Player of the Month

The Player of the Month competition was a very successful initiative introduced by the committee in 2006, and has proved deservedly popular ever since.

It runs for each of the 12 calendar months of the year, with no summer break.  Points are scored by all club members who play during the month, according to their performance in the various games, as described below. Both Tuesday and Thursday nights are counted, and the winner is the player with the most points at the end of the month. Each month is a separate stand-alone competition i.e. everyone starts again at 0 points at the start of the next month and there is no carryover.

Since 2015 there are also prizes for Best Intermediate and Best Area Master.

Player of the Year

Points are scored as follows :

Usual weekly games (Tuesday, Thursday)

• Pairs, Mitchell movement : With an exact number of tables, each of the 4 players making up the winning N/S and E/W pairs get that number of points, with the points awards then reducing by one for the players in each subsequent place, all the way down to 1 point for the 4 players in last place. (So e.g. for 13 tables, the 4 players who are the N/S and E/W winners each get 13 pts, 2^nd place each get 12 pts, 3^rd get 11 pts etc).

If there is a half-table, then the players in the field with the extra pair get an extra point. So e.g. with 11½ tables and the extra pair as E/W, then the N/S winners each get 11 pts, N/S 2^nd get 10 pts, N/S 3^rd get 9 pts etc…while the E/W winners each get 12 pts, E/W 2^nd get 11 pts, E/W 3^rd get 10 pts….and so on, reducing as before to 1 pt for last place.

If there are 2 different competitions e.g. two 8-table sections, each one is scored separately.

• Monthly Teams : the points award to each of the 4 members of the winning team is the same as the number of teams in the competition, and as with pairs the award reduces by one point for each place down the table. So e.g. for 14 teams, the winners each get 14 pts, the 2^nd-placed team’s members each get 13 pts, 3^rd each get 12 pts etc…and so on, as before, down to 1 pt for last place.

• Pairs, Howell movement  :  the top award is the same as the number of pairs in the competition, and the awards decrease by one point for each place down the rankings. E.g for a 6½- table Howell, the winners each get 13 pts, 2^nd each get 12 pts, 3^rd each get 11 pts etc…..down to 2 pts for 2^nd-last and, finally, 1 pt for last place.

                2-session club competitions

• Teams : exactly as for normal club night teams i.e. the top award for each session is the same as the number of teams, decreasing by 1 pt for each place down the table.

• Pairs :  to keep the award of points in proportion, and to account for the fact that the competition is scored as one field, the top award in each session is HALF of the total number of pairs in that session, and the awards decrease by half a point for each place down the table. E.g. with 20 tables (= 40 pairs), the highest-placed pair get 20 pts each, the 2^nd-placed get 19½ pts each, 3^rd get 19 pts each, 4^th get 18½ pts each….and so on down to 1 pt each for 2^nd-last and ½ pt each for last.

NOTES

• In the case of tied or joint placings, the award of points is shared/averaged.

Examples

Joint 2^nd /3^rd  place N/S in a normal club night pairs with 12 tables get 10½ pts each, the average of 11 and 10.

Joint winners E/W of a normal club night pairs with 13½ tables (and the extra pair in the E/W field) get 13½ pts each, the average of 14 and 13.

Joint 9^th/10^th/11^th of 15 teams get 6 pts each (average of 7, 6 and 5).

Joint 8^th/9^th in a session of a Pairs Club competition with 38 pairs get 15¼ pts each (average of 15½ and 15).

• Players representing the club in any Fanagan League match taking place on a Tuesday or Thursday night (in the case of Player of the Month) or on a Tuesday night (in the case of Player of the Year), whether home or away, are compensated by being awarded HALF of the maximum number of points available for that night’s competition (e.g. if there are 12½ tables, the maximum award is 13 pts, for the E/W winners, so the League players get 6½ pts each).

• Points are NOT awarded  for any game where 18 or fewer boards are played – whether because unforeseen or exceptional circumstances result in a normal night’s game being curtailed/reduced OR because it’s a shorter game as part of a social event e.g. the Christmas Party.

• Prizes and grades : if an Intermediate or Area Master player wins the overall prize, the relevant grade prize is won by the next highest placed player of that grade. Area Master and Intermediate prizes are confined within the grade i.e. Intermediate players are not eligible for the Area Master prize.                                                                     Novice-grade players are deemed to be Intermediates for the purposes of the competitions.

• Changes of grade: Any relevant summer re-gradings by the CBAI are deemed to apply from the September Player of the Month competition onwards. Any relevant changes in the 2^nd round of CBAI re-gradings – usually around New Year – are deemed to apply from the January Player of the Month competition onwards. In the case of the Player of the Year competition, a player’s grade at the end of the competition is deemed to apply.