Australia-Wide Pairs
25-31 August

Frequently Asked Questions

CLUBS

Q: How many boards should we play?
A: It doesn't matter how many boards you play. Most clubs generally play 26 or 27, but a few clubs play all 36 boards (with a lunch break). You can also play fewer than 26 if you prefer.

Q: What movement should we use?
A: Literally any movement is fine; just treat this like a normal club game. However, we do recommend that you take care to avoid having all of your best players sitting in the same direction, as this will put some of your players at a disadvantage.

We reserve the right to remove individual boards in cases where a club has attempted to manipulate their results by field stacking.

Q: How do we submit the results?
A: Go to our upload page which has a full set of instructions, assisting you to automatically transfer your result file directly to our web server. Alternatively, you can email the result file to us if you already know how to produce it.
Compscore users: please ensure that your results file includes scores for each board, and not just the summary of names. If you are unsure how to do this, please phone Brad on 0412335840 and I'll be happy to help. It will be simplest if you do this immediately after the game (even for night games).

Q: Who can play in the Novice and Restricted events?
A: The Novice Pairs is for players with fewer than 100 MP as at 31 March, and the Restricted Pairs is for players with fewer than 300 MP as at 31 September. Australian Bridge reserves the right to allow players outside the stated MP range into the event at our discretion. In particular, we will commonly make generous allowances for small clubs who do not have the numbers to run a separate novice section. It is also perfectly acceptable for non-contending players to participate for practical reasons, with the stated intention of not being included in the final results.
On the other hand, we also reserve the right to disqualify players whose actual level of expertise is clearly inconsistent with their masterpoint total (for example, those who have played at a non-affiliated club for 30 years). Recently, several ABF novice events have been won by experienced players taking advantage of poorly-designed eligibility criteria, and we would appreciate players respecting the spirit of this event.

Q: How do we process the masterpoints?
A: Your club should award green points just like in a normal session. We will award the red points after the event has finished.

PLAYERS

Q: Where can I play in the Australia-Wide Pairs?
A: If your home club isn't participating, please contact us and we will refer you to a club near you.

Q: How do I see my results?
A: Once your club has submitted your scores, your results will be published here. Choose your club and your name from the drop-down box, and you will be taken to a special results booklet with all kinds of information about your personal results. Hand records, detailed result analysis and travelling scoreslips will be added to the booklet as soon as the last club has completed play.

Q: Does the event use specially selected deals, or are they random?
A: In the Open and Restricted Pairs, the boards were all randomly computer-generated under the same conditions that are used in all Australian national events. In some years, the Open Pairs uses a randomly-selected set of boards from a past national or international tournament, but in all cases the boards were randomly dealt for that event.

Contrary to popular belief, we never use "set hands" or "trick hands". Last year someone wrote to us, "You didn't do a good job of setting the hands, because it was easy to tell what the catch was on each deal". Leave the conspiracy theories at home; there's no catch.

However, in the Novice Pairs, held in May, we do occasionally remove hands that we feel are too complicated or too wild for Novice players.

Q: Why is my final score lower (or higher) than the score I was originally given?
A: Once the event has been scored across 800 tables, your score will be different than when it was scored across ten tables. The difference may be as much as 10%, as small pairs games can produce very random results. There is a more detailed explanation here. There is a simple, more visual explanation, here. If you are checking the results booklet regularly, which I recommend, you can actually watch your scores fluctuate as each new club submits their results.

Q: What do I do if I find a scoring error?
A: Email us at mail@australianbridge.com and let us know what happened. Scores that we believe are obviously incorrect will first be listed on the main event web page, and then automatically adjusted if no one explains them. Non-obvious errors can only be corrected after confirmation from your director, or from the player who benefited from the error. 

There is no official deadline for reporting scoring errors or masterpoint errors. We value accuracy ahead of regulations; if an error is reported, it will be corrected, even if it changes the winner of the event after the results have been published. We are sure that no one wants to win the event due to a scoring error. However, allocation of prizes will not be altered after the results are published. 

Q: Is it true that North has 38 HCP on Deal One?
A: No, the hand record displayed in the online results booklet during the event is not the real deal, it's just a placeholder until the event is finished. Also, it's only 37 HCP. Hands with 38 HCP are far more rare than you'd think.

PRIZES

Q: How do I know if I won a prize in the event?
A: If you were in the top 25 pairs overall, you have probably won some kind of prize, and there are also some spot prize winners mentioned in the results booklet. We will have already notified your club, but ultimately we will need your email address so that we can send you a link to the prize selection page. There is a limit of one prize package per person, even if you qualify for that prize in two different ways. For example, if you are in the top five Restricted pairs, and are also in the top five overall, that is just two ways of winning the same prize – not two separate prizes.

Q: Can I combine my prize points with my partner?
A: Yes, there may be advantages to doing this. You can also combine points with any other prize winner, if you know them. There is one exception: all subscription prizes run for one year starting on the day of the event, and cannot be combined into a single two-year subscription (we had to disallow that practice when some regular prize-winners built up an eight-year subscription). However, if you find yourself with an unwanted 2nd subscription to the magazine, you are welcome to transfer one of them into a friend's name, maybe as a birthday present.

Q: How are the spot prizes awarded?
A: There are four prizes each on six selected deals. On each of those boards, two pairs will receive a prize for meeting the goals specified in the souvenir booklet. The two pairs will be calculated according to the formula on page 22 of the souvenir booklet (scores calculated one week after the final day of play, even if the scores are not final at that time). Additionally, there are a couple of spot prizes for selected pairs who achieve a unique top board on any board – these prizes will be personally chosen by the convenor.

Q: How do I claim the special offers mentioned in the booklet?
A: Click the link on Page One of your results booklet.