ACBL Director's Report

     by Georgia Heth, Morton IL
     District 8 Representative on the ACBL Board of Directors
 


Hello,

I enjoyed seeing so many of you in person and in the results in the Daily Bulletin at the Las Vegas NABC. It seemed to me like there were as many District 8 people at this NABC as any except the ones held in St. Louis. It was a great tournament as always. And for those of you who stayed away because of the extensive walking needed at this site, you will be glad to know that when we return to Vegas in 2019, we will have a new site, the Cosmopolitan Hotel, which has vertical meeting space, not horizontal.

This was my son’s first NABC. He wasn’t sure he needed to be playing in the Newcomer Game since he has been to Bridge Camp two years now. I would like to thank all of the volunteers who helped make Bridge Camp a wonderful experience for the children who were lucky enough to attend.

New masterpoint formulas: The most relevant part of the Board of Directors meeting for most bridge players is the proposed overhaul of the masterpoint system. Russ Jones from District 11 presented the proposal to the Board and did such a good job that a few of us asked him to give us information we could include in our columns to be sure we got it right. When I opened his “notes”, I found they were almost four pages, and in a small font. I thank him sincerely for the work he put into this document. If you want to see the details, the entire formula is explained here.

The "Cliff Notes" version is that there are two new ways for tournaments to structure events that are being run at the same time. There can either be two flighted events with three strata in each flight, or three flighted events with two strata in each flight. These are meant to provide a place for people who are not eligible for the 0-750 events, but don't feel ready for the A/X events. Pair events will pay more in comparison to team events than they used to, and three-session KOs will pay more. I really encourage you to read Russ’s explanation. These changes must be approved again by the Board before they take effect.

Club scoring software: The ACBLscore Plus project has been discontinued. It is believed that the new program was not going to meet the needs of the League, its employees and its members. Instead, ACBL is moving forward with plans to enhance the features and benefits of its existing scoring software, ACBLScore. This was not an easy or simple decision, but management, the Board and outside experts agreed this was a better way to proceed.

Longest Day donations: The Longest Day events in ACBL clubs on June 21 have raised more than $500,000 this year for the Alzheimer’s Association. I am amazed at the hard work and generosity of our members.

Fund games: The months for special fund games were changed. Junior month is now in January, April is for the Charity Fund, September games benefit the International Fund and Grass Roots Fund Month has been moved to May. When the Grass Roots month was in January, many members were spending time in other districts to take advantage of warmer weather, and the colder districts were having trouble raising money. Also, now the Junior fund has 31 days for special games instead of only 28. In addition, the ACBL-wide International Fund Game #1 will always be on Super Bowl Saturday. The Board of Governors asked for this due to the small number of tournaments run on Super Bowl weekend.

NABC schedule changes: More changes were made to the NABC schedules. The two-day Swiss at the end of the fall NABC has been changed back to a three-day swiss, and there will be an NABC+ Mixed Swiss Teams added to the Fall schedule, to be played the second Saturday and Sunday.

North American Pairs: For Flights B and C only, the fourth-place pair from the district finals of the North American Pairs are now eligible to play in the National Finals, held at the spring NABC. If any of the first- through fourth-place pairs chooses not to go to the NABC, the next pair in the results can be moved up into that qualifying spot, going as far as needed to yield four pairs willing to play at the NABC. This is effective immediately for the finals next March.

Entry fees for NABC+ events: And finally, there will be a surcharge of $40 per team or $20 per pair in NABC+ events that use screens for each session that screens are in use. This will cover the additional costs.

The full minutes of the Board meeting with links to all reports will be posted on the ACBL website later this month.

I look forward to seeing you in St. Louis.


If you have questions or suggestions about ACBL Board actions or other bridge matters, please contact me at gkheth@hotmail.com or 917 S. Main St., Morton IL  61550-2419.