Unit 123 STAC Conditions of Contest January 2013 Last Revised: Dec 23, 2012 (Top Section - Key Information Only!) Key Information for Club Owners: Sanction Number STAC Dates ST1301103 Start: January 14, 2013 Units/Districts Invited 123, 222 Hand Records Required Stratification Payment Information Director in Charge (DIC) Unit Co- ordinator For inclusion in overall results Open Sections: Flight A: Over 2000 Flight B: Over 750 to 2000 Flight C: 0 to 750 $2/Player $8/Table Postmarked no later than: January 22, 2013 Peter Wilke 414 355-9596 (Bridge Center) 414 716-0132 (Home) 414 861-7113 (Cell) Tom Dressing 847 215-0310 (Home) End: January 20, 2013 Location ACBL Website by Jan 2, 2013 Intermediate/Novice Sections: Flight A: Over 100 to 300 Flight B: Over 50 to 100 Flight C: 0 to 50 CCBA c/o Tom Dressing, Treasurer 282 Le Parc Circle Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 bridge_ctr_milwaukee@msn.com tom@dressing.org Types of Games Allowed: Stratified Open Pairs Stratified Swiss Teams Novice, 99er, 199er or 299er Games or any Intermediate Novice Game Invitational Games Eligible for Overall Awards. Swiss Team overall awards are based only on the entry at each individual site. They are Silver Points and are Sectionally Rated. Use a 9999 Event code. See the Key Information at the beginning of this document for Stratification Levels. Use a 9999 Event Code. Prerequisites: Hand records will used. o o o For recommendations on using hand records see the section below on "Hand Record Requirements". The sponsoring organization will have them available by the date listed in the Key Information at the beginning of this document. If a club owner chooses not to pre- duplicate hands, then their session will be placed into an individual side game, and not compared with the rest of the field, and will not participate in overall awards. UPDATE YOUR DATABASE!!! o You MUST be using a current ACBL database. o To update player database visit the My ACBL section of the website, and look under the Club Owner section.
Participating Club Rules: The ACBL General Convention Chart will be used. Conventions and systems not allowed by the General Convention Chart will not be allowed. Non- playing directors are encouraged but not required for games with no more than one section of 17 tables or less. Non- playing directors are required in games larger than 17 tables or with two or more sections. Clubs that start prior to noon must register as a Morning event. From Noon until 6PM, must as an Afternoon event, and then starting after 6PM, an Evening Game. Any club within the invited unit may hold a STAC game in lieu of its regularly scheduled club game. Additional games may be held, as noted above. Games must have at least 3 full tables. Payment to the sponsoring organization must be submitted within 24 hours of the conclusion of the STAC. If the owner fails to meet this requirement, participation in the next STAC could be jeopardized. Scoring Information: For the Overall results, scores for each of the boards will be combined and scored across the field and the Overall winners determined. o As with standard tournaments, players will win the higher of the two master point awards Either the Section awards (from the club level) or the Overall award (from the entire event). o Your players will, at a minimum, receive the Master points noted on the club s recap sheet. If your club has multiple sections score across the field at your game site. Invitational games will be scored and ranked as stand- alone sectionally rated Championship event with one restriction unless these games are opened to all players and advertised as such. Limited master point games will be scored and ranked alone unless a like limited master point game is held at one or more other STAC sites. In this case, these games will be scored together for overall rankings and master point awards. NOTE: Section Percentage results generated at the club level will change when combined with all other results from other clubs in the same event. (See the FAQ below for an explanation.) Reporting Instructions: ACBLScore must be used. When reporting results, include the SESSION number found on the upper left corner of the first page of the Hand Records used to create the boards. Copy the ACM, ACA or ACE file to a disk or flash drive and attach them to your e- mail your results to the DIC. (See Key Information at the beginning of this document.) o Do not send LZH, TXT or HTML files generated by ACBLScore. The final reporting period for the STAC ends 24 hours after the last event ends. Late reports will be returned to the club, to be reported as a regularly scheduled club session. The correction period at each club is 24 hours after the completion of the session. A club must post a copy of the recap for inspection at the end of each session. Please address questions for reporting to the DIC listed in the Key Information at the beginning of this document. Each club must report its results to the DIC within 24 hours from the end of the game. Club games not reported within the time limit will be scored, ranked, and issued master points as a Sectionally rated, single section side game and will not be included in the Overall Awards.
Game Setup: Use Club Mode for STACs. In defining the specific parameters of your game. o Set up as usual until you get to event rating. o Choose Option (9) then (1) Sectional Tournaments at Clubs for game rating. o Associate with club (y) o Number of strata (3) (use strat limits above) o Choose proper event restrictions. o Choose the proper status (1=Championships) o Played sessions (1) o Enter the Stratification limits (see Key Information at the beginning of the document.) o Multi site (Y) (unless swiss team event) o Enter tournament data. o Use the sanction number listed in the Key Information at the beginning of this document. o Enter the EVENT CODE (as an example) from the table below. Use the letters OP for open pairs, IP for invitational pairs, LP for limited pairs, T1 for a one session swiss and T2 for a two session Swiss. Any other game use XX. Day Hand Record Requirements: Event Code Morning Event Code Afternoon Event Code Evening Monday 01OP 02OP 03OP Tuesday 04OP 05OP 06OP Wednesday 07OP 08OP 09OP Thursday 10OP 11OP 12OP Friday 13OP 14OP 15OP Saturday 16OP 17OP 18OP Sunday 19OP 20OP 21OP Using Hand Records requires that hands must be pre- duplicated prior to presentation to your players, or duplicated at the game by the players. o If pre- duplicated, the person that duplicates the boards cannot play in the event. o If duplicated by the players on the day of the event, then the person handing out the hand records to each table for duplication cannot play in the event. As the event draws nearer, the hands will provided in all forms for the club owner - - PDF, BRI, and DUP - - from the ACBL website. Club owners that choose not to pre- duplicate hands will have their sessions placed into an individual side game and not compared with the rest of the field. They will not participate in overall awards. Club owners need to be very careful when duplicating boards. If more than two fouled boards are found in your section, then your results will be pulled out of the overalls and entered into a separate, Sectionally rated side game.
Starting the Game: Here are some recommendations for using Hand Records: Duplicate your boards ahead of time, and you can run any movement you wish - - Howell or Mitchell. Do not use the special directions below should you choose to pre- duplicate your hands prior to play. When your players duplicate the boards, always play your normal number of boards except when limited by the number of tables. If you expect less than 5 tables you should make up your boards ahead of time so that they can play the optimum number of hands and opponents. If you have your players duplicate the hands, here are the recommended starting procedures. Tables Bds per Round How to Start the Game 5 6 6 5 7 4 8 4 9 3 Move East/West up one table Skip after round 3 Move East/West up one table (only 24 boards possible) Skip after round 4 Move East/West up one table (only 24 boards possible) Skip after round 5 10 3 11 3 Move boards down two tables 12 3 13 2 Skip after round 6 Move East/West up one table (only 24 boards possible) Skip after round 7 14 2 15 2 Move boards down two tables Move boards down two tables 16 2 Skip after round 7 17 2 Move boards down two tables 18 2 Move boards down two table Skip after round 7
Unit 123 STAC Frequently Asked Questions Last Revised: Oct 2012 Why does Unit 123 use hand records? More Units and/or Districts are moving to this format of play. Hand Records more accurately reflect a Tournament style of play as Tournaments rarely shuffle, deal and play other than Swiss Team events. Why are the results at my club combined with results at other clubs? The size of the games at the various locations of the STAC can vary dramatically. Bigger fields are harder to win at compared to smaller fields. By having the same hands played at all the clubs, we can combine the results of all the clubs into one big section. By providing hands to the owners, the randomness of the shuffle is removed from the entire event. Having more results on a particular hand yields a fairer match point result. Some players try to play in a smaller field to help give them a higher percentage overall. By combining results this advantage is minimized. With a larger field, we can award more Master points for the overall results. Will the Overall Results (after all clubs are combined) be available for review? How many Master Points will I win? Your club results are available from your club s website. The overall results will be mailed to your club owner for presentation to the players at the earliest opportunity. Your club should be scoring across the field with multiple sections in play. The CCBA will publish the combined match point scores (from the home page of the CCBA s website) within two days of the session. It will show you the official match point score that was used to compute the Overall winner of the event. Just like at a tournament, you will win the better of the Master point awards from either the section result or the overall results. They are not additive. You will win at least the number of master points listed on the recap sheet at the club. For example: If you won 1 MP for placing 3 rd in your strat, but was 10 th overall for 0.5 MP, then you will win the 1MP for placing 3 rd (not 1.5MPs) Will the Master Point awards for the player change? Why is my game recorded in a side game and not included in the overall results? My club Shuffled, dealed and played. Does this affect my master point winnings? Yes and No. You will always win the number of master points listed on the recap sheet at the club. However, if you place high in the overalls, you are likely to win more points. A number of factors could place you into a separate side game: Your club did not use hand records. Through no fault of your own, there may have been a number of fouled boards that require the Director in Charge to place your section into its own event. The club owner may have reported the results too late and were not combined into the Overalls. Yes. Your section will be scored separately, and have a reduced number of Master points rewarded. You will still win silver points, but at a reduced rate.
Where can I see the results from ALL the clubs that participated in my event? The CCBA will publish the combined match point scores (from the home page of the CCBA s website) within two days of the session. It will show you the official match point score that was used to compute the Overall winner of the event. My percentage at the club level changed significantly, how come? When more results are combined on a board great boards get greater, but more average results scores are moderated. Really bad boards get worse. Here s an example: In a three- table game, you have results of +110, +170, and +140. The +170 gets a top (2MP), and the +140 gets an average (1MP), and the +110 gets a zero. Perhaps in a five- table game, you get results of +140, +140, +110, +110 and +110. The +140 s get 3½ MP s on a 4 top., and the +110 s get 1 each. Combine the sections, and you have +170, +140, +140, +110, +110, +110, +110, and +110. The +170 remains a top (for 7MP s), the +140 results get 5½ MP on an 8 top, and the +110 get 2MP on a 7 top. The +170 becomes a bigger top, the +140 s move a little higher, and the +110 s move up closer to average (rather than a zero in the three table game.) At the club level, I was first in my section. But when scored across the field, another pair now has a better score than I do. How can this be? If you had an average game, with results typical for a particular hand, then your scores will be moderated (slightly below or above average will gravitate toward average). If your competitor had a bunch of average results, but some spectacularly great results, then their great results get much better, and their average results simply stay average. A 12 top at the local club, gets magnified to a 36 or 45 top and can more dramatically improve their score. Review the published Overall Results on the CCBA website for the actual match points computed when the sessions were combined into one large section. I see that several clubs ran a Swiss Team event. Were my Swiss Team results compared to the other clubs as well? The director at my club was playing in the event. Is this allowed? If I play at a smaller club, will I have a better chance to win? Swiss Team events are each entered into their own single session, Sectionally rated side game. You will still win silver points, but at a reduced rate. It is allowed but certain conditions must be met. It is discouraged, but it is not disallowed. The director must NOT be involved in the duplication of the boards prior to play. This could mean either at their home prior to play, or when handing out the single hand records when duplicating by the players at the club. Should either of these occur, then the director may play, but neither they nor their partner may win master points and will be disqualified. By combining the results of the hands played into one large section, the scores at smaller sized clubs have a better chance of being normal results in a larger field. It s not perfect but it is a better approach to getting a fairer result on a hand.