Why play Teams of 4 on-line?

Duplicate bridge is great, but there are other ways of playing the game on-line that can provide a different sort of challenge, and can be a lot of fun too. As the autumn of 2020 and the coming winter seem to herald many more months of lockdown, perhaps a bit of variety might be welcome?

In duplicate pairs, you are only really interested in getting a better score on the hand than other pairs playing the same hands. So, for example, the extra 10 points for 3NT+1 (430 or 630) is very important, if most other pairs play in 4S making 10 (420 or 620). Game in a minor rarely scores well in duplicate. Crucial decisions about whether to sacrifice can hinge on one trick – if the opposition is making 2H for +110,  then 2 down non-vulnerable is a great score, while 3 down is terrible. And every hand counts the same towards the result of the session, whether a slam hand or a lowly part-score. So if you bid and make a difficult slam and get a top, it can be wiped out by conceding one extra trick when the opposition play in a seemingly uninteresting 2 diamonds on the very next hand.

We do get used to trying to make these calculations, and it’s all part of duplicate pairs tactics.

Teams of 4 is a very different game. There are only eight people involved in a match, sitting at two tables: your team of four, and the opposing team of four.  Each team has one pair playing NS at one table, and the other pair EW at the other table. Both tables play the same hands, and the scoring is in IMP’s. You convert the score on each board to IMP’s using this table.

So, say on the first board (all non-vulnerable), you are NS and bid and make 10 tricks in 4 spades, you score +420. On the other table, the opposition bid and make 10 tricks in 3NT, so your side is -430. The difference of 10 points counts for 0 IMPs, so it’s a flat board.

Say on the next board, EW bid make 8 tricks in 1NT against you, so you are -120, while on the other table your pair, playing EW, make only 7 tricks in 1NT for +90. You have lost the board by 30 points,  which only counts for 1 IMP – not a lot.

Now, on board 3, EW are vulnerable and bid to 6NT. You defend well, and they go one down for +100 to you. But on the other table, your team playing EW bid and make 6NT, for +1440. The score for your team on board 3 is +1540, or +17 IMP’s – a slam swing, and worth a lot.

So you can see that some boards don’t make a lot of difference – one or two IMP’s either way is not very significant. But boards where there is  a game or slam swing are crucial. So Teams of 4 is all about bidding your games and slams, and as declarer, making your contract. You are not too interested in overtricks. In defence, it is about doing whatever you can to put the contract off, even if it risks conceding overtricks.

The good news for on-line bridge playing is that BBO has the facility built in to play Teams of 4 matches.  Our Duplicate Pairs sessions involve paying BBO and EBU charges, and paying for a TD, and require significant organisation. Our Lockdown League pairs matches are free, but the scores are dependent on what random other people, playing on BBO anywhere in the world, happen to do on the boards we play. BBO Teams of 4 overcomes both of these issues: all you need is for 8 people to agree to play at a certain time.

Simply log on to BBO, select Competitive, then Team Matches,  then Create Team Match. You can then select the various options you want (eg scoring = IMPs, no of boards  you want to play, etc), allocate the 8 players to the two teams, then, when you’re happy with everything, click on Create Team Match. There is an excellent YouTube clip to help you do this, here How to Create a Teams Match on BBO

Our Brierfield/Warrington/Stretford Bridge Club will be inviting players for all three constituent clubs to make up teams of 4, to play in a league over the winter months, playing 16-board matches. It will require no set day of the week - teams can arrange to play each other whenever they like, and simply report the result to the organiser.  It will probably be an all-play-all round robin, and should be a lot of fun.

If you are interested in possibly taking part, and would like to know more, please email Jim Steele, Warrington Bridge Club, by end December 2020.