Online Bridge Realities

[kenrexford]

I find it of constant amusement the manners and audacity of people when they are on line playing bridge. This is not a new thought, but all too often repeated. Funny, always, though.

 

Obviously, it is annoying to many when people claim skills in their profile that are amazingly off-base. We have all experienced that reality.

 

Added to this are the mischaracterizations from ignorance. The person who repeatedly proves himself an idiot, and yet posts his profile up, but believes it, as indicated by the rude running commentary to his clearly superior but humbly quiet partner.

 

I just experienced yet another example of this. On the second hand of the main bridge club match, I opened 2H in third seat, white on red, with 10xx-QJ108x-10xx-Kx. The result was 2HX-1, -100, when the opponents make 3NT. Before the result hit, my partner typed about how he is sick of so-called experts lying about their credentials and left from dummy mid-hand. My new partner and I proceeded to rapidly advance +40 or so against two other "experts" of good ability.

 

It always makes me laugh. I recently also played against an individual who apparently won a Junior World Championship. His partner berated him mercilessly, for no good reason, until he found this out and suddenly changed his tune.

 

This never happens in face-to-face.

[Sigi_BC84]

This never happens in face-to-face.

You should play in my club.

 

--Sigi

[paulg]

One of my favourite quotes in this regard ...

It's important to remember that you are playing real people online, and that the online people are for real!

 

-- Anne Lucy

[ArcLight]

>Before the result hit, my partner typed about how he is sick of so-called experts lying about their credentials and left from dummy mid-hand.

 

Your pard should not have made those comments, especially mid hand.

 

However, whats wrong with the player who is dummy leaving when YOU are declaring? Why should he have to sit there if he doesn't want to play with you, waiting for you to finish the hand?

 

I don't think its necessary for the Dummy player to stick around being bored/frustrated. Just leave quietly, or with a "GLP".

[MickyB]

I agree, but if I remember correctly BBO policy does not - leaving, even when dummy, is recorded, and if you do it too frequently you will be suspended from BBO.

[Walddk]

..... and if you do it too frequently you will be suspended from BBO.

Not suspended from BBO, but suspended from playing in the MBC, usually for 3 days.

 

Roland

[ArcLight]

>I agree, but if I remember correctly BBO policy does not - leaving, even when dummy, is recorded, and if you do it too frequently you will be suspended from BBO.

 

In BIL my mentor would let me declare both hands when our side was declaring (I had kibitz set to see pards cards so I never saw the opps), and would thus "quit" 5-6 times per session with no suspension. But when we played a second time the same week, he got the main room suspension notice.

So the cut off is probably above some number. I dont think quitting once in a while will trigger it.

 

 

Of course the alternative is to read your email while the hand is being played and see if the hand is over after 10 minutes or if you hear the beep. :unsure:

[kenrexford]

I did not care for the reason you might have suspected that he left mid-hand. I wanted him to stay for a few reasons.

 

1. As a player who knows way more than this idiot, I knew our result would be good, and I wanted the idiot to see this.

2. I wanted a few more opportunities to respond with my witticisms.

3. The more he typed, the dumber he looked.

 

And so on...

 

:unsure:

[kenberg]

As to the simple part of leaving while dummy, I often do that and I don't really understand why it should be discouraged. Unless it would be extreme hypocrisy I thank my partner and opponents, say I must leave, and then depart. In extreme cases I just say I must depart. Sticking around until the next hand comes up seems pointless and indecisive. Leaving while dummy allows time for another player to enter the arena. If my time is somewhat flexible I often wait to leave until I am dummy just for that reason. If you are for some reason committed to playing more hands it's a diffeent story of course.

 

However, your main point was in regard to rude remarks by an uninformed person who then departs as if he cannot be bothered to hear anything you have to say or to see if his judgment proves out (which it usually doesn't). What can I say? A jerk is a jerk is a jerk.

 

An extreme case occured on OKBridge where people sometimes play NC, so that the results do not affect their ratings. The table was declared NC and the advertisement for it was that it would be a nice relaxed game. On the first board in a competitive auction we go a good result which the host, my lho, blamed on me making a stupid bid. He called me an idiot and then he booted me from the table. So much for relaxed. There is nothing really that can be done about this, fortunately it is the exception rather than the rule.

 

 

Ken

[AceOfHeart]

It always makes me laugh. I recently also played against an individual who apparently won a Junior World Championship. His partner berated him mercilessly, for no good reason, until he found this out and suddenly changed his tune.

 

This never happens in face-to-face.

maybe his partner won the Bermuda bowl? Anyway, even the best players can have off days. Berating partner at the bridge table is downright rude and i will never play with him again. Constructive comments will work better.

[civill]

I don't think online bridge is formal, and there are some of this typical cases.

[Canuckstan]

I'm baffled by the incredible rudeness of some online players. I also think it's too difficult to report abuses at BBO. The other day I was playing with a gentleman from Turkey who calls himself "xxx." [edited by moderator, names not allowed here] I did a takeout double with 10 or 11 points (a tad light, I'll admit, but it was close to the optimal 1-4-4-4 distribution.) However, the bid encouraged my "partner" to bid on to game. When he went down, he cursed me on the chat function in very foul language and ejected me with no warning (he was the table host, obviously). Note this was our very first (and only) hand together. I had time to flag him as an enemy, which is why I can recall the name, but nowhere can I find an official mechanism for reporting such abuses -- which is easier at sites like Pogo.com.

 

I felt the behaviour was far in excess of my "crime," if indeed my double was a crime. And I felt badly about it for hours after. Just because the other person is an anonymous name behind a keyboard somewhere on the planet doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated with respect.

 

As far as I'm concerned, "xxx" [ditto, if you have a specific complaint, write to abuse at bridgebase dot com] should be banned from the site -- permanently along with any other handles he may use associated with the same email address.

Edited April 12, 2006 by inquiry

[barmar]

Unfortunately, studies have shown that the anonymity provided by the Internet causes behavioral changes like these in many people. People who might be extremely pleasant in person can become quite rude online.

 

Besides the eggregious examples given here, lesser offenses are prodding players who are thinking with "please bid/play" after a relatively short tank (like 30 seconds).

[peaceman]

As long as the online game is free, ther will be whackos to put up with. Some have brain chemistry issues, others feel free to vent hostility when there are few or no available serious repercussions, such as a punch in the face.

 

Even banning players seems unlikely to me a viable strategy, since people can change their indentity, can't they?

 

The only solution is the positive one of getting to know people by name & playing with the types u find congenial, since once a person takes a name it is his/hers until given up (or even after change to another) -- so positive reinforcement must be emphasised over the negative, over attempts at controling bad behaviour.

 

Bumping itself can be a very abusing behaviour when the captain uses it to comment on the bidding & play at the table.

 

I think the site does a pretty good job with this issue, but bridge players in general need to understand online play does involve some major re-orienting of how one thinks about social relations -- basically, the real world model does not apply.

 

One of the great advantages to online play is that you can yell & scream at yr partner all u want -- as long as u don't type it in -- so vent & save on ulcer pills, as necessary....it will probably have positive effects on your face-to-face games if u can learn to interpose that little censor-response....

 

RE: the dummy sticking around. If dummy leaves, too often it gives an implication that declarer is in trouble, and so may affect the defence or declarer play of the hand. If u really must leave, I suggest saying that u got a phone call or someone is at the door, etc., so no inferences can be taken (rightly or wrongly).

[kenrexford]

The humor of the rudeness abounds. I was just chastised for "complete madness" as my partner rudely departed. The auction was 1H-2C-2S-3C-4C-5C-P-P-X-P-P-P.

 

My partner's precursor to this was that he could not understand why I bid 4C (apparently to show clubs) and hid my spade fit. He had made an undiscussed negative free bid with five HCP's (two queens and a jack), with Q10xxx for his spade suit.

 

LOLOL