[USViking]

I am disappointed that the number of unrestricted free tournaments has been radically reduced in favor of the 80% completion tournaments, and the new 90% completion tournaments.

There are now less than 50% as many unrestricted tournaments as there used to be until quite recently, aren't there?

My own TCR isn't great, but it is not all that bad at 73%, and I do not feel that I deserve to be punished to the extent of being ineligible for such a large majority of free tournaments.

I hope the rate unrestricted tournament is restored to much nearer its old numbers, if not to what it was.

[Bbradley62]

Prior to Nov 8, there were 6 unrestricted EFAF games per hour, plus two TCR-80 games per hour. On (or about) that date, BBO "converted" 2 of the 6 unrestricted games from unrestricted to TCR-90. So:

USViking, on 2012-November-30, 16:00, said:

There are now less than 50% as many unrestricted tournaments as there used to be until quite recently, aren't there?

No, there are not less than 50% as many as there used to be; there are now 33% fewer than there used to be.

USViking, on 2012-November-30, 16:00, said:

My own TCR isn't great, but it is not all that bad at 73%, and I do not feel that I deserve to be punished to the extent of being ineligible for such a large majority of free tournaments.

You are eligible for 4 of the 8 hourly EFAF tournaments, so it is not "such a large majority" that excludes you.

More than one quarter of the time that you start a tournament, you do not bother to complete the tournament? That is even after you consider the fact that Robot tournaments that you complete count towards your completion percentage, but Robot tournaments that you quit don't count against it. So, you actually finish less than 73% of tournaments you start. If that is the case, your presence in tournaments is a nuisance to others, and I applaud BBO for making more tournaments that are only available to more reliable players.

[OldPlayr]

On the subject in disappointed in tournaments, I'm disappointed that so few tournaments for singles involve playing with humans.

The site should be renamed RBO - Robot Bridge Online.

Hard to believe that ACBL awards points for playing with robots.

[barmar]

OldPlayr, on 2012-November-30, 18:08, said:

I'm disappointed that so few tournaments for singles involve playing with humans.

We haven't reduced the opportunity to play in human-only tournaments, have we? We've added lots of robot tournaments, because they're really popular. But all the old human tourneys are still there, too.

[OldPlayr]

A check of upcoming tournaments for individuals just showed 13 using robots, and one without - a free express.

Now, tell me where the opportunity to play with humans exists?

[Bbradley62]

OldPlayr, on 2012-December-01, 08:22, said:

A check of upcoming tournaments for individuals just showed 13 using robots, and one without - a free express.

Now, tell me where the opportunity to play with humans exists?

As has been stated above, there are 8 Free Express tournaments per hour. Unforunately, they are not evenly spaced on the schedule, so it appears quite haphazard. The current schedule is:
Unrestricted Tournaments: xx:08, xx:28, xx:38, and xx:58
TCR-80 Tournaments: xx:32, and xx:52
TCR-90 Tournaments: xx:12, and xx:42.

Although the "expected" wait time is 7.5 minutes for a tournament to start (presuming you are eligible for all of them), if you enter the queue at xx:13 you have a 15-minute wait, which seems silly. Also, each of these tournaments is only posted 10 minutes before it starts, so from xx:13-xx:17 there are actually no Free Express tournaments on the Upcoming Tournaments list.

So, I have two suggestions that (I think) would give players a better feeling about the scheduling of these events:

Suggestion 1
If there are going to be four unrestricted tournaments, their starting times should be every 15 minutes, something like: xx:08, xx:23, xx:38 and xx:53. If there are four TCR tournaments, they should also be every 15 minutes, something like xx:15, xx:30, xx:45 and xx:00. I don't have a strong opinion as to the difference between TCR-80 and TCR-90, although I think it's weird to have both instead of having four tournaments with the same requirements.

Suggestion 2
The Upcoming Tournament list should post Free Express 15 minutes before game-time, not 10.

If these two suggestions were implemented, there would always be one Unrestricted EFAF and one TCR EFAF on the Upcoming list, which should give players a warm-fuzzy feeling that they know what is going on and can go get a drink while waiting the 15 minutes, since they know they're registered for the event they want to play.

This post has been edited by Bbradley62: 2012-December-01, 10:11

[OldPlayr]

Express is the only option? Not much choice. Express tourneys have been discussed in other threads. Bidding and play in those freebies approaches randomness.... No options for a reasonably decent game amongst individual humans?

[barmar]

I currently see individual tournaments from Sky Club, BBOTurkiye, ACBL, BBO Land, bbo_pl, and ILACY.

[USViking]

Bbradley62, on 2012-November-30, 17:30, said:

...your presence in tournaments is a nuisance to others...

Listen, dork, if you want to get involved in a flame war then you've come to the right person.

I would not have minded if administration had pointed out that I might be a bit too grasping
considering the issue involves free product, and that I could improve the situation by improving
my TCR only 7%.

Comments from the forum prima donna are another matter, and will recieve no more respect
than they offer. This prima donna is obviously the type who if he has nothing legitimate
to complain about will make something up just for the pleasure of hearing himself whine.
I have taken part in enough touraments to be able to speak from experience, and the “nuisance”
value of players leaving early is trivial to the point of non-existence.

I agree it is appropriate to reward committed players with their own restricted tournaments.
I only question whether they deserve them so much as to reduce what is available to others,
especially considering that the queue for non-TCR tournament almost always fills up while
the queue for TCR tournmanents rarely do.

[Codo]

USV the part about the prima donna was written after you looked in the mirror?

[Zelandakh]

Rather than making an unnecessary attack on a fellow (respected) forum member, why not point out the mitigating circumstances that led to your having a TCR of 73%. I could not imagine not managing to complete 3 from 4 tournaments but perhaps you are dialling in from a Third World country of something. TCR does represent a serious problem but generally not for those that complete enough tournaments to have a valid TCR. You really have to work quite hard at it to get a value below 80%. The issue (as I understand it) is that you have to complete a minimum number of tournaments in order for the TCR to be valid. For occasional tournament players, a reduction in the number of non-TCR tournaments would thus represent a major change of circumstances.

[barmar]

Let's please keep this conversation civil, so I don't have to close this thread.

[pigpenz]

welcome to the internet where we get to hide behind that screen
I just wish everyone played the same card in these events

[ArtK78]

I don't understand why a player would have a TCR as low as 73%. Perhaps there are mitigating circumstances, as has been suggested. If the failure to complete tournaments is voluntary, then the player has no one to blame but himself.

[USViking]

Codo, on 2012-December-03, 02:53, said:

USV the part about the prima donna was written after you looked in the mirror?

No, that part was written after I looked at an unprovoked and unjustified personal attack
by the guy who probably has several times more replies to this part of the board than any
other regular members

[USViking]

Zelandakh, on 2012-December-03, 08:36, said:

Rather than making an unnecessary attack on a fellow (respected) forum member,

This guy did not treat me with any respect, so I found it unnecessary to treat him with any.

Zelandakh, on 2012-December-03, 08:36, said:

why not point out the mitigating circumstances that led to your having a TCR of 73%.

Although you are not entitled to any explanation, I will give you one anyway. When I leave
before TC it is because of embarrassment and exasperation at my results.

Zelandakh, on 2012-December-03, 08:36, said:

I could not imagine not managing to complete 3 from 4 tournaments

That must be because of your lofty, not to say elite standards. Congratulations!

It might interest you to know that I tabulated results for several 100 unrestricted tournaments
over a 5-month period a year ago (My own TCR was actually close to 100% back then). I can
say with a high degree of confidence that the average TCR was only about 60%.

Are you sure you are not confusing tournament completion with deal completion? My deal completion
rate is close to 100%.

Zelandakh, on 2012-December-03, 08:36, said:

but perhaps you are dialling in from a Third World country of something.

That's funny.

Zelandakh, on 2012-December-03, 08:36, said:

TCR does represent a serious problem but generally not for those that complete enough tournaments to have a valid TCR.

I disagree. I have never considered it a serious problem and no one here has explained
why it is they are in such pain over it.

Zelandakh, on 2012-December-03, 08:36, said:

You really have to work quite hard at it to get a value below 80%. The issue (as I understand it) is that you have to complete a minimum number of tournaments in order for the TCR to be valid. For occasional tournament players, a reduction in the number of non-TCR tournaments would thus represent a major change of circumstances.

It would be interesting to obtain some generalization about the ratio of tournaments played
to tournaments completed. However, I doubt there couild be a business reason for studying the issue.

[USViking]

pigpenz, on 2012-December-03, 10:27, said:

welcome to the internet where we get to hide behind that screen
I just wish everyone played the same card in these events

People who know me well would be able to tell you my face to face style
is pretty much the same as my internet style. They have thicker skin
certain others do, bless their tolerant hearts!

[USViking]

ArtK78, on 2012-December-03, 10:56, said:

I don't understand why a player would have a TCR as low as 73%. Perhaps there are mitigating circumstances, as has been suggested.

Addressed.

ArtK78, on 2012-December-03, 10:56, said:

If the failure to complete tournaments is voluntary, then the player has no one to blame but himself.

I missed the part here where I blamed anyone for my TCR.

Now, I see that I have gotten myself into a position where several others are finding it necessary
to gang up on me. One round of replies to this gang is enough, so I will take provisional leave of
this thread. If some gang member follows up with something which seems to me to absolutely demand
a reply he will get one. Otherwise, Adios.

[ArtK78]

According to the system, my TCR is 96%. And I play in a lot of robot tournaments, which can be extremely exasperating.

To the best of my knowledge, I have never voluntarily quit a tournament other than a robot tournament. There have been occasional power failures and computer crashes, and one instance where I fell asleep at my computer, but not just me leaving the tournament voluntarily.

If one has a low TCR, it is something that can be corrected by playing and completing tournaments. Complaining about lack of access to tournaments which require a certain level of TCR is not going to help any.

[inquiry]

ArtK78, on 2012-December-03, 12:16, said:

To the best of my knowledge, I have never voluntarily quit a tournament other than a robot tournament. There have been occasional power failures and computer crashes, and one instance where I fell asleep at my computer, but not just me leaving the tournament voluntarily.

It is my understanding that if you leave as dummy while the last hand is still being played, that will count as you "not finishing" a tournament. This might explain our 97% rate as it seems reasonable to go as dummy on the last hand, maybe even with only a few cards left to play, but if my understanding is right, you could in theory get a lower completion rate for that.