Five Aces will be playing in an environment specially provided by BridgeClubLive (BCL)). Do note that we DO NOT play on the main site, however you are strongly advised to vist the main site and play there beforehand just to obtain familiarity, the software is the same on both sites. Please note that you must have registered and be logged on with the main site in order to play.

You will then need to go to the Home Page/Members/Clubs/Five Aces and join Five Aces in order to be provided with the f2F link. Click the link prior to 19:00 on Thursday to play.

In the left hand pane, you will find a green or yellow button labelled "Play Bridge". Click it to bring up a green tab saying "Enter your F2F Club Rooms". Click that top button to enter. You can try it now and when you go in you will see two rooms and the Lobby.  On the right hand side, you will see a room marked “Club Tourney” and  "5_ACES 4-F-3" depending on what the time is (different clubs will show if outside of our time slot). You may need to press "Refresh at the top of the screen to refresh the displayed rooms.  

You can try this site out at other times, there may be other clubs playing, so please avoid sitting at tables. Spectating tables is fine, each session always has freshly dealt boards.

Our time will be 7pm BST. Please enter the club before 7pm ready for when the Club Tourney Room “5_ACES 4-F-3” opens at exactly 7pm, and you will see a server message that says so. You click on the room to enter. You might have to click “Refresh” first.

Either you or your partner needs to click “Start a table” in the top left of the screen, and the other of you needs to sit opposite. The latter of you might need to click “Refresh” first. The player who starts the table will need to complete the details for a SSD though many of us have previously set up a SSD so we just need to click “submit” and partner needs to click “accept”. If this is not completed by 19:15 you will NOT be entered.

That’s it. The rest is all automated. Once the SSD is accepted, you will be joined up with another pair and when it gets to 7.15pm precisely, the server will send a message to say we can press “Ready” and start. When it gets to the end of a round, the server will send a message telling you about the move and the server will move you. You may have to wait for the table to which you are moving to be ready and you may have to wait for opponents, just like a Howell movement at the club. Do not panic!

The movement will be of 24 boards. There are no time limits per round. I would hope to finish within three hours as online bridge tends to be faster than F2F bridge. This should be before  22;15

Now some important stuff. We do not use robots and we do not have half tables. It means that there are no sit-outs but it also means that there is a 50-50 chance that the last pair to be ready before 7.15 pm won’t get to play. OK, live with it, either leave and play on the main BCL site or do something else.

The other important thing is the need for commitment because once we start, we need to finish. If someone gets disconnected, then either we need to get them back reasonably quickly or else we need a substitute to come in. In general, we would be able to try phoning a friend and get them to come and fill in. Today you can phone me. If you have a problem or you don’t know what to do, please phone me. My number is 01628 629979 mob: 07472377019 

One more thing. Please don’t play too slowly. If you are slow, you hold up your whole section of the Tourney and others will be waiting. Unlike F2F, there is no bell between rounds. The next round can be started as soon as two pairs and their table are ready!

Results should be uploaded to this website at about 23:15, They will also be displayed on https://www.bridgewebs.com/bridgeclublive/ at the same time.

A reminder, please have a browse through the information on the pages at Home Page/Members/Clubs/Five Aces .

Hope to see at least 3 tables there!

Regards, Malcolm