Bridge Base Online (BBO)

CBC is planning to run online club sessions on BBO. This page has some help and information on BBO to get you started. Over the next week or so, we will be adding more information and links.

Not sure what BBO is?

Read What is BBO? (PDF)
Alternatively View Peter Holland’s How to use Bridge Base Online (BBO). This 10 minute video covers a lot of ground so watch it to get an idea. Don’t try to remember all the options or steps.

Getting started on BBO

Read Log on to BBO and play a game (PDF) OR
with pictures and more information, read Jessica Brake's Introduction to BBO (PDF)

If you have trouble getting on to BBO and using it, you can contact Jodi Tutty for help. Her contact details are in the Club Calendar.

More on BBO

Written by a British bridge player for his local club, this series of short videos covers how to do many things in BBO. These include

Adding money to your BBO account, is done through the BBO BB$ Payments page. Read the "Details" link on that page to find out how BB$ work.

Playing in a CBC session on BBO

Our Playing in a CBC session on BBO page explains how to register and play in a CBC session.

Note that:

The Masterpoints you will earn with the results at the end of the session are NOT ABF masterpoints. It is the BBO/US masterpoints system.
When the ABF system is in place, the Australian Masterpoints will be about 25% of the number shown.
The results for each tournament are now posted on the CBC website and are also available through Pianola, with a results email being sent to all registered pianola members. These results have BBO names converted to member’s names. It can take up to 12 hours for the results to be posted.
You can also get results from BBO by searching in your recent history. Only BBO has a record of each hand you played with a card by card replay. BBO itself provides a wide range of information in your recent results area (see video: How to check your BBO results).

How is BBO different to face to face bridge?

As with all bridge, the game is much better when it is played in a friendly and pleasant environment. So please, as you always do, treat all players with respect. This will be particularly important when we are all getting use to the new environment; please be patient with players who may be slow because they are still learning the BBO interface or may be unsure of the online etiquette.

The mechanics of BBO are slightly different to face to face bridge. The good news is that you cannot make an insufficient bid, lead out of turn or revoke! There are very few director calls.

Some things are different. To find out how to do any of the following please see the section above.

You alert your own bids. When you provide an explanation of your bid, your opponents will see that explanation but your partner will not. You do not need to alert your partner’s bid – your partner will alert their own bid.
If you want to thank your partner or ask a question, you can use chat. When you chat to the table all four people will see the comments. Common abbrievations include
- wd for well done
- glp for good luck partner
- typ for thank you partner
You can claim all the rest of the tricks or some number of the remaining tricks. When you make a claim, a message is sent to the opponents who can accept or reject the claim.
You are allowed to ask for an undo if you click the wrong card or bid. For example, if you click double by accident rather than pass, ask your opponents for undo. You should allow your opponents to undo any misclicks. However, undos are only for misclicks (clicking spades instead of hearts or dbl instead of pass) not for misbids or changes of mind. If you want an undo, ask for it as quickly as possible.