I rudely hijacked this thread (sorry dougie_monty) to see if there was any interest among dopers in getting together for a regularly occurring bridge game.
It looks like there should be enough of us interested to get at least one table together, possibly two - depending on how many of us can commit to the same time slot.
The purpose of this thread (hopefully) will be to determine the location, timing, and partnerships*.
If it turns out we all have a bidding system in common that we’re comfortable with, we could rotate partners.
If you’re interested, please post in this thread and let us know:
days/times you’re available to play, in order of preference
bidding systems/conventions you’re willing to play, in order of preference
bridge sites you’re willing to patron, in order of preference
what level of play you would rate yourself as
anything else that might be significant that I’ve neglected to think of on my own
Tuesday evening would be my ideal, but I can be available pretty much any weekday after 5pm ET, excluding Thursday (SDMB poker)
SAYC is probably safest, but I’ve been known to play a pretty horrible 2/1 or Precision from time to time; if you have a unique and/or homemade system that’s well documented, I’d probably prefer that.
Bridge Base Online preferred, but am willing to play pretty much anywhere that’s free to join (excluding Swan Games)
Good enough to realize that I’m a below average declarer and (usually) acknowledge when I screw up the auction
I care more about having a good time than doing well
I’m curious about whether I could play online, with only dialup access. Downloading much of anything is…very difficult. Trying to play might not be fair to everyone else, as I’d expect some degree of lag to make my responses seem slow.
If I actually could play, I might be interested in being a semi-regular substitute player or something. I haven’t played seriously in several years, and only had about 50 masterpoints, so I’d qualify as a novice for ACBL-type events.
I’ve forgotten most of the bidding conventions I used, but with a bit of a refresher, I could probably play most of SAYC.
days/times you’re available to play, in order of preference
Monday to Thursday, 7pm-10pm ET
bidding systems/conventions you’re willing to play, in order of preference
Standard American, but willing to accept variations on that
bridge sites you’re willing to patron, in order of preference
I’ll be guided by others on that
what level of play you would rate yourself as
I have about 90 points in the ACBL, from about 2 years of paying at the club, district and regional level.
anything else that might be significant that I’ve neglected to think of on my own
I might be able to persuade my wife to join in, though not in the next 10 days. She’s got about twice as many ACBL points as me. However, I’m not sure how online bridge works with two players on one computer.
Most days after midnight, Pac Time; weekends early morning.
SAYC; willing to try others
BBO; anything else that’s free or worth paying for.
Beginning level, maybe getting towards intermediate.
Just wondering: What can we do as a message board that I can’t already do on BBO? (Other than start threads in the Pit to rake a partner over the coals for mistakes?)
Most weekdays during the day, Eastern. Most days after 10PM. Any time Monday evening and occasionally some other evenings.
I played all my serious bridge playing Acol, but I looked up SAYC (didn’t even know what it stood for) and can play that also. It looks like the system in Bridge for Dummies, which my wife has been learning from.
Anything free. I registered with BBO but have not played there yet.
This is difficult. 25 years ago I would have said “expert”, but have played very little in the last 15 years and when I do play I make mistakes that embarrass me.
Many evenings. I already play at BBO with a partner on Monday night…but opps are welcome. I like to play as often as possible. However, my wife might divorce me if I commit to too much bridge time…
SAYC is fine…however I’m always up for trying a new convention or three.
BBO is really tops.
Intermediate. I have about 190 master points. Used to play regularly at a local club until the evening games were dropped. Stupid thing called work interferes during most days. However, Thursdays often are free.
Good times are the only reason to play bridge, IMHO. It’s just a game.
days/times you’re available to play, in order of preference
I can play week nights except Tue, as that’s when I usually play IRL. Trouble is, I’m in the UK, so might be a bit out of phase with the time difference. Anything much past 9pm Eastern and you’re talking about the middle of the night here. Don’t worry about accommodating me if this is too awkward.
Can probably play at the weekend if I know well in advance.
bidding systems/conventions you’re willing to play, in order of preference
I play Acol with a weak NT and 3 weak 2s - plus as many simple conventions as you like. Think I could manage SAYC if I had a quick revision of the basics.
bridge sites you’re willing to patron, in order of preference
BBO - The only game in town.
what level of play you would rate yourself as
Intermediate - Happy to accept correction from others on this
2 - I play ACOL. I’m not yet sufficiently skilled to branch out. I’m learning Weak 2H/2S and red-suit transfers. I normally play strong 2s. Weak 1NT, Weak Takeout, Blackwood, Gerber.
Sometimes you can get lucky, such when my wife and I had a misunderstanding, and got into a 6 spades contract with only 5 spades between us. As I remember it (she was declarer), she had the AKQJ of spades, and the spades broke 4-4, so we actually made it, but still…
I just checked; my BBO account still seems to work, although I haven’t played online in forever. I’d be willing to give it a go though. Evenings or some Saturdays generally work for me.
and i am total beginner so you may want to take that into consideration if you invite me. i mean i am going to have to have some extremely patient folks around. i mean i understand the theory of the game but have really never played at all. but it does look to be more cerebral than spades.
well texcat i live in san antonio which is pretty separate and distinct from the rest of texas so, no i don’t read texas monthly which seems to focus on austin, dallas and houston. half the folks they talk about could be yankees :eek: for all i know.
seriously, check out the videos of us celebrating nba championships. no freaking rioting or burned cars and that nonsense. crap the cops even helped shut down the freeways after we won our first one so that folks could get out and bounce around on the asphalt. just a bunch of manana folks getting together and enjoying another day in paradise. of course meals consisting of a pound of meat, a pound of cheese, a pound of beans, a pound of rice, a gallon of beer and a quart of tequilla does tend to make one rather placid.
It looks like our best times so far are Monday or Wednesday, 7-9pm Eastern, depending on Quartz’s response to my below query and assuming there are no objections to including Biotop’s partner.
Oakminster: BBO can be played entirely based in the browser; setup an account and see if the speed is bearable for you or not: http://www.bridgebase.com/
Quartz: How late into the evening are you available on your stated nights?
