AMERICAN CONTRACT BRIDGE LEAGUE
6575 Windchase Blvd. Horn Lake, MS. 38637
Claire Jones
District 18 Director
(901) 332-5586
2708 Lakeview Ave FAX: (901) 398-7754
Regina, Sk. S4S 1G3
Canada
H: (306) 584-3516
F: (306) 585-1443
Email: stats@accesscomm.ca
Pre Atlanta
July 29-August 1, 2013
July 15, 2013
I’ll begin with some exciting District 18 news. The loss of the Boise Unit left a large void in our Regional schedule. Good news, the Twin Falls Unit has stepped up with a proposal for 2015. They are presently negotiating for playing space in Jackpot, Nevada for May 2015. Be sure to watch for this and mark it on your calendar.
The Longest Day: This joint effort with the Alzheimer Foundation was a huge success. Including a $50 000.00 donation from the ACBL Charity Foundation a total of more than $490 000.00 (as of July 16th)has been raised. The following is a link to an article that appeared in the Austin American Statesman:
Congratulations to all those involved.
The St. Louis NABCs were the introduction of a 10K Swiss Teams. The event paid 10% platinum points and the 85 teams entered proved that this kind of event might be very popular. The Board is always looking at ways to improve our NABC schedule. In Atlanta we will be looking at other similar events for the Summer and Fall NABCs. Watch for these possible additions to our schedule.
As always there are numerous motions being considered in Atlanta. I’m high-lighting some of the motions that affect our District the most. As always I’m interested in any relevant comments you may have. I will not be sending out a newsletter following the Atlanta meetings but I will be posting a report on our District web site. Be sure to check www.wasumi.org in the weeks following Atlanta.
Good luck in your bridge ventures and as always may all your finesses be successful,
Claire Jones
District 18 BoD
(Watch for complete motion details at http://www.acbl.org/about/bodmeetings.html )
Atlanta Motion Highlights:
Item 132-02: CDR Appendix B
Moved that:
The Code of Disciplinary Regulations (CDR) be amended by adding a new
section CDR Appendix B, Part B - E5 as follows, and the subsequent
sections be renumbered appropriately:
Item 132-02: CDR Appendix B
Purposefully, regularly and repeatedly making unusual
bids in an effort to prevent a partner from declaring hands.
Some players are perceived as swinging the bidding in a manner that prevents a weaker partner from playing the hand. In this sense they are varying from the agreed convention card. If passed it would become a punishable offense for one player to purposefully go away from the agreed convention card.
Item 132-21: 0-10,000 National Events
Moved that
The following 0 – 10,000 National events be added to the schedule:
1. A 0 - 10,000 Swiss, to be held on the second Saturday and Sunday of
the Fall NABC
2. A 0 – 10,000 KO, to be held starting on Monday (the same day the Vanderbilt starts).
Item 132-51: 10K Pairs at the Summer NABC.
Moved that:
A new National event, the 10K Pairs, shall be scheduled to be played on
the first Saturday and Sunday of the Summer NABC
After the success of the 10K Swiss introduced in St. Louis it is being suggested that these events would improve the entire NABC schedule.
Item 132-20: Reclassifying the Machlin
Women’s Swiss and the Wagar Women’s KOs
Moved that:
Chapter I, Section B, Paragraph 1.6.1 of the Codification is amended to
read:
1.6 *Grand Life Master Qualification:
1.6.1 Win a North American Bridge Championship with no upper
masterpoint restriction (excluding the Super Senior Pairs, the Wagar
Women’s KO won after 2013 and the Machlin Women’s Swiss Teams won after
2013) ………..
In recent years these events have fallen below the 30 table minimum used to evaluate NABC events which are qualifiers for Grand Life Master status. If passed winning these events in the future would not be considered a qualifying event for GLM rank advancement.
Item 132-11: Bylaw Amendment Section 5.3.3
Moved that:
5.3.3 A District Director shall not serve more than four full or partial
terms, effective January 1, 2014.
Presently there are no limits on the number of terms a Board of Director can be elected. This motion is proposing a 4 term limit.
Item 132-31: District NAP Finals – Online
Conditions of Contest
Moved that:
Each District may choose to host their North American Pairs (NAP)
District Finals through an ACBL approved online host according to the
provisions of Appendix VII of the NAP Conditions of Contest listed
below.
This motion would give Districts the option of having online NAP play-downs. This motion attempts to deal with the problems of District play-downs in large geographic Districts.
Item 132-98: ABA Point Conversion
Moved that:
The ACBL Codification, Chapter III, Section F is amended as follows:
CHAPTER III - ADMINISTRATION
F. AMERICAN BRIDGE ASSOCIATION
Section 1 – Membership
1.1 Point Conversion
1.1.2 For purposes of determining ACBL eligibility points, a new ACBL
Member will be awarded eligibility points at a ratio of three ABA points
to one ACBL point. The first 1,000 ABA points will not be considered
when determining the ratio described in subsection 1.1.2. Any current
ACBL Member may appeal to the ACBL to revise his current number of ACBL
eligibility points pursuant to this section.
ABA members use their ABA points for placement when entering ACBL events. Currently this is done at a ratio of 2:1. In order to be more in line with the actual point values this motion would change the ratio to 3:1.
Item 132-43: Masterpoint Limit for Flight B
GNTs
Moved that:
Paragraph C under Review of GNT Format (893-41) (992-110) (013-131) in
the Codification, Chapter XI—Special Events, Section A. GNT/CNTC, be
changed as follows:
C. Flight B: 0-2000 2500
MP: Masterpoint Limit for Flight B GNTs
Item 132-42: Masterpoint Limit for Flight B
NAPs
Moved that:
Paragraph 1 under Flighting of the North American Open Pairs (902-91A)
in the Codification, Chapter XI—Special Events, Section B. NAOP/NLMNAP,
be changed as follows:
1. North American Open Pairs - Flight A (NAOP-A), 0 - unlimited MPs;
North American Open Pairs - Flight B (NAOP-B),
0-1500 2500 MPs;
Item 132-58: Micro-Spingold NABC Knockout
Teams
Moved that:
Micro-Spingold NABC Knockout Teams, now restricted to players with fewer
than 1500 masterpoints, be increased to include players with fewer than
2000 masterpoints.
Also moved that the Micro-Spingold be played in one-session, 32-board
matches.
Item 132-57: Conditions of Contest Appendix R Ribbon Event
Eligibility
Moved that:
Conditions of Contest, Appendix R, Ribbon Event Eligibility, shall be
revised as follows:
I. RED RIBBON ELIGIBILITY
2. First through 10th and ties in North American Bridge Championships of
four or more sessions with an upper masterpoint limit of no more than
1500 2000 masterpoints.
3. First and second (including ties) in all regionally-rated red or gold
point events of two or more sessions with an upper limit of at least
300 500 points and of no more
than 1,500 2000 masterpoints.
These motions are intended to adjust the masterpoint limits to better reflect current player MP holdings.
Item 132-118: Platinum Points
Moved that:
Chapter 1. A. of the Codified Minutes shall be amended as follows:
2.2 Platinum Points
2.2.2 Nationally rated-events with an upper masterpoint limit of 10,000
will receive 10% Platinum Points for overall awards only.
With the addition of 10K events to the NABCs this motion is required to permit the awarding of platinum points in those events.
Item 132-116: X Game Award
Moved that:
The rules for X game awards (MPbook, p. 10) shall be amended as follows:
1) 1st in X = 1st in A * M factor for X stratum * ( #entries in X
stratum/ total #entries in A/X strata)
2) The DIC may change the limit for the X stratum from the published
limit only if it is necessary to create a legal game. In that case, the
DIC may change the X stratum limit to the lowest legal limit (i.e., one
of the allowed limits) which makes the stratum large enough for the game
to be itself legal.
Under current regulations X awards must be 105% of the strat B award. This can resulted in overly large awards being made for relatively small X strat games. This change will make the awards more in line with the actual size of the X strat game.
Item 132-115: M Factor Change
Moved that:
The M factor in masterpoint computations (MPbook, p.1) shall be amended
as follows:
M = .3 + UL/1000 if UL ≤ 100
.4 + (UL-100)/4000 if 100 ≤ UL ≤ 500
.5 + (UL-500)/10000 if 500 ≤ UL ≤ 3000
.75 + (UL-3000)/20000 if 3000 ≤ UL ≤ 8000
1.00 if UL ≥ 8000
where UL is the upper masterpoint limit for the game or stratum in
question.
The M factor is the reduction factor used to calculate awards in limited masterpoint games. This has not been adjusted for over 20 years and has fallen behind the actual masterpoint holding of our membership. The new formula is more reflective of the masterpoints holdings of our current membership.