In probably the largest payout ever for a non-NABC regional, one-day event, one pair received 49.99 Gold for first overall in the open pairs. We were predicting a prize over 50 last week, based on the usual ACBL formula.
Formula Changed?
The normal formula should have awarded well over 50, because there were nearly 400 concurrent gold rush tables to go with the 200 or so open tables. Perhaps ACBL changed the formula for these massive online events?
Cheating A Concern?
We posted a discussion to BridgeWinners, and the commentary quickly turned into whether we should be concerned with online cheating. We all know it’s possible to cheat, whether online or live, but thankfully the vast majority never even consider it.
Personally, I don’t believe there is much cheating. We’ve all been in a situation where we have the setting trick, if only partner finds the right shift. We’ve all let opponents make a slam missing two aces. And we’ve all benefited from making a contract that never should have made, except the opponent’s had some horrible misunderstanding.
I have never had a partner discuss, even jokingly, about cheating, other than comments about pros who have gotten cheating (the coughing doctors might need a new signal in a Covid-19 world). I’ve had multiple times where I knew I was giving partner a likely ruff, but I needed a moment to consider which suit preference card to play. Right after I play my card, I finally catch my partner’s facial expression, and he or she often has the perfect poker face on.
Granted, perhaps the stoic face WOULD be a giveaway that something is going on, because if partner was chatty or obviously distracted, there is probably nothing going on. That’s probably why I just try not to look at partner’s face ever, and instead on the cards played.
I wish I had more stories, but to my knowledge no one has ever attempted to cheat me in bridge. The closest thing is opponents who misremembered tricks, or typed the wrong score into the BridgeMate, or accused me of revoking when I did not. But I honestly suspect those were honest mistakes.
Anyone else have a cheating story?