Frequently asked Questions about our National Bridge Festivals
F. A.Q.s
Have you decided on the format for how a national game will be played?
It will be an inter-u3a match that can either be played online or at your normal venue - the same hands will be played each day and the results uploaded to a national scoring database.
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Is the week of 24th March set in stone? Can the tournament be held the following week beginning 31st March?
Not completely. We accept that Easter holidays vary across the UK, so although we will be holding our main Bridge activities during the week commencing 8th April there is no reason why you cannot play the same hands the week thereafter.
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We are a small group, playing only 2 tables per week - would we be able to play?
Yes, of course !! The whole concept of the week-long Festival is 'something for everyone'. In your particular case, we have a special movement of 15 boards and 8 players. Please contact Steve at u3abridgegroup@hotmail.com for further details. We also have other 2 1/2 & 3 table movements.
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If we play online, would the tournament be held on BBO?
The tournaments will be played on all three major platforms - BridgeClubLive, BridgeBaseOnline and RealBridge at a time to best suit your club's normal playing days.
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As we don't have a venue and instead play in each other's houses it would probably make sense to play online. But we will go along with the majority's preference.
Your members will possibly derive more enjoyment by playing online, but there is also the possibility of sending out some pre-set hands to play, with an explanatory commentary from a Bridge expert for post-match discussions
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Many, although not all, of our regular players have been playing online during the lock-down (as has the rest of the world), using BBO in our
case. Accordingly I think that online will be the most appropriate option for us. Having said that, I would personally be curious to know
how a simultaneous pairs event would be organised.
Having registered for a "group entry" on BBO, you will be sent the hands for uploading to BBO and the results XML file sent to EcatsBridge who will be calculating the national results for each day.
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An interesting idea. I am asking my players.
Please can you tell me how many boards you envisage playing in a session?
We envisage accommodating two distinct types of u3a Bridge Player:
a) Those used to playing 'competition' Bridge upwards of 3 tables
b) Those playing 'social' Bridge - 4 people meeting once a week/month for a friendly competitive game of Bridge, generously interspersed with tea and cakes...
a) We would normally play 16 or 18 boards.
b) This group can play as many hands as they wish (maybe 16 hands over a 4-week period?)
We will send the same sets of hands in both cases in advance of the game and a comprehensive analysis of 'how the experts would have played' after the game.
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We are keen and eager but inexperienced in contests of this sort. Several of us have played in Café Bridge events. Would it be similar to this?
You're half-way there already !! A typical café bridge event is a duplicate pairs bridge game set up over multiple cafés and restaurants. Pairs move to a new venue after each round, guided by a movement card or roadbook, while board sets remain on their starting tables throughout.
We would send the group organiser the hand layouts in advance (one per day, Mon-Fri if required) and the Bridge Fun event could either be played as per café bridge or in a hired hall for the session
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Presumably you would send the hands to someone - probably me - who would (a) have to deal all the hands and (b) would not be able to participate in the tournament.
Yes, we will send you the hands in advance of the game(s) and one person would deal the hands but not play.
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How do we get the results back to you?
In order to combine your individual club's results into a national result we use a standard XML file format; this is normally automatically generated using standard Bridge-scoring programs such as EBUScore or ScoreBridge.
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We have a 2 hour session booked with our hosts, and if it is, for example, a 26 board tourney, we would have to extend the booking to 3 hours - which may be possible, but we would need to know in advance.
It is entirely up to your club as to the number of boards that you play - we would suggest that 16 boards could be comfortably completed within 2 hours.
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Will there be a time limit for making a bid (and playing a hand)? Some online tournaments enforce a time limit for bidding.
If you are playing a 'group' session then it will be up to the Tournament Director to determine the time for each hand. For the online (single entry) sessions, these are determined by the platform itself. An acceptable guideline for online play is 8-9 boards per hour.
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What is ScoreBridge?
ScoreBridge - is a paid-for, commercially available Duplicate Bridge Scoring Program that has an 8-week trial period - more details at ScoreBridge - Download Trial Version
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Do you propose to send an e-file of the hands for loading into the Club's dealing Machine?
Yes - the deal hands (for each of 5 days) will be sent as a PBN (Portable Bridge Notation) File for easy uploading. If you are playing on BBO then you may need to convert the file to a LIN file before uploading.
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Can you explain the meaning of 'simultaneous pairs’?
Simultaneous Pairs is a form of Duplicate Bridge whereby pre-determined hands are sent out in advance to all participating Bridge groups. The (18 or so) hands are then pre-dealt by a non-playing member and placed in boards/wallets for subsequent play. After the hands have been played, the results are sent to the organising body and added to all the other results, giving an overall 'national' score, such that individual pairs can gauge their performance against a national result as well as a local result. It is customary for a Commentary to follow the competition, written by a Bridge expert, which explains how the hands should have been bid and played.
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I would like to know the likely standard of the participants. 2 of us are Club standard; all the rest are relative beginners/improvers but definitively not Club standard.
We are hoping to have "something for everyone". Your Beginners can participate by playing pre-dealt hands (on a day of their choice) and comparing their bidding and play against an expert's view.
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Would you have the same boards being played? If so, the Friday players who also play on Thursdays (and I am one of them) would have a distinct advantage!
No, we will send out five separate sets of hands for each of Mon-Friday such that you can play as many times as you wish - and hopefully contribute more money to our u3a charities!!!
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What are the duties of a “card handler”?
The "card handler" is the non-playing person who prepares the boards for other players in their u3a. If you are playing chicago or social bridge then this would entail deciding how many boards you'd like to play and preparing those boards.
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I came TOP when playing in our local group, but when the results were uploaded to ECatsBridge, my % score was reduced, why is this?
This is a common question asked when scoring against a 'national result' - please refer to a detailed explanation on the EcatsBridge Website
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