Playing bridge at Helston with Bridge Base Online
Best Behaviour at Bridge
In accordance with the club’s policy of encouraging Best Behaviour at Bridge we present the clubs expectations of courtesies whilst playing events on BBO.
These notes are paraphrased from the text in the EBU sky-blue book that outlines the EBU rules for playing online bridge. There is a link on the left hand list on the club website.
Basic information
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Your BBO profile and your identity
Access your profile by logging in to BBO and clicking on the ‘Account’ tab. Please type in your real name and provide an outline of your system. Helston asks that no player is anonymous.
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At the beginning of each round please announce yourself and give an outline of your system. If you prepare your text in advance you can paste it into the chat box.
Alerting
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Please self alert any call your partner would normally alert or announce at the table. Alerts should be accompanied by a full explanation, avoiding using named conventions.
If your opponents explanation is missing or unclear you are expected to protect yourself by requesting further information. You can do this either through the alert mechanism or private chat. (see section on communication at the table)
Any call that is not alerted is assumed to be natural. If you feel that you have been disadvantaged by a failure to alert, call the director as soon as you can, to reserve your rights, play on and notify the director at the end of the board. The board will then be subject to a judgement ruling.
Communicating at the table
It is against the rules of online bridge to communicate with the ‘table’ during play. It may give unauthorized information to your partner and to the opponent who is not the recipient of the question. The following advice is presented to help you avoid these situations.
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When a hand is in play, please communicate only with one of the opponents at a time. Never to ‘table’ and rarely to ‘opposition’.
To send a message or ask a question of one player click on that players seating postion. So to talk to East, click on ‘E’ and a box will come up allowing you to ask a question of that player only. The advantage is that neither the question nor the answer can be seen by other players at the table.
Please always answer a question you are asked and if you ask a question and it is ignored, please call the director.
Adjusted scores
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If your board has been timed out you may see the message ‘the director has adjusted the score’. If you have not summoned the director this means the system has awarded an adjusted score. If you do not agree with the adjustment please ask the director to check the result. It helps if your request is immediate and accompanied by the line of play you would have taken.
Claims
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When it is obvious that you have the remaining tricks it is fine to make a simple claim by stating that you claim x tricks. When it is not entirely obvious your claim should be accompanied by a clear statement outlining the play to win the required tricks.
Opponents may object and continue to play the board.
Once claims are rejected cards are exposed. If the director is called, play ceases, a provisional score will be awarded and the board will be subject to a judgement ruling.
Hints and tips.
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Copy and paste your prepared introduction and system summary
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Take time to familiarize yourself with the message box feature in BBO
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In the account tab, set up a system card which can be applied to a specific online partner. You can have multiple cards stored stored against different partners BBO names. BBO will automatically apply the correct system card to the partnership. System cards are available to other players by clicking on the little blue box with 3 white horizontal lines on the top left of the BBO screen.
If in any doubt on the night, call the director.
With thanks to IKBC
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