Emulate Topbridge!

[McBruce]

Topbridge (www.topbridge.com) is an online site from (I think) Norway. Currently most of the players there are Scandanavian. They run a very different game with distinct advantages and disadvantages from the normal type of online bridge game:

 

Topbridge plusses:

 

--the top six players in each daily individual tournament win cash prizes: US$150 for first place, down to US$15 for 4th thru 6th.

--players pay an initial fee to receive the right to play a certain number of boards at the rate of 6 for one US dollar. Prizes are paid in boards, so if you win a daily tournament, you would win 900 more boards.

--to allow you to become familiar with the setup, anyone who signs up gets 15 free boards (not quite enough to qualify for a tournament prize, but enough to try it out)

--if you amass a large number of boards, as some do, you can trade them in for money at the same rate of 6 for $1.

--there is virtually no chance of cheating in Topbridge tournaments

--no controversies with alerting or explanations: everyone plays the same system (standard with a few gadgets)

--the quality of play is fairly good -- few players take the wild chances often seen in online tournaments with their own money on the line -- several well-known players play at the site

--participation levels are decent, with about 100 players qualifying (some more than once) daily by playing sets of 16 deals

 

Topbridge minusses:

--you cannot play exclusively with one partner

--you cannot play a fancy system

(to Topbridge enthusiasts these are converted into plusses: you don't have to face 'wired' pairs, and you don't have to contend with fancy systems)

--there is no chat and players are completely anonymous--you play only as "North," "South," "East," or "West" without knowing who your partner or opponents are--each new board takes you to a new table with new players

--complete information about any deal in the tournament, including the players who played it, is not available until the end of the daily tournament

--the Java-based client is okay but definitely not up to the graphical splendour of BBO

--since most players (at this point) are Scandanavian, there are times where it is difficult to get enough people at a table--from Western Canada I often have to play in the early morning to ensure getting in 16 boards in a day

 

If you can live with the minuses it is a fun game. Topbridge seems to be based partly on an idea I had during a 1999 discussion on the problems of OKBridge's Lehman rating system. With 100 or so players a day playing 16 boards, they are raking in a little more than they give out in prizes, enough to run occasional large prize tournaments for the highest-ranked players. They've been around since 2001 and I haven't heard of any kind of cheating scandal involved. How can you cheat if you don't know who you are playing with? Even if two players sign on at the same time, chances are that they won't be playing at the same table, and even if they are, they might not be partners.

 

BBO could do this in a flash and make some decent money! The attractions of prize money without the usual possibility of online cheating has got to be a major attraction. Our client looks a lot better, too. I suspect that if BBO were to try a Topbridge-type tourney, it would encourage many, many players to buy BBO bucks and convert them to boards. Our player base is large enough that a successful launch with BB-Basic and BB-Advanced divisions might soon expand to include other systems. It might even be possible to run tournaments lasting only 6 hours instead of running them over a 24 hour period as Topbridge does. Once the tournament ends and details are published about who played what, discussions could begin on special discussion boards here.

 

I don't know a lot about the inner workings of the BBO software but I know that Uday is a smart enough guy that he could make this possible from the existing setup quite easily. Anyone who thinks it is not bridge without real-time chat and prearranged partners and systems can continue playing in tournaments where the spectre of cheating will always be there. I think the tradeoff is worth it for the chance to win money, or even to lose a small amount but learn by playing with some good players.

[Dwingo]

Smarties who has have played at some length will quickly realise what a well designed system where the system cons you and you can con the system.

 

Think a bit more or play for some more time and it will be obvious.

[McBruce]

Gee Dwingo, thanks for that lucidity.

 

It's quite clear that you oppose the suggestion but completely unclear exactly why.

 

Care to elaborate?

[pigpenz]

best thing about BBO is its free :rolleyes:

if you decide to pay money you can win BBO$$ or masterpoints from the ACBL.

 

I would be in favor of a $$ indi where most of the money went back to the players. Say a multisession event, no kibitizers, etc. ;)