed alerts"

Can you define the term?

[fred]

It is a nice idea, Dwayne, but one problem is that we do not have a BBO-wide alerting policy. We leave it up to the people who run our tournaments to decide which bids should be alerted in their events.

One day we will do a complete overhaul of the convention card facility and I will give this matter some more thought at that time.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[uday]

A delayed alert is (correct me if i am wrong, someone) an alert made at the end of the auction before the opening lead.

Some bids in acbl-land are not alertable even if completely artificial (for instance, high level bids in the second round of the auction are, unless i am mistaken, not alertable, regardless of meaning ). So a delayed alert is appropriate here.

[mycroft]

The ACBL (like most sponsoring organizations) has some additional regulations for playing with Screens. Here's the appropriate quote:

"Alerts:
When an Alertable call is made, the player alerts his screenmate. When the tray is passed, both players should immediately alert partner's Alertable call. There are no delayed alerts when playing behind screens."

(There's a small hole in the web site at the moment; the document is usually available as Appendix G on the Conditions of Contest page.)

Delayed Alerts in face-to-face ACBL bridge are to deal with high-level, late-auction conventional calls, where the Alert is more likely to help the bidding side than their opponents (specifically, Alertable bids (but not passes, doubles or redoubles) higher than 3NT, starting with opener's second call are not Alerted at the time, but before the opening lead (after the opening lead but before declarer plays from dummy if the Delayed-Alerting side is defending)).

The exact regulation used would be up to the people organizing BBO ACBL tournaments - the "rules" currently on file state that "self-alerting" and "any doubt, Alert" is the rule, with *no mention whatever* of the FtF Alert Procedure - but I would think that with self-Alerts, the regulation used when playing with screens makes perfect sense - i.e. no Delayed Alerts.

To the original topic, I'd be happy if they had a CC, never mind one marked with Alertable bids...

Michael (ACBL LTD, but I don't do BBO tourneys nor speak for them).

[Gerben47]

So does someone say: "All bids over 3NT were alertable", because they usually are. Or is Blackwood not alertable? And cuebids? Etc.

[twcho]

My understanding is that in playing FTF bridge without screen, all bid above 3nt shouldn't be alerted. They are all delayed alerts.

For FTF bridge with screen, all bids with partnership agreement should be alerted, of course, on both sides of the screen and by both members of the partnership concerned.

For online bridge, self alerts shd be as detail as possible for whatever bids you have partnership agreement.

[mycroft]

Gerben - you really don't want to know the ACBL Alert Procedure...it is long and involved and confusing. For example - 4NT (any flavour of "ace ask" over suits) and their responses are not Alertable (even Delayed), 4C (any flavour of "ace ask" over NT) similarly. However, all other "ace asks" are Alertable...sometimes Delayed. Our LOLs here have a habit of playing "Gerber when Obvious" - or sometimes even "4C is Gerber" - which drops them into Alerting esoterica, and trying to explan what they have to do for "but it's simple old-fashioned bidding" is impossible.

Having said that, Delayed Alerts are for all Alertable bids (on the "Definitions" page, calls in the "Procedure" page...) at the 4 level or higher, starting with opener's second call. So 1S-4C splinter is (immediately) Alertable, 1H-1S; 4C splinter is a Delayed Alert.

Having said *that*, ACBL on BBO Alert regulations are much shorter than FtF, and make no reference whatever to the FtF Alert Procedure. In fact, they contradict the Procedure in places. So I would expect that Delayed Alerts are Alerta non grata...

Michael.