Player Guidelines

Playing Tempo - During bidding and play, maintain a steady pace. It is okay that some bids or plays may take more time to think but in general try to keep good pace. A long pause is unethical when your bid or play does not require time (e.g. a singleton in the suit being played) especially if it is meant to mislead your opponents on your holdings. Slow players should realize that, most other tables may be ready for the next round and you may be delaying the game for everyone.  To speed up the play, in your BBO settings, you should let BBO autoplay singletons.

Claims - After playing several tricks, if you as the declarer, feel sure that the rest of the tricks are yours, you should make a claim rather than continue playing. Claim only when it will be clear to the opponents e.g. when all winners are all on one side or are in a single suite or only a few tricks remain. Alternatively, the defenders may concede the remaining tricks but be sure not to claim the remaining tricks – the claim should be for zero tricks (concede).

Table chat - Table chat should be avoided during bidding or play. If it is your turn to bid/play, do not be typing a text to the table or to the TDs.  A discussion about prior boards should be held off until the end of play in the round. To request a bid explanation or to explain a bid, do not use table chat. Any comments directed towards your opponents must be civil recognizing that we want our games to be friendly. The dummy must avoid any table chat e.g. suggesting a claim or premature “well done partner” comment.

Incomplete Boards - At the end of a round, if you have not finished playing a board, please contact any TD to request score adjustment if at least 6 tricks have been played. Based on the unplayed cards, the TD will use BBO’s double dummy feature to estimate the final outcome and adjust the score. Please do not dispute the TD’s ruling.

Complaints - During play, if you have any complaints, please contact any TD using the BBO playtime menu. These complaints may include insufficient bid explanations, rude comments by opponents, excessive delay, a player stuck due to internet issues, a player intentionally slow etc. If an inactive/slow player complaint has resolved by itself, please let the TDs know so that they can avoid an unnecessary investigation.  Remember that your TDs are also playing and cannot kibitz your table to learn that the situation has resolved.

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