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Two hours before start time the Pairs RU Tournament
will become available to join, not earlier.
Log in to BBO.
Under "PLAY OR WATCH BRIDGE"
click on "Competitive"
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Under "TOURNAMENTS"
click on "ALL Tournaments"
(new)
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Scroll down to find "Railway Union(private)"
Or enter "railway" into the Search button
If you and Cbai125470 are "Friends" his name will light up in blue in the leftmost "Host" column, making the tournament easy to find.
There will be other clubs with host names Cbaixxxxx: check you have the right one. Only tournaments starting in the next two hours are shown.
Click on "Railway Union(private)", not on the Host (Cbai125470).
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At the top of the next screen click on "Partnership Desk"
DO NOT USE ANY WAY OTHER THAN "PARTNERSHIP DESK" TO JOIN AN RU TOURNAMENT. Just trust us!
If your partner has already added his name at the the Partnership Desk, click on your partner's name.
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Otherwise "Add your name".
When your arranged partner comes to the Partnership Desk he will click on your name to join up. If you have not arranged a partner others will see your name and can click on your name to suggest to play together.
You need to be online on BBO and in the "Competitive" area (new) to join up with a partner.
If BBO asks you something about "changing your cc to SAYC" just ignore it and click "OK".
When someone clicks on your name to propose to play together you will receive a message on a pop up screen; click YES to accept or NO to decline (if waiting for a specific partner). N.B. both you and your partner need to be online and in the "Competitive"area at the same time to join up for the tournament.
Once a pair have joined up their names will disappear from the Partnership Desk and will appear on the "Entries" list in the "holding area" (the equivalent of the parade ring before a horserace where punters size up the competition). Relax until start time, but be online in the Competitive area well before start time (many tournaments start at the same time, BBO gets overloaded: if one of you is not online at the start time both names are removed automatically by BBO)
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You need to be logged on to BBO, in the Competitive area, and at your keyboard at the start time. If not, you will be removed by BBO.
BBO will log you off if it sees no keyboard/mouse activity for a few minutes, but it warns you first.
If you are on BBO, in the Competitive area, at the start time, you will be whisked off to your bridge table where you will meet your friendly Railway members.
New from 16th May 2020:
To cope with Covid-driven demand BBO has divided itself into "Casual" and "Competitive" areas. People in one area are invisible to those in the other area. At the start time of a tourney, if you are offline, or online in the "Casual" area, you will be dropped from the tourney by BBO. To avoid being dropped by BBO: be online in the "Competitive" area (e.g. in the "holding area" looking at the list of entries, the equivalent of the parade ring before a horserace), before start time.
There are shortcut ways to find the correct tourney. For now we are giving the most foolproof method rather than the quickest. If you know the shortcuts please don't confuse people by broadcasting them for the moment.
To Chat on BBO
Use the "Chat" function at the bottom of your screen, select '"Table" to type your greeting to your partner and new opponents.
Commonly used abbreviations:
glp = good luck partner
typ = thank you partner
wpo = well played opponents
hlo = hard luck opponents
This video might help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQNH99Ksrrs
ALERTING ON BBO
Unfortunately bids are alerted differently on BBO from in real bridge. Each bidder alerts his own bid (his partner will not see the alert, only the opponents). Make the bid then click on the bid and type the explanation (e.g. transfer), or select the bid and type the explanation before "making" the bid, whichever works for you. Do not tell the table what the bid means....that woud be talking to your partner!
To enquire what an opponent's bid means, click on the bid. The bidder will type the explanation, again invisible to the partner of the bidder.
There is no stop card on BBO. Yes this is diferent from real bridge...we will have to revert to "proper" practices when real bridge resumes!
UNDOs
It is easy to click on the wrong card or bid (a "misclick"); if this happens click on "Undo" immediately (the sooner the better), opps can accept or decline to grant the undo. For now we are requesting members to grant ALL undos, during bidding or play. Even if the undo has been requested in error, it wastes less time to grant it than to explain why it is not necessary.
This is a helpful video on UNDOs and Alerts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd9KLhFWlGU
Most Important Enjoy Your Game!
See you all in cyberspace soon.
RU BBO Tournament WhatsApp group
This where you will find notices of tournament times, updates on BBO changes, and advice on using BBO for the first time. Trust us, it helps a lot when getting started! Only committee members post to this group.
RU VIRTUAL BAR WhatsApp group
The RU Virtual Bar WhatsApp group is where you can look for a partner, ask for advice on using BBO, drop in to discuss hands, chat and relax after a tournament with your RU friends - but it's BYOB! Hope to see you there.
To look for a partner on the RU BBO VIRTUAL BAR Whatsapp group:
Post "John Smith is looking for a partner for Monday" to the group. To take up his offer, send a Whatsapp message to John privately; once fixed up John posts '"John Smith now fixed up" to the group.
To be addded to the RU BBO tournament Whatsapp group email: railwayunionbridge@gmail.com
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