Bill Gates to Play the World's Best Bridge Players Online

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Sep 29, 2016) - The Yeh Online Bridge World Cup (www.bridgeonlineworldcup.com) is the first ever live online Bridge Show and will take place over three days, October 31-November 2, 2016. The competition is under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation. It will feature some of the world's greatest champions and personalities including Bill Gates, who will be on the USA-BBO team led by Bob Hamman, ranked as the world's all-time top player. Other teams are Europe-Lavazza, CCBA from China and the Chen-Yeh team.

There will be remotely controlled webcams monitoring each player's reactions while their "cards" (computers will be used in lieu of cards) can be seen by viewers. Vugraph is the software used for virtual play, marking the first time this is being done in a major tournament. The USA-BBO team will be in Seattle, Team CCBA and Chen Yeh teams in Beijing and Europe-Lavazza team in Turin and the images and games will be streamed live across the Internet using BridgeBase.com and Ourgame, a Chinese leader in streaming poker games including the World Poker Tour, for which they just bought rights for $35 million. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will be fed images and content simultaneously and continuously throughout the three days of play.

The attention to social media and the Internet for broadcast is a determined effort to engage younger people to a game traditionally thought of as one for seniors. College students seem to be catching the bug for the game, with bridge clubs and leagues turning up on campuses across the country. The American Contract Bridge League initiated a School Bridge Lesson Series in which over 4,000 youngsters participate annually, ranging from elementary school through a College Bridge Program. Some well-known players include Warren Buffett, Martina Navratilova, Radiohead's Thomas Yorke, to name a few.

In addition to Gates and Hamman, USA-BBO team members are Jill Meyers, #2 all-time women's champion, Sharon Osberg, Fred Gitelman and Sheri Winestock. The CCBS team boasts several political leaders including Mr. Zeng Peiyan, former Vice Premier for Economy and General Secretary of the Asian Economic Forum, as well as Mr. Guo Jinlong, former Mayor of Beijing, and Chinese World Champions. Team Chen Yeh, led by Mr. Yeh, will be joined by World Champions, and the Europe-Lavazza team includes the women who hold the top two positions in the current women's world rankings, Sylvie Willard and Bénédicte Cronier. Bill Gates and his partner, Sharon Osberg, will play the first match against Team Lavazza at 9PM PDT, October 31. José Damiani is Chairman of the international Organizing Committee, based in Paris.