Unit 503 Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

General Information

Here are some etiquette and other duplicate bridge tips. Most of all, remember that being competitive does not preclude being friendly. ;-)

One of our goals is to create a cordial and enjoyable environment for playing bridge. This is especially important when playing against less experienced players. Please take the time to read these bridge etiquette guidelines.

Most bridge players value a reliable, happy partner above anything else. It's important to the success of your partnership that you work together as a team. Here are a few tips on partner etiquette.

Do you want to know what a 'Barometer' or 'Swiss' game is? Do you wonder what that 'Stratiflighted' event is? Here’s a description of the various types of bridge games.

Why are we Unit 503? Basically, it's an organizational thing based on geography.

Alternate Score Sheet

Terry Lancaster has provided an alternate score sheet at the request of some of our players.

Discuss Bridge via Email

If you'd like to discuss bridge with other players via the internet, one way is to join a mail list. A mail list is a distribution system for email. Every email sent to the list is sent to all members of the list. You and everyone else see all questions and answers, problems and analysis, comments, suggestions, etc. If you don't want to get email you can view the messages on-line instead.

Note that you will be required to create an account in order to join. Click here to join a local bridge mail list.

Great Bridge quotes:

South: Alert!
East: Yes?
South: I'm requested to further misdescribe my hand. Read the whole list.

Help for advancing players

Here are some tips to help advancing players improve their game.

How your points are reported to the ACBL

Club owners report earned Masterpoints on a monthly basis at the end of each month. They are required to submit these by the 10th of the next month in order to avoid late fees.

The ACBL posts reported Masterpoints on the 6th of each month to meet the ACBL Bulletin printing schedule. Masterpoints reported after the 6th of the month are not posted until the 6th of the next month.

Unfortunately, this means points earned early in a month may not be posted until two full months later (one month before the club owners report them and another month before the ACBL posts them).

So, if your Masterpoints aren't posted right away it probably isn't the fault of the club owner. Be patient and they should appear in another month.

Note: Tournament and STAC points are handled independently and are usually posted much quicker.

Rulings

During a game you get an explanation of a bid that turns out not to match the hand for which the bid was made. Was the bid wrong or was the explanation of the bid wrong? Here's an explanation of a mistaken bid vs. mistaken information.

Suit Combinations

Here's a quiz from the Encyclopedia of Bridge on How to Play Suit Combinations. Take it as a test or use to learn some some good techniques.