NeXtGen Update
Many who were very negative to NeXtGen, have come around full circle and a recent Comment Board post really summarises this well. So, if you are still hesitant, be comforted by this unsolicited remark.
As one of the biggest complainers previously, I want to add my thanks to Phil and the team for listening to all my - and others! - moans and groans about Next Gen. You listened to us. You have continued to tweak the system and now I LOVE PLAYING ON NEXT GEN! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For a job well done. Love your work team. I love this online bridge club!
Voice Tests
These have been ongoing over the last few weeks, and we continue testing "Join.Me" as an alternative system during one of our Supervision sessions, kindly given by Dulciana on Monday mornings 0800 GMT - Everyone one is welcome to come and watch AND listen! The new systems requires NO signup, just click here for full details.
Venice Reunion
Sadly at the last minute, due to a health issue, I was unable to attend the one Reunion I set up in one of my favourite countries. Too bad for me - but from all accounts, the weekend went well and there are pics and results to prove it!
UK Reunion 2020
The next Reunion will be in the UK so watch the Reunion page for updates and links.
Cause for Concern
I read the CB thread recently about concern for our membership and of course this is our business to grow! As we do not have advertising to support us, our membership fee has to cover all the aspects required to run the club on a day by day basis. We do email marketing, and google advertising where we can and are currently accelerating this exercise.
Our best advertisement is you, the satisfied member - and if each one of you managed to encourage just one new member per year, we would double ourselves each year! How good would that be for ALL!
So, perhaps make this a goal - and if you need advertising material, just email me and I will post a pack of A5 leaflets for example - that can be spread around. Again I thank you for concern that can now be replaced by action in this respect!
Bridge4Free
The Bridge4Free room is now clearly seen when players use NextGen as an integral part of the total range of rooms we have whereas before, it was entirely separate. Bridge4Free users can ONLY use NeXtGen and NOW they clearly see the BridgeClubLive rooms as an option to upgrade to.
Thus we are moving towards the final integration of the B4F(Guest) room into BCL, whereby a fee and/or time or other limit/s will be placed on such users in order to encourage them even more into full membership - just as the well known motto - 'Membership has its privileges"! We are very aware and sensitive to the conflict of interest with our Social room in some aspects and that is why we have a Social Membership as a stepping stone.
However, at the moment it is still an alternative first stop for potential new members, and for others it provides a sign of activity and critical mass at times when we need it. It is a natural filter for those members who (a) wouldn't pay anyway or (b) are very nervous about online play and want to build up confidence.
Let's face it - we all like to try something new on the 'Net WITHOUT pressure and financial commitment up front, and then be given enough time to judge the product by its merit as to whether to upgrade or not.
EBU Master Points
A recent Email with Pay2Play information was sent out last week to EBU members only, and was a cause for concern for some. This has been discussed at length on the EBU comment board and full clarification and a complete set of FAQ's has now been uploaded. These can be found here on the Online Master Points information page.
From our Tournament Director
Those of you who are EBU members may well be aware that I write a feature on Bridge Club Live for each issue of English Bridge, which appears on Page 65 of the Online version of the magazine.
For the August issue, I have written about the Italy reunion and a hand in which I went 7 off in a 3H contract without doing anything too stupid, while partnering our top player, Whoopsie, thanks to some impressive defence from Baard and Kari, who also won the BCL Pairs trophy with a huge score of 72%.
I posted a draft of the feature on the Members Comments Board here. The thread also gives a flavour of the great time that was had by all in Italy.
From our Competitions Manager
Entries, and especially re-entries, are needed for the 2019B IMPs League. 8 or so matches per division, one match per fortnight.The current Swiss and euro afternoon Leagues are well underway. They will run again in a few months time.
The Indyfest, Timber Trophy knockout and Club Diamond knockout will again be running later this year. It would be good to run a further Saturday Teams league, however we desperately need team captains and people prepared to play. Saturday teams is of course a great opportunity to play proper teams and in a non-PPI rated room. The 2019 calendar can be seen here and shows all competitions for the coming year.
From our President
A fascination of bridge to me is its challenges and often inspired solutions and a recent example is the choice of openings with a 12-14 flat hand containing a 5-cd Major once the partnership adopts 5-cd Major openings, standard in the US, and imperative now aggressive opponents no longer sit idly by while we move inexorably to our best contract.
Rather than wasting the 2 Major rebid to say nothing new, two alternative techniques are available. Just open 1NT opposite a partner using Puppet Stayman to ask for a possible 5-cd holding opposite his own 3-cd Major OR (and I understand this is a variation of 2 Over 1) rebid 2 of the Major with 5 and 2NT when the original Major is 6+-long. All simple and clear – and alertable of course – that obligation mustn't be overlooked.
From our Support
Since NeXtGen, the type of support issues has changed and is often to do with how to use NeXtGen. We have prepared a comprehensive FAQ section here. If you have any suggestions please send them to: membersupport and they can be added
From our Technical Guru
The next item that will be added to NeXtGen is an Improved Claim System.This will include a line of play option and a clearer indication of what exactly is being claimed.
Thank you for taking the time to read this longer than normal newsletter, and remember the motto, "If you don't like what you see, let us know, if you do, then tell others!"