EXCITING NEWS!! 
Two of our own directors, Stan Yellin and Arnie Summers, are now directing on BBO! Our games consist of 18 boards and last approximately 1 1/2 hours, with a $5 entry fee. The masterpoint awards are 100% black points. The private tournaments award more masterpoints than any of the other games (including the "Support your club" games) on BBO. The Club will receive a portion of the entry fees. Players who have played at the VBBC within the past 12 months will be eligible to play in a VBBC-BBO tournament. This is a great way to help your club while we're closed and still play with your regular partners! If the support is there we can schedule more games. If you have not played on-line yet but are curious about it and interested, here are some helpful instructions:

1. Our private games are held at www.bridgebase.com.   
2. If you are a member of BBO, Log on, or click "Register"
If joining for the first time, remember to include your ACBL #. This is what
BBO uses to identify you so you are eligible to play in a VBBC-BBO game
3. Add funds with the "BB$" button (If you are going to play on an iPad or 
    iPhone, you will pay more for BBO Bridge Bucks)
4. Go back to the original BBO homepage
5. Close the BB$ box and click "HOME" 
6. Choose "COMPETITIVE"
7. Select "ACBL VIRTUAL CLUBS"
8. Look for Vero Beach Bridge Center games (CLUB # VACB105346) and 
    note that they are called "tournaments" rather than games and are listed only
    2-hours before game time. The tournaments are not
visible until 2 hours before the game begins and you may
not register for a game sooner than 2 hours before it begins. 
Click on the VBBC tournament and register with your
     partner using partner's BBO user name. Either one of you can "invite"
    but both partners need to be logged on at the same time to register and be able
    to accept the invitation. Keep in mind that if you are registered to play, you can
    leave the BBO site, but you must be logged back on within 10 minutes of the 
    tournament's start time. If you are "blocked" from registering for one of our
    games, please keep trying. Make sure you have sufficient BBO Bridge Bucks.
9. Playing on BBO differs from playing in the Club with regard to the alert pro-
    cedure. On BBO, you will "alert" or "announce" your own bids. You do this by
    clicking  "Alert" and typing in the bid's meaning. This is so different that it's easy to forget.
10. Please watch this informative video by Silvana Morici of the Sagamore (NY)
      Bridge Club, for further BBO instruction:
CLICK HERE

We are grateful to Silvana and Rich Morici for their valuable assistance in getting the VBBC on BBO! Enjoy your on-line play! Stay safe and healthy and we look forward to seeing you on-line and in person when this crisis is over! 
P.S. If you need further assistance with your BBO log-in, etc., please call Martha or Jamie. Their phone numbers are in the April Gazette, which you can read on-line.

This story is linked to our Bridge Practice Range, an area of useful links to sites on the web where you can play lesson hands, read up on a convention, find cool bridge videos, take quizzes, etc. Check it out during this hiatus, and when face to face play resumes you won't miss a beat.