How to Join Competitive Bridge on Wednesday Morning

 Step 1:  Acquire an American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) membership number.  If you already have an ACBL number skip this step.  If you did not acquire an ACBL Number then you must have one before you play.  

Important!!  ACBL is linked to Bridge Base Online (BBO which is where you will play competitive bridge.  ACBL issues you a membership number when you enter information in the ACBL website. However, the membership information is not transferred to BBO for one or two weeks after you obtain the ACBL membership number.  If BBO does not have an ACBL membership number you will not be allowed to play on Wednesday morning. If you decide to play Wednesday morning acquire this membership number as soon as possible.

• To obtain a 120 day ACBL Guest Membership click here.
• To obtain a regular ACBL Membership click here.

Step 2:  Buy BB$,  You will be charge a playing fee for each competitive bridge game.  Wednesday morning is a competitive bridge game.  If you have not already opened an account on BBO to acquire BB$ then click here for the procedure to obtain BB$.

Step 3:  You need to supply BBO with your new ACBL number.  It is not hard to do.  Click on this link to discover how to complete this step.

Step 4:  You should start the following steps 15 minutes before the competitive session begins. In your browser find the BBO website.

Step 5:  Click on the red box listing Login/Register in the upper right corner of the screen.

Step 6: Log in to BBO with your User Name and password.

Step 7: Click on Competitive located on the left side of the screen

Step 7: Click on ACBL Virtual Clubs.

Step 8:  You will see the session notice located in the upper left of the page.  Note the start time in minutes, the number of entries ( i.e. the number of partnerships), and the entry fee.  Click in the middle of the title.

Step 9:  If steps 1 through 8 do not work for you call Ralph Patterson at 608-271-1732 and he will help you.  Do not get frustrated.

Step 9: You will see either of the screens presented above. Your partner must be online.  If you see the first screen enter the BBO ID for your partner.  After the BBO ID is entered the button to the right "Invite (6BB$) will light up.  Click on that button.  If you see the second screen click on the blue "Accept (6BB$)" .  Note:  The amount charged per bridge competition might be different from the two screens shown above.

Step 10:  When the title turns orange, you are in to play on Wednesday morning.