General News

Handy Bridge Links

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We are regularly out on the web and when we find a great site we list it here for you to enjoy. From the list below choose one of our weblinks to visit or send us your favorite links so that we may post them here for others to enjoy.

American Contract Bridge League (ACBL)
The mission of the ACBL is to promote, grow and sustain the game of bridge and serve the bridge-related interests of our Members.
Check Your ACBL Masterpoints
This link will take you to the official ACBL website from which you may log in and check your masterpoints and other information.
Duplicate Bridge Association of Atlanta
The DBAA supports and promotes bridge in the Atlanta area. They sponser 4 or 5 sectional tournaments a year.
Baron Barclay
World’s largest selection of cards and bridge supplies.
Bridge Base
World’s largest selection of cards and bridge supplies.
Richard Pavlicek’s site
Richard is a great bridge writer. His site is full of articles, lessons, and quizzes.
District 7
District 7 is in charge of all bridge tournaments in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Eastern Tennessee.
Fun Bridge
The first bridge club online. It allows you to play deals on smartphones, tablets and computers (Mac and Windows PC), and compare yourself to thousands of bridge players from all over the world. Funbridge has a community of more than 250,000 players.
Kaplan/Rubens Hand Evaluator
This will run the Kaplan and Rubens hand evaluator (knr).

Step by Step Guide to Getting Started with Bridge Base Online

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New to BridgeBase Online (BBO)? First create your BBO account (If you have an active account, you can skip this section but be sure to take a look at the TIPs)

If you are setting up for the first time, we suggest that you print these notes out to have available for reference during the process of creating an account.

NOTE: You can play BBO on a Desktop or Laptop computer (Preferred). You can play on any Tablet device (Acceptable) or Phone (Not Recommended) on which you can download Apps. Using an App will give limited functionality as compared to a computer. TIP: You should also try to play using a Mouse rather than a TrackBall as usually you will play faster moving the cursor with a mouse.

Using any browser (google, edge, safari etc) go to WWW.BRIDGEBASE.COM to access BBO. If playing on a device, go to your App Store and download the free app. TIP: If you know how to create an Icon on your Home Page/Main Screen to have access to BBO through a shortcut or bookmark, you should do that to make subsequent log ins easier.

On the LOG IN screen choose BECOME A MEMBER (free!)

CREATE A USER NAME AND type it into the User Name line. (This will be the name that will appear on the screen as your player name when you play. Create a name you will remember. (WRITE IT DOWN!)

CREATE A PASSWORD and type it into the Password line. (WRITE IT DOWN!)

Enter the same PASSWORD on Confirm password line.

Enter your REAL NAME.

Enter your ACBL number. BE SURE YOU ENTER THIS ACCURATELY. You can play free BBO games without being an ACBL member but you may not play in ACBL Sanctioned games on BBO if not a member.

 

DO NOT FORGET YOUR USER ID OR YOUR PASSWORD.
YOUR ACCOUNT IS CREATED AND YOU ARE READY TO LOG IN!

 

Log In with your User ID and Password. Now you should create a Profile and customize your Settings.

Go to ACCOUNT. You will find this tab either on the right margin of your screen or at the bottom of the screen on an App powered device. At the top of the page you should see PROFILE, SETTINGS, CONVENTION CARDS.

CLICK ON PROFILE

Click in the area titled OTHER. Here you should type in a brief description of what style game and major conventions you typically play. e.g. 2/1, std card, 1430, NMF, Bergen, etc.…. this is not meant to be complete but should give a quick overview of what your convention card says. You can return to this description and change it at any time. You may also choose to identify your Skill Level and Country from the drop-down menu on this Profile page.

END OF PROFILE SECTION

CLICK ON SETTINGS

The Buttons on the right side of the screen are used to activate the various preferences you want to have for your play. SLIDE THE BUTTON TO THE RIGHT TO ACTIVATE that action. The Button will change color (green or yellow) to show it is activated. It is your choice which you activate but here are several YOU REALLY MUST ACTIVATE:

  • Under PLAYING: Activate all but the last one. The CONFIRM BIDS AND CONFIRM CARDS are extremely important. When you activate these actions, it will prevent you from accidentally sending a bid or a card to be played by an unintended touch. If this has happened to you, you will understand the importance of these Settings.
  • Under HISTORY: Activate ADVANCE TRICK BY TRICK. This will be useful when you review boards when play is finished and you want to see how a trick progressed.
  • Under CHAT: Activate SHOW CHAT. You need this function to Chat with others in the game and to see Chats they may direct to your User ID.
  • Under NOTIFICATIONS: Activate NOTIFY ME WHEN A PLAYER I’m FOLLOWING LOGS IN. This allows you to know when your partner or friends are logged into BBO.
  • Under SOUND: Volume is controlled by your device, not BBO, but these various sounds are available if you want to hear sounds. Turn off those you don’t want.

END OF SETTINGS SECTION

CLICK ON CONVENTION CARDS

If you are a BEGINNER player or Regularly using the Standard American Yellow Card, the BBO system defaults to the SAYC-Standard American Yellow Card which is in the first Section labeled Stock Cards. If you do not post an individual convention card, it will be assumed that the system’s SAYC is appropriate for you. Simply click on ACBL SAYC and when the pop-up box appears enter your playing partner’s User Id and Edit. You may then easily delete or modify the preprinted card. Enter your partner’s User Id in the Title box at the top of the form and remember to click Save Changes before you exit.

For all players not using the SAYC to play in ACBL events on BBO, you must have a convention card with every separate BBO partner even if the card is exactly the same from partner to partner. To create each card, click on the box at the tops labeled “New ACBL Convention Card”.

When the blank form appears enter your partner’s name e.g. R Jones in the Title box you must enter that partner’s User ID e.g. Jones77. When you play with Jones77, this card will be available for the Opps to see your card. Complete the convention card form as you would normally. When is it completed, CLICK SAVE CHANGES button at the top of the form. You will find this saved card under Personal Cards. You can return here to find the card later if you need to edit it.

END OF CONVENTION CARDS SECTION

YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY IN A GAME

If you plan to play in ACBL Sanctioned games or certain BBO games after you have completed your Account setup, you will need to put money in your BBO$ Account. Recommended is to use a computer (i.e. no tablets, etc) to go to the Home page of BBO. At the top of the Page your will see the icon for BBO$. Using a credit card or Pay Pal, your purchase a fixed amount under your User ID which will be automatically drawn from when you register for a game. If you must use a Tablet or Phone, look for the Shop button at the bottom of the entry page for playing in games. BBO$ can possibly be purchased here depending on what make of device you have through the App Store.

PLAY OR WATCH BRIDGE—THE FIRST SCREEN YOU WILL SEE AFTER YOU LOG IN

  • Click on Competitive
  • Click on ACBL Virtual Clubs

Look for BCA Pairs Tournament. It will be available to register anytime after 11:00 am. The game starts at 1:00 pm

You and your partner must be logged in at the same time in order to register for a game. One of you then “sends and invite” to the other using User Id name and partner must Accept the invite. You will now be registered as a pair in the game.

If you find yourself blocked, please chat to vacb267005, that is Sam’s id while hosting a game.