Te Awamutu Contract Bridge Club

 
           
         
Master Points - What Are They All About???

Every now and again we get those little white bits of paper with C points and the like all over them. What does all this mean?

The main objective of these is to measure and record the achievements of players of duplicate bridge in clubs affiliated to the New Zealand Association. There are three categories-

C Points - earned by players who finish in the top third placings of each club session or who earn them at certain tournaments.

B Points - each one is equal to 100 C points. You can never have more than 99 C points, since once you earn another one, it converts to a B point. You can also earn a B point outright by winning a session at a B point tournament. If it is say a 5B tournament you also earn five B points for winning it, four for coming second and so on.

A Points - Awarded to players who are session winners or in the top placings of A point approved tournaments. The points awarded are on the same principle as with B point tournaments.

It is the C points that you earn at club sessions that make up most of those on your certificates. It is important to note they they apply to GROSS placings only. Handicap results do NOT count. How many points you earn can easily be calculated by the following table. 
No. of Pairs	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th   7th	



8-10		40	27	13



11-13		40	30	20	10



14-16		40	32	24	16	8



17-19		40	33	27	20	13	7



20-22		40	34	29	23	17	11	6

If you finish second and there are 12 tables you earn 30 C points. Third with 15 tables earn 24 C points and so on. Two firsts with any number of tables plus a fourth with 17 tables earns 100 C points which immediately becomes one B point. B points do not convert to A points - they simply accumulate.

But how does this all relate to your grading as Junior, Intermediate or Open? Now it gets complicated. Your grading depends on how many "rating points" you have. These are calculated by adding all your A and B points together, but by depreciating them by 20% a year. The total is revised once a year, and that total consitutes your "Rating points" for the coming year.

Up to 20 rating Points you are Junior Up to 60 rating Points and you are Intermediate More than this and you are Open.

If moving to another country, certification of a player's New Zealand status with the NZCBA can be provided.

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