[toniluna]

Hi,

I am an absolute beginner, just finished the lessons. Can I play on BBO with other people on my level and where we can evetually discuss about the played hand ?

Thanks !

Ilse

[jillybean]

Join the BIL (Beginner Intermediate Lounge) under private clubs, and good luck

[1eyedjack]

Welcome. You will be addicted in no time.

Cultivate and nurture a coterie of like minded players with and against whom you enjoy playing. It will not balloon overnight. Patience.

Don't take to heart hurtful comments from random individuals whom you have just met at the table for the first time. It will happen. Just flag them to avoid in future.

Cultivate also friendships with some better players who are willing to spend time with you at the table. There are a lot of them out there willing to help and put back something into the game. I mention this specifically because of one of your opening remarks: If you have a table that solely comprises absolute beginners like yourself, don't expect much accurate or meaningful conclusions to arise from post-hand discussions.

Just finished lessons? Gods I hope not. I am still learning after many (many) years

[Vampyr]

Some novice games have expert-led discussions of the hands afterwards; check out your local clubs.

[rosetrees]

jillybean, on 2012-June-09, 16:39, said:

Join the BIL (Beginner Intermediate Lounge) under private clubs, and good luck

Thanks for that. This is my first time on this forum. I'm a recent member of BBO and so far have been playing only with robots. At least they forgive me my mistakes and I often find myself saying to the screen "there's a clever robot" when my partner wins a tricks. Is BBO bad for your mental health, I wonder

[daveharty]

rosetrees, on 2012-August-26, 01:29, said:

Is BBO bad for your mental health, I wonder

No. The Forums, on the other hand...

[jillybean]

rosetrees, on 2012-August-26, 01:29, said:

Thanks for that. This is my first time on this forum. I'm a recent member of BBO and so far have been playing only with robots. At least they forgive me my mistakes and I often find myself saying to the screen "there's a clever robot" when my partner wins a tricks. Is BBO bad for your mental health, I wonder

Robots have fabulous table ethics, they won't cheat, complain, throw their cards down as they leave the table or utter one word of criticism even after you make a huge bridge blunder. They will however offer no opinions, ideas or explain anything to you. Random BBO opponents/partners OTOH often do all of these things and I think could be bad for your mental health and your game. This is where the BIL is a somewhat protected environment and good for new players. Also check out your local bridge clubs as they often offer newcomer programs, lessons, supervised play, restricted games all geared for newer players. Not to mention Fun, Food and Real people at the tables

[rosetrees]

jillybean, on 2012-August-26, 09:52, said:

Robots have fabulous table ethics, they won't cheat, complain, throw their cards down as they leave the table or utter one word of criticism even after you make a huge bridge blunder.

True. I am becoming convinced though, that they don't always play each game the same way. Can robots cheat, I wonder? When I compare my performance with others, I'm often certain (or am I??) that other people have a higher score even on games where the robots alone have bid the contract and played the game.

[Stephen Tu]

rosetrees, on 2012-August-26, 10:31, said:

True. I am becoming convinced though, that they don't always play each game the same way. Can robots cheat, I wonder? When I compare my performance with others, I'm often certain (or am I??) that other people have a higher score even on games where the robots alone have bid the contract and played the game.

There are at least 3 different robots in use on the main bridge club hands, so they can behave differently on the same hands. There are the basic and advanced bots; advanced bots have more time to think and better algorithms enabled so they both play hands better & display better bidding judgment. Also some people are still using the old PC download client where the robot runs on their personal computer, this gives it more time and also has a different older bidding database so might choose differently in some situations.

Also, robots in the same contract may play differently if the bidding went at all differently, or slightly different opening leads, as this can affect the random sample of hands they analyze to determine what they think the best play is.

Generally you'll get a lot worse average IMP/MP scores playing against advanced bots than basic bots.

[Bbradley62]

Stephen Tu, on 2012-August-26, 15:47, said:

There are at least 3 different robots in use on the main bridge club hands, so they can behave differently on the same hands...
Also, robots in the same contract may play differently if the bidding went at all differently, or slightly different opening leads...

In the MBC, two of the same type of robot can also make different decisions even if their circumstances are identical, because they may simulate differently. This doesn't happen in tournaments, because there all robots start with the same "seed" and therefore they simulate the same.

[alanrick]

toniluna, on 2012-June-09, 12:55, said:

I am an absolute beginner, just finished the lessons. Can I play on BBO with other people on my level and where we can evetually discuss about the played hand ?

Me too. The BIL tables are full of Intermediate users so a way of joining an absolute beginner table (<100 games played) would be much less daunting, and more fun than the robots.
Alan

[alanrick]

The new version of the BBO iOS app is fantastic! You can now go to the BIL on your iPad (select list-all-tables), which I don't think was possible before.

[eagles123]

I always think it'd be quite useful to have a club that really is for absolute beginners, who are just starting to play. Even in the relaxed club and other areas for beginners there is a kind of expected standard, e.g. has a basic idea of a system, not a complete novice to card play etc etc.

[alanrick]

Hi eagles123,
I have to correct what I'd written earlier. There are BIL tables for intermediates but there are also tables for true beginners. They also offer lessons and practice sessions where it is the norm (in the beginners tables) to take back moves and ask for advice. You can try it for about a month without paying and from then it costs 20-30$ a year depending on what you want. 20 gives you what you need as a beginner.
I tried it, and yesterday after about 3 weeks BIL was brave enough to take part in my first beginners tournament. My pulse is still racing but it was a lot of fun and I wish I joined years ago when I first registered for BBO
Try it,Alan.