Chance To Become Life Master In Just One Day!

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Lee Lin

Most players have no trouble reaching 500 masterpoints required for Life Master. The bottleneck is the specific pigment requirements. In particular, many struggle to obtain 50 gold point, having long won plenty of the other colors.

The ongoing Save Your Regional event on BBO is your chance to become a Life Master in just one day, even if you have NEVER won a single gold point in your life. You can satisfy all 50 gold points by winning a two-session open pairs game, as long as there are over 321 tables. Remember, you need 500 total points, 100 gold/red/plat, 75 silver, 75 black, and 50 gold/plat.

Regionals Pay More Points, No Cap

Most of the Support Your Club events have had a hard cap at 6 black points per session, no matter how many tables joined. However, the regional is using the ACBL General Formula for computing the masterpoint award.

For a regionally rated, two-session pairs event (not during NABC), the prize for overall 1st place is very linear up to 60 tables. With 6 tables, 1st place pays 7 gold points. Each additional table adds 0.4375 to the prize, until you reach 30.63 at 60 tables. A Gold Rush pairs event has a 0.525 multiplier effect, but otherwise is the same formula.

However, starting at 61 tables, first prize is 31.06, and only increases logarithmically. That is, each incremental table is adding increasingly less to the prize. ACBL would award more total masterpoints splitting one 300 table event into 5 staggered, separate events of 60 tables.

But for now, we are seeing huge 300+ table counts, and so the winning pair of yesterday’s open game won 49.85 gold points, with 317 tables. For whatever reason, the regional results are listed under Horn Lake, MS. Today’s Gold Rush paid 27.41 gold.

Consolation Game Penalty For Open Game?!?

However, for Friday May 1st, ACBL did a VERY strange thing. They had 299er games, and a concurrent Gold Rush, all normal. But there was no concurrent two-session open game!!

Why not? Maybe someone didn’t want open to pay too much! When you have concurrent 299er and gold rush events alongside an open game, the open game prize pool includes all tables from the limited games in computing the prize.

The open game would have paid a prize of 61.13 for having the equivalent of 853 tables.

Instead, they made the open game a “side game series”, each one session. The winners of the Evening Side Series received a prize equal to 195 tables — and even more strange, it was considered a Consolation Event paying only 65% of the usual amount – 19.20 for one session.

I understand we want to be careful as we venture into the world of awarding lots of online points – but I’ve never seen a regional that pays more to the gold rush than to the open pairs. It is supposed to be a mathematical impossibility.

Saturday and Sunday Formats More Normal

Looking again at the regional schedule, it seems Saturday and Sunday have a more reasonable format. Two-session gold rush pairs, concurrent with two-session open pairs. There are also single-session side games that likely have the consolation game penalty, paying only 65% of the usual amount. We will see then whether the open game inherits the 400 gold rush tables to pay out 60+ gold points in one day – almost certainly a record for a non-NABC regional.

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Online Gold Point Overload

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Lee Lin

Unfortunately, BBO seems completely swamped as we kick off the first online regional, promising to give away tons of gold and red points. Speaking of kicking off, I got disconnected just now from the crowded overload. If you can’t get in right now, you aren’t alone!

What Is The Occassion?

For those who haven’t heard, today is the first day of a weekend long Save Your Regional event. Each day offers two-session pairs events that pays gold points to overall winners plus session top winners, just like in a typical regional event (or regionally rated NABC event). There are also a few one-session intermediate-newcomer 299er events, which pay only red points.

Here is the full schedule of the Spring 2020 Online Regional.

What If You Get Kicked Off?

Unfortunately, the directors usually can’t do a whole lot for you if you are disconnected. But they can adjust the board so you get the result you “should” have gotten. However, if you are kicked off for an extended period through no fault of your own, you might have to skip the board. If too many people have connectivity issues, they will just have to cancel the tournament and refund the entry fees. It’s happened in the past. Let’s hope not this time!

Note that Virtual Private Club directors have slightly more discretion. Sometimes they can swap in a substitute house player to play for you and finish out the game. However, an ACBL Regional is going to be more strict.

Short answer, if you get kicked off – keep trying to get back on! And don’t panic too much…

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Win ACBL Gold Points Online April 30 to May 3rd 2020

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Lee Lin

Just when we thought it would be impossible to get lots of gold points online, ACBL comes through with the upcoming “Stay At Home, Play At Home” tournament. I also completely missed the ACBL Club Championship that happened this past week. It goes to show that even a few days off the grid means missing important updates!

Gold Points In the Past

Previously, the only way to get gold points was from playing in two-session or longer NABC and regional events. Then ACBL invented the REACH tournaments – which stood for something. Perhaps Regional At Club House? Anyway, that only gave meager amounts that hardly anyone ever won.

Online Gold Points?

For online bridge, the three ACBL Online Individual NABC events gave gold and red to overall winners. Those are very fun events, but they are a little pricey at $50 ($40 early bird, and $34 for returning competitors). Also, they require playing 72 robot boards, and some people prefer not to play any robot boards!

Stay At Home, Play At Home!

The cost is $15 per player per session. In practice, you will want to play two sessions unless you are doing the 299er. Single session play means you won’t get overall awards

It looks like there are stratified events for all. There are two-session gold rush pairs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Even single-session 299er Pairs on Friday May 1st (those only offer red points). All four days offer open pairs, stratified at 0-1500, 1500-3500, and 3500+.

That’s a slightly odd set of masterpoint buckets. I’m surprised they don’t try a full-fledged “mid-flight” pairs event for 0-3000, followed by an open pairs. Does anyone doubt they will have enough tables? I suspect they might fill quickly!

So far, no team events. Hopefully they have bracketed teams or knockouts soon – but I don’t think the software is setup for that yet. Still, I’m impressed at the pace of BBO and ACBL innovation in the past 6 weeks. We can try all sorts of new formats that were never practical in the past: Swiss BAM pairs? Bracketed Round Robins with very short rounds and many teams? We can even do zip KOs and all sorts of handicapped games. I’m eager to see what they come up with next (yes we know, online silver points).

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Who Are The Popular Bridge Streamers?

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Lee Lin

I recently discovered Bridge Overlord, the twitch streamer. It was amazingly entertaining to watch, although it’s clearly not going to attract newcomers to the game. More likely, bridge streaming could be a stepping stone for beginner and intermediate players to enjoy the game more. Almost all the popular online esports have a vibrant ecosystem of streamers – why not bridge?

Why Would Anyone Watch Someone Else For Hours?

To be clear, by esports, we generally mean video games such as DOTA, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. Most people instantly wonder, “why would anyone watch someone ELSE play video games?” Well, 10 years ago most venture capitalists also wondered the same thing and chose NOT to invest in Twitch.tv. Founders Justin Kan and Michael Siebel eventually sold it for $970 million to Amazon.

Twitch.tv was actually a pivot from justin.tv, an even more wacky idea that eventually raised $7 million from investors such as Y Combinator, Bessemer, and Thrive. It was a wild idea to just watch one person’s life, Justin, all day every day in a Truman Show manner. Somewhere along the way, they figured out there is an audience of people who want to watch gamers. The growth was incredible, and the rest is history.

How Do We Make Bridge Interesting To Watch?

For those who watch Vugraphs, you probably don’t need too much convincing. But Vugraphs require a lot of resources – the vugraph operator, BBO, the commentators, and of course 8 world class players worth watching?

Is there a market for watching someone do their ACBL Speedballs or even their robot tournaments? BridgeOverlord201 is reasonably entertaining. It’s comforting to know even expert players get into bidding disasters here and there. You be the judge!

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Twenty Daylongs, Twenty Black Points

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Lee Lin

Earlier I pledged to finish out the remainder of my black points required for Life Master playing entirely in Support Your Club Events. As an update, I’ve hit my goal, beginning with the first Support Your Club daylong on March 25th, and competing almost daily since then.

Field Is Getting Harder

I suspected early on there would be an adjustment period as new players join BBO and experience their first robotic partnership. There are so many little nuances you learn as you play against the robots more. Ultimately, I firmly believe the robots have made me a better player, but it’s very possible to pick up bad habits. We will see when I make the transition back to humans…

In my first 10 Daylongs, I averaged a 60.34% matchpoints score, earning 11.11 black points. For the second group of 10, I averaged 57.02%, and scored 8.25 black points. It’s possible I’ve hit a dry spell, but I notice the field shrinking daily. There were about 1000 tables on the first March 25th daylong, but only 663 on April 16th. With so many virtual club game options now, some players are probably finding they just prefer human games. Those who stay with the Daylongs have figured out some of the robot quirks (hint: robots play 0314, not 1430).

Raw Results

3/25, 74.11%, 2.50
3/27, 52.90%, 0.75
3/28, 65.00%, 1.40
3/29, 62.53%, 1.00
3/30, 66.67%, 2.00
3/31, 54.68%, 0.56
4/1,  59.58%, 1.05
4/2,  63.15%, 1.05
4/3,  51.18%, 0.40
4/4,  53.62%, 0.40
4/5,  62.09%, 1.05
4/6,  61.06%, 1.00
4/7,  66.43%, 2.00
4/9,  56.54%, 1.05
4/10, 53.23%, 0.75
4/11, 52.49%, 0.30
4/13, 53.86%, 0.12
4/14, 50.79%, 0.53
4/15, 52.33%, 0.40
4/16, 61.38%, 1.05

After twenty daylongs and 180 boards, I averaged 58.68% and 19.36 points. Not quite 20 as promised in the title, but let’s round up since we’re among friends!

Done For Now

With $100 donated to clubs and $20 on top going to BBO, I think it’s time to come out of the shell and go back to human games! There are many choices now in the “All For One” club, formerly Honors plus 7 other affiliated local clubs. I also received more than the required black points – but now I am going to be stuck at 18 silver shy of the LM requirement.

Online Sectionals?!?

All that’s left on the road to life master is silver and total points. Will we see some human online sectionals soon? To be honest, I hope we do not. Not even STaC week.

As much as we would all love reaching Life Master more easily, I’m rooting for a return to live bridge, and a return to the Allendale, the new Woodbridge, and STaC week days (plus that elusive NYC sectional which someday still needs to happen). Besides, I would prefer to cross that 500 threshold among a crew of my favorite friends, partners, directors, opponents, and enemies. Do I really want to my celebratory Life Master moment to be with 3 robots at home?

Posted in Bridge Thoughts, Results | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Montreal NABC Summer 2020 Cancelled

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Lee Lin

The Summer 2020 NABC held in Montreal is officially cancelled. Many of us saw this coming, but we were holding on to hope that the public health situation was improving. However, even with 3 months to go, the Quebec government has issued a directive closing all large gatherings and events through August 31st.

How About GNT and NAP?

This is especially disappointing for District 24, given that we had near record levels of interest for all flights of GNT (and NAP from last Fall). It is very possible these events will be entirely cancelled for 2020. Originally, ACBL moved NAP from Spring to Summer, and GNT from Summer to Fall. If we shift everything again, then GNT will overlap the following year’s normal NAP. Perhaps it’s easier just to call it off and do a full reset?

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Clarification on Enhanced Virtual Private Club Games

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Lee Lin

Excellent news. When we say we are going to dig into things some more, we try to be timely about it. Thankfully, we were able to figure it out in one day. Yesterday we discussed the possible changes to the Masterpoints formula for ACBL Support Your Club games compared to the Virtual Private Club games.

All For One bridge included statistics in their sometimes-more-than-daily email.

Two Equations and Two Unknowns

For a throwback to high school algebra, you generally need two equations to solve for two unknowns. While both formulas are linear in table count, there is the “club game” formula which pays a flat 0.1 points per table for first place. Then there is the club championship / STaC / sectional / regional formula that pays has a constant bounty bonus, plus a larger linear amount per table.

Anyway, it is the club game formula, multiplied by exactly 1.5. The open morning game with 6 tables pays 0.1 * 6 * 1.5 = 0.9 to first. The open afternoon game paid 0.1 * 24 * 1.5 = 3.60.

Huge Bug – Get It While You Can!!!

Except there is one huge loophole, and I encourage readers here to get it while you can! If you are not eligible, certainly you must have friends who are.

The limited Virtual Private Club games are currently coded as an invitational game, which haircuts the prize by 20%. If you look at the enhanced 99er game, it paid 0.96 Black to first place to the top of each section. Not overall, but each section of 8 pairs. How do you get 0.96? It’s the same formula, multiplied by 80% for an invitational game: 0.1 * 8 * 1.5 * 0.8 = 0.96.

But doesn’t that feel a little high for a small 99er game? We need to go back to the pre-virus glory days when there was a Friday afternoon 99er at Honors. Also 8 tables, but this time first place got 0.48. What happened?

The Virtual Private Club Is Not Subject To The M-Factor

You knew it was coming. We must reference the ACBL Masterpoints manual again.

When you run a 99er club game, the M-factor should be set at 0.60, meaning it pays only 0.6 times as much as the normal payoff. Contrast that with a 0-750 game, which should pay 0.8 as much (a 0-3500 also pays 0.8). Instead, it seems the 99er games are treated as an invitational game, always with a 0.8 multiplier.

Intentional Promotion For Virtual Private Clubs?

Perhaps it is an intentional loophole, but it’s the greatest deal out there for limited games. A 99er, 750, and 0-3500 game currently pays 20% more than an open game at a physical club! And the open games are at 50% more.

Now, all we need is for the open game to gain the table bonus from all concurrent restricted game tables. The 8 tables from the 99er and the 9 tables from the 750 could add 2.55 to the first prize of the open game…

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Nationwide Versus Virtual Private Club Awards

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Lee Lin

There is just so much changing day to day, it’s hard to keep up. Only last week, we had our first 0-3500 game. For those who were waiting for the dust to settle, we are nearing what should be a steady-state very soon.

Wider Field vs. Familiar Players

There are daily, human-only ACBL games on Bridge Base open to the entire nation. Then there are virtual private clubs that consist of only local players. To ensure a relatively large field of tables, the local players include 8 surrounding clubs, spearheaded by what used to be Honors, Aces, and Cavendish. They are calling it “All For One”. Apparently one proposed name was “Divided We Stand”, which has the double pun of social distancing, and surprising your opponent with poor trump splits on defense (or perhaps passing with balanced hands).

How Do The Masterpoint Prizes Stack Up?

Normally a bigger game means bigger rewards, but the nationwide ACBL games tend to have 240 tables with a maximum prize of 4.0 points. In fact, just yesterday a pair got a 68.28%, 5th overall of 235 tables, and still only ended up with 1.50 points for a section top.

The only way to get 4.0 is to get overall 1st in your strat, either A, B, or C (how they do the strats is still a mystery, do they use ACBL or BBO points?). If you are strat A, you would need to beat GNYBA members Joe Grue and Gillian Miniter, who scored a 74.23%.

If you ARE going to go the nationwide route, note the 7:30pm ET game tends to get 120 tables, while the 10:00am and 5:30pm ones have twice as large a field with 240. In case you want to research yourself, here is a link to recent, nationwide ACBLSYC hosted games.

The virtual private club games will have an upgraded formula this week. It’s not yet clear exactly what formula they use. If they are treated as a club championship game with membership restriction, you would hit 4.0 points after 25 tables.

WIth B=35, R = 7, S=1, M=1, P = 0.8, T=1.5, first overall would pay 4.08 points, capped at 4. This assumes the new formula uses the club championship math. It’s possible Support Your Club events get an all new formula. Honors reported it as a 1.5x multiplier on a normal club game, which seems to require 27 tables.

Formula Needs Updating

Unfortunately, ACBL seems very lagged on giving us clarity on how the masterpomt formulas will adapt to the new BBO system. We can only wait and see – but you can bet we will be among the first to point out any weirdness in the masterpoint awards.

For the record, it seems insane to award only 1.50 black points for getting a 68% in a field of 235 tables. But I see why you would want to cap the award of an 18-board, one-session online game. Maybe the right solution is to have 3 regions, each with convenient time zone options. But that would be a mistake if the table count eventually dies down in the coming weeks.

One last nitpick – right now 18 boards is still considered a full pairs session. Just like with the Freaky Swiss, do we need to update the formula so that 18 vs 21 vs 24 vs 27 boards pays different amounts for a one-session pairs event?

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Online Honors Classes To Resume, New Website

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Lee Lin

Exactly 4 weeks ago, Honors Bridge Club held their last live duplicate games prior to the Covid-19 related temporary closure. My partner and I declared the very last two boards during a sudden death tiebreaker board in our GNT-C knockout match ending at 10:40pm.

Largest Virtual Private Club

Almost immediately after the physical games ended, the team quickly became pioneers of the online Private Virtual Club games. These are special duplicate sessions that award Black points and are only open to players who played in the physical club in the past 366 days. While ACBL has their nationwide Support Your Club games, the majority of any card fees in the virtual private club games go directly to your former club. Honors announced on March 28th that they have become the largest private virtual club with 28 tables in their Saturday duplicate game.

New Website, Name, Merging Player Base

In an email yesterday, Honors announced their new website, ManhattanGamesCenter.com. Don’t worry about the design, they admit it is “very much a work in progress.” More than just a rebrand, they are developing an online booking tool for their classes and supervised play sessions. You can also find direct links to the game results for their virtual private club games. The previous websites at Honors and NYC Bridge are still standing, but have notes to attend to the new site.

Several nearby clubs are also joining the virtual private club, meaning their pool of former club players will be eligible to join the duplicate games on BBO. That’s generally a good sign – we want to ensure enough tables for vibrant games, both Open and Limited types, while still preserving a sense of community by playing against former friends, rivals, and friends of friends. So far all the clubs joining are close by, so even if you didn’t see them at Honors and Cavendish, you might have played against them at Woodbridge, Allendale, or Carle Place.

Classes Resume on Zoom, BBO

Classes are to resume using a combination of Zoom and Bridge Base – even the Taste of Bridge and Beginner 1 Series for completely new players. It will be interesting to see how the bridge teacher community adapts to the virtual model. They can offer extremely personalized service, usually with no more than 8 students per teacher. Students will easily be able to save and replay all teaching boards on their own, after the lesson.

Possibly most exciting – by having all the students already using BBO to bid and play, it’s a much smaller physiological gap to leap from the classroom setting to live practice or duplicate games. I can envision a whole new generation of newcomer games and events for graduating students who otherwise wouldn’t have played in an ACBL club game.

As for initial demand, it looks like the first few classes are already oversold. If you want a spot, don’t be shy about reaching out.

Mandatory Disclaimer

GNYBA is a non-profit with all-volunteer board members. We represent the unit in dealings with ACBL and organize our local grassroots, sectional, and regional tournaments. While private bridge clubs have always been an important component in the local bridge scene, we are a separate entity with a separate mandate.

Although there are many exciting changes going on in the bridge world, our goal is to inform rather than endorse. Please share any feedback you have on the newer bridge opportunities.

Posted in Bridge Thoughts, Software | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Bridge Adventures: The Road To Virtual Life Master!

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Lee Lin

We previously discussed the possibility of reaching Life Master by playing online bridge in virtual clubs and tournament events. That was before Covid-19 and the Support Your Club events on BBO, which now provide multiple daily opportunities for Black Points. I have decided to embark on making that a reality, and will earn my final required Black Points entirely through the SYC events!

Not A Life Master?!?

I hope you haven’t been reading my GNYBA posts thinking this entire time that I was a Life Master! I am not. For now I am a Flight C player in the NABC / NAP / GNT world, and soon I will likely fall into the no-man’s land: a player above 500, but not yet a Life Master. I am a victim of the classic NYC Silver Point shortage.

There is one last very strange status that could be achieved: a 0-500 player who IS a Life Master. Players who joined ACBL prior to year 2010 are grandfathered into the old rules. They only need 300 points, with at least 50 Black, 50 Silver, 25 Gold, and 50 Gold/Red/Platinum. I nearly ended up here, except for some weird technicalities.

How Much Farther To Go?

We are getting very close! I was very lucky two years ago to find partners and bridge mentors who were eager to play in regional and national tournaments. Three years ago I never would have expected to ever attend an NABC, and now it feels skipping one is missing the party!

With 171.75 Gold and 124.56 Red, I am poor when it comes to Black and Silver. That’s further proof that Honors provides a tough field – Gold Rush’ing and Bracketed Teams at the Big Apple Regional is a much faster way to earn points.

Does Life Master Matter?

I am told you still receive a nice metallic card shortly after reaching life master. Also, it sounds very impressive to your non-bridge friends – they might think it is the same difficulty as hitting Grand Master in chess.

Previously being a NLM would exclude you from competing in several events: The Sally Young LM Pairs and the Smith Life Master Womens’ Pairs. Two years ago, they relaxed the Sally Young requirement, allowing all 0-2500 players to play in the Young Pairs.

The other side, being a LM under 500, graduates you early out of any NLM event like the Sagamore Bridge Club LM/NLM charity teams, any of the many 0-500 NLM sectionals, and any national Flight C events such as online individual NABC, NAP, and GNT.

Supporting My Virtual Private Club!

With 64.6 Black Points to my name, I only need 10.4 more to cross the 75 Black threshold. I have also participated in all but one SYC Daylong Event. Since I’m home all day every day, it has become my greatest daily discretionary expense – and usually the only one, at $6 a day plus tax. Of that fee, $5 goes directly to supporting my hometown club.

Yes, it’s true. I spend my days playing alone with robots – even when everyone is sheltered-at-home, there are introverts in the virtual world

How did it go? The first one ever was my best one, but I suspect the majority of the field at the time hadn’t yet learned how robot partners and bidding worked. However, the daily haul has been reasonably predictable. We shall dive in more next time!

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