Current Competitions

We hold bridge competitions face-to-face at the Bridge Club and on-line through the BBO platform, with sessions in the afternoons and evenings to suit players of all abilities.

We are currently running 5 regular competitions:

Face to Face at West Street

· Open Pairs (Monday and Friday evenings)

· Castle Trophy Pairs (Tuesday afternoons)
In honour of the Castle Bridge Club, which merged with Scarborough Bridge Club

Online at BBO

· Monday Afternoon and Thursday Evening Pairs

There are also Wednesday morning sessions aimed at beginners and improvers, with help on hand, as well as Next Step sessions on Friday mornings at the Bridge Club. These sessions are competitive, but they are not formal competitions, just a chance for beginners and improvers to get ready for proper competitive tournament play.

Competition Formats

Each competition runs three times a year, for approximately 17 weeks.

Each one is a combination of an Open Pairs Event and a Handicapped Competition. Prizes are awarded to both Winners. Should the winners of the Open Event also win the Handicapped Event then the Handicap prize will be awarded to the second-place pair.

To qualify for each Competition, pairs need to play 9 times in a 17 week session. The best 10 results are used to calculate the average percentage for the Competition. If pairs play in more than 10 sessions, then the lowest results are discounted.

Online Pairs

All bids requiring alerting should be self-alerted on BBO. Undo’s on BBO will be permitted for Bidding but not for the play. Therefore, you may not ask for an undo in the play. If it is a clear-cut bidding error then this should be allowed. If in doubt call the director.

Occasional Competitions

Scarborough Bridge Club also runs one-off competitions from time to time. These include:

Dorothy Salmon Memorial Pairs

Dorothy Salmon is remembered for the introduction of Improver Events to Scarborough Bridge Club on Wednesday Mornings. These events have proved to be very popular to our less experienced members and this event is held in her memory

It is a one-off event played on a Wednesday Morning, normally in the autumn each year. The competition is designed for relatively inexperienced players and the qualification for this event is based on NGS Rank 5 or below on the EBU NGS scale.

Stephenson Watson Trophy

This is a one-off event designed for relatively inexperienced players and the qualification for this event is therefore below the rank of Master on the EBU ranking Scale.

Martin Carlile Trophy

This is a one-off event played on a Friday Morning, normally in the spring of each year. The event is designed for improving players and the qualification for this event is therefore NGS Rank 8 or below

The Victor Ludorum Trophy is awarded to the person who accumulates the most Victor Ludorum points on each of the 3 face to face non-handicapped events run during the calendar year.

Handicapping System for the Above Handicap Competitions

The handicapping uses the NGS scale, managed for each person by the English Bridge Union and amended Monthly. The handicap scale is as follows:

The NGS Grades for each pair are added together and then divided by 2 to apply the handicap. For example Player 1 is NGS 7 and player 2 is NGS 5 – the pairs handicap is therefore +2 +6 =8 divided by 2 = +4