When life was simpler… during those BC (Before Covid) times and we played bridge at the club, we were encouraged to speed up the game a little by making a claim when we could. After all, there’s not a lot to gain by playing out the hand when you have all the remaining tricks or say all but one when when the opponents have just the best trump left.
Claim? How do I make a claim on BBO ?
I’m glad you asked ! When you are declarer there is a blue button in the corner of the table – it looks like this:
You can click on this button at any time during the play of the hand.
How does it work ?
Here is a real life example. Bob in a contract of 5S, West leads the Club Ace, then the top tow hearts followed by the C2, ruffed by Declarer. In the diagram below, all the card in faint print have been played. From Declarer’s viewpoint, after drawing 2 rounds of trumps (if necessary, for a 2 – 0 break), there are plenty of trumps in dummy to ruff the last two Diamonds. Declarer can now CLAIM – as this helps to speed up
the game on BBO. In other words, there is NO need to play out hands where you know the final outcome. Nothing is gained by playing out the hand.
At this point Bob should click on the CLAIM button, then click on the claim 9 tricks option.
Try it… your opponents will appreciate it. It’s also important to type something like “Drawing the trumps, then I can ruff my losing diamonds in dummy.”