[fred]

First a note to people who play Money Bridge on BBO:

You should update to version 4.7.4 because this version of BBO contains a feature (which is described in the next paragraph) that rates to improve your results when playing Money Bridge. Money players who are not inclined to read a long description of the new version can find upgrading instructions toward the end of this post.

When playing Money Bridge and it is your turn to bid, a little window will appear when you move your mouse over the buttons in the bidding box. This window will contain a description of how GIB will understand the bid in question. Using this feature will lead to fewer bidding misunderstandings with your GIB partner.

The big news in version 4.7.4 is the introduction of Money Bridge Tournaments (MBTs). The basic idea in MBTs is that the players will pay an entry fee ($1 for example), this money will go into a prize pool, BBO will take a small cut, but most of the money will be divided up among the top finishers.

MBTs are not duplicate tournaments and they are scored using total points. There is one human and 3 robots (GIB) at each table. The object is to amass as many total points as possible in the time that you are given. You can play as many hands as you are able (or as few hands as you want).

As with the existing Money Bridge facility on BBO, it is not possible to cheat in MBTs.

I am guessing that MBTs are going to be very popular (because they are fast and fun to play in). One feature that contributes to this is that the players have access to a constantly updating "leader board" (where the prize distribution is also displayed). It is exciting to watch your name go up and down in this list (at least I find it to be exciting!).

Please note: You will not have to risk any real money by helping us test MBTs! You will be asked to pay $1 to enter and you will be told about your prize if you do well, but no money will change hands and you will not be asked for a credit card number - this is "fake money" you will be playing with.

In order to try playing MBTs on BBO you will have to upgrade to 4.7.4 (instructions follow at the end of this post). In addition, as long as we are in the testing stages, you will have to connect to our test server in order to give MBTs a try. Unless you have reasonable computer skills, I suggest that you don't get involved in this right now.

To log in to our test server, you need to edit the file named bbover.ini in your BBO folder (which is probably c:\bridge base online). You can do this using any text file editor (Windows Notepad for example).

The 2nd line of this file normally looks like this:

ServerHostName1=bbo.bridgebase.com

You will have to change it to look like this:

ServerHostName1=qa.bridgebase.com

Then save the file and try to log in to BBO. If you did everything right you will see that there are only a few people logged in (as opposed to the 1000s that are logged in to our main server).

You can access a list of upcoming MBTs through Play Bridge!, Tournaments. MBTs can be identified by their green $ icons.

On our test server there will be new 25 minute MBTs constantly running starting each half hour on the half hour. At least 2 people must be registered to play in a MBT at start time or it will be cancelled.

You can find out more about MBTs by logging in to our test server, selecting a MBT in the Tournaments area, and then clicking the "Tournament Rules" button. You will be presented with a document that contains a lot more in the way of details as to how MBTs will work.

When you want to go back to the main BBO server, restore your bbover.ini file to how it was before, save the file, and log in again.

I think that MBTs could well be "the next big thing" in online bridge. We would appreciate it if people could try them out and let us know what they think (either by posting here or by e-mailing fred@bridgebase.com).

Even if you have no interest in trying MBTs, please try 4.7.4 and let us know if you find any problems! 4.7.4 does not contain any other major new features, but it does contain some important bug fixes.

You can upgrade to 4.7.4 at:

Click here to update!

or download everything (including all the latest files) at:

Click here for everything!

I suggest you use the first method, but however you do this, please make sure you exit the BBO program COMPLETELY before you start the download process.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com