Fast-paced Bridge Match (Updated)

Author

Paulo Brum

We have been tinkering with a new format of bridge exhibition, and we invite you to participate.

(Go to the bottom of the post for an update).

The idea is to broadcast a short match (12 boards) played by great experts. The difference between this and an ordinary high-level bridge match -- which is becoming ever more common nowadays, happily -- is that all 4 players are committed to playing quickly. We believe this makes for a more pleasurable experience for spectators.

The match will take place every Friday, starting at 16h05 EDT (this is New York time, for spectators from other countries), and it is supposed to end before 17h00. A fun way to spend one hour while you are at home.

You can watch the match on BBO (look for my table there -- my handle is "Paulinho"), and listen to the instant broadcast by joining a zoom meeting created for it. To get the ID and password information for the zoom meeting, send us an email: [email protected], up to one hour before match time (15h05 EDT). If you send the email after this deadline, I may not be able to answer it. If you find yourself in this situation, try to get the ID/password info from a friend via some other channel. It will be an open meeting, but I will not publish the access information here.

I will be doing the vugraph commentary. And if some interesting problem appears and any player needs to stop to think longer than they are expecting to (since this is supposed to be a quick match), he MUST (this is part of our rules!) call me on the phone to explain what is his problem. So, the participants in the zoom meeting will listen to his reasoning in real time. 

Our players tomorrow, May 15th, will be Diego Brenner - Miguel Villas Boas, Gabriel Chagas - Pablo Ravenna. You can be sure that the bridge will be of a very high level (and quick!), with these players in the field!

​If you have any questions, please ask them on our Facebook page. 

We hope to see you there!

And please consider donating at our site. Any value is a big help. Your money will be used to help our experts finance their expenses in bridge tournaments.

UPDATE: We will try a new feature in our next broadcast, Friday, May 22nd, 16h EDT. As soon as I identify who will be the dummy (sometimes this is early in the auction, sometimes very late), I will call this player and listen to his reasoning about the auction and the play. After dummy comes down, he will look at the declarer's hand and give a quick appraisal of the contract and the line he believes is best (sometimes he will be divided between lines). All of this will be shared with the zoom audience.

The zoom meeting will open at 15h55 EDT, with vugraph comments. 

Let's hope BBO will be already settled down with the server changes, and that the zoom meeting also behaves well!