Playing BBO Online bridge presents certain challenging behaviour patterns which players may forget and overstep the EBU Best Behaviour guidelines.
1) No one is out to get you. Hopefully everyone is looking for a fun and friendly game, so if you notice someone who you feel is being particularly unpleasant, you should report them to the TD and/or to the organising committee. What you must NOT do is make accusations or your own law rulings at the table.
2) There is nothing wrong with talking to the table, or your partner, or your opponents. You may congratulate partner within reason as long as it isn't gloating or incessant without need. Some BBO jargon : WDP – Well done partner :HLP – Hard luck partner : GLP – Good luck partner :WPP – Well played partner :TYP – Thank you partner :“Thinking” (it is courteous to let the opponents and partner know if you are taking some time over a decision) : is perfectly acceptable.
3) Undos are generally allowed at all times since misclicks are fairly frequent. In any doubtful case, best to call the TD. Interrogation of the perpetrator is not generally appropriate.
4) Sarcastic or patronising comments are highly deprecated. Recent examples relayed to me are "Haven't you got a claim button?", "Even I can cash my two winners in the 3 card ending", "You should have made that after opponents' bad defence", "Yes well played cashing you 10 tricks, when 12 were cold", "Please keep your comments to yourself", "Did I ask your opinion?" etc. One particular issue is explanations of unalerted calls (unless you really need to know). If a bid is not alerted, then it is assumed natural - if you really feel damaged at the end of play call the TD and let him deal with it.
5) It is polite to introduce yourself and your system at the start of each round, but this can get tedious, so there is absolutely no problem with "Hi, weakNT, 3 weak2s" at the start and nothing else. There are many players who don't chat or want to chat much but that is entirely their prerogative and should in no way be deemed discourteous.
6) Slow play and failure to claim is technically an offence in F2F bridge, but due to the nature of the online game, I would not consider that an issue, although a certain kind of player will find this galling at times!
Enjoy your bridge but try not to upset other people at the online table. If you have any specific questions please send to Jeffrey Smith at jasmith@nildram.co.uk
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