[blackshoe]

barmar, on 2013-June-11, 11:51, said:

You talking about Lynn Deas? I suspect she gets special dispensation just because of who she is.

I was operating Vugraph at a table with her last year. At one point she asked a TD to take her little dog out for a walk or something.

I've never met Lynn Deas, and so I have nothing against the woman, and do have great respect for her bridge accomplishments. However, this sounds an awful lot like taking undue advantage of her reputation, at least. No one should get "special dispensation" just because of who she (or he) is, and no one should think it proper to ask a TD working at a tournament to walk her dog for her.

[barmar]

blackshoe, on 2013-June-11, 18:48, said:

no one should think it proper to ask a TD working at a tournament to walk her dog for her.

It seemed voluntary to me. There aren't a whole lot of director calls in the late rounds of national team events, so the directors for those events are not extremely busy. They mostly just pop in every 15 minutes or so to see how the teams are doing time-wise.

[mycroft]

I'm sure it would have been voluntary.

I used to fight with my partner to sit South until we both realized that what we didn't like was keeping both the game score and a personal score. So the rule came in that South keeps the personal score, North explicitly doesn't, and everything was fine thereafter.

My partners, however, refuse to let me use the BridgeMates; with good reason, mind you, that's not a quirk.

It seems that most of my partners insist on sitting East; no worries for me.

It is easier (as a lefty) to use the wrong hand to bid; but it drives me nuts when the cards come out upsidedown. I have no idea why.

[Zelandakh]

mycroft, on 2013-June-18, 15:38, said:

It is easier (as a lefty) to use the wrong hand to bid; but it drives me nuts when the cards come out upsidedown. I have no idea why.

This is precisely the point as to why it is easier to draw the cards from the left. From the left you lift the card out of the box up and to the right and continue moving your arm to the right in a simple arc. The cards are automatically oriented correctly. When you pull from the right, the card comes out up and to the right. Now you need to bring it back over the box while twisting your wrist a little clockwise as your arm comes across your body. If you do not so this twist and instead bring the card across your body leading with the hand then the card ends up upside-down.

So, to avoid being driven nuts, either practise the clockwise wrist movement (your hand will now be behind (to the right) of the card as you place it), or simply move the box to sit on your left.

[paulg]

mycroft, on 2013-June-18, 15:38, said:

My partners, however, refuse to let me use the BridgeMates; with good reason, mind you, that's not a quirk.

nige1 likes to sit North to operate the BridgeMate. Everyone else in the country tries to get there before him however.

[mycroft]

Actually, I find it weird to watch the arm-twisters (especially the righties who use their left hand to bid). It's always easier to pull from the other side (provided the cards face my opponent, not me, of course).

I, oddly, never have *my* cards upsidedown. Wonder why.

There is a third option (which I use): lefty cards, placed on my left.

[blackshoe]

mycroft, on 2013-June-19, 10:45, said:

Actually, I find it weird to watch the arm-twisters (especially the righties who use their left hand to bid). It's always easier to pull from the other side (provided the cards face my opponent, not me, of course).

I, oddly, never have *my* cards upsidedown. Wonder why.

There is a third option (which I use): lefty cards, placed on my left.

We have a player here who bought her own left handed cards and box. The box is marked with her name; she leaves it at the club, but separate from the other boxes. Even so, every so often I see her going around the room trying to figure out "who stole my bidding box?"

Oh, and if I place my bidding box on my left, I get complaints from LHO that I'm taking up "his" table space.

[paua]

I like to clean any bits of fluff, hair etc from the table in front of me.

[Trinidad]

Zelandakh, on 2013-June-11, 02:41, said:

The bidding cards are sorted before play so that all the passes are together in front, followed by the doubles and then the redoubles.

My personal quirk: I always sort the passes on top, followed by redoubles, and then the doubles. The advantage is that you don't double inadvertently if you didn't notice that you ran out of pass cards. I feel that this has helped me a lot more than playing 1430 instead of 0314.

Rik

[jillybean]

barmar, on 2013-June-11, 11:51, said:

You talking about Lynn Deas? I suspect she gets special dispensation just because of who she is.

I was operating Vugraph at a table with her last year. At one point she asked a TD to take her little dog out for a walk or something.

No, not Lynn Deas. It makes me smile to think of someone asking a TD to take their dog out for a pee.

[jdeegan]

Lap dogs have been a common habit of older women of the upper classes in almost every culture on earth for as far back as anyone can remember. Selling Masterpoints for real money is a tenuous affair. Older, upper class women are a key demographic market segment.

Personally, I am very, very allergic to cats. Thankfully, there are no lap cats.

[Free]

I always count my cards in the same way (4-5-4) and pick them up in the same way (4-4-5). No idea why

[GreenMan]

I sort my cards twice, once by color and once by shape, then put the long suits on the outside with honors toward the center. I do all this below the table so no one draws inferences.

[manudude03]

Not sure if this is so unusual, but when I count my cards, I count 3-3-3-4.