Matchpointer Online
(Serving Tournament Bridge players in A.C.B.L. Unit 430:
Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Sunshine Coast)

Flight A/X IMP League Notes and News

With 15 teams this year in Flight A, we are using an NFL-style unbalanced schedule with three divisions of five teams each.  All teams play their divisional opponents twice, and play four other teams once each.  Teams have been seeded by average masterpoint holdings and placed into divisions, named in remembrance of some of Unit 430's most avid IMP League players, as follows:

Adrian Hicks Division: Seeds #1, #6, #7, #12, #13
Gordy Davis Division: Seeds #2, #5, #8, #11, #14
Leo Steil Division: Seeds #3, #4, #9, #10, #15

The higher-seeded teams do have a slightly more difficult schedule than the lower-seeded teams do, but two-thirds of your matches will be played within your division--it's only the other four games that are not quite equal.  Once we got too many teams to play a full round-robin, an unbalanced schedule was inevitable.

Playoffs in Flight A: The top two teams in each of the three divisions will make the playoffs, along with two wild-card teams, for a total of eight.  Playoff matches this year are not sanctioned by the ACBL, so the masterpoints will be for the regular season only.  The top four teams (division winners are seeded #1 - 3, second place #4 - 6) pick their opponents from #5 thru 8 in the first round.  The top survivor picks their semifinal opponent from the lowest two survivors.  Teams get a carryover in IMPs equal to one-third of the difference in VPs from the regular season in all playoff matches.  Note that your overall position is not neccesarily your seed, since the top teams will get the #1 - #3 seeds and the second place teams will get #4 - #6.

Strat X: As we begin, it looks as though eight teams are eligible for Flight X (under 2000 MP per player): Lai, Lochang, McMullin, Moffatt, Nalos, Segal, Walker and Williams, with Ballantyne's status depending on their final roster.  The top X-eligible team in each division and one wild-card team (four total) will make the playoffs, with the top team picking its semifinal opponent from #3 or #4 (the wild-card team.  Teams get a carryover in IMPs equal to one-third of the difference in VPs from the regular season in all playoff matches.

Playoff Deadlines:

• Friday, April 16, 11:00pm -- Deadline for teams to select first-round opponents (or send preferences to McBruce)
• Wednesday, April 28 -- Deadline for first-round playoff matches in Flight A
• Friday, April 30, 11:00pm -- Deadline for teams to select semifinal opponents (or send preferences to McBruce)
• Wednesday, May 5 -- Deadline for semifinal matches (first-round) in Flight X
• Wednesday, May 12 -- Deadline for semifinal matches in Flight A
• Wednesday, June 3 -- Final match deadline in Flight A and X

Reminder 1: Play your matches in reasonable time: more than two overtime matches will cost you VPs (unless you have established during play that the other team is solely at fault).  An overtime match is one which goes longer than two hours before the second half starts, or longer than 3½ hours total.  Boards will be removed from slow matches this year, so keep the discussions and delays within reason.

Reminder 2: Teams Litwin, Williams, and Ballantyne have not yet paid their $36 entry fees.  Don't let this go past your first match, please.  Captain's packages have been picked up by all teams except for Litwin, Ballantyne, Martineau, Nalos, Takemori, Walker, and Williams.