[Stars]

Hi all, pls vote

[Stars]

What is your pefered thing on BBO ?

Chating ?
Kibitzing ?
or Playing ?

;-) Regards, Juan

[the hog]

Kibbitzing AND playing.

[inquiry]

This will come out wrong, I am sure... but I get the most enjoyment out of BBO while kibitizing. Besides, as a kibitzer, I haven't misplayed a hand yet. Now, as a kibitizer, you probably think I sit there and yack and yack in chat. No, unless someone says something to me, I pretty much ignore the chat area all together. I find chat distracting from the game... and would turn it off if I thought it would do any good.

I also enjoy playing with a partner who will agree to play the wacky stuff I can play so I can test it out in competition. This is why misho was such a joy to play with, he would play any crazy thing I dreaned up. In return, I tried a lot of his ideas.

Chating? Obviosly it is third on the list.. now if you want to chat about the hands or a play, i will chat your eyes off.... (typing you know).

Ben

[Rain]

I vote play.

Its not just the play you know. Its the variety of play you are allowed here. You can play rubber (wish this shows up in myhands, can be a way of recording win/losses if anyone uses BBO to gamble, haha) or IMP MP (wish more people play this).

Always prefer to join the fun then just watch enviously like Ben does anyway :>

As for chat...its nice if you talk to me and I get set, will blame you =P

Rain

[nikos59]

I voted for "playing" because I wasn't sure what was
meant by "kibitzing". If this means "kibitzing other
BBO players" then I do it rarely but if this means
"watching Vugraph" then I would -also- vote for it.
Or I wouldn't vote because I can't vote twice.

[joker_gib]

Kibitzing and vu-graph !

By the way I think that it is far more difficult to concentrate when playing online than f2f !

[Chamaco]

I like all 3.

I like:

1) playing, either with a regular pd, or a pard I can understand bid and play
2) kibitzing, if I have a good player there who will discuss the play/bids (I have seen Earlpurple doing this quite frequently recently at tables with gold stars)
3) watching viewgraph, when there are good commentators (good = commentators who try to comment technically the hands- even when the deals may look straightforward at first sight- rather than losing the thread in non-bridge issues)
4) chatting, of bridge or not, when I have good friends online.
5) following mentoring sessions: this is great. In my early days on BBO I learned A LOT from Shep mentoring sessions, and I can se that many sessions provided by BIL are REALLY excellent !!

I will add one more point:
6) discussing topics on BB Forum: in the latest times, the Forum has been a good ubtitute for the mentoring session, giving a place to ask specific doubts/questions.


This is the beauty of BBO, it gives so many opportunities to enjoy being logged in (sometimes too much, it becomes an addiction!! ).

At any time (and acording to my mod), I prefer one or the other activity, based on who is online (a good partner, a good player to kibitz, a good/bad vugraph commentator, nice mentoring sessions, or good friends I like o chat a little about this and that )

[pclayton]

Just like OKB, I much prefer playing, but I'm picky about my pards, so I end up kibbing 90% of the time. My preference is to watch Larsen, Weischel, Richie and even young Justin and hide the other three hands. Much funner than having all hands in view.

[junyi_zhu]

Stars, on Nov 9 2004, 09:35 PM, said:

Hi all, pls vote

There should be more options, I spent most of my time practice bidding at BBO actually, hehe.

[jtfanclub]

junyi_zhu, on Nov 10 2004, 03:51 PM, said:

Stars, on Nov 9 2004, 09:35 PM, said:

Hi all, pls vote

There should be more options, I spent most of my time practice bidding at BBO actually, hehe.

Agreed. My favorite thing to do, oddly enough, is direct. Since I don't play in pay tourneys, it makes me feel less guilty about being here, it teaches me things, and for some reason it makes me sharper when I kibbitz.

[luke warm]

i kib 90%+, like phil... i seem to learn more, and enjoy it more because of that... of course part of the problem comes because i'd love to play 2/1 my way and probably won't find anyone that'll do it... playing other versions is fine, it just doesn't turn me on as much as it should

[Stars]

Hi, so we're going to add .Practice with students
. Vaching VuGraph
. Learn/ give lessons ;-)

[inquiry]

Well, Stars is on to something. I have heard a lot of people say how much they like the Free lesson offered in BIL. And I think it might be safe to assume those paying for lesson from the pro's must be liking it or they would stop paying. And the pro's might like making some of the money as well as offering a little teaching.

So there must be a lot more options than the three listed here.... Maybe we need all the options, and an "All of the above"

Ben

[Chamaco]

If "mentoring sessions" and "good vugraph comments" are added, that will be my vote.

The biggest advantage of BBO over an average club is IMO to be able to learn so much from such a wide range of great players.

I am not a good player, but I have no hesitations to say that without the mentoring sessons I could follow, it would have taken at least twice the time it took me to reach my current level.

[inquiry]

Chamaco, on Nov 12 2004, 03:30 PM, said:

If "mentoring sessions" and "good vugraph comments" are added, that will be my vote.

The biggest advantage of BBO over an average club is IMO to be able to learn so much from such a wide range of great players.

I am not a good player, but I have no hesitations to say that without the mentoring sessons I could follow, it would have taken at least twice the time it took me to reach my current level.

Exactly. If you just want to push cards electronically, there are many on line places to do that. I will not mention BBO's "competition", primarily because there really isn't any.

What makes BBO different is that it is set up from the ground level to be not only a great place to play, but a great place to learn. Teaching tables, private clubs, vugraph, lecture room, bridge library, double dummy problems, now the BIL and its fine llist of dedicated teachers, highlighting players worthy of being kibitzed with gold stars, the ability to kibitz "expert level tournments (stars, topflight, abalucy gold, and no doubt future ones to be defined), the world-class bridge matches, the archive of vugraphs (now with comments), and the list goes on and on.

Playing bridge? Blah, you can do that lots of place, living bridge in an educational and carring enviroment? BBO is the place for you.

Ben

[mycroft]

What I prefer on BBO is proper spelling. I understand that for many the language they are typing in is one they're not comfortable with (and I am the first to excuse imperfect grammar from non-English speakers. When I can do anywhere near as well in their language, I have a right to complain), and also that there are some who can't type 50 wpm, but I *hate* txtspk. And I don't think it's lack of speed when the two line comments are coming fast and furious, but are still filled with L33t Hax0r <expletive>.

And that goes double for webforums, where the time pressure is non-existent.

Yes, I use abbreviations. Frequently. And I do realize they're often Usenet jargon abbreviations, which many people here won't know. But abbreviating "If I Remember Correctly" or "In My Humble Opinion" - especially where IMHO has the ironic denotation "built in"; that's a *little* more than two letters.

And while I have no problem with "glp" and "typ" ("tup" rankles, for obvious reasons, though), I choose not to use them, for they still look to me, even after 5+ years of online bridge, like "gulp" and "typical".

I had, at one point, the following two quotes in my profile:
"U R a letter; I am a person. Thanks." and
"Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of a diseased mind" - Rincewind (Terry Pratchett)

Yep, it's a hobby-horse. Yep, I'm never going to change the world. But I have many names that I respond to, at least two of which are freely available to everyone on BBO. If someone uses "u", I assume he's talking to Former Secretary-General of the UN Thant. If they don't like it, that's not my problem.

More on topic, I tend to kibitz/vugraph more than anything else on BBO, mostly because I prefer to not play pickup. But I love everything except the lack of sleep.

Michael.

[inquiry]

mycroft, on Nov 12 2004, 04:31 PM, said:

What I prefer on BBO is proper spelling. .....

And that goes double for webforums, where the time pressure is non-existent.

Whoops.. This will have to be my last post... as i am a horrible speller, and add to that the print is so small I can't make out what I am typing (it is larger after posting). Oh well, 4550 post... maybe I have run out of things to say anyway.

Ben

[dogsbreath]

Hi..
..dont worry about poor grammar or spelling .. the x-toed tree-clinger feasts on such posts.
Rgds Dog

[mycroft]

Argh - sorry inquiry; I thought I had made myself clear, but I hadn't.

Everyone has the occasional tyop; after all, no speeling flame can go out over the net without some error (check it!)

But I really don't like txtspk.

<plyr1>: u r supposed to 3!S!
<plyr2>: 2 l8, sry
<plyr1>: y 2 bid over 2NT?

"U", "2", "R", "Y"... 2 sv 2 chars 1 makes teh line unreadable. And, if readable, ugly.

And, as I said, on a webforum, where the real-time nature of communication is much lower, titles like the one on for this topic are...mindboggling.

And on another note, ah, but SpellBound for Browser-of-choice is a godsend (and boy did it have trouble with this post)!

And if I've been trolled, I will happily accept the HLS award. You've done too much for me and others for me to leave the wrong impression.
Michael.