Duplicate bridge is played using hands
placed in a board (a plastic holder), so that the same cards are played at each
table. You play each board against the other pair at your table, but actually
you are competing against the pairs at the other tables who play the same hands
as you.
The players’ responsibility in this process is to ensure that the contract and the result are properly recorded. The recording is North’s duty, but he must ensure that the other players concur with the entry into the Bridgemate. When play is ready to begin, the director will place the movement information into the scoring program and direct the North players to activate their Bridgemates. North selects OK and enters the player IDs. When the information for the first round appears on the screen, he will check it against the guide card and then enter the number of the board to be played.
When the bidding is completed he will enter the contract and the declarer (e.g. N or W). If the board is passed out, he will enter “PASS” and if the board is not played, he will enter “0” since these two outcomes are scored differently. When play is complete, he will enter the results relative to the contract in the format “=”, “+” or “-" as appropriate. When the result and score appears, he will have East or West check the score. They will either affirm the score or return it so that North can correct it.
The Bridgemate sends
the data to EBUScore, the scoring program used in our computer. EBUScorer calculates
the scores, the MPs, and the tentative standing and displays them on the
monitor. When all the boards have been played, EBUscorer sorts the results by
board number and displays them in the format for Excel. The director posts
these scores into nhbridge.club, our website. The recap for board 1 is shown
below.
The MPs are determined for each pair by
comparing their score to those attained by the other pairs who played the same
hands. One MP is awarded for every pair they beat and ½ MP is awarded for every
pair they tie. The Top is the number of other tables playing the same board and
represents the maximum number of match points which can be attained for a given
board. In the example above, the board is played at 5 tables, so the top is 4.
The sum of the MPs for N/S and E/W at each table will be 4, the top.
The MPs and Tops are calculated for each board and compiled
until all the boards have been entered for the day and the percentages
calculated. These results are then sorted by the percentage to show the order
of finish as seen below. The percentages allow for the fact that the Max (the
sum of the tops) can vary from pair to pair and week to week. The percentages
are a constant measure of accomplishment and can be compared from week to week.
The boards played are also posted with the recaps,
including a computer analysis of those contracts which can be made by each
side. The director will usually add comments to the boards on Tuesdays which
may contain interesting points. This is all part of the lesson for which you
paid, so you should always check the results at nhbridge.club.
