An online bridge playing web site. Play with real players. No robots. Subscription based. Largely Acol players. Some gentle competitions.

I know this still causes frustration but it can be easy. 
Important Tips
A Find your partner in the local club list (or your friends list) and click on their name. You can then see their profile, and on the right in blue letters the text: "Invite to play".
B Invite your partner to play with you BEFORE taking a seat. They only have one job to do, they accept your information. No other player can take your partner's seat while partner's invitation remains valid which is at least a minute. When they have accepted your invitation, you have two minutes to take a seat. Relax, this is quite a long time.
C  Any player can start a new table at any time. Just click on a seat on the "Start a Table" table, top left.
D The list of tables in the Social Room does not automatically change as players start and leave tables. You need to click "Refresh" to see the latest situation.

So the procedure is:
1 All four players logon to Bridge Club Live
2 First player "finds" their partner and clicks on "Invite to Play" BEFORE starting a table.
3 Partner (second player) has 60 secs to accept the invitation.
4 Meanwhile first player starts a NEW table by clicking on any seat on the table on the left of the top row of tables in the Social Room, their partner will automatically be seated opposite them. No one else can sit there.
5 Third player "finds" their partner and clicks on "Invite to Play". The fourth player has 60 secs to accept the invitation.
6 Third player is looking at the list of tables in the social room. Third player clicks "Refresh" on the list of tables in the social room. Incomplete tables appear at the top of the list, so don't look beyond the first full table. If the first player is not visible, click "Refresh" and look again. Repeat every two seconds.
7 As soon as the table with the first player seated appears, the third player clicks on an empty opponents seat. The fourth player will be automatically seated opposite.