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20th March 2010
Introduction
The objective of handicapping is to give everyone a chance of winning regardless of ability or experience. To win, a pair or team must must play better than it usually does. The pair or team that outperforms its average by the greatest amount should win.
In the 2009/10 season, we plan to run three handicapped competitions: Handicap Pairs (second Thursday of the month from October to May), Handicap Teams (last Tuesday of the month from October to June, except December) and Chairman's Cup (one-off pairs competition on Monday 28 June). The purpose of this document is to describe the new handicapping system that will be used for these competitions.
How Handicaps Are Calculated
Handicaps are assigned to pairs and not to individuals as in previous seasons and are based on a pair's results over the whole of the 2008/9 season. The calculation allows for the fact that the playing strength varies between the seven weekly sessions, i.e. Monday afternoons and evenings, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday afternoons and evenings, and Fridays.

The first step is to calculate the average score of each pair in each session in which it has played a minimum of five times over the year. If a pair has played at least five times on Thursday evenings, then that average is used to calculate the handicap. Otherwise, the average for Monday evenings, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Monday afternoons, Thursday afternoons or Fridays is used, choosing the first session in this sequence for which an average has been calculated, i.e. the pair has played at least five times.

The averages of those pairs that participate in more than one session are used to calculate conversion factors between the sessions. The calculated conversion factors are:
Monday evenings            1.001
Tuesdays                          1.045
Wednesdays                    0.936
Monday afternoons          0.890
Thursday afternoons        0.797
Fridays                              0.787

For example, a pair that averages 50% on a Tuesday is adjusted to average 52.05% (50 x 1.041) on a Thursday evening and a pair that averages 50% on a  Friday is adjusted to average 39.35% (50 x 0.787) on a Thursday evening.

A pair's handicap is its Thursday average (actual or adjusted) minus 50, rounded to the nearest whole number. Handicaps range from +9 to -19.

Any pair that has no track record for the 2008/9 season, will initially be assigned a handicap of zero. The Bridge Affairs Sub-Committee reserves the right to adjust such handicaps retrospectively.   
Handicaps By Pair
Click here to find your handicap.
Handicaps In Descending Order
Click here to compare your handicap with other pairs.
Applying Handicaps

For each round of the Handicap Pairs and for the Chairman's Cup, a pair's handicapped score will be its actual percentage score minus its handicap.

This year the Handicap Teams will be run as 8 multiple teams events in which each team usually plays a small number of boards against all of the other teams that are present on the night. The result will be scored in IMPs.

Each team of four will be assigned a handicap before the first round that is the sum of the handicaps of the two pairs that make up the team.

It is intended that the team's handicap will not be adjusted when a substitute plays. Teams are expected not to introduce substitutes who are stronger players than the core team. The Bridge Affairs Sub-Committee reserves the right to adjust a team's handicap if it considers that the substitute rule is being abused.

Initially, for each round of the Handicap Teams, a team's handicapped score will be its actual score in IMPs minus its handicap. However, at this stage, we have no idea whether this method will favour the stronger teams, the weaker teams or be about right. To try and get round this problem, we will review how it is working after three rounds and make retrospective adjustments if appropriate.

(To refer to 'Playing Rules' click here)
Conclusion
Handicapping can never be “right”. All we can hope for is that the system will encourage more people with a wider range of abilities and experience to play in these competitions and to feel that they are at least in with a chance of winning.

If you any questions or any thoughts about how the system might be improved, please contact Peter Hayes.
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