For those going to Allendale this weekend for yet another NJ sectional, good luck!
We are back from our travels and jet-lagged for quite some time. That means no 2-session events for me, and no driving. Even the usual Honors evening circuit will be a stretch. But it gives plenty of time in the odd hours of the night to practice alone.
How To Practice Alone?
There are plenty of ways to sharpen your game without a dozen tables of opponents, and possibly even without your partner! There is a crowd that enjoys reading books, and the monthly bridge bulletin has excellent columns for developing and advanced players.
For those who want a more interactive experience, almost everyone has their own favorite online lesson set. I happened to get my start using Audrey Grant’s BetterBridge interactive lessons – and I still pay for my subscription years later!
Enter BridgeBase
The big game changer is BridgeBase. Some people absolute hate playing bots for various reasons, others love it and play too much. The most common objections are that players who score well against bots know how to trick the bots with strange bidding plays. Next most frustrating, defending with a bot partner means receiving seemingly random carding signals, with almost no regard to your carding. One last objection is that playing with bots is generally not free – but it’s only $1 a week to fill your table with 3 basic bots!
A No Bidding, No Carding, Free Technique
Get it while it lasts – you can actually play 100% for free, for as many boards as you want, all day and every day, and you never have to learn how to bid or defend with a bot.
Log into BBO, click on Challenges, and try Challenge a Robot. You can set it to Just Declare mode, and try your best for free against the Basic bots. In fact, I recommend keeping a running tally of your results over many short matches against the bots, again with Just Declare mode turned on – hat tip to Jordan Lampe for the idea.
As soon as your 8 boards are complete, you get a comparison against the robot opponent. Try enough times and most players will lose – but at least you can review the boards to see what the bot did differently! Uday once reported that the Basic bot beats 91% of humans, and the Advanced bot beats 98% or so.
Is the Challenger Opponent Also Basic or Advanced?
The one question where I’m still unclear – when you pay the extra $0.25 for an advanced bot, it certainly applies to the defenders at the table (and your partner if it were not Just Declare mode). But how about the other table, with your bot opponent? I have a suspicion that even without paying the premium, your opponent is an Advanced bot playing against Basic bots, but I could be wrong. Can anyone confirm?
Ways to play for free on BBO
1. visit https://www.bridgebase.com
click on any of the anonymous games:
Just play bridge: total points
Just Declare: same, but hands are bid for you. You just declare.
Bridge Master: Declarer play problems at multiple difficulty levels
OR
Login to BBO ( free registration required, but you don’t need to supply an email )
Then:
Login -> challenges -> challenge a bot
also: challenge a star, challenge a stranger
( or challenge a friend and type in your friend’s username )
Login -> practice -> bridge master
Login -> competitive -> free tournaments
There is at least one free daily tournament and more on weekends
Login -> solitaire -> weekly free instant tournament ( this changes every Fri )
Or, of course, play w/humans.
Uday, we are honored to have your feedback! Yes, in addition to the free bot challenges, and free play against humans, there is also BridgeMaster which is now free!
Could you shed some light on “Challenge a Robot” – is your opponent at the other table an Advanced Bot or a Basic Bot, or does it depend on whether you pay the $0.25? I’m unclear on whether the $0.25 applies to the three other bots at both tables, or also the 7th bot that is declaring against you.