Board of Directors Meeting

March 6-9, 2018

Philadelphia, PA

The Philadelphia meeting was very productive. I won’t attempt to put you to sleep with the time spent updating our bylaws to conform to the new New York State regulations for not for profits. As important as this work is I am limiting this newsletter to items that are of more interest to District 18 players. The number one question I have received concerns the new policy requiring all tournament players to have an ACBL player number in order to play at our tournaments. Using only names when registering players at tournaments made it very difficult and sometimes impossible to track these new players and credit them with all their points. Using player numbers will eliminate these problems. The concern that this additional cost might deter these newer players from attending is not well grounded. When the current non-member charge is taken into consideration if a newer player plays twice at their first tournament they break even and if they play three or more times they will in fact save money. Another selling feature of the temporary membership is that these players will be receiving two issues of the Bridge Bulletin. If they decide not to permanently join they simply use the new number they receive and pay the same as they do now any future tournaments they attend.

Our District is taking part in an experimental format for Bracketed KO Teams. This format begins the same as presently by placing all the teams that register into brackets. The difference comes when all the teams now play a two session Swiss qualifying and using the Swiss standings the four top teams in each bracket qualifying for a two session traditional KO final. One of these events is scheduled at each of our upcoming Jackpot and Moose Jaw Regionals. I believe this will be an enjoyable new format and look forward to hearing feedback from all those who participate.

Our District is also hosting its first Invitational/Novice Regional. This tournament is limited to Non-Life Masters and players with less than 750 MPs. The tournament is scheduled for July 12-14 in Helena, Montana. You can find the program on the District 18 Wasumi web site www.wasumi.org . This is a great opportunity for I/N players to earn those valuable Gold points.

The REACH tournament that many of you played at your clubs in February was very successful and consideration is being given to what is the best way to add more of these to our schedule. The Collegiate Bridge Bowl is another event that is gaining popularity. This on line event saw almost a doubling of entries this year. The League has set up a mentorship program for those who wish to become involved in mentoring college teams. If you are interested in becoming involved in this program don’t hesitate to contact the folks in Horn Lake.

There are a number of interesting things on the horizon. In November the League will be adopting new convention charts. Our current General and Mid charts are being replaced by Basic, Basic+, Open, and Open+ charts. The main change is a redefined chart that is more suited to I/N play and an opening up of allowed conventions in open games at tournaments. The conventions allowed in club games remains a an option for the individual clubs. Watch for full details in upcoming editions of the Bulletin. The simplifying of how Master Points are awarded is also being looked at. Eliminating the Use of the tournament formula to calculate awards for special games is being considered. Using a method that simply multiplies by 1.5 or 2 etc. for these special games will make the awards easier to understand. In tournament play a Strength of Field approach is being considered for calculating MP awards. The current system has different award depending on how games are sanctioned. Under SoF the awards for two games of the same size and same strength of players entered will always be the same. I hope to have more to report on this following the next meetings which takes place in Atlanta this summer.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns and as always may all your finesses be successful.

Claire Jones

District 18 Board of Directors