Change to Club Policy on Undos
The club committee and tournament directors have been reviewing the club's policy with regard to the use of Undos in our online tournaments. After careful consideration, we've decided not to allow any Undos in online club tournaments, with effect from the start of April 2025. Let me explain a little of the background to this.
When club play began on BBO in 2020, players were unfamiliar with the BBO computer interface. It was more common for people to make mistakes, especially using touch-screen devices, and we decided to allow Undos during bidding for genuine mis-clicks. This is the equivalent of allowing a bid to be changed for a mechanical error during face to face play with bidding cards.
Since then however, players have played many thousands of hands on BBO, and are familiar with the screen layout and interface. Also, it's basically impossible to mis-click on the wrong bid accidentally, if players set "Confirm bids" in their BBO Settings. This is something we have always encouraged, and more and more players are using that setting.
Despite this, we continue to see a number of Undos being requested. This gives rise to serious and legitimate concerns about abuse of the privilege.
- In many cases it seems evident that the original bid was not a true mis-click, but was in fact the intended bid at the instant it was made. The player realises (too late) that either they have a better bid available, or they've made an incorrect bid through inattention or lapse of concentration. They then seek to correct it through an Undo, to gain an improper advantage.
- Because their partner sees the original bid, and sees that it has been withdrawn, there is also a serious risk of unauthorised information being communicated to their partner.
Undo requests (whether true mis-clicks or not) therefore generate mis-givings and unhappiness amongst opponents, which we want to avoid. We hope that you understand and support this change. Other major clubs who run online games on BBO have also decided not to allow Undos at any point.
The new policy will be introduced on 1st April starting with the President's Salver Competition. Tournament Directors will put out messages to alert you to the new policy of No Undos. All players are strongly recommended to set "Confirm Bids" in their BBO Settings to avoid the risk of an accidental bidding mis-click.
Rob Hickling
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