[kidd2012]

I'm a new player and I was looking around Topix today for Bridge info and came across a link to this article.

Bridge: ACBL online tournaments are a bad deal for beginners

What do you think?

[mgoetze]

It's so true... this game is all about the masterpoints and they are really tricking you into making it more difficult for yourself to get those lovely red, silver and gold points. Why would anyone play online games when instead they could be enjoying a nice bracketed KO and earning masterpoints by the bucketload? And if there's no sectional or regional just on, it's still not a good idea to play online, because you might accidentally get put into a higher bracket next time - oops! So if you really have enough money to blow playing online (i.e. you can comfortably finance it on top of travelling and hotel expenses for sectionals and regionals every weekend) you better play something like Robot Rebate 55% where you can only earn harmless "BBO Masterpoints" which can't hurt you. Beware though! The ACBL also has "ACBL Robot Duplicates" where you can be punished for good performance by having yucky colorless masterpoints dumped on you - make sure you know the difference!

[Leo LaSota]

kidd2012, on 2012-May-28, 14:42, said:

I'm a new player and I was looking around Topix today for Bridge info and came across a link to this article.

Bridge: ACBL online tournaments are a bad deal for beginners

What do you think?

Welcome to you to ACBL bridge. As you are a newcomer to duplicate bridge, my recommendation to you is to try different versions of the game. Find one or two local bridge clubs with duplicate games, as well as try some of the online bridge games. BBO is a terrific site for the many different versions of the game that they offer. In terms of ACBL games, BBO offers: 1)speedball tournaments in which you and a partner register (12 board tournaments starting on the hour, plus some 12 board tournaments starting on the half hour, plus some 18 board tournaments offered 3 times a day), 2) individual tournaments (12 board tournaments starting on the hour in which you play 4 3 board rounds, rotating to different partners every 3 boards), 3) robot duplicate (12 and 18 board tournaments in which you are dealt at least as many HCP as each of the 3 robots; these are offered throughout the day). There are 2 advantages to particpating in the ACBL robot duplicates: 1) Since you are dealt at least as many HCP as every other hand, you receive a great deal of declarer practice and this improves anyone's declarer play http://webutil.bridg...etch.php?id=850

2) You can learn from your mistakes on your own since when you make a mistake, you do not have a partner that may look to discuss the hand with you later.


If you participate in some of BBO's online games, this will make you a better bridge player. Therefore, you will be better prepared when you compete in local clubs and tournaments.

[hrothgar]

kidd2012, on 2012-May-28, 14:42, said:

I'm a new player and I was looking around Topix today for Bridge info and came across a link to this article.

Bridge: ACBL online tournaments are a bad deal for beginners

What do you think?

Sounds like the author has an ax to grind.

In all seriousness, the basic arguments being raised seem nonsensical.

The only reason that you care about black points is for making life master.
If you're just starting out, you have lot more important things to worry about (like getting better at playing bridge)

Tournaments on BBO let you play an enormous number of boards in a relatively short amount of time.
The practice you get will serve you well.

By the time you're no longer eligible for beginner games at your local club you should be ready to hold your own in real games.

BTW, the author neglected to mention that those beginner games at the local club don't really sell that many points.

[barmar]

Anyone who does well enough in the online games that they become ineligible to play in novice games at f2f clubs and tournaments doesn't need to play in novice games -- they're good enough that they can play in the "big boy" game.

[Mbodell]

I think there is something to this, but of course it is overblown and overhyped by the title. There are some concerns to having your MP outpace your skill. We all know one of the reasons the ACBL keeps upping the level of flight B is that players who have accumulated MP don't want to face those pro and flight A players. If you accumulate points too quickly you may miss out on participating in things like non-life master pairs, NAP C, GNT C, your local 299er game, 299er sectionals, etc. It is no doubt a lot easier to quickly accumulate points online, 12 board matches have a lot of variance in results, and you get points for C flight online, and you can play 3-4 online games in the time you could play one game at the club. For some folks (those trying to escape the low bracket of bracketed KO), earning these online points quickly is a blessing. For other folks (those trying to stay in the lower flights where they can play with their peers and not getting forced to high), it is a curse.

[barmar]

Mbodell, on 2012-May-28, 17:22, said:

We all know one of the reasons the ACBL keeps upping the level of flight B is that players who have accumulated MP don't want to face those pro and flight A players.

I can relate. For years, I have been consistently placing high in local BCD tournaments. I thought I was pretty decent -- I'd come in 2nd 3 years in a row in our district GNT-B contest, and represented my district twice in NAP-B. Then last year I went over 2,000 MP, so have to play in A/X, and now I'm humbled, almost always placing near the bottom of the field.

Luckily, I've been through this before. In high school, I was part of the smart crowd, my GPA was 95th percentile at a pretty good school. Then I went to MIT, where the entire student body was the smart crowd; I was now just average.