I definitely recommend taking advantage of the great instructors and social atmosphere to learn in face to face classes or lessons, but if your schedule doesn't readily permit this, there are also excellent options for online learning and play. And once you've learned, you can play at home with friends and family, play with friends online, or when you're ready, go to tournaments!

You can take individual or group lessons, learn and practice using online tools. Please contact me about online lessons or starter lessons to guide you in taking advantage of online resources. I will also be offering an online course for beginners starting in March.

Most online bridge is played at Bridge Base Online (BBO), at https://www.bridgebase.com/v3/. A BBO account is free. There are fees for certain tournaments.

BBO offers some nice learning tools under the “Practice” tab, and I and others offer individual and group lessons online.

For new players, BBO offers a simplified version of bridge called Minibridge that's great for learning. You can also practice on your own playing “real” bridge with a robot partner against robot opponents. And you and your human partner can practice against robots or play 24 hours a day against other players from around the world.

When you're ready to compete in a club game, The Bridge Forum, the local club of Hamden and Woodbridge, is currently offering online games on Tuesday evenings, Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings. (These are listed as "tournaments" on BBO but are different from the much larger tournaments such as the "sectional" tournaments that the Connecticut Bridge Association offers, the "regional" tournaments offered by the New England Bridge Conference, or the North American Championships). The Bridge Forum plans to add additional online and in person games during the first half of 2023.