BBO is one of the largest online bridge playing platforms and communities. If you’ve recently joined us – or only now signed up for BBO Prime – a quick run through the rules might be in order.

Here are 7 things on BBO that’s likely to get you issued with a warning or ban.

1. Don’t drop the table.

Bridge is a competitive partnership game. It gets irritating fast when a player joins and suddenly drops the table – either before the start of the game or during. When one person does this, it can delay the entire table.

Everyone understands if it’s a once-off internet connection issue or a serious emergency. But repeat offenders will get see their completion rates drop dramatically and find themselves locked out of most games. Don’t continuously drop the table!

2. Mind your language.

Yes, BBO does have chat and messaging capacities. Always mind your language when you make use of them.

Foul language, insults, sexual or derogatory comments will get you banned with no questions asked. It’s just not cool.

No getting frisky in the messages section either: Move it to another platform – as far as I’m aware BBO is not planning to offer any variety of strip bridge yet!

3. No cheating.

BBO strives to keep everything fair – and at all times. There’s a no tolerance policy for cheating at the table (regardless of what high- or low-tech method might have inspired it).

If you suspect suspicious behavior or cheating, report it to BBO immediately.

4. No dodgy profile pictures.

Ever since people have had the capacity to draw pictures, we’ve used it to draw a few crude ones. (Yes, even back in cave painting days.) This might get a laugh at your local office, drinking haunt or cave, but it’s probably not going to fly on BBO.

Keep your profile pictures clean or you’ll get banned.

5. No discussing what you kibitz.

There’s no discussing any plays, cards or strategy with the players at the table if you happen to be kibitzing a game. If this wasn’t obvious at #3, yes, it counts as cheating.

6. No off-topic discussions in the wrong forum.

Other than the website itself, BBO also has an extensive forum where you can discuss anything related to bridge, online bridge, student bridge or bridge internationally and in other languages.

If you have any off-topics thoughts or rants, leave those in the right forum for non-bridge discussions.

One mistake gets a warning, several of them gets a ban.

7. No spamming or advertising.

If you’d like to advertise on BBO, do it through the right channels and contact them directly to discuss your advertising needs and rates.

No spamming or advertising in chat or private messages will be tolerated: That’s an automatic ban. As tempting as it may be to broadcast your awesome event, idea or book, sending such unsolicited messages to people you don’t know is just spam.