Maybe, just maybe this can be the start of a change! Scale down the luxury part for WBF officials. Focus on playing conditions and making things affordable for every nation.

Who am I kidding, that would never happen with the current WBF!

It is refreshing that the EBL employs a retroactive rule for placement corrections, then there is no hindrance apploying any retroactive rule regarding the removal of titles and points for teams with at least one cheating pair.

The idea of sportmanship and fair competition is dead in the NFL (basically in all professional sports) and on life support in competitive Bridge. Maybe it is time to put the current bridge organizations out of their misery and start anew?

There is one very successful pair that uses the tempo of placing the bids on the tray together with how hard they place it to signal min/max. I suggest the tray should be sound proof and that it has to disappear completely on the other side before a bid can be made. Hence a larger table or a smaller tray or both. Softer material in the tray.

The article forgot to mention bridge immortals like Fantoni-Nunes and Buratti-Lanzarotti benefiting from the sponsorship of Angelini.

So exciting to hear how may years of results that will be stricken from the cheaters and their teammates. :-D

One thing never discussed is that playing new methods improve your “normal” play. It makes you more eclectic. When you are always in your comfort zone your development stops and your thinking becomes stale and one-sided. I remember reading “In the well” with Geoff Hampson. He had a great discussion about this eclectic thinking.

If you open your mind you will grow, if you close it you will shrink. Applies outside of bridge as well… :)

I agree Aviv. Furthermore, the recent celebrity match, did anyone watch? Who won? Does anyone care? All those rich and famous people playing Standard American. Let me know when you get any new recruits from that garbage.

Timo has a point, kind of. However there are many objections.

A precondition of my reasoning is that we discuss elite level play.

The foremost objection is the assumption that conventional bids are random and their sole benefit lies in confusion. This is the “Wolff”-school of thought and it has no merit in reality. The ones creating the confusion will do as much within a natural framework.

My second objection is that if you have x hour to devote on your bridge skills, it is not a given that you should devote the majority of it on play. You should analyze where improvements are easiest. At a certain level of competition, once removing the cheaters, everyone is a good technician but not many are good bidders.

Thirdly, a conventional system rarely needs the “black magic” nuances many “natural” players invoke. Cheating to tell range is not necessary.

Finally you should look at the tactical aspect, it is not a given that you should play a system that let your opponents be the dominators. I propose that one aspect of the continued success of Meckwell is that they are the aggressors. This has been taken further by the new crop in the US. Light openers and pychic responses. It is a way to circumvent the system rules and keep being aggressive.

You have to remember the system rules are written to protect players from France and the US. There is no other logic in what systems are allowed or not.

The excuse that pro players need time to prepare is laughable.

You only have to check the interview with Zimmerman at the Winter European Championships (bulletin) to realize how deeply ingrained the win at all costs attitude is.

I think it is time for Helgemo, Helness, Martens, Multon, Zimmerman, Versace, Lauria, Duboin, Bocchi, Cayne, Seamon, … to take a high road. Do you guys really think you deserve to keep the titles won with F/N? The same goes for F/S teammates as well.

There is a dark blanket of silence of what actually occured with the Cars. Suffice to say that according to third hand sources, on the actual hand declarer heard how to play the diamond suit. The actual testimony might not be the most reliable ever. Then again that is standard procedure for the WBF/EBL.

I wonder why B/L where thrown under the bus but F/N werent. My guess is it had to be their relocating to Spain. Probably not popular with the powers that be.

One wonders how someone who in is BW profile as “Favourite Bridge Memory” has “Everything before 2011” can keep all the titles and medals gained with F/N since 2011.

I think you can omit the qualifier of your last sentence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8L8NopVwdg

Very few EW would have had both the stomach to appeal and the ability to get a decision their way. This is the way to play the game? Really?

I believe we will se Elvis alive before the WBF removes any masterpoints or titles won by an Italian team (with or without FN).