Plutarch

BBO has many fine features but it does lack a rated game area. This means playing frustrating games with players who define themselves as "Advanced" or "Expert" when, in reality they are little better than beginner. I did an unofficial statistical check and found that no fewer than 32% of all players on BBO rate themselves "expert" which is patently ridiculous. An area where players could establish a rating for themselves in either IMP's or MP's would go a long way to solving this problem. It works exceptionally well on the only other bridge programme I play on, although I do caution players to try to find a reasonable partner before embarking on a rated game. It's possible to play with "pick-ups" and get an unfairly low rating which may tend to make others shy away from you. Best is to try to find a partner in unrated games before proceeding to play in the rated section. Once a player has established a rating, they can then look for others with a similar rating with whom to play and they no longer need to rely on playing with their partner only. Perhaps we could organise a poll to see how many players would choose to play in a rated game.