Like to Watch?
by Alex J. Coyne © 2017 Great Bridge Links
Watching rather than playing a game gives you a chance to step back and check out the game.
We all love playing bridge, but you’ve got to admit that every once in a while it’s just as great to sit back and just watch. Watching rather than playing a game gives you a chance to step back and check out the game without having to worry about your own hand. So, indulge your inner voyeur with this list of live bridge game streams, videos and more.
BuddyShah
BuddyShah is a vugraph provider – that’s the system that makes the cards, bids and plays appear up on the screen for tournaments – based in India. Thanks to their website, you can check out live games in-progress as well as tournaments being currently streamed. There are two channels available: Just click one and start watching. Cool!
Bridge Base Online
Bridge Base Online Help – Watching
Bridge Base Online Help – Schedule
Bridge Base Online is an endless labyrinth of bridge information and generally awesome stuff. (We’ve pointed readers in the direction of the BBO apps and lessons before!) They also offer live bridge games for those who like to watch – check out the two links up above: One takes you to the help section and explains just how you go about watching a live game; the other one takes you to the vugraph schedule, so you know which games are being played when.
Like Bridge Base Online, Bridge Doctor allows you to play or sit in on a game: Just click on live games, tick the box that says watch and sit back.
MSN Games offers a couple of simple, online games including Bridge – and additionally things like Poker, Chess; y’know, the basics. The cool thing about MSN Games is the fact that they offer players a chance to either play or ‘sit in’ and just see how the game progresses.
Seemingly a site based in Australia, BridgeVid requires a monthly membership fee of 15AUD. From there, you get access to live bridge coaching, bridge problems and a weekly free tournament.
YouTube is an absolute goldmine of resources: Just type “Bridge Tournament” into the search bar and you’ll be granted instant access to thousands of previous tournament footage without having to go looking to the edge of the internet. Some good ones to start off with are the ACBL Youth Tournament that took place in 2010 in Reno, Nevada and the Marit Sveaas International Bridge Tournament which took place in 2016 in Oslo, Norway: But get the popcorn, the video runs just a short of seven hours!
World Bridge Federation posts lost of videos of world championships. Here’s a selection from 2015.
Also keep an eye on the websites of bridge clubs and tournaments: Often they’ll upload videos from the tournaments and games (sometimes cool stuff like interviews too) directly onto the website for download.
Let us know if you know of any other cool places to watch a bridge game!