[Walddk]

Here are the pairings in the World Championship semi-finals:

Bermuda Bowl:
USA1 vs. USA2
Italy vs. Sweden

Venice Cup:
France vs. USA1
Netherlands vs. Germany

Seniors Bowl:
Denmark vs. Indonesia
USA1 vs. Netherlands

Our schedule for Tuesday:

Segment 1: France vs. USA1 (VC)
Segment 2: USA1 vs. USA2 (BB)
Segment 3: To be announced

As usual, we will try our best to add a match to at least two of the three segments.

Roland

[Walddk]

It's perhaps worth noting that only a couple of the quarter-finals went down to the wire, and that 3 teams in the Venice Cup didn't go the distance.

Canada conceded against France after 64 of 96 boards, and USA2 and England did the same against USA1 and Germany after the penultimate segment.

Roland

[cherdano]

Jlall, on Nov 1 2005, 01:24 AM, said:

France is looking very strong in the Venice Cup. I am rooting for USA but I have to think France is the favorite at this point.

I also think that France will be a worthy opponent of Germany in the final

[cherdano]

Jlall, on Nov 1 2005, 03:50 AM, said:

cherdano, on Oct 31 2005, 07:10 PM, said:

Jlall, on Nov 1 2005, 01:24 AM, said:

France is looking very strong in the Venice Cup. I am rooting for USA but I have to think France is the favorite at this point.

I also think that France will be a worthy opponent of Germany in the final

Sabine and Daniella may get tired...they have played a LOT of boards.

They may, or they may not. After all, they have been there before, and last time they were in the final they won with a brilliant final set.

Also, they missed two sessions lately -- sat out once during the last RR day, and now England conceded. I am more worried that they are losing their rhythm now

[Al_U_Card]

Just watched the semi and saw Fred get muscled out by Meckwell. Quite the show and kudos to the Vugraph team for a job well done. Almost 5000 kibbitzers at the 2 tables!

Maybe someday they will have a "What would you do?" pop-up where every bid or play could "voted" on by the kibbitzers to see how the "Vox Populi" would proceed.

[uday]

Who would pose the question, a commentator?

[Al_U_Card]

uday, on Nov 2 2005, 04:28 PM, said:

Who would pose the question, a commentator?

A for instance was the last board when Frad had to get their S tricks to set 3NT. A lot of time went by while they agonized (rightly) over the correct S card to play. If the operator/lead commentator could actuate something like the vote function in the forums to show SJ or Sx and see a running total of choices.....

[Al_U_Card]

What objective? It would be for fun.....like voting for your senator or having your eyes poked out.......

[Al_U_Card]

Al_U_Card, on Nov 2 2005, 04:36 PM, said:

A for instance was the last board when Frad had to get their S tricks to set 3NT.  A lot of time went by while they agonized (rightly) over the correct S card to play.

The commentators were torn between a low S (showing 4) and the J (helping pard realize that the J was not with declarer).......

[barmar]

The threads in the Suggestions forum about kibbing just one player got me thinking that it might be interesting if some commentators were only allowed to see one player's hand at a time. Whenever there's a tough decision, we often see commentators say things like "I think he should get it right"; and then when he misguesses it ends up seeming like an insult. But it's really hard to tell how much of this is biased by their being able to see all the hands.

[FrancesHinden]

"I think he should get this right" is a short way of saying:
"Given the information he has available to him, I think it's possible to work out what the correct card to play is, but it's possible that will only emerge during the post mortem"

What's tough when you can see all four hands is not to work out why a player should take the winning line, but to work out the alternatives a player is considering and whether they would be a better line.