[thepossum]

Dear all

Hoping for some serious feedback

I am rather disappointed at the lack off opportunity for friendly social rubber-style sitting round a table with a few drinks for a few hours.
Nobody taking things seriously. Nobody bullying anyone or attacking the speed of their play or their bidding inadequacies
Interestingly after kibitzing many BBO sessions over the years some of the worst offenders are not that good themselves

Where do we find friendly, informal social Bridge in the time of Covid19
I'm not going to find it down at the local pub where I live

No Bridge clubs do not fit the friendly social Bridge requirement. Nor do lessons

regards P

EDIT Over the years from time to time I've dropped in on tables, tried setting up my own table with a requirement to be friendly and relaxed
I even tested setting up a team game with rather amusing and disastrous results. And from my observation most of the team players are too serious/good for me etc. The occasional team game would be fun. It fits the bill

EDIT 2 Before I am misunderstood or thought disrespectful the fact I have hardly ever dropped in and ruined anybodies' (anybody's) game is testament to my caution/respect I considered it from time to time. A free seat at some expert's table

[hrothgar]

From my perspective, your best option is to schedule set games with friends.

For example, I have a set game at 11:30 AM on Sundays with folks that I've known online for years.
Had another one, but we're currently playing Gloomhaven instead...

Alternatively, you need to build up some kind of community that knows each other and invites each other to pick up matchs and the like.

Either way, the important thing is that having or joining some kind of social group is a prerequisite for enjoying BBO and the like.

[mycroft]

Mirroring Hrothgar here. You do what you always did - arrange a meeting for social bridge, show up and enjoy.

I understand that "enjoy" means something different to different people, especially the meaning of "together".

We have someone in Alberta who arranges team games two or three times a week, getting 8 players together of about 20. The style is different from what thePossum wants - we play 24 boards in 2 hours or so, at a good pace and good bridge. We all know each other, so the game is friendly and with some discussion, but mostly we're here to play bridge, beers later :-)

I could certainly arrange a zoom-style meeting, either virtual screens or just a "see each other" during the game or kaffeeklatsch after; but we tend not to.

I do remember the games back in the not-quite-junior days where the bridge was just an excuse for everything else. Those would have been even more fun with a zoom-style side meeting. (RIP medea).

But you can't impose your desires on someone else, especially someone else random. You couldn't do it in the clubs either, unless those desires are "play the game according to the rules and on time". You need to have the social group with its mores *first*.

[thepossum]

Its tricky, especially when you aren't really surrounded by Bridge people or a Bridge culture.

I am also finding that playing so much robot Bridge is killing what small amount of real Bridge skill I ever had

Even playing people in drops ins online doesn't give you much of the real social aspect of Bridge.

Its a different game altogether. In my mind it is anyway

I can feel the way I think and play is totally different

A bit like work from home compared to working in a team

[mycroft]

It is tricky. It takes work. It doesn't just fall into your lap. Now if you are the kind of person that fit in well with the way the world worked pre-Internet, and the way the work world worked pre-Covid, you might just find that difficult to do, because you've never had to do it before. Congratulations - now you know what my world was like "normally".

Working from home on a team is Great! Amazingly better than having to deal with everyone in person for hours a day. If it wasn't for the fact that every time I or the people I live with leave my home, I could die, I'd be incredibly happy. But again, awkward, massive (if social) introvert here.

And I agree with you, playing with robots is different from people. And it can affect your game. So, go, find games that fit. But know that, like any other sales job - note, "looking for a job" and "looking for a relationship" are sales jobs, pretty difficult ones too - it will take time, and a lot of rejection, and a lot of mistakes, and a lot of "get back on the horse and try again".

[jeb1248]

Long story...An old friend of mine, Andy, and I are long-time "Fishing Buddies". I live in Chicago and he's in upstate Michigan so I visit him there several times a year for fishing. His small town has a 'Senior Center' where they had once-a-week bridge tournaments and he wanted me to brush up on bridge so I could play when I came over. All that stopped with Covid.

I had found Bridge Base Online and started to play the robots to knock the rust off my game, so I suggested maybe he and his wife could round up a few of the Seniors and we could get up a game on line once or twice a week. We tried it a couple of times and now he's the defacto bridge game coordinator for me and the rest of the Seniors. I usually play once or twice a week, but he'll set up games three or four times a week. The hardest part is getting the Seniors, who are not very computer-literate, set up on Bridge Base and indoctrinated in its use. We also use Skype sessions to add a social aspect. It helps a lot to make it more convivial. We play 20 games (pass-outs don't count) or two hours, whichever comes first. If we get to 18 hands and hit the time limit and nobody has anything pressing, we'll usually finish out to 20 games.

The end result is a number of people, who are otherwise fairly isolated, getting together in a friendly atmosphere and doing something they enjoy (while still being socially-distanced).

One problem we ran into once we got into it is that we're playing Rubber Bridge, or Kitchen Bridge as they like to call it and the scoring on Bridge Base is Duplicate scoring. Not everyone knows how to keep Rubber Bridge score nor do they all use the same scoring rules. Go figure. So I wrote a program that runs under Windows, since most of them are using Windows laptops, that is a snap to install and super easy to use to keep score. That seems to have alleviated that situation. So this is just one "success story". I'm sure there others. Oh, and a big THANKS to BBO for having a great site.