[AAr]

I love the Bingo Race and Bingo Reward tourneys. But, I have one question about Bingo Reward (The $1 tourneys that offer money as well as points).

The vast majority of the time I play in them, my opponents keep getting BINGOs five minutes into the tourney! Most of the time, seven minutes into the tourney (Still 18 minutes left in the clock!), enough players have gotten BINGOs so I can't possibly be in the money. Once an opponent BINGOs, you can't possibly beat them OR tie them. So, if, say, there are four players, and two players have gotten BINGOs, you might just as well withdraw from the tourney! The 25 minute clock is only of use if it's a rare tourney where nobody is getting fast BINGOs and it could come down to just needing the least squares for BINGO to make the points (which I also find more fun). Also, most of them time, I end up either in non-making contracts (often pushed them by competitive bidding or overbidding GIB partner). The fastest I've ever gotten in Bingo Reward is seven minutes. In the last Bingo Reward one I played, I had nine players (in which you make the money points for the top four places), and four players have gotten BINGOs in six minutes!

I think I am going to stop playing Bingo Reward. I will continue playing the 25c Bingo Race tourneys. I seem to have MUCH better luck in those. I HAVE actually gotten a BINGO in five minutes in Race one time. And, when I do struggle in them, my opponents often seem to also do so, so I at least get the fun to fill more squares, play more hands, actually have the 25 Minute Clock be a factor, and I usually do place in the Points there (or least have fun playing a more fun tourney). Rarely have I seem opponents BINGO in less then seven minutes in Race: I can usually make the points in ten minutes or more if it takes me that long. In Reward, I'm often still in BI and already out of the points! And, of course, I'm only out .25 instead of 1.00 if I do lose in Race. I know I don't get money for placing in Race, just points, but it still seems to me like the better of the Bingo tourneys.

So, my questions are this:

1. How often and common are five, six, seven minute BINGOs in Reward? Are fast BINGOs really that common, or am I just running into lucky opponents while playing these tourneys?

2. Is my idea of stopping playing in Reward but continuing playing in Race a good idea, given my luck in those?

Thanks!

[diana_eva]

We recently published an article and some stats about this:

http://webutil.bridg...etch.php?id=955

[AAr]

I read that link.

I see while it does list instinces where players have BINGOed in less than three minutes, that the average time needed to win a Bingo tourney is 10:37. That shows that BINGOing in four, five, or six minutes is NOT that common! So, it does seem like I just get really good and lucky opponents when I play Bingo Reward.


Still, I'd like to see the time needed to score the Bingo in the Results as well of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. and how close you were to getting a Bingo if you didn't get one (BING, BIN, BI). This is an example of what I think a Results Page should say.

Example:

1. Player A 5:00
2. Player B 7:30
3. Player C 12:00
4. Player D BING
5. Player E BING
6. Player F BIN
7. Player G BI

Still, the average time needed to win (not just place, but win) a Bingo Reward tourney is 10:37? (I would have guessed somewhere around eight minutes, which is still seemingly more than I've ever seen somebody BINGO against me about 80% of the time.) 10:37? More than ten and a half minutes? I must just sign up for the wrong tourneys and get bad cards and good lucky opponents if that's the case. Reguardless of skill, you really HAVE to get good cards AND take full advantage of them, AND play fast to BINGO in five minutes or less, but they seem to do that against me.

I know I'm not the best BINGO player (I play slower than I should to think and try to maximize points for redeals when I'm defending, playing a contract not on the Bingo Card, or already down in the contract, and it's probably better to just play those as fast as those possible as the diffence between -100 and -500 is only revelent towards getting redeals which might not matter, and saving those 15 to 30 seconds, even if concedes a bigger minus, is probably a winning bet in the long run in BINGO. And, I have went down in cold contracts trying for overtricks which I KNOW is a no-no in Bingo. Still, I mostly don't get that good of cards, and mostly get opponents to get BINGOs in five or six minutes.)

Again, I do seem to have much better luck in Race, but I am just curious in how often players get BINGOs so fast in Reward, as well as Race. It usually takes me less time to BINGO in Race than in Reward, but I do think the 10:37 average time to win a BINGO is about right on, if not actually even a little low, in those. Sometimes, I get lucky and take fifteen minutes or more to BINGO and still win. There have even been a few times in Race that I didn't even get a BINGO inside the 25 Minute Clock and still placed in the points. Does the 10:37 time count both Race and Reward? Are times needed to win BINGO usually less in Reward than Race? I just curious in this stat.

[AyunuS]

They're probably just getting lucky, or were good players. In free bingo tourneys, I usually take 10-15 minutes, and I usually win, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were noticeably better players in the pay ones to where that average time for the winner is probably about right. If you know some players are really good you can see that they're in the tourney before it starts, and you can just try to play ones that don't have that good of players in them, but that would be a big pain.

If you think you don't get very good hands, and you fail contracts often, keep in mind it's okay to underbid hands. In Bingo, if you want those level 2 bids, you can open 1NT with 20 pts and hope for a transfer or that kind of thing. Often it won't have enough pts to bid anything else. You don't really need all that good of hands to make most of the bids, just try to avoid most of the ones above level 4.

I do agree it would be nice to be able to see the times of each of the players that did get a Bingo.