[no sufras]

sirs
I read your explanation abt the BBO MaSTERPOINT PROMOTION FRO tRIP tO cHINA PROMOTION. Sorry if I missed many aspects that wld need clarify...
I have several questions ---pls answer..
1.- where can I locate those tourneys??
2.- are there entry fees- naturally.. between what values?
3.- I found only BBO Express but no others...
4.- I wld suggest BBO shld mmake place for many more winners...This to persue
a policy whereby many MANY more players wll take part, NOT just the few
who are sure can place among first 3 positions...
5.- ONLY GIB system wll be acceptable, or can anyone use other systems
concretely, Precision by WEI incldg Alpha/beta/Gamma/Epsilon/Sita/theta
5.-How long will be each of proposed competitions last? How many hands?
will there be time limitations? What other limitations might occur????
Tks beforehand fr yr trouble to naswer all matters..pls reply to me e-mail adddress

This post has been edited by barmar: 2012-September-06, 08:13
Reason for edit: Removed name and email

[diana_eva]

no sufras, on 2012-September-06, 01:06, said:

sirs
I read your explanation abt the BBO MaSTERPOINT PROMOTION FRO tRIP tO cHINA PROMOTION. Sorry if I missed many aspects that wld need clarify...
I have several questions ---pls answer..
1.- where can I locate those tourneys??

To win entries for the draw you can play

• any pay tournament (the tourneys marked with a $ sign) and win masterpoints. Each masterpoint gives you 1 entry in the draw, or
• the BBO Speedball Rebate tournament, which is a pairs tournament so you can play your own system as long as it is GCC legal, and it costs BB$1 to register. Each masterpoint won in this type of tourneys gives you 3 entries to the draw.
• win any free Express tourney. Each time you win an Express you get 1 entry.

Pay tourneys can be found by clicking "Click to play or watch bridge", then "BBO Masterpoint tournaments"

If you want to play the BBO Speedball Rebate, where you get more entries per masterpoint, you can find it in BBO World.
The free Express can be found in Free tournaments or in BBO World.

Quote

2.- are there entry fees- naturally.. between what values?

Pay tourneys have fees that vary from 25 cents to 5 BB$. You can play any tourney you like, as long as you do well and win masterpoints.

Quote

3.- I found only BBO Express but no others...

To register for the Express you need to use the new version of bbo (the web version). Go to www.bridgebase.com and click Play bridge now to log on the web version.

Quote

4.- I wld suggest BBO shld mmake place for many more winners...This to persue a policy whereby many MANY more players wll take part, NOT just the few who are sure can place among first 3 positions...

The trip to China is offered by SportAccord, not by BBO. So we cannot offer more trips, but we did put up our own prizes to make sure BBOers are rewarded for their efforts.

There are BB$1,000 to be won during this promotion (BB$500 in September and BB$500 in October)

Quote

5.- ONLY GIB system wll be acceptable, or can anyone use other systems concretely, Precision by WEI incldg Alpha/beta/Gamma/Epsilon/Sita/theta

In individual tournaments you have to play that tourney's CC. In Express, it is the GIB 2/1. In other individuals it is usually ACBL SAYC.

In pair tourneys, you can play your own CC as long as the tourney allows. For example in ACBL tournaments you have to make sure your system is legal according to the ACBL General Convention Chart which can be found here (click to see).

Quote

5.-How long will be each of proposed competitions last? How many hands? will there be time limitations? What other limitations might occur????
Tks beforehand fr yr trouble to naswer all matters..pls reply to me e-mail adddress

The contest lasts two months, during September and October because the SportAccord organizers asked us to do it this way.

In addition to the free trip to China, BBO offers two sets of prizes, for each month separately not cumulative: BB$500 to be won in September and BB$500 to be won in October.

You can find all details about prizes and accepted tournaments here:
http://webutil.bridg...tch.php?id=1297

[Zelandakh]

diana_eva, on 2012-September-06, 02:13, said:

There are BB$1,000 to be won during this promotion (BB$500 in September and BB$500 in October)

Sounds like there is a bigger incentive than normal to cheat in these tournaments for September and October. Might be a good idea for honest players to avoid them for a while...

[barmar]

If the honest players avoid them, doesn't that make it MORE likely that a cheater will win the prizes? Is that what we really want?

[Phil]

Dear Sir,

Confidential Business Proposal

Having consulted with my colleagues and based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Bridge Federation, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of your Mind Sports Entry Fee into your accounts.

We are now ready to transfer the fund overseas and that is where you come in. It is important to inform you that as tournament directors, we are forbidden to operate a foreign account; that is why we require your assistance. The total sum will be shared as follows: 70% for us, 25% for you and 5% for local and international expenses incidental to the transfer.

The transfer is risk free on both sides. I am an accountant with the Nigerian Bridge Federation (NBF). If you find this proposal acceptable, we shall require the following documents:

(a) your banker's name, telephone, account and fax numbers.

(b) your private telephone and fax numbers —for confidentiality and easy communication.

© your letter-headed paper stamped and signed.

Alternatively we will furnish you with the text of what to type into your letter-headed paper, along with a breakdown explaining, comprehensively what we require of you. The business will take us thirty (30) working days to accomplish.

Please reply urgently.

Best regards

Howgul Abul Arhu

[Zelandakh]

barmar, on 2012-September-06, 08:18, said:

If the honest players avoid them, doesn't that make it MORE likely that a cheater will win the prizes? Is that what we really want?

Absolutely not but I am doubtful that it is the players' responsibility to address that. Or put it this way, if I stated that I was going to run a one-off lottery with $1 tickets but my ball-picking machine was strongly biased towards certain numbers. Then I give those numbers to a select few individuals who are "honour-bound" not to use them. Of course they do. To compensate I now tell everyone else that they should buy lots of extra tickets to try to make it less likely that the double-crossing/cheating individuals do not win the prize. Would you buy my lottery tickets? If you do then I would also highly recommend Phil's Nigerian friends.

[barmar]

So basically you're suggesting that until we can solve the cheating problem (practically impossible), there's little point in running contests.

I think you're exaggerating the impact. Let's use your lottery analogy. Suppose in an honest contest, your odds of winning are 1 in 1,000. But because of cheating, your chances are reduced to 1 in 1,005. Should that really make a significant impact on your decision about whether to enter the lottery?

You're letting an emotional reaction to the possibility of cheating override a rational decision. I've been reading all about this lately in the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" -- it's a common psychological reaction.

[aguahombre]

In Phil's metaphor, since our chances not getting fleeced are zero at the outset. And with any cheating by participants the odds don't change. So, we definitely should do that one.

[barmar]

Apples and oranges.

There's no such thing as a legitimate Nigerian prince offer, they're all scams.

On the other hand, even though there's some cheating in online bridge, it's still rare -- almost all tournaments are legitimate. If you have a 1 in 1,000 chance to play against a cheater, and the high stakes cause cheating to double, that's only 2 in 1,000, which still makes the game reasonable.

What are you going to do, let the potential cheaters scare you out of playing a game you enjoy for 2 months? If we do that, the cheaters win (in both the literal and figurative sense). In fact, the honest players should play MORE, to reduce the cheaters' chances to win prizes.