Petoskey           Duplicate   Bridge Center
       (PDBC) 

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Welcome to Petoskey Bridge Club’s Bridge Base Online Games!

 

Introduction to BBO: https://cloud.bridgefinesse.com/VACB/BBOTutorial.pdf

BBO and ACBL continue to make improvements, so a few things in the tutorial link have changed since it was created; however, it is a helpful supplement to the information included below.

 

BBO Membership: You must be a member of BBO to play in our online games. 

Go to: Bridgebase.com/v3/ 

Become a member (free!)

Create a User name and a password.Keep your password accessible; you will need it to purchase Bridge Base Bucks – BB$.

Fill in the requested information.If you have an ACBL number, be sure to enter it.Click the box at the bottom to agree to the Terms of Service.

 

Bridge Base Bucks: Unless your partner is going to pay your game fee, you must buy BB$.

Find the BB$ tab.  It may be a blue tab at the top of the home page, or it may be a listing in the little black box with three horizontal white lines. It appears in different places on different devices, and if you have logged in via an App, you may not see this option at all.  In that case, go back and enter bridgebase.com/v3/ in your browser to access the site.  DO NOT use the shopping cart icon, if this appears, since there is a 30% surcharge if you use it to buy BB$.

 

Select BB$ and Purchase BB$.  You’ll need either your credit card or your PayPal information.  Proceed with the purchase process.  Many people select the auto-purchase option so that their account always has BB$.  You may be unable to complete the game registration process if you have insufficient BB$ to pay the game fee.

 

Game Fees:  $6 for normal games and $8 for special games.

 

Registering for a game:

• You and your partner must be online at the same time to Register.

• To play in the 199 game or Birchwood’s 499 game, both players must be ACBL members.

• If you have a partner who has not played at the club recently, contact a director before attempting to register. Nancy: 231-330-1600 or Allison: 828-467-3023

• Go to Virtual Clubs, then ACBL North America.  Both of our games will now be shown. 

• If our games don’t appear, go to Virtual Clubs then All Clubs and type Petoskey in the search box at the top right of the page. 

• Select the game for which you want to register.

• Either you or your partner can register for the game but you must both be online.  If you are the one registering your partnership, you will be asked to enter your partner’s BBO user name.  If your partner is registering the two of you, you will see an Invite pop up and you must Accept to be registered for the game.  The game listing will now turn to a color, usually yellow.

• Log-in to BBO 10 minutes before game time and wait on the home page for your first board to appear magically on the screen. Do not stray from the Home page or the software may not be able to locate you and you will be bumped from the game.

 

Need a Partner?  Two options:

1. Go to the PBC website and use the Find a Partner tab to list yourself.

2. Once the game’s Registration period begins - two hours prior to game time - go to BBO’s listing for the Petoskey game.  Follow the same steps as if you were going to register, but at the top of the Registration page, click on the Partnership Desk heading and list yourself.

 

Convention Cards:

• Opponents have a right to know what conventions you and your partner play. At a minimum, we request that you list the conventions and signals you use in the Other section of your ACCOUNT—PROFILE e.g. NT 15-17, trfrs, stayman, blackwood,
  Gerber, Jacoby 2NT, std leads and discards.

• BBO defaults to SAYC – Standard American Yellow Card – so if you play 2/1 or a different system, fill out and save a convention card for yourself and your partner in ACCOUNT—CONVENTION CARD. By entering your partner’s BBO name, the card will appear in your partner’s ACCOUNT too when you save it.

• Opponents’ information.  During the game, you can see your opponents’ information by either clicking on their name at the table which will show the info they put in their Account Profile Other box or by clicking on the Menu Box and then Convention Card to see if they have completed one.

 

Alerts

• You must self-alert an announcement or conventional bid. Click Alert, explain your announcement or bid, THEN make your bid. Your partner will not see the Alert but you and your opponents will.  As an opponent, you may click on the Alerted bid for an explanation.

• Forgot to Self-Alert?  Change TABLE on CHAT line to OPPONENTS.  Then explain.  Do not use TABLE to tell opponents because your partner will see it and that is giving unauthorized information to your partner.

• Want an explanation for an unalerted bid? Click on the bid about which you have a question. When you do, a request for an explanation is sent to the bidder. (You will not see the request, no need to click multiple times.) When the bidder provides a brief explanation, the EXPLAIN box will appear on the tabletop, visible only to you and your partner.  After the hand has been played, if you believe that you were "harmed" due to a failure to alert, contact the director before the end of the game. 

• As the bidder, when the EXPLAIN box appears to you, a reply is required. Write a quick explanation of the agreement you and partner have about your bid. If you do not have an agreement, just say that.

• To remove the Alert box from the table, click on it or on the contract box.

 

During the Game

• Time per Board:  Rounds are timed at 7 minutes per board; the timer is visible on your screen. The round ends when time runs out or as soon as all tables have finished.  Unplayed or partially-finished boards will disappear and the score will be adjusted.

• Partially-played boards: If a board was not played, or barely started, normally both pairs will receive a 50-50 result unless one pair is deemed to be primarily responsible for slow play.

• Slow play:  If you have not begun bidding with 3 minutes left in the round the board will disappear.

• Misclicks: ACBL games do not allow undos for misclicks.  Consider adding CONFIRM BIDS and CONFIRM CARDS in your ACCOUNT SETTINGS.

• Chat: The blue tab in the Chat box at the bottom of your screen should say TABLE.  Use Chat to welcome each other to the table, commend partner or opponent for their play, or chat after the round is over. Limit chatting during play.  Messages from the Tournament Director to you or your table will also be found here.

• Director, please: Call the Director by using the Menu box (blue with 3 white lines) if you have a question or concern.

• History tab: Open the History tab, usually at the bottom or side of your screen, to see boards played, contracts, round results and cumulative percentage.

• Disconnected? If you get disconnected, immediately log-in to BBO. Sometimes, this may take several tries.  Normally, you will automatically be reseated at your table.

 

After the Game

• Preliminary results are available on BBO as soon as all tables have finished and for 20 minutes afterward.  Go to Home page, Virtual Clubs, ACBL North America and select Completed Tournaments at the top.

• For final results, go to Petoskeybridgeclub.com and select the BBO Results tab.  It may take up to an hour for results to be posted.  ACBL point allocations may differ from those on BBO.

• If your email address is in your MyACBL file on ACBL.org, you will receive an email from The Common Game with a link to results.  Update your MyACBL to include the phone number at which you can be reached before or during a game.

 

Ethical Play

• Unauthorized communication with partner during the bidding and play is illegal and unethical. 

• No verbal or text communication is permitted.  Partners playing in the same location should be in separate rooms.  Use the Chat function on BBO to communicate with partner.

• BBO does review hands using an algorithm and can identify players who may be cheating.  Directors also monitor bidding and play.  ACBL and BBO have issued warnings and have suspended and barred players and withdrawn their BBO and ACBL memberships.

• If you have a concern, contact a director to report the BBO name of the person about whom you have a concern.  You may also send an email to: acbl.org/conduct-and-ethics/player-memo.

• Remember, this is a GAME that we are playing with our FRIENDS.  We rely on our shared integrity.

 

Need Help?  Contact

• Nancy: 231-330-1600  

or

• Allison: 828-467-3023