Open, 0-2500, and Non-Life Master (NLM) Flights
General Information
The ACBL Conditions of Contest as published in The Bulletin and/or on the ACBL web site, and the ACBL Conditions of Contest Players and Organizers are part of the District 6 Conditions of Contest set forth below. In case of any conflict, the ACBL Conditions will take precedence.
Administrative Procedures
The conditions of contest are supplemented by The District 6 North American Pairs Administrative Procedures, designed to provide guidelines for Unit and District officials.
Conventions
Clubs may decide what conventions are allowed at the club qualifiers. At the District level, ACBL Conditions of Contest Conventions apply. In the Flight A, Open+ is allowed; in Flight B (0-2500), Basic+ is allowed; and in the NLM, Basic Conventions chart. Remember, by ACBL rules, no Multi is allowed.
Special Qualification
At the club stage, when an insufficient number of pairs (fewer than 5) enter a scheduled flight (or strat), all pairs who pay an entry fee are deemed to have qualified for the next stage.
Enforcement of Rules
Directors are reminded to enforce ACBL regulations courteously and firmly, including slow play, wandering, talking, and proper preparation of convention cards.
Rate of Play
Players are expected to play at a rate of at least 8 minutes/board.
Appeals Committees
Appeals of director’s rulings and protests of scoring errors are to be dealt with in accordance with ACBL rules by the normal tournament authority. The Director-in-Charge and the District head of appeals is authorized to form telephone committees if an appropriate committee cannot be formed on site. In the Open Flight, at the discretion of the Director-in-Charge, the Chairman of the District 6 GNT/NAP Planning Committee and/or the District 6 NAP Coordinator, such email committees may include players from outside District 6 in order to obtain the best and most objective ruling possible.
If the appeals committee should judge the appeal to be substantially without merit, it may assess penalties in accordance with ACBL and District 6 policies. Such penalties may be expressed in match points or seeding points, as appropriate. Seeding point penalties may be applied to future Grand National Team Final seeding.
Pre-registration
Pre-registration is required in order to play in the District Finals. Pairs must pre-register by Thursday, September 12, 2019. (See below for instructions.)
Club Level
Clubs may hold up to two (2) club qualifying games in each of the three months (June, July, August) for each weekly sanctioned session held that month. This applies to each flight. If no club in a Unit holds a game, the Unit must sponsor a club qualifying game for its membership. Any club will be permitted to run a stratified game. (See the ACBL Conditions of Contest (Organizers) for more information.) No club events may be held during a Sectional in the Unit in which the club is located without permission from the Unit. If separate Flights are held, the NLM Flight may be stratified. Any stratification may be allowed with only the top stratification qualifying for the next level.
Qualification
Club level qualification is earned as an individual and not as a partnership. A player may play at any participating club as often as desired and with as many different partners as desired. Qualification extends downward at the club level. That is, if you are eligible for the NLM event and you qualify for the Open flight, you are qualified for all flights, if you qualify for the 0-2500, you also qualify for the NLM; if you are eligible for the 0-2500 and qualify for the Open, you qualify for both flights.
Flight Eligibility
Masterpoints won in other bridge organizations, such as the ABA and foreign organizations, must be taken into account for placement in the appropriate flights.
- Open: Open to any Player
- 0-2500: Players with fewer than 2500 MPs as of the 2019 June masterpoint cycle.*
- NLM: Non-Life Masters with fewer than 500 MPs as of the 2019 June masterpoint cycle.*
*The June masterpoint cycle is run by ACBL data processing on May 6th. Any points won but not included in this cycle do not affect masterpoint eligibility.
Flight-Mixed Qualifying
When a partnership consists of players individually eligible for different flights, they must play in the event for which the higher ranked player is eligible. If they qualify, each player is considered qualified for any lower flight for which they are eligible. For more information, see the National Conditions of Contest which are posted on the District 6 website.
Unit Level
There will be no Unit Final stage; players qualify from the clubs directly to the District Finals.
District Level
Except as provided in the ACBL Conditions, no participant may qualify for the District Finals who is not a bona fide member of a Unit within District 6 on June 1, 2018. If questions arise, it will be the responsibility of the player to satisfy the District director (or designee) as to his/her eligibility. See Appendix for making requests for exceptions. Players who are members of District 6 may qualify at any club in the ACBL and play in the District 6 Final.
Substitution
A one-session substitute who does not substantially strengthen or weaken the partnership may be permitted to keep the original partnership alive. Substitutes must be eligible to play in the flight in which they are substituting, must be a member of District 6, and must be club qualified or already eliminated from the event. For the Open and 0-2500 flights, substitutes must be approved by the Player Evaluation Committee. For the NLM flight, approval may be given by the District Director, District Coordinator, or Player Evaluation Committee. Replacements are not allowed.
Pre-registration
Pre-registration is required in order to play in the District Finals. Pairs must pre-register (envelopes must be postmarked or money received) by September 12, 2019. Please include the name and ACBL number for each player. You and your partner must pre-register as a pair and not as individuals.
To pre-register for the Northern events, mail a check made payable to District 6 in the amount of $50.00, to cover two (2) sessions of the event, to: District 6 (c/o Lucy McCoy), 3353 Taleen Court, Annandale, Virginia 22003-1161.
To pre-register for the Southern events, mail a check made payable to District 6 in the amount of $50.00, to cover two (2) sessions of the event, to Barry Fratkin, 1935 Hickoryridge Road, Richmond, VA 23238.
Events for which a viable number of players do not pre-register will be cancelled. Note: If the minimum number of tables has pre-registered by the deadline, additional pairs may be allowed to pre-register until the day before the event if the movement would not suffer from the addition.
Withdrawal
Once a player has entered the District Final, he/she is expected to complete the event unless eliminated in a qualifying round. Withdrawal will be permitted in emergencies (serious situations which occur unexpectedly and mandate immediate attention) only.
Date and Locations
The District 6 Final for all flights is the weekend of September 21-22, 2019.
The Northern site (all flights) is the White Oak Community Center, 1700 April Lane, Silver Spring MD 20904. Game time on Saturday is noon; game time on Sunday is 11 am.
The Southern site (0-2500 and NLM only) is the Gusman Community Center at the Faison Center, 5200 Fitzhugh Ave., Richmond VA 23230. Game time in Richmond is 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM both days.
The Open Flight and 0-2500 Flight Finals will be 4-session events, with roughly 50% of the field qualifying for the second day. The NLM Flight Final will be a 2-session event held on Sunday, September 22 only at both sites. (NLM eligible players may play in the Open or 0-2500 event on Saturday and in the NLM event on Sunday if they don’t qualify for the second day.)
Qualification to the National Level
The top 3 pairs in the Open Flight and the top 4 pairs in the 0-2500 and NLM Flights will qualify for the National Finals. The top 2 pairs will be subsidized by the ACBL: the first place pairs receiving $700 per person, and the second place pairs receiving $300 per person. District 6 will subsidize the second, third and fourth place pairs as follows: The second place pairs will receive $200 per person in addition to the ACBL subsidy. Third place pairs will receive $300 per person. Fourth place in the 0-2500 and NLM will receives $200 per person.
The order of qualification in the split site NLM and 0-2500 Flights will be determined as follows: If one site has more than 70% of the total field, the top three finishers at that site get first, third and fourth place and the top finisher at the smaller site gets second place. If one site has more than 60% but less than 70% of the total field, the top finisher at the larger site will receive first place; the top finisher at the smaller site gets second. The second place pair at the larger site gets third place. Fourth place will be determined by the next highest percentage game regardless of site. If neither site has over 60% of the total field, 2 pairs from each site will qualify. The top finisher at the larger site receives first place, the second finisher at that site gets third. The top finisher at the smaller site gets second place and the second finisher gets fourth. By ACBL rule, alternate pairs must come from the site of the pair they are replacing. You must be a paid up member of the ACBL (Life Masters must pay the LM Service fee) by the District Final in order to be eligible for subsidy. Membership must be current and continuous from the start of the District Final to the completion of the National Final. Subsidies will only be given to players who play in the National Final.
The National Finals will be held during the NABC in Columbus, OH. The National Final for the Open Flight will be held Wednesday and Thursday before the Nationals. The National Finals for the 0-2500 and NLM Flights will be held during the Columbus Nationals.
For Questions or comments, call: Bill Cole, Committee Chairman, 301-602-9024, colebridge@aol.com
The District Coordinator along with the GNT/NAP Planning Committee and Chief Director are responsible for this event through the District Finals, under the direction of the District Director and the District 6 GNT/NAP Planning Committee.
Appendix
District Membership
The North American Pairs and Grand National Teams were created initially with the expectation that players would play in and represent the districts in which they lived. For the GNTs: A member’s principal physical residence as of September 1 of the year prior to the National Final shall establish the district in which said member is eligible to participate beyond the club qualifying stage. For the NAPs: A member’s principal residence as of June 1 of the year prior to the National Final. In both events, changes in residence after such date shall not change the district in which the player is eligible to participate. The expectation is that exceptions to this rule will be rare, especially in the top flight of each event. Exceptions must fall into the categories listed below in the “Guidelines for Exceptions”. A player seeking an exception must obtain permission in writing from the ACBL District Director representing the district in which the member has a principal residence and from the ACBL District Director representing the district in which the member wishes to play. Both District Directors must approve the request for the exception to be granted. Further, any exceptions in the highest flight of the event must also be approved by a BOD Credentials Committee. The expectation is that District Directors will approve and forward requests to the Credentials Committee only in very special cases. There is no appeal from the Credentials Committee decision.
As noted above, the expectation is that exceptions will be rare. Following are three situations where an exception may be considered:
- “Snowbird”. A member with seasonal residences who spends more than half of the GNT (September 1 – February 28) or NAP (June 1 – August 31) qualifying period in a district other than the district of his principal physical residence may play beyond the club qualifying stage in the district of seasonal residence. If he chooses to do so, he may only play in the district level final of one district. He must play in that district’s district finals to be eligible to play in the national finals. Such a player will not be eligible to be added to a team from his other district. All necessary approvals must be obtained before play begins at the district level.
- A player with multiple domiciles should apply to the Credentials Committee for a one-time choice of district in which he wishes to play. This application must be made before the start of the event’s qualifying period. This player may be asked to document his time in each of his residences. The player must spend at least three months each year in a district in order to have it considered as a domicile possibility. Once a player chooses a district in which to play, he must play only in that district until he no longer has a domicile in that district.
- A participant who is a full-time student, a member of the armed forces or whose employment requires temporary relocation may play in the District in which he temporarily resides.
- In rare cases, a player who is a member of a unit in a district in which he does not reside may seek permission to play in the district in which he has a unit membership. Such an exception will be considered only if all of the conditions below are met:
- Lives sufficiently close to the district borders
- Has been a member of the unit in which he wishes to play for at least 5 years continuously prior to the start of the competition in the year for which the exception is being requested.
- Must not have played in the GNT or NAP in another district for that period of time.
- Must have been actively involved as a volunteer in the Unit or District in which he wishes to play for at least two years. Possibilities include but are not limited to: Unit or District Board Member, Chair of NABC or major NABC Committee, District or Unit Recorder, Tournament Chair, or Club Manager.
Note: Simply playing bridge in the other District/Unit or having a regular partner who resides in the other District is not considered sufficient reason for an exception to the “play where you live” rule.
Any player seeking an exception for this reason must document the reasons why an exception should be considered and send it to both District Directors involved, as described above. This application must be made before the start of the event’s qualifying period. The District Director of the District in which the player is a member must confirm the fact that the player has been an active volunteer in the District (or Unit) where the player does not live before forwarding such requests to the Credentials Committee (highest flight only). Should an exception be granted for this reason, the player is eligible to play only in that district and may not change unit affiliation unless the player’s principal physical residence changes.
The Credentials Committee may consider exceptions under unusual circumstances for otherwise eligible players who change their District through a change in their physical domicile after September 1 (GNT) and June 1 (NAP). Request shall be made at least 30 days before the appropriate District Level final.
D6 Administrative Procedures
Responsibilities of District Coordinator
- Prepare drafts of District Conditions and Procedures for review by the District 6 Board and/or the GNT/NAP Planning Committee and/or Columbus Special Events Staff
- Provide assistance to Unit coordinators
- Select dates and sites for District Final (with concurrence from the District 6 Board), arrange for supplies, staff, and amenities
- Serve as liaison to the ACBL for the District levels
- Submit voucher for expenses to District Board • Provide full information and recommendations to the District Board
Responsibilities of Unit Coordinator
- Publicize the club and District events within their Unit
- Provide information on club qualifying games in their Unit to the District 6 Webmaster and District Coordinator
- Provide assistance to club managers
- Ensure that the Conditions of Contest are provided to clubs in the Unit
- Ensure that the names of qualified individuals (by flight) are provided to the District Coordinator
- Encourage clubs to hold NAP qualifiers and Grass Roots Fund games.
- Encourage clubs to send game files to gamefiles@bridgefinesse.com.
Responsibilities of Chief Director
- Ensure that all information required on entry blanks is provided by all players
- Provide list of District 6 winners to the District Coordinator
- Provide tournament reports and remit funds to the ACBL and/or District
- Ensure that District and National Conditions are posted at the District Final