Welcome to BBO's ACBL Tournaments

Welcome to the ACBL games on BBO. These games are probably our strongest open games, but we use stratification to ensure that players at all levels have a fair chance to win masterpoints. Pair and individual games use the GCC. We welcome questions, suggestions or complaints. Please drop us a line at support@bridgebase.com.

What are BB$

These tournaments are not free and generally cost a buck. You can add our game currency, BB$ to your account at www.bridgebase.com/bb$ and use them up as you play in these games.

Schedule

  • Speedballs run round the clock, alternating between IMP and MP. Most are pairs, some are individuals. There is also a partnership desk to assist players in matching up with others.
  • Robot games start every 15 minutes or so. You will not need a partner in this tournament.
  • ACBL Instant Tournaments are also available anytime for those on the web client - play at your convenience.

    • Masterpoints

    We report all masterpoints earned in ACBL tournaments to ACBL at the start of each month. ie, January's points are reported at the start of February. Colorless masterpoints are awarded for online games.

    ACBL Player number

    We will ask for your ACBL player number each time you register for a tournament and we will stop doing this when we have validated it.

    Hand records

    Your recent game results are all stored for you. For those on the web version of BBO, click on My BBO at the top to bring up Hands and results. Or click Hands and results on the left.

    You can also go to www.bridgebase.com/myhands to bring up your recent hand records and results.

    About the robots

    The robots used on BBO are called GIB (Ginsberg's Intelligent Bridgeplayer). GIB is widely considered to be one ofthe best computer bridge programs ever created. It is occasionally capable of brilliance.It is also occasionally capable of some really poor bids and plays(just like all human players).

    Some players may find it frustrating if a particular robot partner plays especially poorly (or if a particular robot opponent plays especially well) on a given hand, but, these things will even themselves over time. We think that our robots plays at least as well as the average BBO member. In simulations, our robots currently average around 55% in a duplicate tournament setting.

    Sometimes the robot does something totally crazy (don't we all). If your GIB does something crazy, we want to know about it so we can see if it is fixable. However, we cannot, under any circumstances, offer a refund.

    The GIBs used on BBO play a relatively simple and natural 2/1 bidding system. You can find out the meaning of any bid by clicking on that bid as it appears in the bidding diagram. Furthermore,when it is your turn to bid, moving your mouse over the buttons for the various possible bids will cause an explanation of the bid you are considering (as your GIB partner will understand it) to be displayed.These explanations can be somewhat cryptic, but reading them carefully before you bid will help you to avoid misunderstandings with your GIB partner.

    You can find out more about GIB's bidding system by clicking here.

    Final words

    These games run under the umbrella of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and are considered club games. We follow all ACBL club game guidelines. For more information about the ACBL, click here.

    ACBL's Zero Tolerance Policy applies for all ACBL games on BBO. Which to us really just means...

    ...Be Nice

    Games are more enjoyable for all if everyone is civilized. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Welcome to BBO. :)