[lavinia41]

I am new to Online Bridge and Vulgraph deals.

It appears that the host selects the Vulgraph deals and am wondering whether this gives the host the advantage of selecting which set to use and whether he can access the boards before hand.

Maybe you could clarify for me.

[paulg]

The table host has the option of selecting a specific Vugraph match or a set of random Vugraph hands. The specific match will be available in the Vugraph archives and it would be possible to look at them beforehand.

I've no doubt that this happens but I suspect it is rare. The upside of such cheating is good results against one pair at a table in the Main or Relaxed club. It is not like cheating in a tournament where there is money or master points or glory available.

The vast majority of people select the Vugraph option to either see how they do against world-class players or because they prefer two sensible results for comparison to the 15 apparently random results that they normally get playing in a club environment.

I advise people to use the Vugraph option because they often get to see how they should bid or play a hand and it tends to prevent resulting. When club players sees 15 results with two of the people making a slam, they immediately wonder how they could have bid to slam without thinking about the three finesses it needs to make. If they make 12 tricks in a contract and see the two Vugraph tables were also only in game, then they do not worry. And if the two Vugraph tables are in slam, they can look at how they bid it differently.