[onoway]

Who would like to be in a group of advanced who wanted to play regularly so as to bypass the business of random partners at least part of the time?

I'd like it to be made up of people who are at least mostly advanced. They should be open to discussion of bidding/play but not dogmatic or critical, the idea being to have fun AND improve. Perhaps we might eventually find an expert mentor to come and nudge us along. I would ask that people be honest about their ability..no fake experts please, and nobody on a god complex about their own bidding or play. A sense of humor essential but wanting to play good bridge is basic.

How many people would be ideal is a good question, it would be good eventually to have enough to make sure we don't just get to know each other's weaknesses and habits as happens in rubber bridge. If uneven number people can always rotate in and out of a table.

I'd prefer any system ok as long as at least two people were competent in it so that we would learn how to play/defend against stuff we might not otherwise meet. Ideally at least some would play 2/1!

Regular partnerships might be ok too, only caveat would be to see if discussion of specific partnership agreements would be holding up the game too much for the other players.

Anyone interested? Thoughts?

[broze]

Well I already play all my bridge to have fun and improve, but I have to say that the experience of going through hundreds of random pickup partners and opponents to find someone that is at all decent, not rude and allows you more than 3 seconds to think about the play at the beginning of the hand without saying "play please" is a gruelling one. So FWIW I'm in.

I think it would be a good idea to allow regular partnerships.

[onoway]

broze, on 2013-March-15, 06:00, said:

Well I already play all my bridge to have fun and improve, but I have to say that the experience of going through hundreds of random pickup partners and opponents to find someone that is at all decent, not rude and allows you more than 3 seconds to think about the play at the beginning of the hand without saying "play please" is a gruelling one. So FWIW I'm in.

I think it would be a good idea to allow regular partnerships.

well the other thing it would be nice to avoid is the constant coming and going of players. Just had three people in a row sit then leave immediately for tourneys or when their contract looked unlikely to make.

so now there are two of us at least

If people want to leave me a message on BBO or here I'll be happy to set it up once we have enough people to start with anyway.I was thinking that we could set it up that anyone could join and then as the group settled anyone who was clearly a beginner for example, could be filtered by the group...since that would be outside the parameters we had set up..

[1eyedjack]

You probably ought to state your time zone, perhaps?

[zamilzama]

I'm interested. timezone AU-EST

[Vampyr]

1eyedjack, on 2013-March-20, 02:00, said:

You probably ought to state your time zone, perhaps?

Better, probably, to just state the times you are able to play in terms of GMT.

It does not look as if you will get enough people to have a regular game, but you could just schedule irregular partnership games with people who have said they are interested.

[wyman]

God, am I the only one that giggles every time I read the title of this thread? It reads like a kinky personal ad.

[onoway]

Well it wasn't meant to make people giggle but... now I giggle too when I read it lol Honest, this is just about bridge!

As far as time zones go, it'll depend on who wants to play, I imagine? I am in Canada but if a bunch of people in compatible times zones want to play then they can get together whether or not it works for me. It would be fun to have a couple of groups going BUT... Not a lot of people have been racing to join so unless more people express interest in the next couple of weeks I'll have to assume that most people are happier with Main than I am and give it up.

[TwstofLime]

Please count me in. 2/1 Any evening EDT beginning May 1. Thanks for the post.

[broze]

Wasn't there a BBF league once upon a time? What happened to that?

[onoway]

broze, on 2013-April-05, 06:38, said:

Wasn't there a BBF league once upon a time? What happened to that?

Seems as though there was..what generally seems to happen is that people don't really commit to things online, assuming they will always be there. Of course, if enough people do this then things drift into oblivion which is possibly what happened.

A couple of people left messages on BBO for me but my computer crashed and I lost them. So what I am thinking is I will set up a game in a week or so and alert people as to when and where on this thread and we shall see who shows up. It would be a start anyway

[wyman]

Scheduling matches with 8-man teams proved to be near impossible.

[Mbodell]

wyman, on 2013-April-09, 07:10, said:

Scheduling matches with 8-man teams proved to be near impossible.

A recommendation I've heard from this is to have a fixed time that is either when the matches always take place, or, if you want to be more flexible, when the matches take place by default if you didn't schedule them for a different time. I.e., the match always takes place every other Saturday at noon PT, unless the teams agree to an earlier time.

[onoway]

Mbodell, on 2013-April-09, 21:10, said:

A recommendation I've heard from this is to have a fixed time that is either when the matches always take place, or, if you want to be more flexible, when the matches take place by default if you didn't schedule them for a different time. I.e., the match always takes place every other Saturday at noon PT, unless the teams agree to an earlier time.

That's what we used to do with the team matches in IAC. They were at fixed times but any two teams in a match could agree to play at a different time if their normal time was going to be a problem. They were quite successful for a number of years. Not sure what is going on with them now.

It's a lot of work even so, and captains regularly quit because they get fed up trying to deal with people not showing up without notice.

[FM75]

Get good competition "regularly scheduled" weekday evenings US ET and I can probably commit for a pair. Not Monday. Tennis. Prefer not Friday same reason, but it is summer. Can play afternoons instead of paying to play doubles.

[MartyD24]

Hi Guys, i am GMT+2 and can join in. I have a regular partner with whom i play precision, but 2/1 is fine for me, too. We or me are interested in good, but friendly competition in order to learn and improve.

[sallyally]

I would definitely be interested if you are willing to take in intermediates. I have a regular partner and we always enjoy playing "up".
Usually any evening around 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. EDT(starting times) with the exception of Tuesdays.
Weekends are good too day and evening. Sunday a.m.'s are not good due to IAC Teams.

[onoway]

Ok Finally got into the Forums.I will open a table in the PUBLIC club > BRIDGE A LA CARTE at the following times:

WEDNESDAY April 17 and 24th: New York (eastern time) 9 pm = Adelaide time THURSDAY 10:30 A.M.
and
THURSDAY April 18 and 25: New York time 2PM = London 7 pm or Frankfort 9 pm

I'll stay there for an hour each time (min) to try to help things get going, and this will be for the next two weeks, since this is sort of short notice. Anyone who is interested in this is invited to turn up and discussion about time is open; this was a best guess. what happens after 2 weeks depends on what happens in the next two weeks.

Partnerships are certainly welcome but not necessary. The reason to be in the Bridge a la Carte club is (I live in hope) to avoid the nonsense that goes on in Main.

Once people get to know other people they can make their own arrangements if they want,of course. I am trying to work around at least three time zones for each session so that's why the times are as they are at present.

[onoway]

Well nobody showed up either week so I suppose that's that. If someone else wants to try then let me know if I can help.