ACBL Tourneys

[7NTDbld]

Where can I go to find a description of each type of tourney at BBO? I give up trying to find anything in the Help section or the Tournament area.

 

In particular, how do the Individual ACBL Tourneys work? Do you play with a robot? What about Robot tourneys? And Speedball? I'd like to know what they're all about before I try one.

 

Thanks,

Carol

[uday]

Hi Carol

 

I'll add something to the ABOUT ACBL ON BBO sections. Until then:

 

All our ACBL games on BBO have this in common

 

1. need to pay ( $1 per tourney at the time I write this )

2. need BB$ in your account to be able to pay

3. can purchase BB$ with a credit card, minimum $10. They are then deducted as you play

4. When you register, you are prompted 'OK to deduct $1?' but the deduction does not happen until (and if) you are seated in the tourney.

5. Prompt you for your ACBL number when you register

6. Report your ACBL points monthly to the ACBL ( on about the 2nd)

7. Use duplicate scoring (IMP or MP), with same boards at every table

 

Now, moving on to whats different about our various flavours of ACBL club games

 

1. ACBL Indy

This is a normal individual movement, 12 boards, about 7 mins per board. All players are human. TD on duty. Cannot withdraw, but TD will replace you on request. Scoring is either MP or IMP

 

 

2. ACBL Robot indy

This game is 12 boards long. One human per table (sitting South) competing against other human souths at other tables. W,N,E are robots. Scoring is currently Matchpoints. 55 minutes. Must complete all boards in order to scratch. No TD on duty. Can withdraw via Director! button.

 

3. ACBL pairs

This is a normal pair game, mitchell movement, 12 boards, about 7 mins per board. All players are human. TD on duty. Cannot withdraw, but TD will replace you on request. Scoring is either MP or IMP. Field is stratified.

 

4. ACBL Speedball pairs

Like an ACBL pair game but 4.5 minutes per board, total time for tourney is just under 1 hour.

 

 

Hope that cleared things up. I've added some free entries to your account so you can try some on the house. My email is uday@ ( ie, at bridgebase.com )

 

uday

[7NTDbld]

Thanks so much for your speedy reply.

 

I've done Pairs before, so I know what those are all about, but how do they differ from Indy pairs? When I register for one, there's no place to sign up a partner, so who do I play with? That's the stuff I want to know.

 

I tried a Robo tourney once, but never again! Phew! After the first two or three tricks, the cards started flashing by so fast, I couldn't see what they were. Then, as the hand progressed, I'd play "one" card, and several "tricks" (not cards) would flash by faster than the speed of sound. With eyes wider than saucers, I was left there scratching my head in bewilderment. I guess I need to replace my brain with a computer chip, sigh.

 

That's why I'd like to know ahead of time what's invovled with each type of tourney. I'm getting too old for brain surgery.

 

Thanks again,

Carol

[Jacki]

Hi Carol...

 

To add a bit to the previous...

 

The pairs games - regular slower pair games (7 minutes per board) and the Speedball games, (4.5 minutes per board) require you to have a partner to play. You can BYOP or find one on the Partnership Desk. All pairs tournaments have a partnership desk open before every game.

 

The regular, slower pairs games will have you playing 6 two-board rounds with the same partner each round. The Speedball games will have you playing 4 three-board rounds with the same partner each round. Both of these require that you register with a partner.

 

The Individual games are not pairs games - you don't need a partner for those. You sign up individually which is why there's not partnership desk there. We supply the partners in these Individual games. Each round in a directed Individual game consists of two boards. You will play 2 boards with one player and when the round changes you will play the next two-board round with another player, and then another and another. So in each of the 6 rounds in the ACBL Individual directed games you will play with a different partner. This is a good way to 'try out' players to see if you feel like you would like to play in a complete pairs game with one or more of them.

 

The ACBL Individual Robot games are not directed. They start and end automatically - each in 55 minutes or less. The ACBL robot games start every 15 minutes and finish 1) when everyone has played all 12 boards or 2) when the 55 minute time limit has expired. Once again you do not need a partner.

 

Every human player in these ACBL duplicate robot games has exactly the same partner and exactly the same opponents. The problem with the cards flying by at supersonic speed happens when the robot is declaring. Once they (it?) reach a certain point in the play and no longer have to think or do whatever robots substitute for thinking, there's no reason not to (in the robot world) just get the hand over with and on to the next, so the cards fly by and the next hand is up.

 

You can still go through the play after the fact by using the movie button in the Windows version of BBO or by clicking on "My Results" in the new Web BBO and highlighting the hand you want to review. Clicking the "next" button allows you to go through the hand card play by card play - at your own pace.

 

When you are declaring the hand, though, or when one of the opponent bots are declaring, you can slow the play down yourself by waiting before you play a card. You can always click on the last trick played to see what the bots played on it if they still go too fast.

 

If other questions come up you can usually find me online during the afternoon and evening hours with the BBO yellow name ACBL (or Jacki). Just send me a message if you need something else answered.

 

Jacki :)