Players registered for a tournament being ignored by BBO
Twice this year when directing on BBO I have had a player who has registered for a tournament being unable to be seen by the system when the tournament was due to start, even though they were logged in. The tournament wouldn't start because the system said they were not online. Logging off and back on didn't work, even though at their end they appeared to be back online. (I could see it didn't work as they didn't show up on my screen when they logged in). They could see the tournament list and the clock ticking down, but none of my Chat messages to the tournament.
Have others experienced this and, if so, do you know of a way to resolve the problem?
Comments
Sorry, to clarify: I know how to resolve the problem of starting the tournament (by de-registering offline teams).What I need to know is what to do - or tell the player to do - to get the system to acknowledge their presence and let them play.
Were they playing in some other game at the time?
Logging in may not be enough as they also need to be in the "tournament" area. So they could be in the "Bridge Base Online Home" page but not in the area where the tournament is being held. So I suggest that you tell them to log in and go to the correct area either "Competitive" or "Casual" from the "Bridge Base Online Home" page. The other problem could be insufficent BBO Dollars but I know that BBO gives some warning about this as people log in.
Hope either of these will help in future.
CMOT
Surely BBO will stop you registering for a tournament with insufficient funds ?
I don't think BBO have changed this as there is nothing in the Guides. Registration isn't the same as entry, all the help guides say "Entry" for BBO dollars.
https://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/82606-bbo-dollars/
CMOT
Thank you all for these suggestions. I think the answer may be lie in the “insufficient dollars” issue. The player this week said her partner was paying for her. So I wonder if partner registered and invited her but forgot to say that she would pay for them both. Could this be another situation when the system doesn’t do the check on sufficiency of funding until the event starts?
Yes, the registration process does not check BBO Dollars. That is checked when the Entry takes place. It seems that as far as BBO are concerned anyone can register but entry to the competition can only be effected if there are BBO dollars in the account. Have a look at the link I put in my previous post.
CMOT
Another possibility is when an individual chooses to log-in as 'Invisible.'
BBO does not care if someone is invisible when it comes to tournament registration or start.
I believe the registration process does check you have sufficient funds, but does not remove the money until play starts. However if you reduce your BBO dollars between registering and playing, perhaps playing another pay tournament, then you may find that you cannot play due to insufficient funds.
https://berwickbridgeclub.co.uk/