Exactly 4 weeks ago, Honors Bridge Club held their last live duplicate games prior to the Covid-19 related temporary closure. My partner and I declared the very last two boards during a sudden death tiebreaker board in our GNT-C knockout match ending at 10:40pm.
Largest Virtual Private Club
Almost immediately after the physical games ended, the team quickly became pioneers of the online Private Virtual Club games. These are special duplicate sessions that award Black points and are only open to players who played in the physical club in the past 366 days. While ACBL has their nationwide Support Your Club games, the majority of any card fees in the virtual private club games go directly to your former club. Honors announced on March 28th that they have become the largest private virtual club with 28 tables in their Saturday duplicate game.
New Website, Name, Merging Player Base
In an email yesterday, Honors announced their new website, ManhattanGamesCenter.com. Don’t worry about the design, they admit it is “very much a work in progress.” More than just a rebrand, they are developing an online booking tool for their classes and supervised play sessions. You can also find direct links to the game results for their virtual private club games. The previous websites at Honors and NYC Bridge are still standing, but have notes to attend to the new site.
Several nearby clubs are also joining the virtual private club, meaning their pool of former club players will be eligible to join the duplicate games on BBO. That’s generally a good sign – we want to ensure enough tables for vibrant games, both Open and Limited types, while still preserving a sense of community by playing against former friends, rivals, and friends of friends. So far all the clubs joining are close by, so even if you didn’t see them at Honors and Cavendish, you might have played against them at Woodbridge, Allendale, or Carle Place.
Classes Resume on Zoom, BBO
Classes are to resume using a combination of Zoom and Bridge Base – even the Taste of Bridge and Beginner 1 Series for completely new players. It will be interesting to see how the bridge teacher community adapts to the virtual model. They can offer extremely personalized service, usually with no more than 8 students per teacher. Students will easily be able to save and replay all teaching boards on their own, after the lesson.
Possibly most exciting – by having all the students already using BBO to bid and play, it’s a much smaller physiological gap to leap from the classroom setting to live practice or duplicate games. I can envision a whole new generation of newcomer games and events for graduating students who otherwise wouldn’t have played in an ACBL club game.
As for initial demand, it looks like the first few classes are already oversold. If you want a spot, don’t be shy about reaching out.
Mandatory Disclaimer
GNYBA is a non-profit with all-volunteer board members. We represent the unit in dealings with ACBL and organize our local grassroots, sectional, and regional tournaments. While private bridge clubs have always been an important component in the local bridge scene, we are a separate entity with a separate mandate.
Although there are many exciting changes going on in the bridge world, our goal is to inform rather than endorse. Please share any feedback you have on the newer bridge opportunities.
I would like to join intermediate classes taught by Gail.
That is fantastic news! You should reach out to the teaching staff for Honors Bridge Club. Their online class schedule currently doesn’t seem to have an upcoming class with Gail, but perhaps there is one coming that they haven’t posted yet. They can tell you more.