At Bath BC we offer daytime and evening sessions for a wide range of levels and experience. If you're new to the club – and even if you're not – the guidelines below may help you to find the best place to play.
Chris Jones
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 ♣ Assisted Play
Covers a fairly wide range of ability and experience and is more about learning than competing. It’s particularly suitable for those who can get through a hand of bridge but like to have help at hand during the auction and play. As well as getting advice from an experienced teacher, it’s also possible to ‘unwind’ an auction that’s taken a wrong turning.
Many players who are reasonably comfortable playing independently also find assisted play a useful learning experience, providing as it does opportunities to ask questions, discuss hands and compare their own results with those of more experienced players.
You’re swimming, but you’re wearing armbands.
We run 14 boards of Assisted Play on Wednesday mornings, face-to-face at the Club. Click here for more information on the session.
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 ♦ Relaxed Duplicate
AKA ‘No fear’ or 'Relaxed' duplicate. Suitable for players who are comfortable bidding and playing independently but would like more experience of competitive bridge before embarking on the cut and thrust of ‘real’ bridge club duplicate. It’s more about competing than learning – there’s no calling for help or ‘rewinding’ during the auction – but it’s also an opportunity to become familiar with bridge etiquette and proper duplicate procedures in a safe, friendly environment.
No armbands, but you’re still at the shallow end of the pool.
We play 18-20 boards of Gentle Duplicate on Thursday mornings (face-to-face).
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 ♥ Social Duplicate
You’re at the deep end now and you’re on your own. You’re expected not only to be able to bid and play confidently, but also to observe the laws and etiquette of bridge.
It’s still all about enjoyment, of course, but this is competitive bridge played at a reasonable pace and you need to be able to keep your head above water. If you find yourself coming bottom every time or struggling to keep up the pace, it won’t be much fun for you or for your opponents.
We recommend that you and your partner have appropriately completed convention cards, though this is not essential for Social Duplicate.
We play 24 boards of Social Duplicate three times a week: on Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening (both face-to-face) and (currently) Wednesday morning (online on BBO).
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 ♠ Open Pairs
Sea swimming. A bit tougher than Social Duplicate in that you’re playing in a stronger field and you’ve got a couple of extra hands to play. The director runs a slightly tighter ship as far as etiquette and laws are concerned – you and your partner are required to have accurate and identically completed convention cards, for example – but the emphasis is firmly on enjoyable bridge in a friendly environment. And what could be more enjoyable than getting a good score against strong opponents?
We play Duplicate Pairs twice a week: on Tuesday evening (face-to-face) and Thursday evenings.(online, on BBO). Open players are also welcome at Tuesday morning's Allcomers Social Pairs.
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