COMPETITION RULES 2016-17

The Competition year will run from April to March as from April 2016.
On all Tuesday & Thursday Pairs Competitions Visitors & Associate Members will be most welcome, but will not qualify for entry.
In all Club competitions only Full Members may qualify for a prize.
In all pairs competitions a Mitchell movement will normally be used unless numbers are low when in the opinion of the Tournament Director so few pairs are playing that a more meaningful result will be achieved by a Howell movement.
24/26 boards will normally be the minimum numbers of boards in circulation.
Team competitions will normally be scored by IMPs converted to VPs on each evening.
The Club Committee reserves the right to vary the conditions set out below if circumstances make it necessary and empower the TD to do so if in his/her opinion it is needed. Rules for specific team competitions are given below but please note they are subject to change if authorised by the TD.

Meg Fisher
An Aggregate** pairs competition  played over 12 rounds on 1^st Tuesday of every month.
All scores to count with a minimum of 7 rounds required to qualify. 
**Please note: The TD may use Cross-Imp scoring with a Howell movement if there is a half table or a small number of total tables.
Point Scoring for each event = 10 for a win, 9 for second place, 8 for 3rd etc.etc.
In the event of tied aggregate scores the available place points will be shared by the tied positions.
e.g. 3rd= 8 points, 4th = 7 points so 3rd equal = (8+7)/2 = 7.5 points; i.e. 0.5 less than a 'clear' 3rd place.

Jean Paton
A  Match Point pairs competition to be played on all Tuesday Club Nights
Except the first Tuesday of each month (see Meg Fisher above).
The best 18 scores of any pair combination to count. Visitors and Associates and Student members will be most welcome but will not qualify.
*A Handicap competition runs in parallel with the above

Cross-Imp Pairs
Aggregate scores will be converted to IMPS and scores averaged during the the year. To be played over 10 rounds usually on the 3rd Thursday of the month. All scores to count with a minimum of 6 rounds required to qualify.
Visiting & Associate pairs will be most welcome but will not qualify.

Simple Systems
A  Match Point pairs competition to be played over 10 rounds on the 2^nd  Thursday of every month. Bidding conventions are restricted.  All scores to count with a minimum of 6 rounds required to qualify. Visiting & Associate pairs will be most welcome but will not qualify.
*A Handicap competition runs in parallel with the above

Tayside Salver
A  Match Point pairs competition played over 10 rounds on Thursday evenings between April and August with the best 6 rounds to qualify and count. Visiting & Associate pairs will be most welcome but will not qualify.
*A Handicap competition runs in parallel with the above and is known as the Tayside Plate

Sexy Pairs
A one night Match Point pairs competition to be played on Thursday 2^nd June 2016. Qualifying pairs should be club members of the same gender. Mixed pairs, visiting & associate pairs will be most welcome but will not qualify
There will be two winners: A Ladies’ Pair & A Gents’ Pair.     

Bill Hughes Simultaneous Pairs
A one night Match Point competition with scores consolidated with many other clubs from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This event will be run in parallel with our Jean Paton/Club night on Tuesday 28th June.

Bunty Burns Memorial Trophy (Invitation Ladies Teams of Four) 
A one day Invitational Ladies only Team competition to be played on Sunday 31st July. The entry fee TBA per player and a meal will be provided. Play starts at 1pm. Scoring will be by IMPs converted to VPs..

Strathearn Quaich
A  one night Teams of Four event to be played on Thursday 4^th August 2016.
Entered pairs will be seeded and then balloted to produce Teams of Four.
Scoring will be Imps converted to VPs.

President Vs Vice President
A  one night Teams of Four event to be played on Tuesday 23rd August. Players enter as pairs and the President  and Vice President select their teams by picking alternatively. Ideally, requires an even number of tables.

Stanley Barker Trophy
Swiss Team of Four event to be played on Thursday 1st September 2016.
An all-play-all format is acceptable should numbers dictate. Scoring will be Imps converted to VPs.

Constitutional Trophy Club Championship (AKA Winter pairs)
A Match-Point pairs competition played over six rounds  between  September and February with all scores counting and a minimum of 4  rounds played to qualify. Visiting & Associate pairs will be most welcome but will not qualify.
*A Handicap competition runs in parallel with the above.
Pairs (Qualifying) Match-PointsTo be played over six rounds with the best five rounds to count. This Competition runs concurrently with rounds 1 - 6 of the Constitutional trophy.The Entry fee is set by the Central District.

Harry Stephen Memorial Trophy
A one day Invitational Team competition to be played on Sunday 25th September 2016. Teams from out with the Club are invited by the Club Committee. Teams from the Club may enter, but as there is a maximum of 14 teams permitted, Club teams may have to play in a qualifying competition. (The Club President's Team is exempt from qualifying). Scoring will be Imps converted to VPs.
The entry fee TBA, a meal will be provided. Play starts at 1pm.

The Miller Trophy
An individual event played over one night using simple systems. To be played on 6th October 2016.This is also a qualifying Competition for the Central District. Entries may be limited to suit Movements available.

Challenge Trophy
A Teams of Four Club Championship to be played over four consecutive Thursday nights in November 2016. Substitutes are permitted but are not then considered team members. Teams must at all times include at least 50% of the original entered team. Full members only. Scoring will be by IMPs converted to VPs. Pairs (Qualifying) Match-Points
A handicap event, known as the EWING TROPHY will run concurrently with this competition.  Please note that the Handicap Committee reserves the right to alter any handicap if substitutes are introduced.

Scottish Bridge Union: Bobby Allan Trophy
Match-Points. A one night simultaneous mixed pairs National Competition. 
To be played on the Thursday 26th January. Members only.

Balthayock Salver
Revolving Teams of Four. To be played over three consecutive Thursdays from 23rd February to 9th March 2017. No team member may play with the same player more than once. Substitutes are permitted, but are not then considered team members. Teams must at all times include at least 50% of the original entered team. Full members only. Scores will be in IMPs and converted to VPs each evening.

Easter Pairs
A one night National SBU pairs competition to be played at the club on
Tuesday 23rd March 2017.The pair with the highest percentage in Scotland will be the winners. National points will be awarded to the top 1/3rd pairs.

Mary Batho Trophy
A one night mixed pairs Match-Point competition to be played on Thursday 30th March 2017. A Howell movement will be used unless numbers dictate otherwise. Non-mixed pair, visitors & associates will be very welcome but will not qualify. 

*Handicap Competitions
Where  a handicap competition is in parallel with a pairs competition, the prizewinners in the main competition are excluded from winning the handicap competition in the same event.
Where a pairs competition has a parallel handicap competition the handicaps applied are calculated automatically by Bridgewebs based upon each players average  percentage  score in all pairs events for which the player has scores in the most recent 12 months.The most recently calculated handicap is applied at the time of scoring.  
See next menu item for a full explanation of the handicap calculations.

Perth Bridge Club Tie-breaking methods

INDIVIDUAL

1:- Total mps on boards played against each other.

2:- No of matches won against each other ( two in 25 Ind. so not relevant ).

3:- Total mps on boards played the same way

4:- Total mps on all boards in common.

5:- Cut cards.

TEAMS.

1:- Total VPs on boards played against each other.

2:- Total |MPs on boards played against each other.

3:- Total aggregate on boards played against each other-

4:- No. of matches won against each other.

5:- Cut cards.

SWISS

Early Rounds

1:- Total VPs so far weighted by ranking of opposition.

2:- Total Imps so far weighted by ranking of opposition.

3:- Cut cards.

PAlRS Match Points

1:- Revert to total mps out of max. overall.

(At present percentages are carried forward which give, in effect, equal tops)

2:- Total mps on boards played against each other.

3:- No of matches/boards won against each other.

4:- Total mps on boards played the same way

5:- Cut cards.

MEG-FISHER (aggregate)

1:- Count evenings when first out of those played, in effect weighting

2:- Count evenings when second and so on, weighting if needed.

3:- Cut cards.

CROSS IMPS

l:-Total lMPs on boards played against each other using Butler scores..

2:- No of matches won against each other using Butler scores.

3:- Cut cards.

 lf Contestants have played a different no. of boards or boards with different tops then the scores must be weighted to provide uniformity.