This is a fun competition open to HC members only. You need to arrange your own games online. There is no charge to enter and it is all about having a great time and meeting different opponents online to test your skills.

Scoring will be on the basis of Total Points (see below) and have a maximum of 20 board games (five sets of four).

The games will be held on BBO Casual. You will not be playing against other BBO players, just your four. See below for the correct settings, everyone must choose the same and select Competitive game before you begin each VKO.

Total Points: This is essentially Chicago scoring. 50 is added for a part score, 300 for a non-vulnerable game, etc. There is no comparison with other tables. It is proposed that four rounds of a Chicago game form a match in itself, so after say 12 boards, i.e. three sets, the score might be 2:1 or 3:0 rather than X total points vs. Y total points.  If the score is 2:2 then we enter a final 4 board set to decide the winner.  The rationale is that it allows a fresh start every four boards rather than opponents' grand slam made doubled vulnerable at the start (-2980) dominating the rest of the boards.  This allows a certain element of luck to take place, in as much your point total depends on the cards you are dealt with but on the other hand creating sets (5 in total), which reduces the element of luck to a certain extent. 

In this way, both the good and not so good players have something to look forward to in their matches. Helpfully BBO has a function to reset the scores after each set.

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Scoring

After four boards, the winner at that point (i.e. the pair with the higher net points) has won the first 'set', the host resets the scores to zero and the second 'set' commences. After four more boards, the next 'set' is declared and so on until one side has three 'sets'. If after four or more 'sets' the score is 2-2, a decider 'set' will be played. Use the 'History' tab on BBO (down the right edge of the screen) to monitor your score.

It is up to the participants if they want to play on after the match is decided.

Bidding will be the usual BBO 'self-alerting' system and each pair will need to notify the opponents of their system.

If either side is concerned about 'polarity' (one side getting better cards than the other, a common myth), then EW NS positions can be settled with a coin-toss.

To make things more convivial, whilst playing, the participants might arrange a WhatsApp group or similar so that some friendly banter can be exchanged during the match. If you do this, by mutual agreement, you might revert to partners alerting alertable bids.

When the match is complete, please inform Janos either by email or using the form below.

Predominantly, enjoy this third VKO and we look forward to your feedback.

BBO set up

When setting up your table in BBO Casual, it should look like this. Use the 'Competitive game' button to start the table once you have set the privacy sliders as illustrated and selected 'Total points' for Scoring.

Tactics for VKO

First and foremost, VKO is intended to be a fun competition. That said, acknowledging also that, whatever the format, bridge is a competitive game - some would say sport, tactics do have a bearing. Since VKO is a new format, here are a few tactical tips:

• Overtricks are much less important than games and slams (similar to rubber bridge and teams).
• There is less incentive to go for a risky 3NT+1 as one might in duplicate pairs to score 430 rather than 420. Better to bank the safer 4♠/♥ (again, as in rubber bridge and pairs).
• As VKO is cumulative over each 'set' of four boards, what has happened in the previous boards of that set matters (like rubber bridge and some forms of Chicago).
• Each 'set' is four boards and is won whether the differential is 10 points or 1010. It is still one 'set' for the win. For example, if one pair is, say, 80 points ahead after 3 boards, there is no need to bid game or a slam on the final board of the set - only not to clock up a negative score.
• These tactics can be extended to the third board of a set of four. Let us say, your side has scored 110 for 2♥= on Board 1 and 620 for 4♥= vulnerable on Board 2. A lead of 730. On picking up our cards for Board 3 and after three passes in 4th seat, it might make sense to pass holding even quite a lot of points. The logic would be: being already 730 points ahead, only an unlikely slam on the last board of the set by your opponents or an overbid by your side doubled down 3 (assuming you are vulnerable, down 4 if not) could beat you in that set.
• However, as stated at the beginning of this page, VKO is a social game with a hint of some competitive elements.  So perhaps, although strategy does matter, each hand should be played on its merits. A good hand should not necessarily be passed because one is ahead. Such strategy has a hint of gamesmanship and should be employed based on one’s conscience.
• It is important to keep an eye on vulnerability. This is a repeating pattern over 20 boards, not over four. See table below. No need to remember this. BBO shows it for each board.

Please submit your results using the form below: