manipulation of time in speedball games

[ADKWill]

My partner and I played in our first on-line speedball tournament yesterday. It was an educational experience.

We were rather nervous and didn't play at all well. However, that is not my issue. We are normally very fast players and 6 minutes per hand is not really a problem. To be honest, we were not up to our normal standard. We had two hands decided by the director for slow play (It only made minor difference to the probable outcomes). However, I am a scientist and notice things: our opponents on at least one table took quite a bit of time early in the table-- including silly things like taking 10--15 seconds to play a card where there was no choice or a choice that was not important to the play. Then the first time my partner took a little bit more time than she might have to ponder a problem, we received 2 "please play faster" notices from one opponent. Then when the table was getting out of time, the director of course assumed we were at fault. In fact, we wasted less time at that table than did our opponents, The difference is the we gave them some slack. I wonder if this happens often?

[KingCovert]

This is common in my limited experience. As with all things Bridge, if you want fairness, you basically have to call the Director no matter how small the infraction every time, as a matter of record. Most people won't do that, and can be abused for their easy-going-ness.

[barmar]

To give the benefit of the doubt, there are an enormous number of new BBO users now. So they may not be so familiar with playing online, and they're likely to be slow.