During a large team event, there is a lot of chaos going on in the room that most of us don’t see. How could we? We are too busy concentrating on the current hand (or the prior hand if we really botched it). From the caddy’s point of view, 20 tables begin the round at the same time. Half inevitably shout “CADDY PLEASE” within the same 2-minute window, just as the round timer hits 34. That’s the point when tables that began with 3 boards have run out.
Never Move The Table Mats, Or Physically Move Tables
I’ve witnessed two caddy disasters in my time, and both involved physically moving tables or table mats, breaking whatever intricate system the head caddy had in place. In one case, a table was wobbly and unsuitable for play. In another case, a player with mobility constraints requested to stay at the same table as the prior round and just change the table mats. Both times, the team informed the director and got permission.
Unfortunately, the caddy didn’t get the memo. One of the incidents even occurred during NABC in the final round of a compact knockout! The director carefully delivered 6 boards to the correct table, which required a slightly diagonal movement. Unfortunately, the diligent caddy took care of the other boards, abiding by the golden rule – boards always go straight down a lane.
What Do They Do?
About 40 minutes later, four different teams realized something had gone horribly wrong and all shouted for the director at the same time. The director said there is nothing to do but use the 6 common boards. A mere 6 boards determined the final round knockout winner.
In cases where there are zero common boards, there isn’t much the director can do. They can’t really stay an extra hour and wait for a tiebreaker, and the players probably don’t have the mental energy to replay a round anyway. The director gave everyone an “average plus” round of 12 Victory Points (win by 3 IMPs).
How Does It Even Work?
When I first began, I was mystified. How is there not some huge mixup each round, where the boards when to the wrong place and entire tables played the wrong hands. Turns out there is a method to the madness.
Table Layout
The tables are set up in a special system to help the caddies. If you’ve ever had trouble finding your table number, there is a reason they aren’t laid out in a nice long line. They are usually rectangular clusters, so that the “other table” is always 3 or 4 tables down the same lane.
Board Numbers
In most 7-board matches, your last board number is divisible by 7 (14,21, 28,35). Based on the boards you shuffle at the beginning, you should know which ones you will play. If you receive a board out of that range, something is wrong! Note, if you have 5-board matches, then your last board is divisible by 5.
Board Colors
I actually didn’t know this for over a year. At larger tournaments, the color of the boards will be the same for your table and your opponent’s table, but should be different from all the nearby tables. If you ever notice you have yellow boards at the beginning of the round and suddenly the caddy drops off green boards, that’s a red flag! Again, we’re talking about the boards holding the cards, not the color of the cardbacks.
Please: Go Easy On the Caddies
For good reason, caddies should operate in a single-threaded manner. Even if your table is “on the way”, having the caddy hold boards from multiple tables is asking for trouble. Just let them drop the boards off! They usually also need to make a round trip delivery, so don’t be offended if you queue for just a little longer. If you are waiting for the caddy, you are probably not the bottleneck.