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    Rev.(12/03)                                  CCPRS.033 (PAGE 1)   
                                                            __________________ 
          PAIR EVENTS - GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTEST      These Conditions of Contest may not be changed 
    at any level of play      during the course of this event.        Lack of knowledge does not constitute cause for 
    exemption.        These conditions apply to all pair events. At 
    the North American      Bridge Championships, there may be additional 
    specific conditions. In      such cases the specific conditions will 
    supersede the general ones.      These conditions must be posted. Sponsoring 
    organizations may amend      these conditions for specific events but such 
    amendments must appear      in all printed tournament schedules. 
    Furthermore they must be posted      prior to the start of event.        Sponsoring organizations may, with ACBL 
    approval only, amend these      conditions for a specific event.        The final decision on any item in these 
    conditions shall be made by      the Director-in-Charge. Furthermore, any issue 
    not specifically      covered will be resolved by the 
    Director-in-Charge.        ENTRY AND PARTICIPATION      1. Each partnership will consist of two 
    players. In events which have         a masterpoint restriction the partnership's 
    entry will be based on         the player with the higher masterpoint 
    holding.  However, Life         Master events require that both members of a 
    pair be ACBL Life         Masters or its equivalent.        2. Each player must play at least seventy 
    percent of the boards,         played by the partnership to be eligible for 
    either session or         overall masterpoint awards.        PLAY      1. Sponsoring organizations must announce in 
    advance the type of         event scheduled. Options include open, Life 
    Master, events         restricted by either an upper or lower 
    masterpoint limitation,         flighted, stratified or strati-flighted. In 
    addition each event         may be segregated by requiring pairs to be 
    both men, both women or         mixed (i.e one man and one woman).            In flighted events groups are segregated by 
    masterpoint totals          (i.e A is Open, B is restricted to players 
    with less than 1000          MP's and C for players with less than 300 
    MP's).            In stratified events the three groups play 
    together but are ranked          both collectively and separately (i.e a C 
    player can win points by          ranking in A, B or C).            In strati-flighted events at least one 
    group is segregated and          another stratified (i.e A is Open, B is 
    stratified with the top          group 300 - 1000 and the second group 0 - 
    300). 
    
   
                                                            CCPRS.033 (PAGE 2) 
     
                                                            __________________ 
            2. Events may be run from one to six sessions 
    and may have cuts in         the size of the field after specified 
    sessions. Consolation events         may be run concurrently with the final 
    session(s) at the         discretion of the Sponsoring Organization.
            3. A Side Game Series (Continuous Pairs) may be 
    run at sectionals or         regionals. There must be at least three 
    sessions. Individual         sessions may be stratified and give overall 
    and section awards         based on side game rating. Players compete 
    as individuals and         overall placing will be determined by the 
    player with the best sum         of percentages of his two best sessions. Any 
    player still entered         in another championship event (such as a 
    sitout in a Knockout or a         player who has withdrawn from another event) 
    may play in the Side         Game Series (Continuous Pairs) but that 
    session will not count         towards his overall ranking nor will gold 
    points be awarded for a         section top at regionals or NABCs.        4. Management, at it's discretion, may 
    authorize barometer scoring         with publication of previous rounds' results 
    during a session for          any matchpoint event for which ACBL is the 
    sponsoring         organization. The present IMP pairs event 
    may not be run using         barometer scoring if the results are made 
    public during the         session.        5. A partnership is responsible for knowing 
    when their methods apply         in probable (to be expected) auctions. A 
    pair may be entitled to         redress if their opponents did not 
    originally have a clear         understanding of when and how to use a 
    convention that was         employed.                    CONVENTIONS      The ACBL General Convention Chart will govern 
    bidding and playing      methods unless the Sponsoring Organization has 
    announced in writing to      the contrary.        SEEDING      Every effort should be made to seed all 
    sections of the field in both      directions.  In general, each pair should play 
    against the same      strength field each session. (Note: This is 
    usually accomplished by      making random adjustments in the starting 
    position of one of the      seeded fields each session.) While the 
    Sponsoring Organization may      provide assistance the final decision in all 
    matters relating to      seeding the event will rest with the 
    Director-in-Charge.          QUALIFYING EVENTS AND CONSOLATIONS       1. Events of two or more sessions may be run as 
    some number of         qualifying sessions and some number of final 
    sessions. Consolation         events may be scheduled for non-qualifiers 
    at the discretion of         the Sponsoring Organization. Conditions 
    regarding the number of         pairs to be qualified must be announced as 
    early as possible         during the qualifying session(s). 
    
   
                                                            CCPRS.033 (PAGE 3) 
     
                                                            __________________ 
            2. In order for a partnership to qualify for 
    the finals both members         must be present. If not an alternate 
    qualifier will be selected.         From among available pairs the one with the 
    highest score in the         qualifying session(s) will be selected.        3. A carryover will be calculated based on 
    scores in the qualifying         session(s). The maximum spread between 
    highest and lowest         carryover will be equal to the number of 
    sessions in the events         times top in the final session(s). For six 
    session events with two         cuts, the maximum spread for the middle two 
    rounds will be only         two and one half times top in the semi-final 
    sessions.        4. Carryovers will be based on the following 
    formula -           C = (M - m) [ (Q/E)(AxBxQ)/S)] where            C = 
    carryover                                              B = number of boards played in qualifying 
    session(s)          S = sum of the scores of all qualifiers          M = matchpoints of a given pair           m = matchpoints of lowest qualifying pair          E = pairs entered in the event          Q = pairs to be qualified          A = average on each board in the final 
    session(s)        If the formula determines the high carryover to 
    be above the allowable      limits then the formula is abandoned and the 
    following procedure is      followed.  Subtract the low qualifying score 
    from the high qualifying      score and divide this number into the maximum 
    allowable carryover.       The resulting factor is multiplied by the 
    difference of a score and      the low qualifying score.  Thus the low 
    qualifier will have a      carryover of zero and the high qualifier will 
    have the maximum      allowable carryover.        5. Ties for the final qualifying position will 
    be broken as follows:         a. Considering only boards played in common, 
    a pair will receive            one point for each board played in common 
    on which it outscores            the other tied pair(s) and one half point 
    for each tied board.            In addition on boards not played in 
    common a pair will receive            one point for a score above average and 
    one half point for a            score of average.         b. If the above does not break the tie or in 
    cases where the pairs            played no boards in common, compare 
    matchpoints on all boards            against average. Award a pair one for 
    each score above average            and one half for each score of average. 
    
   
                                                            CCPRS.033 (PAGE 4) 
     
                                                            __________________ 
          TARDINESS & SUBSTITUTIONS      1. Substitutes are subject to the discretion of 
    the Director-in-         Charge or his designee and may not 
    appreciably strengthen the         partnership.         2. A qualified pair which fails to seat both 
    members of the         partnership ten minutes after the announced 
    starting time of a         finals will be replaced by the highest 
    available alternate         qualifier.        CORRECTION AND APPEAL PERIODS      1. The score correction period for player 
    errors expires at the         completion of play of the session following 
    the one in which the         error occurred.        2. For director errors the correction period 
    expires twenty four         hours after the completion of the event or 
    thirty minutes after         completion of the last event of the 
    tournament, whichever is         earlier.        3. For qualifying events  the score correction 
    period for both player         and director errors expires one hour before 
    the announced starting         time of the first final session.        4. The appeal period of or for a Director's 
    ruling expires one half         hour after the completion of a session or 
    the starting time of the         next session whichever is earlier. |