Monday Bridge Sessions

31/5/2019

This is a discussion to get ideas on what Monday Sessions are for and any (if any) playing restrictions are put in place.

With positive comments then hopefully some recommendations could be put to the AGM at the end of the year if need be.

I start this discussion after observing the results of the May Teams. It was unfortunate that there was only ever going to be one winner of this event. You don't have anything like a level playing field when a team is weighted with more open players than others and also the team averages a greater number of rating points.

A solution is to make the event a handicap event, though these handicaps have not been used for a number of years.
NB. New Zealand bridge are developing a handicapping system though unsure of there progress.

Another solution is to restrict any team to have only one open player or only one player above X rating points.

All of this could be handled by specifying the playing rules for Monday night in General.

John Driscoll

31/5/2019 06:32:35 pm

As a member of the now controversial team, I’d like to comment.
The team I played in was a “stand by team”, one which turns up to the club ready to play if needed to make the numbers but otherwise then goes home if not needed.
Rona was the director for the event, either as a non-playing or a playing director in a stand by team.
As it turned out the spare team was needed, Lauren (the Monday night partnership steward) who was supposed to be my partner was unwell so I played with various partners.
In recent years I have often turned up to the club on a Monday night with Rona, to act as a stand by pair so as to make up the numbers, so that there is no phantom. Of course when this eventuated into Rona and I playing and winning a series and we were then publicly criticized by some non-Monday night players.
It would be an easy solution for Monday nights to just disqualify open/open combinations from qualifying for the prize list. I know Rona and I don’t have a problem with that solution, we already win quite a few events we don’t qualify for the prize list.
The club has only two night sessions, Mondays and Wednesday’s, neither night is graded. As there is only two nights available for players to play I think restricting players being able to play together is a poorer solution. But I, for one personally, would have been happy to stay home by a warm fire enjoying my other interests, than to be sullied by the backbiters for my contribution
“A solution is to make the event a handicap event, though these handicaps have not been used for a number of years”.
Handicapping is such a big controversial subject, it can be quite contentious and seems cause quite a drain on volunteers/committees time resources.
But maybe some sort of handicapping could be investigated, not only for Monday nights, but also for the Wednesday night club champs with the introduction of a handicapped prize since there is also a large amount of diverse playing abilities on that night also.

Christine Judd

1/6/2019 12:04:56 pm

John's comments are very sound. My partner and I played against John and David in one of the teams events. It was daunting to say the least and I on the night felt hard done by, and like giving up because we had no chance of doing even a little bit well against these two top players. Admittedly I had toothache so was a little bit cranky anyway! The next day when I started to think about the game, I realised that I would have been a lot better off to concentrate fully on playing the game and not smarting about how good the opposition was. I would more than likely have picked up some excellent tips and been privy to watching the game of bridge being played as it should be by two top players. Maybe too, my partner and I would have done a little better if I had been concentrating more and not thinking the whole night was a waste of time. We had teams playing that comprised of top intermediate players and were also very strong teams. If we make any changes to Monday nights, maybe it should be to say that in teams events there must be two junior players in each team.

One last thing I would like to say is that it would be fantastic to see everyone working together for the greater good of the club. Good suggestions should be put forward and criticisms should be left at home (unless they are very constructive criticisms). In the end we all want the same thing - to be "excellent" bridge players, to continue to learn and become more proficient at the game, and to have the best and friendliest bridge club in the region.

Sharon Opai

2/6/2019 09:07:18 am

Derek has quite appropriately raised an issue of fairness. As a solution he offers 3 suggestions which are all practical and reasonable. They are:
1. a handicap system which he acknowledges is problematic;
2. a restriction on the numbers of open players per team or above a certain number of rating points; and/or
3. specifying rules for Monday night play which has tended to be for players at junior level like myself.
For my own part, the second and third suggestions would adequately resolve the issue, the importance of which cannot be understated since any perception of unfairness will only deter participation to the detriment of the club as a whole. No doubt precisely why Derek determined to raise it. By the way, comments made publicly and without malice do not qualify as "backbiting". Just saying.

3/6/2019 12:43:59 am

"By the way, comments made publicly and without malice do not qualify as "backbiting". Just saying".
I Agree and it was naive of me to believe rumors that there were comments , not made publicly that would resemble backbiting.

I think it is an interesting blog.
I don't know what Monday nights are meant to be, it appears to be one of two nights the club offers club players a chance to play without grading or system restrictions. As there are both listed on our web page as open sessions. Though some of the events are restricted to qualifying winners.
Some players are new out of lessons, and others have been playing years longer than I. There is a diverse playing ability.

Perceived fairness can be a one eyed view.
And I suppose players play for different reasons.
Mostly I just step up to the plate and enjoy hitting the ball when I hit it, nothing to do with perceived fairness

Christine Knowles link

4/6/2019 10:52:14 am

I played in a team in this event with one open player and 3 juniors. Our team may not have been particularly successful but I enjoyed playing, it was good practice and I appreciated the open player being prepared to play with us. I certainly didn’t have any expectations of being one of the first three teams but this didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the competition and the playing against better players always teaches me something.

Lauren Lehndorf

2/6/2019 03:19:57 pm

Firstly I would like to thank my partner Chris, together with Rona and John for agreeing to be the "standby pair" Unfortunately I was unable to step up and play. This resulted in a standby person being called upon to make up the team, and Team numbers. A junior could not be found. As the Monday night convenor I can assure all, that every effort was made to secure an even number of tables required for this event. To no Avail.I think we should hold sight of the fact that it is difficult to increase the playing members on Monday Nights. We do need better players to support those of us coming through, To them .I say thank you. We have strong club membership numbers but with small table numbers on both Monday and Wednesday nights , This has shown some improvement this year but is a difficult task. Those conveyers of before will vouch for that. This occurrence is not the Norm and exception should be taken into account when a situation changed beyond a persons control(mine) I should also like to note that the only platform to teach and partner other players by stronger players is on a Monday night as These strong players play with there given partners on Wednesdays. Last year I can tell you it was tough to keep turning up on a Wednesday as a junior and play the game amongst some players who thought Juniors should stick to Mondays. I also hear the Tuesday strong players only play with each other. The point is , we all do our best and this Team event requiring equal number of tables to be able to be held was an extenuating circumstance and unlikely to happen again moving forward. Yes, we do need a platform for discussion, but all things considered, move on and use your voices to encourage your fellow players to come out and night and play.

Barry Jones

4/6/2019 09:43:39 pm

I occasionally look at club websites for material for The Bridge Zone. I thought this was an interesting thread and hope you won't mind me commenting.
To improve your game, playing against better players is probably one othe best things you can do. Unfortunately many do find it a bit daunting. One alternative is to try a restricted teams event with one pair juniors and the other pair open or intermediate. When teams play each other the open players must play against each other and so do the juniors. At the end of each match they all score up and get to discuss a few hands together. Our members seem to enjoy this format without the pressure of playing against top players. (I still think playing better players is better for your bridge). At the very least it's another suggestion for you. Regards, Barry

Derek Rankin

5/6/2019 01:38:41 pm

Thanks Barry for the constructive comments. It is always good to get ideas from outside the club. Although we don't have a lot of open players, I'm sure the teams could be structured along the lines you suggest. Each team to have a A pair and a B pair and in the matches the A pairs play against each other as you have indicated.
That would do away with any thought of using handicaps for the team events and solve the problem of getting a one sided result.
Thank You

Rosemary Ritchie

5/6/2019 02:15:04 pm

I have read with interest the comments made above and concur with the general theme.
As a past partnership steward, I know how difficult it is to get members to commit to a 3 night event and all credit to the winning team to be prepared to give up their evenings so that the event could be Properly run. Lets hope the Wednesday Teams this month are as successful.

While the winning team was 'loaded' but it provided the opportunity for the less experienced players to learn from our top players..

Taupo is a non graded club and players of all levels are welcome at all sessions. As I understand it,both evening sessions were handicapped at one stage - Wednesday handicaps were abolished during the 90's and Monday more recently - initially they were manually assessed which worked but with the advent of computer handicaps, distortions occurred. I like Barry's idea of having a senior pair and a junior pair with seniors playing each other and juniors playing each other. This is actually the system used when teams were reintroduced to the club as s social event one weekend. Another solution could be to have only one player be team with say more that 60 rating points -his would preclude very few players from playing in the same team on a Monday night. Following this premise we could widen so that only pairs where there is only one partner with more than 60 rating points eligible to in competitions but they could still play together and be eligible for C points.

Food for thought?

6/6/2019 06:16:22 pm

I have a three of comments to make.

I know Lauren you are making a good effort on Monday nights, so this not a criticism.
Your comment about needing an even number of teams is not correct. It maybe you were instructed to get an even number.

However team events can be run using what are called Multiple Teams. Multiple teams are played like a Mitchell pairs session but E-W move according to certain rules. Of course the scoring program handles this. In this movement you play every other team each night in 4 boards. So after 3 nights each team has played each other in 12 board contest.

Essentially you have a choose of a 8 team Round Robin or a 7 team Multi. Simply depends on how many teams you have.

Each has advantages and disadvantages.

In the 8 team round robin one round was not done. No problem provided the two top teams were to meet in that round,

John you made a comment about the web site saying the sessions are Open on the web page. The word Open is used there indicating that it is open for visitors, It is not meaning open systems. In fact I should add to that page exceptions for the months when teams and swiss pairs are on.

Finally I have a new page on the web site related to handicapping. Please go to Members Area and you will find a new category HANDICAPS

6/6/2019 07:37:36 pm

Derek , as it happen both Wednesday and Mondays do not have restrictions on systems , nor do they have restrictions on who can or can not play together and this is clearly set out in the program book. The word "open" is quite a common bridge term that most players reading our page would interrupt in the normal bridge way and since there is no restrictions apart from the qualifying to win ones they would be right to do so.,

6/6/2019 06:47:30 pm

Yes I was advised even numbers were required

Comments are closed.

Monday Bridge Sessions

Archives

Categories

Monday Bridge Sessions

Archives

Categories​

Categories