I'm the author. What a weird surprise to see it at 4 am on Hacker News. If you play bridge on BBO you might be interested in my BBO Helper browser extension. I

I'm the author. What a weird surprise to see it at 4 am on Hacker News. If you play bridge on BBO you might be interested in my BBO Helper browser extension. It's popular with strong players and streamers (yes, there are bridge streamers!), but there is functionality to benefit players of all levels. https://lajollabridge.com/Software/BBO-Helper/ https://lajollabridge.com/Software/BBO-Helper/ The last evening bridge game at the Soledad Club was held April 7, 2016 about a year after I wrote the referenced article, when it hit the five table break even point. The pandemic was hard on bridge. About half of the ACBL members made the transition to online play, primarily BBO. This looks like a sea change. Players are returning to f2f play but the ACBL lists only 1,855 bridge clubs today; there were 2,721 in 2019, a decline of 32%. Players are also returning to the tournaments but table counts are only 50–80% of pre-pandemic. Matt Baylow has been carefully tracking the situation: https://medcitybridge.com/R_other%20pages/work/F2F%20VACB%20Tournament%20Updates.html https://medcitybridge.com/R_other%20pages/work/F2F%20VACB%20... https://medcitybridge.com/R_other%20pages/work/F2F%20Updates.html https://medcitybridge.com/R_other%20pages/work/F2F%20Updates... I've run many of the smaller (sectional) tournaments and thus know the many fixed expenses. Even a 20% decline in table count will affect the viability, choice of venue, or card fees. The bigger tournaments (regionals and nationals) depend on room night guarantees made to the host hotel in exchange for using their convention space; I'm not sure how that is shaking out.