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

Flight B/C IMP League Notes and News

With seven teams this year in Flight B/C, we are using an NFL-style unbalanced schedule where all teams play each other team once, and play two extra games each.  The three teams initially eligible for Flight C (under 300 per player) play twice against each other, while the four teams eligible for Flight B (300-1000 per player) play two of the other three B-eligible teams twice.  There are ten match periods and each team has two byes, although the second last period is very short because there is only one match scheduled for that period; the other five teams get a short bye.  Teams have been seeded by average masterpoint holdings as follows

Flight B: Meyer, Stone, Dunn, Carr
Flight C: E-Team, Hung, Boyce

The higher-seeded teams do have a slightly more difficult schedule than the lower-seeded teams do, just as it would be in a Swiss Teams.  A complete round-robin of six matches would leave us all wanting more, and a double-round robin would take us into next summer.

Playoffs in Flight B: All seven teams are eligible for the B playoffs.  The top four teams will make the playoffs.  Playoff matches this year are not sanctioned by the ACBL, so the masterpoints will be for the regular season only.  The top team will pick their opponent from #3 or #4 in the first round.  Teams get a carryover in IMPs equal to one-third of the difference in VPs from the regular season in all playoff matches.

Strat C: Three teams are eligible for Flight C (under 300 MP per player): E-Team, Hung and Boyce.  The top two C-eligible teams will play in the Flight C Final match, with the top team starting with a carryover in IMPs equal to one-third of the difference in VPs from the regular season.

Playoff Deadlines:

• Friday, April 16, 11:00pm -- Deadline for the top B team to select a first-round opponent (or send preferences to McBruce)
• Thursday, April 29 -- Deadline for first-round playoff matches in Flight A
• Thursday, May 20 -- Final match deadline in Flight B and C

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.  I am quite aware that play in Flight B and C often takes longer, so I suggest and approve the following procedure:

• Agree with the other team captain beforehand to play only 12 boards in the first half (six at each table), to comply with the two hour rule.
• Set out and shuffle eight boards at each table for the second half, but leave the last two aside--play only six before passing the boards.  Once 12 boards are completed at both tables, and before comparing the second half, decide if you have enough time to play the final four boards.  (If not, no problem, we'll consider those boards as no swing boards.)  You'll need about 30-40 minutes to play all four and score up, but you might agree to play two only.
• If you adopt this plan, simply report the first half as the first 12 boards and the second half as the remainder, as many as there was time for.
• An alternate plan, possible if both teams can field three pairs, is to play a six-on-six match at three tables.  This will get you done in 33% less time.  I'll post a schedule for a six-on-six match at the VBC in case anyone wants to try it.