Join us for our latest online bridge event – Stardust Week – for gold points and beyond!

Stardust Week will take over the Virtual Clubs on Bridge Base Online (BBO) during the week of September 21-29. No registration is required. Simply play in your usual Virtual Club game on BBO.

What’s special about Stardust Week? You’ll earn double regular masterpoints® in the Virtual Clubs, and points will be 1/4 gold, 3/4 black!

If you’re not familiar with a Virtual Club yet, it’s an online space on BBO just for your regular club – VBBC - usual games with your friends to support your local club.

Here’s how Stardust Week works:

• Any Virtual Club game that starts between 12:01 a.m. on Monday, September 21, and 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29, will automatically be included in the event.
• All games will pay DOUBLE regular club masterpoints, and the points awarded will be 1/4 gold, 3/4 black!
• You do not need to do anything special to participate in these games; Virtual Club play is automatically included.
• There will be no overalls or combining of scores. It’s your regular club game with new, temporary conditions.

We are adding an additional Open game on Sunday @ 1:15 (for this week only) to take advantage of the extra points!

BBO is no longer automatically posting the SAYC card for pairs who have not completed a specific card with their partner. If your partnership is using the SAYC system you will need to specify such and enter your partner's BBO user name on the card in order for it to load when you register to play with that partner. Having a proper card completed for your partnership is an ACBL requirement. It is imperative that you complete a card on BBO ASAP.  There is a video available below (Tutorials) on how to complete a card and in the September 2020 issue of the ACBL Bulletin, on page 20, are photos that will guide you.
Please create your convention card to avoid receiving two Average Minus scores.

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We are so very grateful to Barbara Seagram for the OPENING LEADS zoom seminar she presented for the VBBC!
Taking a bridge lesson on Zoom is much different from sitting at a card table with 3 other people but, as always, Barbara was enthusiastic, informative, precise, and entertaining!
The lesson was excellent  and we were very fortunate to benefit from Barbara's extraordinary teaching and generosity in donating the proceeds of the class to the VBBC.
We thank Barbara and YOU for your participation.
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BBO also runs pair games and daylongs (now 6 different daylongs every day). All of these games award traditional online points which are “unpigmented” and do not count towards any races except the annual online points race.

Only those points won in sanctioned ACBL games can count as official ACBL points. You can win points in other tournaments on BBO, and although they will count as BBO points and will be considered in raising the number (or letter) on your profile, they will not be able to be added to your ACBL point totals.
Only those tournaments with "ACBL" in the title can be forwarded to the ACBL as official ACBL masterpoints.

**IMPORTANT**   

If you are "Blocked" from registering for VBBC's private tournaments on BBO, login to Bridge Base Online Home, then ACBL World. At the bottom of the page are 3 blue tabs. Select "Update ACBL Number". Verify your user name & add your ACBL # if blank.  This is the number one reason someone is "Blocked." Other possibilities are that the ACBL membership dues are not current or the user name differs from the one in which you originally registered. You will not be able to register for the 0-99 or 0-750 games if your ACBL number is not in your BBO profile. Another situatioin that may not allow you to register is if you chose to be invisible. Please uncheck invisible on the BBO log-in page when you play a Virtual VBBC game. If these items are not corrected, BBO will not be able to award masterpoints. They must have a user name, ACBL number with up-to-date dues, not be invisible, and all must be linked with the member's BBO user name.

If you would like to play but do not have a partner, you can go to our game, click "Partnerships", and add your name or invite any of the players listed. You can also register as a "substitute" for one of our games by going to the game once it has begun (Running Games) and click "substitute". We are in need of subs due to inadvertant disconnections and to avoid sit-outs.

If you are unable to post your convention card you may need to clear the cache. Go to Web Browser, settings, clear browsing history, then close the window and come back in.

For Results from our VBBC virtual tournaments, go to the upper right of the VBBC Home Page. ACBL increases the awards so ACBL Live will show the accurate amount you will receive.

We hope you are enjoying playing online in VBBC's virtual club!

Two of our own directors, Stan Yellin and Arnie Summers, have joined Jamie and Martha in directing tournaments on BBO, and now Maggie Eggleston and Jack Wilson are preparing to join the ranks. Our tournaments consist of 18 boards and last approximately 1 1/2-2 hours in the Open contests and closer to two hours in the 0-750, 0-299, and 0-99 tournaments. We began with a fee of $5 per game but it was necessary for us to increase our entry fee to $7 (which is what we charged in the Club), effective June 1. 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, and they have recently increased the masterpoint awards. The Club will receive approximately 77% of the entry fee. Only VBBC members and those players who have played at the VBBC within the past 15 months will be eligible to play in a Virtual VBBC tournament. This is a great way to help your club while we are closed and still play with your regular partners! 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, Click the Login/Register red button.
3. 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
4. Add funds with the "BB$" button (If you are going to play on an iPad or iPhone, you will pay more for BBO Bridge Bucks)
5. Go back to the original BBO homepage
6. Close the BB$ box and click "HOME" 
7. Choose "COMPETITIVE"
8. Select "ACBL VIRTUAL CLUBS"
9. Look for Vero Beach Bridge Center games (CLUB # VACB105346) and note that they are called "tournaments" rather than games.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. 
10. 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.
11. Playing on BBO differs from playing in the Club with regard to the alert procedure. 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.
12.  Please watch this informative video by Silvana Morici of the Sagamore (NY)  Bridge Club, for further BBO instruction: CLICK HERE

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. They are available at the VBBC each weekday, 8:30-1:00, if you'd like to reach them by phone there, 772-562-3008.

Board of Governors officers for 2020 were elected at the recent monthly board meeting. They are:
David LeBar - President
John Brunner - Vice-President
Ann Taylor - Secretary
We thank the following board members whose terms have expired for their valuable service:
Karen Adelman
Denis Conlon
Jan Greene
Maxwell Hughes
Special thanks also to our Treasurer, Ellen Gelberg, who also served as the chairwoman of our budget & finance committee.
Board of Governors members for 2020 are:
John Brunner, Freeman Bunn, Bill Capodagli, Tom Coulter, Bob Geeseman,
Jack Hughes, David LeBar, Steve Osiecki, Ann Taylor, and Louann Yates.
We are fortunate and very appreciative to have these dedicated volunteers willing to serve our club.