Concurrent Games Masterpoint Fix In Action

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Lee Lin

Last month we wrote about the party in the limited game phenomenon. At a physical club, it was not possible for the 0-750 game to pay more masterpoints than the concurrent open game, regardless of the table imbalance*. The open game award includes the table count of the open game AND all concurrent limited games (mid-flight, 750, 49er, etc). That is, the prize pool trickles up to the open game, encouraging everyone to play up for bigger awards. Only open games get the bonus – the 750 does not get any bonus from the 49er.

*ok, there is one theoretical exception which I leave to the reader to figure out. Hint: it has to do with white and yellow…

Virtual Club Concurrent Game Logic

So now we finally have equivalent logic in the virtual club games, and it started this week! Here are some examples. The 12:45pm All-For-One open game had 17 tables. Prior to this week, that would pay 2.55 masterpoints to first overall (such as last week’s 14-table game). Instead, it paid a nice 3.90 because the concurrent 1pm 499er game with 9 tables contributed to the prize.

The 12:45pm open and 1pm 499er are concurrent games, as are the 10:15 open and 10:30 199er games. I don’t know the official cutoff on maximum time gap allowed

Also note the 499er game doesn’t lose anything – they still got their usual 0.1 * (9 tables) * (0.80 limited game deflator) * (1.5 virtual club bonus) = 1.08

Many More Overall Points Paid

The change will net pay many more points to the overall virtual club. The open game is receiving awards as if they had combined all the limited games into one big game. Conceptually, anyone who opts to play in the limited forfeits their ability to win the big prize, competing instead in a standalone, hopefully more friendly field, that will pay out its own award structure.

A Masterpoints Hack

Interestingly, the most socially optimal structure is to have everyone eligible to play in the limited game play there. If you have 40 tables to split between an open and 499er game, you actually pay more total points if 30 tables join the 499er and 10 go open, than if you have an even split, or a lopsided split in favor of the open game. That’s because the open game payout will stay constant regardless of how many tables join the 499er. But the 499er game pays more as more players opt not to play up. An interesting dynamic, but probably good for encouraging newcomer and intermediate players.

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ACBL Changes We Hope To See Very Soon

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Lee Lin

There is a lot of discussion going on right now at the highest levels of ACBL. Covid-19 has accelerated the urgency for many issues, while also opening up new ideas we couldn’t have imagined before the pandemic.

Getting From March to Today

As a community, tens of thousands of ACBL members migrated to online bridge in the span of weeks. Club owners quickly formed alliances and many ultimately found a way to host games while maintaining their local player base. We have regular special events for earning silver and gold points that draw noticeably larger crowds. These massive paradigm shifts will never be perfect, but I’m impressed with what ACBL and BBO have accomplished so far.

What Now? What Do I Want To See?

Now that we’ve all been playing online for 5 months, there are a few things I think many others hope to see soon. Some should be easy fixes; some will be controversial. But I have in mind a wish list of important fixes that would keep the game fresh and engaging for many:

1.) Swiss Teams or Bracketed Round Robin

Easily my biggest request, why is almost every ACBL event still a pairs game? IMP scoring and team matches already exist on BBO. I understand there are some considerations with security, and some new software logic to host a swiss format, Victory Points, and potential 3-ways. But I would have hoped we would have it by the 3rd online gold point regional.

In theory, the online experience could have one big advantage over face-to-face teams: we would have hand-records of the team match, even if we aren’t using pre-duplicated boards. Each match could still use random deals, but at least every player could review the results at both tables. What a great potential learning experience!

The ACBL Management Report suggests there might be another gold point event in early October. Let’s try to have swiss by then!

2.) Nationally Rated Online Events For Limited Players

Since Covid ACBL-hosted some big online tournaments for top flight players. The feedback seems to have been very positive from each event. But why limit things to the world champions? For the rest of us, we already lost a year of NAP and GNT.

Some big 0-6000, 0-2500, and 0-500 nationwide KO events would probably draw a large crowd. It would be the replacement for Mini and Micro Spingold, and perhaps creation of a Nano Spingold. We could also have Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon replacement events – I’m sure everyone agrees we need more ways to spend our stockpile of ribbon qualifiers.

3.) Robots That Do Proper Carding + Just Defend Tournaments

I know not everyone is a big fan of the robot tournaments. However, I have learned enormous amounts by practicing with robots. The one big drawback for BBO, and most bridge engines, is a lack of proper carding. Bridge Baron and Fun Bridge both claim to honor certain carding rules, but in my experience both still leave much to be desired.

Once we have robot partners that are capable of human-like attitude, count, and suit preference signals, there will be so much more that one could potentially practice. The next logical step would be a new Daylong Tournament: The Just Defend tournament. It will be like Just Declare, where you see the full auction, but you are always on defense.

More On The Wish List?

There is much more I could add to the wish list, but I’ll stop for now. What does everyone else think? Is there more I’m missing?

Posted in ACBL News, Bridge Thoughts, Software | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Win Gold Points! Virtual Vacations Aug 27-30

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Lee Lin

Once again, we have a chance to win gold points. At the end of this month, ACBL is having another online regional-like event, the Virtual Vacation Tournament.

Daily Schedule – Simplification to One Page

As many noticed, the Endless Summer regional was super-stratified, with the usual Gold Rush and Mid-Flight, but also all new Super Gold Rush and Super Mid Flight pairs. This time around, the schedule all fits on one page, and there is only one type of Mid-Flight (0-3000)

Two-Session Events (all times ET)

These are the bread and butter events that award gold points to overall two-session winners, and to session top winners. Unlike many regionals that allow you to jump in for one session, you must register and pay for both sessions here. Otherwise, stick to the side games.

10:15am and 1:45pm – Gold Rush (0-750)
10:30am and 2:00pm – Mid-Flight (0-3000)
10:45am and 2:15pm – Open

For those who want to play in the evenings, or four sessions per day:

5:15pm and 8:45pm: Super Gold Rush (0-1250)
5:30pm and 9:00pm: Mid-Flight (0-3000)
5:45pm and 9:15pm: Open

Single Sessions and Side Games

There are also single session events for intermediate and newcomer players. Each one is stand-alone and only awards red points.

10:15am, 1:45pm, 5:15pm, 8:45pm: 99er (0-100)
10:30am, 2pm, 5:30pm, 9pm: 499er (0-500)

For those who enjoy trying the side-game gambit, it looks like the side games are going fully horizontal. Unlike the June tournament, each time slot is its own series. We still need clarification on whether the top 2 session within each series will be combined for overall gold awards. I imagine this is welcome news for players who can only play one time slot per day – for example, our friend game1980 who plays from Singapore!

10:45am – Campfire Side Game Series
2:15pm – S’moresSide Game Series
5:45pm – Firefly Side Game Series
9:15pm – Moonlight Side Game Series

Bottom Line – Single Mid-Flight Strat, Fully-Horizontal Side Games

The biggest change to the June regional will be a collapsing of stratifications. There is still a super gold rush in the evening, but all mid-flight events are 0-3000. Previously, there was a 0-2500 mid-flight and a 0-3500 mid-flight. The side games were grouped into packs of two sessions per day, across two days. This time they seem to be one time slot daily, horizontal across the four days.

Sadly, the 20% point reduction will apply to this event, as is common for all online gold / red / silver events for 2020. Also, there are still no team events or IMP scored events announced.

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Get It While You Can – The 9:30pm Speedball

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Lee Lin

For those in the All-For-One alliance, there is a golden opportunity right now to earn your silver points. It’s one of those funny open games that are not really open. But it pays full 2x silver points: the 9:30pm speed ball with Sephardic – each night of Silver Linings Week 2.0.

According to the email from Honors, in a 0-3500 event, “professional players are put on notice that they are strongly discouraged from playing”. Not that we can promise all the ringers need any encouragement, but so far it has been a true mid-flight crowd.

Is It Closer To 750 or Open?

Honestly, there isn’t so much difference between the mid-flight and 0-750 fields. You gain a few strong pairs, but it’s largely similar people, if not exactly the same people. The sad truth is, we’ll all still be making many of the same mistakes, plus all new mistakes, with 2500 masterpoints under our belts! If you are earning points regularly in the 0-750 (every other session, say), you probably belong in mid-flight.

I highly recommend it for anyone looking to squeeze in a late evening game, and you can fit it in right after finishing the 7:15pm evening session. The Monday game had 11 tables, coded has a limited game (pays 80% of 2x points). But under certain conditions, given the player pool, they convert it to an open game – full 2x payment and you are still done in 90 minutes.

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Virtual Club “Open Game” Getting An Update

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Lee Lin

A funny thing happened on today’s Silver Lining Week 2.0 Kickoff. The All-For-One evening 7:15pm open game, featuring world champions and Barry Crane winners, only had 6 tables. The real party was in the 0-800, which I’m calling the Silver Rush game.

With only 15 minutes to go, there was over triple the demand in the 0-800 with James game. In the final minutes, at least one pair defected down after scoping out the scene.

A Silly Masterpoint Formula Fix

Under the normal ACBL formula, the masterpoint prize pool from the open game includes the table count of all concurrent limited games (the masterpoints trickle up). The theory is, whoever wins the open game with 6 tables would have also won it if we forced everyone into one huge 27 table game.

Unfortunately, the logic doesn’t yet apply to Virtual Private Club games, but I’m assured from sources within ACBL that a software update is coming very soon. In the meantime, don’t feel too bad for the pros – they still took advantage of the Howell movement trick (6 tables magically becomes 12).

Also, the entire formula will soon change to be based on strength of field – so you get an extra bonus when all of your opponents seem to have over 20,000 masterpoints.

Why 0-800, Who Plays It, And Who Is James?

Actually, I’m not sure why the limit is 0-800, when almost all gold rush games and limited games have forever been 0-750. My guess is the usual supply-and-demand reason – someone between 750-799 must really want it. Maybe we just go super gold rush, 0-1250?

Anyway, the Evening Honors and Aces limited program brought me many fond memories and will always hold a special place in my heart: whiteboard exercises with Tom, lessons with Georgia, weekends with Stephanie, duplicate and discussion with Yefim, and 20 Boards for $20 Bucks with James. You can even count mornings with Marin and Kerry, as pseudo-limited, friendly games. I’ve done them all, and often on the Evening EZ Pass (not available yet for online games, but maybe it’s an idea worth trying).

We like it because it’s a crowd of players, all still in the developing stages of our game. We’ve graduated from the newplicate. We can hold our own if we have to play open. But we still make a ton of mistakes, all the time and every time we play. Come join when you can!

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All-For-One Silver Point Schedule

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Lee Lin

The second Silver Linings week begins tomorrow. From July 27th through August 2nd, all virtual private club games will pay 2x silver points (first place gets 0.2 silver per table). As usual, with higher anticipated attendance, the clubs are preparing many extra games and speedballs. There is something for everyone. Just like last time, you can load up with 4 or 5 sessions a day!

Extra All-For-One Sessions This Week

ADDITIONAL SILVER LINING’S GAMES – in addition to regular schedule
(July 27 – August 2nd)

Weekday afternoons:
 2:00 pm…0 – 3,500 game (note new starting time)…($10)
 3:45 pm…Open Speedball…All seven afternoons…($8) 
 4:55 pm…0 – 3,500 Speedball…All seven afternoons….($8)

Weekday evenings…($10) – in addition to regular schedule
Monday evening…Open game at 7:15 pm.
Tuesday evening…0 – 1,000 at 6:45 pm.
Wednesday evening…0 – 1,000 IMP Pairs at 6:45 pm.
Thursday evening…Open game at 6:45 pm.
Friday evening….Open game at 6:45 pm.
Every evening…..18 board 0 – 3,500 Speedball at 9:30 pm.

Weekends:
10:15 am…Open game..($10)
  3:45 pm…Speedball..($8)
  4:55 pm…0 – 3,500 Speedball…($8)
  6:45 pm…Open Game…($10)
  9:45 pm…Saturday…0  3,500 Speedball…($10)
  9:30 pm…Sunday…0 – 3,500 Speedball…($10)

Extra Alliance Sessions This Week:

For the Sagamore players, they also added new speedballs and limited games.

Is This The Last Chance?

As a betting man, I’d say there will be other opportunities to get your gold and silver online. In fact, online gold is coming yet again in just one month – stay tuned.

However, this might also be one of your last chances to get the bonus 2x silver – the ACBL national board will vote on Item 20S2-02 and 20S2-03, reducing online silver payouts, and reducing 18-board session silver payouts. Even if both of those do not pass, the newly proposed Strength of Field changes will alter the formula enough that we really don’t know what to expect in the future! Get your silver while you can, and see you at the virtual tables.

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District 24 Director Report

Posted on July 22, 2020 by David Moss

District 24 Director Newsletter  July 2020

While we are all unhappy that it doesn’t look like there will much face to face bridge for the rest of the year, there is a lot happening in our area and the ACBL. Below I will try to provide some information about: Online Options, 2020 GNTs, 2021 Tournaments, the ACBL board reorganization and some thoughts on the impact of cheating on the game.


ACBL Board Meeting Summary – Board Reorganization

The ACBL board held a full set of meetings last week.

  • Most significantly, the motion to reduce the size of the board from 25 to 13 by Jan 1, 2024 was approved. Our district will be paired with District 25 (New England). During the summer of 2021, the unit board of both districts will elect a single Regional Director whose term will start Jan 1, 2022..  
  • Other approved motions included a 0-2500 two-day Swiss to go along with the recently approved 0-2500 pair game, and a change to the master point calculations to partially include strength of field.
  • The detailed agenda including the reorg motion is HERE. The reorg motion starts on page 30. Item 202-40 is the motion that passed. Minutes will be posted in August. Contact me if you are curious about the fate of any of the motions.
  • There were many discussions about the league’s future and online bridge. I am a member of an online task force that will deliver recommendations in August. Contact me if you would like to have some input.

Playing Online Bridge – How do you choose a Game?

Online bridge is thriving. There are multiple types of games and many excellent teachers and clubs making novel use of technologies. If you wish to play in an ACBL-sanctioned game, you have a lot of options that can appear confusing. Here are my personal thoughts:

Virtual Club Games

These are the online games run by our clubs. From a local stand point, these are the preferred games to play in:

  • They award the highest amount of master points – usually black, but the points will be Silver the week of July 27-August 2!
  • The majority portion of the entry fee goes directly to the clubs.
  • You are playing against the same people you played against in the “good old days” – pre- virus.

To find these games: 

  • Sign into BBO
  • Click “Virtual Clubs” and then “North America”
  • You will then see a listing of club games that you are eligible for that start in the next 2 hours (to verify).
  • Note that some of the clubs have pooled themselves.  “All for One” and “Alliance” include most of the largest clubs in the district.
  • If you do not see your club’s games, contact your club manager.

SYC – Save Your Club Games

These games are run by the ACBL.  Points are black. A portion of the revenue is distributed back to the clubs based on the clubs that players attended in 2019 and early 2020. To find them, click on “ACBL World.”  SYC games are shown with “ACBLSYC” as host.  In addition to scheduled pair games, there are daylong robot games that can be a lot of fun if you are so inclined.

BBO run ACBL Games

The games showing “ACBL” as host are actually run by BBO for its benefit.  They award “pigmentless” masterpoints which do not count for ACBL races, but do count for your total points. They provide some revenue to the ACBL but no revenue for the clubs.

Special Events

In addition to next week’s Silver Lining game, the ACBL plans to run a third online Regional in August.. The ACBL is running a spingold-like North American Online KO this weekend and next weekend. Selected matches will be shown on BBO Viewgraph. Details can be found on ACBL.org or Bridgewinners.com

2021 Regionals

The NSBA and GNYBA are each considering running regionals next Spring. We do not know if a local tournament in April or May will be feasible or well attended. Stay tuned.

2020 GNT

After the well-attended opening rounds, completion of the events through additional matches at the clubs became impossible in March. The NABC GNT in Montreal was cancelled. Our district opted to continue the events through online matches to determine “glory” and master points only. Here is the current status:

Open Flight: Winners: Peter Trenka, Igor Savchenko, Giorgia Botto and Ahmed Soliman
Flight A: Final: Bill Dinner, David Joseph, , Bart Cirker and Dina Schechter vs. Igor Milman, Oleg Rubinchik. Albert Shekhter and Florin Neamtu
Flight B: Final: Norman Trabulus, Charles Bilich, Michale Krevor, Barry Walfish and Robert Kuhnreich vs. Stefano Merlo, Christopher Moh, Jin Hu, Jordan Lampe and Robert Forster
Flight C: Final: Aaron Liebhaber, Adam Siegel, Lee Lin and Frank Dinoff vs. Damon Suden, Anthony Chiocci, Mary Ann Oehlerking and Marla Lawson

NAP

The District 24 pairs that qualified for the NAP NABC final in Columbus, which was not held, are now automatically qualified for the final in St Louis in March 2021 – assuming that event will be held.

Point Races

The Barry Crane, Mini Mckenney’s and Ace of Clubs races are definitely active in 2020, although online play is becoming more important.

  • 3 of the top 5 places in the Barry Crane race are currently held by New Yorkers
  • You may be surprised at how well you are doing in the District 24 and two unit’s Mini McKenney and Ace of Clubs races. Check these by logging into to “My ACBL” on ACBL.org.

Cheating

Since everyone talks about it now and it is a threat to the game, I will only add: Don’t do it!

  • Cheating online or anywhere in bridge defeats the whole point. Most of us play online or face to face because we are competitive and enjoy the game. Cheating could ruin the game for all of us.
  • You will get caught. Players are encouraged to report suspicious results. No one will be penalized for achieving a few good results, but results on each board are stored and it’s pretty easy to detect suspicious patterns

Like all of us, I very much look forward to the return of face to face bridge in our area. I admit I have no way of predicting when this will occur.

Thanks,
David Moss
ACBL District 24 Director

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Win ACBL Silver Points Again – Jul 27 to Aug 2

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Lee Lin

Amazing! Just four months ago, there was no way to win pigmented ACBL masterpoints online, other than the three annual Online Individual NABC robot tournaments. The most recent one just finished, by the way, with a record 3400 entries.

Black, Gold, Silver, Gold, Silver

We are in a nice rhythm of alternating gold and silver events at the end of each month. When the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders began, ACBL quickly invented the Support Your Club games and Virtual Private Clubs. You could play with many of the same familiar people from your local club, hang out afterwards for hand analysis with your local teachers, and have enough tables in your game via club alliances. Best of all, these games paid black points, at 150% the normal club rate.

In April we had the first massive online Gold Point Regional. For Memorial Day Weekend, we got the first Silver Linings Week (that was a tiring week). June gave us more Endless Summer Regional gold. Naturally, we are back to silver and the clubs.

Still Tied To Virtual Private Clubs

The silver point games are still tied to virtual private clubs. Unfortunately, the policy has been very confusing for many players. Just know that there is a massive amount of discussions behind the scenes going on between ACBL, club managers, and BBO to make the process as fair as possible.

For now, you should by default be allowed to play anywhere where you’ve played a face-to-face club game in the past 366 days. Each club is also allowed to invite a limited number of guests, but at least one member of the partnership should have played a face-to-face club game, and guests should not exceed 5% of players for the month.

New Default View Shows Eligible Games Only

Thankfully, they simplified the interface so you only see the club games where you are eligible to play. This ia huge improvement over previously taunting us with a massive list of games, none of which we can play. However, the new behavior also means you need to be more proactive if you aren’t on the list already. You won’t even know who to message or that the game exists, unless you find out about it from a friend or from the club directly.

Just like last time, our advice is not to wait until 10 minutes prior to a game to ask if you can just the guest list. Try playing a few games the week prior, just to iron out any issues.

Formula Pays Double Points

The awards this time will be a little bit lower. They are paying 0.2 points per table to first overall, which is double a normal club game. It is going to pay a little less than a STaC, especially for smaller games because a STaC has a fixed 1.875 point bounty prior to adding 0.1875 points per table. But it still pays more than a face-to-face club game, more than a 1.5x Support Your Club game, and did we mention it is silver points?

I look forward to clubs announcing a special schedule yet again, as we make it rain silver!

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GNT Updates: Flight B and C Reach Finals

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Amy

Both GNT Flight B and C have completed the semi-final rounds for 2020.

Flight B

For placing 3rd/4th place in District 24 GNT Flight B, the team of Joann Goodspeed, Harry Faivus, Lore Monnig, and Gisela Brett will each receive 16.75 gold masterpoints.

The teams advancing to the finals will receive a Blue Ribbon Qualifier and compete to win 33.5 gold masterpoints. The final match will consist of 52 boards between:

Team Merlo
Stefano Merlo
Christopher Moh
Jin Hu
Jordan Lampe
Robert Forster

Team Trabulus
Norman Trabulus
Charles Bilich
Barry Walfish
Robert Kuhnreich
Michael Krevor

Flight C

For placing 3rd/4th place in District 24 GNT Flight C, the team of Betsy Scherl, Audrey Meredith, Barbara Ullman, and Cynthia Ogden will each receive 10 masterpoints, half gold half red.

The teams advancing to the finals will receive a Red Ribbon Qualifier and compete to win 20 masterpoints, half gold half red. The final match will consist of 26 boards between:

Team Suden
Damon Suden
Anthony Chiocchi
Mary Ann Oehlerking
Marla Lawson

Team Liebhaber
Aaron Liebhaber
Adam Siegel
Lee Lin
Frank Dinoff

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Another Online Individual NABC Robot Tourney

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Lee Lin

I remember March 14th-16th very well, not just because it was the last weekend prior to Covid-19 lockdowns in NYC. It was also the weekend of the most recent Spring 2020 Online Individual NABC. At the time, these special NABC-related robot tournaments were the only way anyone could win pigmented points on BBO, with the bonus that they were gold/red!

Are These Bot Tournaments Still Special?

Ok, so we’ve all been sheltering at home since roughly March 17th. Since then, we’ve had two massive online gold point regionals, and a massive Silver Linings Week. There are many black point virtual private club games daily. Is this bot tourney even special anymore?

It will be interesting to see whether the online individual is still popular. I suspect it will be and have already registered for it ($40 early bird, $34 for returning participants). You get 3 days of fun, playing 24 robot boards each session. It is stratified and broken into sections of about 15 players. In other words, you have a very good chance of winning some gold and red.

And yes, the online individual NABC is still very special. It’s the only 3-session ACBL robot event, held only once each NABC (so 3 times a year). At 72 boards, equally weighted across the 3 days, the ultimate winners tends to be more than just lucky, and more than just skillful at tricking robots. Historically, the winners are extremely strong face-to-face players.

Why The Luck Factor?

Usually, robot tournaments are a crapshoot. Long term good players will average out a better score, but luck plays a big factor in the daily 8 and 12 board daylongs. Remember, you do not get the same boards as everyone else. For security reasons, only 35 or so other people play each board.

To score well, you need the kinds of boards that are tricky to bid and play. A straight-forward board is going to net you and everyone else a 50%. Ideally, you get a board with multiple viable lines of play; if there is any justice, you pick the better line and it works! But as we have all experienced, sometimes the better line fails, the mediocre line wins a top, and we smile and realize this is a part of duplicate bridge.

Standard Rules

By now it should be familiar to everyone. It’s Best Hand, meaning your hand always has the most HCP at the table. Human Declare, meaning you will declare for your partner if the auction would have made you dummy. These two rules together ensure you have an interesting bidding decision to make each hand, and you will end up declaring about 80% of the boards. Hope to see everyone register!

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