[donsp]

Can I earn ACBL master points in any online tournaments that do not enforce the speedball time limit per hand?

[1eyedjack]

I think that the robot tourneys offer acbl points

[barmar]

donsp, on 2017-February-15, 09:43, said:

Can I earn ACBL master points in any online tournaments that do not enforce the speedball time limit per hand?

When we first created speedballs we continued to have tournaments with longer limits. They were not very popular and were dropped.

[Phil]

1eyedjack, on 2017-February-15, 10:06, said:

I think that the robot tourneys offer acbl points

Yes, try the Instant Tournaments. They are quite fun and while there are time limits for the set, individual hands can be played at a leisurely pace.

[barmar]

Phil, on 2017-February-15, 11:15, said:

Yes, try the Instant Tournaments. They are quite fun and while there are time limits for the set, individual hands can be played at a leisurely pace.

Yep. When I go to lunch I take my tablet with me, and play a couple of these. If a hand is interesting, you can look over the other results immediately after playing it.

[donsp]

Thanks all for the info. The robot tourneys seem to all be for individuals. Does anyone know of pairs tourneys giving ACBL master points with more than 4 minutes allowed per hand?

[barmar]

donsp, on 2017-February-16, 08:10, said:

Thanks all for the info. The robot tourneys seem to all be for individuals. Does anyone know of pairs tourneys giving ACBL master points with more than 4 minutes allowed per hand?

There aren't any. As I said before, we used to have them, but they didn't get enough attendance to keep them going.

[themarc]

barmar, on 2017-February-16, 09:08, said:

There aren't any. As I said before, we used to have them, but they didn't get enough attendance to keep them going.

That's too bad. Neither speedball or robot are real bridge.

[barmar]

themarc, on 2017-February-16, 13:46, said:

That's too bad. Neither speedball or robot are real bridge.

Speedballs are not really that much faster than live bridge, because you don't waste any time for any of the mechanics: taking your hand from the board and sorting it at the beginning of each hand, shuffling and returning at the end, fiddling with the bidding box, entering the contract on the personal score, entering results on the traveller or electronic scoring device, moving from table to table. None of those take a long time, but they probably add up to close to a minute. You also never start a round late because you were waiting for the previous pair to finish.

Maybe it doesn't feel so fast to me because I hardly ever use the full 7.5 minutes allotted in live bridge. The only time is when we get a late start because of waiting for another pair, or because we have very slow opponents.

[ereff]

donsp, on 2017-February-16, 08:10, said:

Thanks all for the info. The robot tourneys seem to all be for individuals. Does anyone know of pairs tourneys giving ACBL master points with more than 4 minutes allowed per hand?

Actually at 14 min it is 4.5 min/rd. The holdup occurs often when the dummy leaves the table and doesn't return when the next bd appears. Another time is at the beginning of game when someone has signed up then leaves for coffee, etc., so I allow about 30 sec to a min then call TD.