ACBL EVENTS: TERMS EXPLAINED

New members of ACBL are often confused by the array of terms they hear: knockout teams, red points, rookie. Here's a list of terms and their meanings:

Knockout Teams: an event in which a team (of four, five or six players -- with only four playing at a time) plays another team. The losers are eliminated or "knocked out" while the winners play other winners until only one winning team remains. A KO match can last for a single session or go on for a full day (the Vanderbilt and Spingold) or longer (the Bermuda Bowl).

Bracketed Knockout Teams: a KO event in which teams are divided into groups -- usually of 8, 12 or 16 -- based on their masterpoint holdings. Each group competes in a separate event with its own set of winners.

Compact Knockout Teams: a shorter version of Bracketed KO teams.

Swiss Teams: an event in which a team (of four, five or six players -- with only four playing at a time) plays other teams short matches -- usually 7, 8 or 9 boards. Team A sits North-South at Table 1 and East-West at Table 2 while Team B sits East-West at Table 1 and North-South at Table 2. The results are compared and scored by International Match Points (IMPs). Pairings for the first round are random. Pairings for succeeding rounds are determined by a team's win-loss record or Victory Point total.

International Match Points (IMPs): the most common method of scoring Swiss Team matches. If Team A scores plus 620 for bidding and making 4Ç on Board 4 and Team B scores only plus 170 (they didn't bid the game), the difference is 450 -- which converts to 10 IMPs. The IMP chart is shown on the inside of your convention card.

Victory Points (VPs): a method of scoring Swiss Team matches. After the scores are compared and converted to IMPs, the IMP total is converted to Victory Points. A team's VP total may be used to determine its next opponents and its final standing.

Continuous/Side Pairs: single-session pair games that pay red points. The Vancouver Morning Continuous/Side Pairs, for example, is being played at 9 a.m. the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the Orlando NABC. Pairs may play in one, two or three sessions. Only pairs who play in at least two sessions are eligible for overall gold points.

Stratified Pairs: The idea is to compete against everyone but to be ranked only with your peers. Each pair is assigned a stratum or "strat" based on the masterpoint holding of the partner with more masterpoints.

Example: A = 1000+ masterpoints; B = 300-1000 MPs; C = 0-300 MPs. Thus, the most experienced players are placed in Strat A, intermediate players in Strat B and less experienced players in Strat C. Masterpoints are awarded for placings in all strats but gold points are awarded only in A and B. The game proceeds normally -- the difference comes when the scores are tabulated and ranked. In a three-strat game, the scores are ranked three times. The first ranking is done as in a regular open game. These are the Strat A results. If a B or C pair does well in this ranking, they receive full credit for that performance. It is not all that uncommon for a Strat C pair to place first overall, and they receive the full masterpoint award for that game. Note: A pair is eligible for only one set of masterpoint awards and automatically receives the highest award. The second ranking compares the scores of only the B and C pairs -- the scores of the Strat A pairs are eliminated. Once again, if a C pair does well, they receive points for their finishing position in the Strat B results. The third and final ranking compares the scores of only the C pairs -- all the scores of the Strat A and B pairs are eliminated.

Strati-flighted Pairs: The top group plays in a game of their own -- Flight A. The rest of the field in divided into strats and plays as in a regular stratified pairs. A recent innovation has been stratifying within Flight A. Flight A-1 may be listed as 3000+ MPs while Flight A-2 may be listed as 0-3000 MPs.

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