BBO (what is it?)

[hrothgar]

Quick question for the peanut gallery: Think of BBO and all of its associated services (the VuGraphs, the forums, the database of hand records, yada yada yada)... How do you “use”BBO? What are the services that draw you to this place? For example, right now I don't have any serious partnerships. I'm certainly not gearing up to play in any major tournaments. Accordingly

 

1. I make extensive use of the BBO forums. I use the forums to identify “like-minded” players who share similar interests

2. I spend a fair amount of time socializing with friends (this may or may not involve actually playing bridge)

3. I watch online Vugraph

4. I play pickup games

 

If, on the other hand, I was prepping for a tournament, I suspect that that profile would look quite different. I'd be making use of functions like the partnership bidding room, doing more BridgeMaster practice, be using third party apps like Bridge Browser, etc.

 

I'd be interested in understanding just how other people are using the site

[chicken]

60% for teaching purposes, the rest nearly equally divided between watching, chatting, playing and TDeeing

[Sigi_BC84]

I mostly play with my regular partner or other players from my real life bridge club. Often my opponents are also people I know from real life bridge (ie. we are a small group of people meeting up on BBO to complement our RL bridge).

 

We like to play tournaments as well (only free tournaments as of yet, although some pay clubs, eg. Homebase, look promising).

 

Also we have a group of around 15 players who used to meet up regularly for team matches. These are actual real life teams which are playing in several German regional leagues. Lately we didn't have any matches but actually these sessions were fun and a good example of how BBO can help with making bonds across regional boundaries. In the meantime, an informal German team league has been organized and is about to be played during the course of the year. This will be fairly serious bridge and I expect a fairly high quality field (esp. compared to club events).

 

Most of this could be counted as practice towards improving our "serious" play.

 

I play the occasional pickup game/tourney and individual tournament, and I've also made a few online aquaintances that way with whom I play from time to time.

 

All in all, I consider BBO to be a substantial part of my bridge playing life and it would be a lot less interesting for us if it didn't exist (and there was no comparable replacement).

 

--Sigi

[jdonn]

I use it mostly for playing with people who live far away, but I also make extensive use of the bidding practice facility, especially for practicing relay systems. I also enjoy the vugraph shows, though I usually move the window halfway off the bottom of my screen so I can ignore the commentary, much like with a sporting event it is much more enjoyable without commentary to me. And of course, anyone answering this question obviously uses the forums, which to me are sort of a pleasant digression from the daily grind.

[1eyedjack]

My time is divided between reading forums and playing in the main playing area with pickup partners. Very occasionally I play with a regular partner in the main playing area but in a social setting against random opponents.

If the creation of team games were made more user-friendly then I suspect that my overall playing time would increase and my time in the main playing area would decrease. I drop into viewgraphs occasionally but only really if I recognise the players.