COMPETITIONS FROM SEPTEMBER 2019 TO APRIL 2020

As agreed at the AGM in April 2019 play at club nights from September to the next AGM will follow the same pattern as in recent Seasons so will include competitions for:-

• The Millennium Quaich
• The Club Pairs Competition
• The Club Team-Player Trophy
• The President's Salver

A page has been created for each of these competitions in the Competitions section of the website.  Each page includes a description of the competition and records the scores to date for the Season.

The Millennium Quaich will be awarded to the player(s) who win the most Masterpoints from their best 12 results over the club nights from the start of September to the AGM in April (other than the Christmas Party Night and the President's Salver Night).

The Club Pairs Competition.  On six club nights during the season (1 October, 29 October, 26 November, 14 January, 11 February and 10 March), we will play a duplicate pairs event which will be run as a Howell or a Mitchell with Arrow Switching and will be Match Pointed.  Pairs must play together on at least 4 of these Tuesdays to qualify for this event and the Club Pairs Trophy will be awarded to the pair who have the highest average percentage score from their best 4 results over the six nights.  Bonus Master Points are awarded to the top third of the pairs that have played together on at least 4 of these nights so please try to ensure you play with your usual partner on at least 4 of these dates.

The Club Team-Player Trophy.  We will look to play ‘Teams of 4 Nights’ once a month from mid-September to March.  These nights will take place on the first evening each month when we get an exact number of tables playing (other than the first night of the season and the Club Pairs Nights).  Players will play with their ‘normal’ partner for that evening but there will be a draw made at the start of the evening to decide which pairs make up each Team of 4.  The scores will be calculated on an IMP basis but the scoring programme will then convert these scores to Victory Points (a score out of 20 for each set of 3 or 4 Boards each team played against each other team).  The Club Team-Player Trophy will be awarded to the player(s) who end up with the highest total VP score from all the Team of 4 Nights they play in.

The President’s Salver will be awarded to the pair who win the one-off duplicate pairs event to be played on 24 March 2020.

The Christmas Party Night will be held on 17 December 2020.

On club nights other than specific formats covered above we will normally play a Mitchell movement with separate NS and EW winners.  We will look to vary the scoring on these nights between Cross-IMPs and Match Pointing.

MEMPAD - (Members and Masterpoints Administration Database) gives every SBU member their own area where current Master point totals and rating can be seen.    

Go to http://www.mempad.co.uk/  and enter your user name (your SBU Masterpoint Number) and password.   If you do not yet have a Password for Mempad, you can request one by clicking on Contact the SBU.

Masterpoints

Masterpoints are now issued electronically.  If anyone has any queries about their MPs they should contact  the SBU via the MEMPAD website.

We have picked up (or not corrected) a number of bad habits.  So, since this is the season of New Resolutions, it seems a good time to remind ourselves about these.

Bidding Boxes

You must not hover over the bidding box whilst you decide what to bid, much less touch one card before selecting another.  This is conveying information to partner.  Keep your hand well away until you have decided, then extract the bid card decisively.

Alerts

You must alert promptly any bid from partner which has a meaning or inference which may not be known to your opponents.  This applies even if you have written the meanings down on a Convention card and/or announced it orally beforehand.  (But do not alert any bid above 3NT unless it occurs on the first round of bidding.)

Statements which you may have read to the effect that certain bids need not be alerted assume that fully completed Convention Cards have been prepared, exchanged and read before the start of play, which is never the case at our Club nights.  We are all required to follow the spirit of Alerting as well as the letter of the Law. 

When an alert is made, the next opposition player need not ask for an explanation, and should not do so if it has no bearing on what they might bid.  The other opposition player may not ask for an explanation at this point, or amplify any question which her/his partner has asked.  S/he may ask for (further) explanation when it is her/his own turn to bid.

First Lead

The player on lead to the first trick may ask for a recap of the sequence and meaning of the bids, but her/his partner may not say or ask anything about the auction until the first lead has been placed face-down on the table.

If you are on lead, do not write down the contract before selecting your card and placing it face down on the table.  That wastes time for everyone (and stresses the TD!).  If you are the partner of the player on lead, do not be so busy writing in your own card that you do not see and approve the opening lead promptly.

Dummy

Dummy must not indicate in any way the card that is to be played to this or the next trick.  You may know that the insignificant-looking Diamond 6 is a winner, but declarer may not have been counting!

Speed of Play

Many hands are still being played unnecessarily slowly, which is discourteous to everyone else.  A few critical hands may warrant more than 7 minutes, but most don’t.  And if you know or suspect that you are behind the clock, please forego inspection and discussion of the traveller.

If we can improve our overall speed we get home earlier, or can sometimes embark on movements which allow us to play two or three extra Boards in the evening.

David Chambers

11 January 2018