Stratified & Handicap Games
Most matchpoint games follow an "A-B-C" stratification of players, based on their overall earned masterpoint totals. Usually, the strata in which a pair plays depends on the points held by the more accomplished player, but some events permit point totals between partners to be averaged for purposes of assigning a strata.
In addition to stratified pairs, the ACBL allows local clubs to use player handicapping as a change-of-pace from the "A-B-C" stratified pairs method of scoring. Handicap games provide special encouragement for newer and less successful players. Handicapping puts a portion of the masterpoint prize pool more within the reach of all.
The bridge itself has the same "look and feel" as a stratified game. Matchpoint scoring is unchanged, and hand records are usually made available at the conclusion of the game. The difference is that when all results have been entered,
two scores are calculated for each pair. The first is a
SCRATCH SCORE, equal to the matchpoints earned in play. The second is a WEIGHTED SCORE equal to the scratch score
plus each pair's
GAME HANDICAP.
Masterpoints awarded for the game are divided between the scratch winners and handicap winners. Any pair winning placement in both categories gets masterpoints from each prize pool.
Calculating Handicaps
The handicapping method used is quite similar to the that used in golf tournaments and bowling competitions. It calculates handicaps based on each player's recent past performance in club games.
Handicap calculations are made just prior to the game as player names are entered into ACBLSCORE, our computerized management and scoring system. The program will be looking back at between at up to ten of each player's most recent Las Candelas game results, depending on availability. For players new to the club or to duplicate, the director may assign an initial handicap.
First, each player's recent game results (which might be from play with one or several partners) are analyzed to obtain an average game percentage. This percentage is compared with a hypothetical "par" game percentage of 65%. At maximum (100%) handicapping, a player who averages 50% games, for example, would receive what equates to 15 percentage points as his or her handicap. This translates into a certain number of additional matchpoints, depending on the number of boards and rounds that will be played.
Each time a handicap game is set up, ACBLSCORE recalculates the individual handicap for each player. Day to day and week to week, newer game results replace older ones in the samples taken, so the handicap for any player may apply only to that specific game, and can be expected to change slightly from week to week and session to session.