[barmar]

pran, on 2019-September-19, 10:23, said:

FWIW:
Our national regulation for Norwegian masterpoints requires clubs which run more than one "group" of contestants at an event and the groups are of different strength, to apply different scales according to the strength of a group for awarding/reporting masterpoints.

In ACBL we generally use stratification, not flighting. Everyone is playing together as one group, ABC is just used for ranking and masterpoint awards.

If you don't understand how stratification works, there's a good description here: http://www.vcbridge....CBL%20Games.pdf

[pescetom]

barmar, on 2019-September-19, 10:01, said:

I'm not sure what "national classification" you're talking about. I'm talking about ordinary club games.

Our more serious club games are also part of a national simultaneous tournament, where the same hands are played in multiple clubs and then the classifications are merged to provide a single national classification. It's interesting because you can compare your bidding and scores with hundreds of others including some famous names.

You can earn a few masterpoints by placing near the top locally, but a whole load more if you place near the top nationally. There is a cutoff, so only the top third in national classification get points for national result. The two scores are not cumulable, so you keep whichever is better.

[barmar]

In games that are scored across multiple clubs, the strat boundaries are set by the parent organization so that all the clubs are consistent. Also, club games that are used as qualifiers for the North American Pairs tournament are required to use the same strat boundaries as the national event.

Flexible boundaries are just for ordinary club games.

[BudH]

blackshoe, on 2019-September-15, 01:26, said:

In my experience, over the past few years the only reason pairs are asked to move to a different starting spot is to allow some other pair to be stationary. I don’t think I have seen any attempt to balance the field in at least the last five years and it’s probably been ten or more.

I don't balance as much as I should, but especially if there are special overall awards, I verify the top two to three EW pairs are not missing the top two or three NS pairs. (10 and 11 table Mitchells are where this happens frequently.)

[mikestar13]

blackshoe, on 2019-September-13, 15:04, said:

I doubt very much that it's possible to arrange a game of duplicate in such a way that no one ever complains.

I don't doubt it. It would be flatly impossible, or at least a miracle comparable to raising the dead.

[nige1]

The NGS (English Bridge Union National Grading System) is a a brilliant innovation. Old-fashioned Master-points tend to measure longevity and persistence rather than skill. Stratification exacerbates that trend. OK if players want stratification but has a poll established that?

In its heyday, Bridge attracted players because we could play against the world-best (Reese & Schapiro, Belladonna & Garrozo), in ordinary competition.