[ckirko]

I would like to suggest some change in the acbl MP pairs format in an effort to get players back to this (superior) format from the (inferior,but dominating) speedball format.Perhaps a 18 bd. match with 6 min./bd (thus lasting 2 hours) might be attractive to players. ckirko

[jchiu]

Online Speedball Pairs (n.) - A new method devised by the ACBL to sell worthless, colourless masterpoints faster.

[uday]

The longer format was something we considered; we tried starting the "slowballs" a little before the speedballs to give people a backup in case the slowball did not start.

We're still thinking about the longer format, and perhaps we'll have to try that next.

[rogerclee]

I feel like the only issue with slowballs is that you can still have a slowball without it being ridiculous. 6 minutes a board seems ample.

[jtfanclub]

rogerclee, on Feb 24 2008, 03:24 AM, said:

I feel like the only issue with slowballs is that you can still have a slowball without it being ridiculous. 6 minutes a board seems ample.

There are lots of people who can't play at 6 min/board, due to connectivity or other issues, and I can't imagine what the advantage is to playing 18 boards instead of 12.

I'm not sure what the solution is.

[jmc]

I really wish that BBO would consider some 24 board tournaments. These may not be ideal for people who pick up partners, but would be great for more established partnerships. The 12 board format really requires "extreme" bridge for victory.

Maybe 1 24 board acbl a day? If you build it, they will come.

jmc

[bid_em_up]

jmc, on Feb 24 2008, 02:13 PM, said:

If you build it, they will come.

jmc

Unfortunately, this only applies to baseball stadiums, not bridge tournaments.

Another (now defunct) internet bridge site tried both the 18 and the 24 board formats. They were extremely unpopular and poorly attended, and eventually phased down to one per week for each format before finally disappearing altogether.

It was a shame, I preferred the longer formats myself. They helped to eliminate a lot of the crapshoots that occur in a 12 board tourny.

[helene_t]

What about series of, say, 4 tournaments of each 12 boards, in which each player must participate in 2 (i.e. 24 boards) and then gets masterpoints on the basis of ranking for the 24 boards? Then players with short time slices, as well as players who won't commit to 24 boards with a pick-up p, can get participate without the motivation to "crapshot" for a 12-board ranking. Of course players are allowed to play with same p both times.

There are some issues, as conflicting interests within a pair who had differnt partners in first round and now one of them needs to swing and the other needs to stay steady, and also one could argue about compensation in case some of the (say) 4 sets had a stronger field than others. But I think one could live with that.

[barmar]

OKbridge does something like that with their "combos". They pair up adjacent 12-board tournaments, and pairs that play in both are ranked on their combined scores.

I just looked at a couple of them from today and it looks like about a third of the players play in both tourneys of a combo.

[ckirko]

I like Helen 1 's suggestion - sets of matches of 12 bds. each,especially if 18 bd. matches are not feasible. ckirko

[ASkolnick]

I also like Helen's idea.

During the regionals, there are side game series which work exactly like what Helen suggested. You could group 2 or 3 games together and have the smaller time slices as well.

The real issue I had with the "speedball" is we tried to play a different system. But if the director gets called, which he always did, you are dead. Hopefully, you can come up with at least a little more time for these types of situations.

[ckirko]

For UDAY who has been helpful in the past. I doubt that starting Prs. games 5 min early will do much. I would not call matches with 5.5-6 min. per bd. sloball - rather it is "normalball". A prs. match of 18 bds. would nicely fill out two hours. ckirko