hrothgar Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Hi Ben... I just had a chance to look at the website for the new HomeBase Bridge Club that you're working on. The web site looks very nice. I definitely approve of all the value added services that you're introducing. I'm looking forward to participating in some of your events. With this said and done, I have a few questions/comments 1. System regulations. What's legal? What isn't?2. Card fees....3. I'm curious why you're creating a new set of forums, separate and distinct from the "normal" BBO forums... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerben42 Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 4. Why is it called Home Base club? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Hi Ben... I just had a chance to look at the website for the new HomeBase Bridge Club that you're working on. The web site looks very nice. I definitely approve of all the value added services that you're introducing. I'm looking forward to participating in some of your events. With this said and done, I have a few questions/comments Thanks Richard, Let me see if I can answer your questions. 1. System regulations. What's legal? What isn't? We are starting off with WBF guidelines. So pretty much all is legal as long as not brown sticker or some wild HUM (moscito is not HUM). I understand this will not be satisfactory for all players, but then there is the very nice ACBL club if you want to restrict yourself to playing against mid chart of less ACBL rules. IT maybe, however, if people ask for it, we might run some restricted event maybe even side-by-side with WBF rules one with the same hands, but more likely at some restricted times. This is described somewhere on the other forum. 2. Card fees.... A dollar, like everyone else 3. I'm curious why you're creating a new set of forums, separate and distinct from the "normal" BBO forums... The sort of unwritten rules has been private/public clubs can use this forum, but not have their own private forums here. So since people like BIL and iABC can't have forum here, neither can homebase. A second less obvious reason is for two of our value added products. One is emailed hand records and twice monthly newletter. We can manage the collection of the email address and dividing the members into those who want and don't want these services via that forum software. So those who want this service can get it without much extra work for us. Second, we plan to make bridgebrowser available on several different levels (same program, different database access -- most only to hands played in HomeBase events), again, emails will be necessary to communicate password etc to these members. Finally we are posting WBF rules we follow (or have adopted to BBO games), and our TD's will be able to provide links to the rules they are using in their rulings. Other Tournament directors are free to link to these if they want, or they can copy and post them elsewhere. I hope our directors can always quote the law they used for their rulings....but if not, we have a forum to discuss the rulings in our events. When we are wrong (and we will be occassionally, no one is perfect, we will admit it there). 4. Why is it called Home Base club? We wanted a name that brought to mind BridgeBase... so that explains Base part of it. We also wanted to sound friendly, welcoming, and convey the image of a place to play online.. and where do you play on line from? No, no.. not work (thus not WorkBase), but from Home. So HomeBase seemed nice to me. We could come up with a lot of clever things..."you don't have to leave home to play bridge, stay at homebase"...or "be safe at homebase"... and imagine the corny baseball tie-in (europeans will have to take my word for this)... grand slam, slam, squeeze, we could go on..and we did.. we call our first day, "opening day" which is a baseball reference. Besides, we like the little icon we get to use to represent our name... a picture of a "home base" with a club in it. One visual icon that clearly states the name of our club. Wait until you see our letterhead (ok. ok, you got to signup for our newsletter to see that, but it will be worthit.. it is cute...and yes, it is a mixed baseball/bridge motiff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 I might add, there are some things we hope we can get working for our club room that will make it a destination for people... that is, we hope to be more than a club that runs tournaments... time will tell if we can get these plans working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigpenz Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 how come you cant register there on the homebase forums just out of curiosity, kept looking and looking ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 how come you cant register there on the homebase forums just out of curiosity, kept looking and looking ;) If you simply register for the forum, we will register you for the BBO Private Club within a few hours. Or you can click on the BBO Private club to register. Some time we will have a registration link on our homepage which is different from the forum (http://www.homebaseclub.com), but really there is nothing there now. Wait until Tuesday night and we will begin populating that page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 I am sure many of you have heard some of the value added features we are providing to our tournaments in the HomeBase Club - sponsored events. Let me now mention a new we are adding if you are A member of the private BBO club (membership free)Sign up as a member of the Homebase forum (http://forums.homebaseclub.com) with a real email (we contact you with details via email)You play in at least one of our tournamentsyou will get free access to HOMEBASE BROWSER (name may change). What is homebase browser? It is a custom version of bridgebrowser that allows you online access to a database of all hands played in HomeBase Club events (exclusively in BridgeBase Online's tournament room). This data will be updated immediately following each tournament, so you can use HOMEBASE BROWSER to review the traveller, card play, etc after the event. We need to figure out how to update the database without booting all users from the server so immediately after the event the database maynot be available for a minute (or few) and if you are online, you might get disconnect from the database as the update occurs. We will try to fix this. Questions you might ask:Can I access other BBO tournaments in HomeBase Browser?No. the free version of bridgebrowser is a value added service we provide to member of our club. It lets them quickly and easily review hands/bidding/ personal record of hands played in homebase events on the BBO. If I upgrade to platinium membership can I view hands played in other BBO tournament?Yes. Platinium membership is essentially a way we reward our club members with discounted full-vesion of BridgeBrowser access. These members will get full version of BridgeBrowser that can access, among other databases, hands played in any BBO tournament, any main room competitive table (not teaching tables), any team game. At the current time, it is not possible to review hands by tournament host however, so for example, while you can find all tournament hands played on BBO with BridgeBrowser, it is not possible to find divide into things like ACBL, skyclub, bboland, BBO Italia, or any of the many free ones for example. Homebase events are different, because we know when they start and we harvest the data in real time for those. I upgraded to platinum membership how come I can get homebase tournament data immediately but there is delays of days or more before other tourneys show up in the everybody database?This is the same situation. We know when our tournament are played. We harvest the data to create customer travelers and at the same time we upgrade the homebase database. For the rest of the data, Rec Software (owners of BridgeBrowser) gets BBO data periodically (not in real time). So only the homebase database will be updated in anything close to real time.Makeable contracts, travelers with opening lead, all the hand diagrams and and results on a single page, some tournaments will have hand analysis post with the travelers, and now free homebase browser access. We also have a forum for our members with our tournament rules, bridges rules we follow, and place for public feedback on how we are doing. We also plan to schedule knock out team tournaments (those hand may or maynot make it into homebase browser, thinking about how to do that). And scheduled emailed newletters. Give us a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finch Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 You may not be aware that 'Homebase' is a chain of DIY stores in the UK (aimed at the middle-class hobbyist not the professional). I don't know if that gives your club good or bad vibes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 You may not be aware that 'Homebase' is a chain of DIY stores in the UK (aimed at the middle-class hobbyist not the professional). I don't know if that gives your club good or bad vibes.... There are quite a few homebase named things we could find on the web. The biggest was a home "good" store online that sells things for the home. We could, however, find no "homebase club". We are reasonable happy with homebase club. In particular, we like the visual of a baseball "home base" with a club (since most of the world maynot know what homebase or home plate is in baseball, it looks like the pentagon in my avatar) in it as a simple visual indicating our club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothy Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 You may not be aware that 'Homebase' is a chain of DIY stores in the UK (aimed at the middle-class hobbyist not the professional). I don't know if that gives your club good or bad vibes.... You are right Frances.... I actually went last week-end to the shop to buy a 4 inch drill bit and 2 litres of 'Mohave Desert' silk finish paint. (got 2nd at 30% discount) The service was very cordial and the buxom blonde at the check-out had eyebrows and cheek-bones to die for. She even gave me 10p extra change! If the Homebase Bridge Club service and level of customer care is as proficient as the corresponding chain, i will be very happy to participate :) Regards Alex PS This doesnt mean Ben has to get his eye-brows plucked or his cheeks suctioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallway Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 The addition of HOMEBASE to the BBO Club/Organisations is a very welcome event indeed for myself and the BIL. I was pleased to see a number of BILlies and BIL mentors support the first Homebase tournament. The service Homebase are offering has many possibilities for use by both Mentors and Mentees in their quest to improve the quality of their play. The BIL has always given added value to our pay tourneys - board reviews following the tourney, emailed bridge movies reviewing selected hands, private tuition prizes, play with the teacher and throughout January Play with a Star (thx to Haig*, Ritong*, Granguru*, Vasanti*, Lrargerich* ) who all kept members spellbound with their commentary and play. Now the members (especially the Upper Intermediates ) can also find added value for their dollar and invaluable learning opportunities playing in the Homebase events. And I can stop worrying about scheduling events to keep them interested, they are a much needed component of the BIL - beginners competing with beginners is a recipe for going nowhere . Beginners being challenged by the Upper Intermediates leads to advancement and the realisation that the more you learn about the game, the more you find to learn. Congratulations Ben & Stephen on a successful launch I hope your Club goes from strength to strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke warm Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 nobody works harder than ben (as forum posters know), he and those associated with him have done an excellent job and i have no doubt there's more to come as for bridgebrowser, it's a remarkable tool... if top teams aren't already using it, they soon will be (out of self-preservation if nothing else)... kokish will be able to put in all opps his team will face and see not only their proclivities when opening 1x, but what gives them trouble and other mundane and/or subtle clues.. i think it will be invaluable to that class player in ways i can't yet appreciate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Thanks for the kind words and moral support Maureen and Jimmy. Jimmy said of homebase-browser that "it's a remarkable tool" That is high praise indeed. I will share a few other quotes (dated, these all from 2002 and dealt with the standalone versiion) on bridgeBrowser... Joining Jimmy in praise was: Tim Bourke who said "an analyzing tool for... data, has a "Wow" factor" Larry Cohen said, "The possibilities for analysis are mind-boggling. ...The good news is that it’s easy to get the program running in a matter of minutes. Basic search functions can be performed without reading any documentation." Interational star Carl Hudecek said, "This program is the greatest tool to study and research bridge that I have ever seen, or even IMAGINED. It is like a DREAM COME TRUE." Fred Gitelman said 'Bridge players who are interested in analysis will find BRidgeBRowser's powerful search facilities to be useful in determining which bridge strategies and bidding agreements are effective in real life play. "To be fair to these reviewers, they were reviewing a product with 18 million hand-plays and worked on your local computer. The HomeBase Browser, works online and as of this morning has only 204 hand playes in it. We imagine at least initially our club members will be using this free product to quickly and effectively review their bidding and play and see how others handled the same hands. But as the free database grows, the ability if the program to handle the massive amounts of data generated will allow all the "wow" factor quoted by the reviews above. And it is free to club members and club membership is free, so how can you possibly pass up at least trying it out after reviews like that? (You have to play in one event so your hands are in the database before you will be given a password and user nickname to use with the software), I am writing lessons on using HomeBase Browser and posting them in the Homebase BridgeBase Browser forum at http://forums.homebaseclub.com to explain how to use the browser. The 100 series is introductory lessons, the higher series 200, 300, 400 are more advanced topics. I might add the program has a lot of new features since 2002. The ploting routine added in the last six months to get histograms of hcp, suit quality, distributiions for different bids is truly amazing, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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