[mga010]

Obviously, playing online against robots can be a tremendous help to learn the game. Today, I am playing with a young player in the club, and I need a recommendation for a Bridge platform (can be BBO, of course). But it needs to be absolutely free, and I want him to play with robots, because strangers are usually not friendly enough. What platform would be the best? I have no problems paying for platforms, so I lost track on the features available for free on each server.

[cencio]

Every day on bbo there is a free daily tournament. Some days even 2 or 3.

[pescetom]

cencio, on 2024-September-05, 08:52, said:

Every day on bbo there is a free daily tournament. Some days even 2 or 3.

But I imagine they offer the dumbed down (non-"advanced") version of GiB.
I don't see that as useful training for a bridge player.
Even the (for payment) "advanced" version is quixotic, not all players will have sufficient awareness/curiosity/philosophy to learn anything replicable with humans.

Synrey offers a free robot that is better, if you aren't concerned about the site.
I would suggest playing with humans or paying for Swan or whatever.

[mga010]

 cencio, on 2024-September-05, 08:52, said:

Every day on bbo there is a free daily tournament. Some days even 2 or 3.

I just logged into BBO today (Friday 6.9., 6.30 UTC) and there was not a single one until Sunday (all day long). Maybe be a bit more specific on how to find them. Thanks!

[mga010]

 pescetom, on 2024-September-05, 15:00, said:

But I imagine they offer the dumbed down (non-"advanced") version of GiB.
I don't see that as useful training for a bridge player.
Even the (for payment) "advanced" version is quixotic, not all players will have sufficient awareness/curiosity/philosophy to learn anything replicable with humans.

Synrey offers a free robot that is better, if you aren't concerned about the site.
I would suggest playing with humans or paying for Swan or whatever.

My browser refused to connect to Synrey. I could circumvent this. But it is not a site that I'd recommend to a youngster.

What is "Swan"?

And, of course, playing with humans is the best. That's why I gladly play with him. But this young player is already above the usual club level, as I discovered yesterday.

[cencio]

 mga010, on 2024-September-06, 00:26, said:

I just logged into BBO today (Friday 6.9., 6.30 UTC) and there was not a single one until Sunday (all day long). Maybe be a bit more specific on how to find them. Thanks!

enter bbo. go to competitive, free competition, go on a daylong free tournment.
Now there is a tournment to do.
They are signaled as in progress tournament,but you may enter during all the day

[pescetom]

 mga010, on 2024-September-06, 00:30, said:

What is "Swan"?

Here is some background and the link:

https://bridgewinner...s-2-jb8vciujoy/

[jdiana]

I don't think Swan has robots and I'm not sure how active the site is. In addition to BBO, you might check out IntoBridge - https://intobridge.com/

I haven't tried it myself but people seem to like it. I believe you get some number of free games per day.

[pescetom]

 jdiana, on 2024-September-06, 07:45, said:

I don't think Swan has robots and I'm not sure how active the site is. In addition to BBO, you might check out IntoBridge - https://intobridge.com/

I haven't tried it myself but people seem to like it. I believe you get some number of free games per day.

Yes I too was about to mention IntoBridge.

No idea how active Swan is, it certainly flies below the radar of Google search for some reason (maybe they just refuse to pay).
The blurb on that page says it offers the Q-plus robot.

[pescetom]

 mga010, on 2024-September-06, 00:30, said:

But this young player is already above the usual club level, as I discovered yesterday.

It's not difficult for a young player to quickly become above average level in most clubs, for tragically obvious reasons. But if he's mature enough to grasp the logic of multiple systems and conventions, then I guess he will take no harm with the BBO "Advanced" (for payment) robot. It has a steeper learning curve than the System Notes would suggest and nothing else to help except for its self explanations and the ample discussion on this forum.

[jdiana]

 pescetom, on 2024-September-06, 09:26, said:

No idea how active Swan is, it certainly flies below the radar of Google search for some reason (maybe they just refuse to pay).
The blurb on that page says it offers the Q-plus robot.

I can't even get their page to load, but that might just be my computer. Sorry, I missed the part about the robots. My comment was based on my faulty memory - should have actually read the BW article.

[johnu]

 jdiana, on 2024-September-06, 10:06, said:

I can't even get their page to load, but that might just be my computer. Sorry, I missed the part about the robots. My comment was based on my faulty memory - should have actually read the BW article.

One of the Swan Games principals, Adam Parrish, posted on Bridgewinners that they were shutting down to regroup in July. I don't remember seeing any updates.

[helene_t]

In addition to the daylongs, your student could play challenges against robots on bbo. This allows unlimited games, he can chose IMPs or MP, declare only or also bidding, best hand or random hands.

Random hands is the most realistic version and also gives you some training in defense.

Declare only is somewhat one-sided of course, but your student may prefer that if he isn't interested in the robots' bidding system.

[mga010]

Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated.

Some comments: Some free tournaments are for prime members. I keep observing this. And there were no challenges. The page was empty saying "no challenges".

[helene_t]

mga010, on 2024-September-07, 02:26, said:

And there were no challenges. The page was empty saying "no challenges".

"No challenges" means that you haven't challenge anyone. You need to click "challenge a robot".

You can also challenge a stranger or a star but in my experience, even the stars play worse than robots do. Of course, challenge a friend is also an option. As a mentor, it may be a good idea to challenge your mentee