PLAYER LINKS FOR HOLMES WILSON (please log on with your FULL name):
Session One (11 a.m. – 2.50 p.m. Saturday) https://play.realbridge.online/dg.html?p=220212122989&q=CBAIHolmesWilson2022S1
Session Two (4.00 p.m. – 7.45 p.m. on Saturday) https://play.realbridge.online/dg.html?p=220212122991&q=CBAIHolmesWilson2022S2
UPDATED Session Three (11 a.m. – 2.45 p.m. on Sunday) https://play.realbridge.online/dg.html?p=220212123774&q=CBAIHolmesWilson2022S4
This weekend sees the virtual Holmes Wilson Cup online on RealBridge. Please note that the competition will have THREE sessions, two on Saturday and one on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m. on both days. Pre-entry is required using the CBAI online entry system; entries will close at 1 p.m. on Thursday 10 February, and subsequent entries will be accepted only at the discretion of the Tournament Director, with no commitments being given in that regard.
Given that the event is on RealBridge, you will need to call CBAI HQ in advance to pay the entry fee by credit card. The fee is €20 per person, or €80 per team, and it would be appreciated if one person could pay for the entire team, if at all possible. Links for the competition are above and on Fearghal O’Boyle’s website.
We expect that most participants will be familiar with the RealBridge platform at this stage. If that’s not the case, we encourage you to trial it beforehand – at a minimum by testing your camera and microphone beforehand at this site. Fearghal O’Boyle will run two practice sessions on Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 February between 17:00 and 18:00 to allow anyone not used to RealBridge to familiarise themselves with it; if you’d like to attend, just email him on fearghaloboyle@gmail.com and book a spot. And the RealBridge team has once again very kindly offered two sessions specially for CBAI members who want a one-to-one consultation on any aspect of their technology. These sessions are on Friday from 10:00 to 10:30 (use this link https://play.realbridge.online/dg.html?p=220209123033&q=TomAndJerry) and on Friday from 17:00 to 17:30 (use this link https://play.realbridge.online/dg.html?p=220211123034&q=ChairDoor). Thanks to RealBridge for their continued support.
The Tournament Director has instructed that cameras and microphones should be left ON throughout the competition. When you join any session, please sit in your intended compass position at your home table (it’ll be indicated by the name of your captain, the first player in the entry listing). The programme will bring you automatically to your randomly assigned table when the competition starts. Please log on in good time for each session, in case of any issues, and please use your full name (first name and surname) to log on.
We will using a slightly different variant of RealBridge than you will have experienced within a club setting if your club uses the platform. The main difference is that you will only be able to see and hear one of your opponents, and not your partner or the other opponent, during bidding and play. As a result, the alerting procedure is that you should self-alert YOUR OWN CALLS, as you do on BBO, by pressing the “Alert” symbol and using a chat function that will appear on your screen to explain your call, as indicated in the screenshot below. Either opponent may ask for further clarification by private chat to the player who made the call. ALL explanations should be made only using this option, and NOT in general chat. For the avoidance of doubt (and any potential embarrassment!), please remember that one opponent can both see and hear you throughout proceedings. All participants are asked to keep background noise to an absolute minimum (preferably zero) during the event.
Undos will be permitted ONLY for misclicks in the bidding. There is a double-click option for making your calls and plays that can be activated if you wish – again as on BBO. If you are prone to misclicks, you should take the precaution of activating this double-click option. If you DO misclick in the bidding, please call the TD, who will allow the substitution of another call if 100% certain that the original call was unintended.
For a claim or concession, if there is any doubt or disagreement, please call the TD. Do NOT use the “play on” option.
RealBridge have prepared a most helpful User Guide to the version of the platform that we will be using, that covers every question you might have about it. It’s well worth reading even if you think you know the technology well.
And if anything goes wrong with your technology DURING the competition, for instance if you lose connection and cannot rejoin, please contact the chief TD, Fearghal O’Boyle, on (086) 2652871 urgently, and he will do whatever he can to help.