General Information
The ACBL Conditions of Contest as published in The Bulletin and/or on the ACBL website, and the general ACBL Conditions of Contest for 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 (NAP) Administrative Procedures, designed to provide guidelines for Unit and District officials.
Club Level Qualification is required in District 6 for the 2026-2027 North American Pairs. Players who are members of District 6 may qualify at any club in the ACBL or online NAP qualifier and play in the District 6 Final. There is no Unit Final qualification; players qualify from the clubs directly to the District Finals.
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.
● Championship Fight: Open to any Player
● Flight A: Players with fewer than 6000 MPs as of the 2026 June masterpoint cycle.*
● Flight B: Players with fewer than 3000 MPs as of the 2026 June masterpoint cycle.*
● Flight C: Non-Life Masters with fewer than 750 MPs as of the 2026 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.
Conventions
Clubs may decide what conventions are allowed at the club qualifiers. At the District level, ACBL Conditions of Contest Conventions apply. The Basic+ Chart applies in Flights B and C, the Open Chart applies in Flight A, and the Open+ Chart applies in the Championship flight. 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.
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 are authorized to form telephone committees if an appropriate committee cannot be formed on-site. In the Championship Flight, at the discretion of the Director-in-Charge, the Chairman of the District 6 GNT/NAP Planning Committee (Grassroots Committee), and/or the District 6 NAP Coordinator, such telephone 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.
Club Level Qualification
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, Flight C may be stratified. Any stratification may be allowed with only the top stratification qualifying for the next level.
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. As examples, if you are eligible for Flight C and you qualify for the Championship Flight, you are qualified for all flights, and if you are eligible for Flight B and qualify for Flight A, you qualify for both flights.
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 ACBL 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, 2026. If questions arise, it will be the responsibility of the player to satisfy the Regional Director (or designee) as to his/her eligibility. See Appendix II of the ACBL Conditions for making requests for exceptions.
Substitutions
Replacements will not be allowed during the District Final. 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 Championship, A, and B Flights, substitutes must be approved by the Player Evaluation Committee. For Flight C, approval may be given by the Regional Director, District Coordinator, or Player Evaluation Committee.
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 that occur unexpectedly and mandate immediate attention) only.
District Finals
For the Championship Flight, District 6 will schedule a two-day final with a two-session playthrough qualifier on the first day and a two-session playthrough final on the second day. Approximately 50% of the field will qualify from day one to day two. Carryovers will be assigned using the ACBL standard carryover formula.
The Flight A event will be a two-session playthrough event played at one site. The Flight B event will be a two-session playthrough event played at two sites. The Flight C event will be a two-session playthrough event played at two sites.
The ACBL director assigned to the event reserves the right to adjust the qualification, movement, and conditions as necessary to achieve as fair and equal conditions for all qualifiers as possible.
Pre-registration
Pre-registration is required to play in the District Finals. All pairs must pre-register by Thursday, October 1, 2026. To pre-register, fill out and submit the appropriate flight NAP entry form which will be posted on the District 6 website https://www.districtsixbridge.org/ . Pairs may register to play in more than one flight. However, pairs that want to play in both the Championship flight starting Saturday, and either flight A or C on Sunday will be expected to continue in the Championship event if they qualify to the final. Pairs wishing to play in the Open on Saturday and another flight on Sunday should speak to the NAP Coordinator.
Dates and Locations
All four D6 NAP finals will be held in person in 2026. Start times will be communicated to entrants in conditions of play that will be emailed the week before the event.
Championship Flight – the event will be a two (2) session qualifier on Saturday, October 10, 2026, with a two (2) session final played on Sunday, October 11, 2026. The site (to be determined) will be in or near Kensington, MD.
Flight A – the event will be two sessions played on Sunday, October 11, 2026. The site (to be determined) will be in or near Kensington, MD.
Flight B – the event will be two sessions played on Saturday, October 10, 2026. Players may register to play at one of two sites:
Southern Flight B site – Richmond Bridge Center, 1911 Bishop Rd., Richmond, VA
Northern Flight B site – TBD (Kensington, MD)
Flight C – the event will be two sessions played on either Saturday, October 10, 2026 at the Southern site or Sunday, October 11, 2026 at the Northern site. Players may register to play at one of two sites:
Southern Flight C site – Richmond Bridge Center, 1911 Bishop Rd., Richmond VA
Northern Flight C site – TBD (Kensington, MD)
Qualification to the National Level
The top 3 pairs in the Championship Flight and Flight A qualify for the National Finals. See the section below for details on how the four qualifying pairs will be selected in Flight B and Flight C (contested at two sites). The top 2 pairs in each flight will be subsidized by the ACBL (amounts not yet announced). District 6 will subsidize the second, third, and (in Flights B and C) fourth-place qualifiers so that pairs will receive subsidies in proportion to qualification rank. Details will be appended when the ACBL contributions are known.
The National Finals will be held in conjunction with the 2027 Spring NABC [scheduled March 11- 21. 2027] in Dallas, TX.
Determination of Qualification spots for Flights B and C Contested at Two sites
Flight B District finals and Flight C District finals will each be a one-day, two session, play-through event held at two split sites in the district.
The Flight B final at each location will be a two session play-through event with pre-duplicated boards. For a location to be considered a valid NAP event, there must be a minimum of five tables of Flight B qualified players at that location.
The Flight C final at each location will be a two session play-through event with pre-duplicated boards. For a location to be considered a valid NAP event, there must be a minimum of five tables of Flight C qualified players at that location.
In each flight, if one site does not meet the five table minimum and is cancelled, then players will be offered the option to play at the larger site or cancel their registration, and all the qualifying pairs will come from the remaining site. If both sites fail to meet the minimum, all players will be offered the option to play at the Northern site.
Flight B and Flight C will be scored separately at each site yielding two sets of overalls. The following table will detail how the four qualifier pairs are determined. Important Note: To ensure representation from both sites, it is possible that a qualification spot may be given to a pair with a lower rank or a lower percentage than an unawarded pair at the other site.
Definitions:
Evenly divided fields: The situation that exists if one site has no more than 60% of the total eligible pairs. In other words, the larger site cannot be more than 50% larger than the smaller site. (This includes exactly 60%.)
Unevenly divided fields: The situation that exists if one site has more than 60% of the total eligible pairs. In other words, the larger site is more than 50% larger than the smaller site.
Rank number: The position of the pair in whatever scoring configuration is used. The masterpoints are generated by ACBLScore and do not change in the process of the award (qualification) determination process.
Award number: The position for pairs representing the District at the NABC and for receiving subsidies.
Qualification Determination Table
For questions or comments, call: Mary Peters, D6 NAP Coordinator, 410-707-6347, or send an email to: mfpeters496@verizon.net.
The District Coordinator 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.