Bridge According to the Rules
Story by Elena Ström (BBO: Irrational) A weekly barometer tournament at the wor...
At a recent Palm Springs Regional, now the 2nd most attended in the nation, the KO’s were very popular. Usually 14 brackets, with the final round played with screens for the top two brackets, we played in bracket 2.
In the final round of the first year, we played with screens for the first time. Both teams had experienced, good players and after the round was over, both teams independently scored the results, and both teams agreed that we won by 4 imps. One of the opponents was staying in a different motel and left for his motel. We happily reported the results. About 15 minutes later we were approached by our opponents who felt we had all scored the match incorrectly. They were correct. It was a dead tie. They tried to reach the departed teammate. No answer. We won by default.
Forward one year to Palm Springs Regional. Same bracket. Same setup. Got to finals. After last board we were dejected and not at all surprised that we had lost. Went to our room to drown our tears and got a call from the director saying that it looked like a scoring mistake had been made and it was a tie. It was!!! We won the playoff!
Sort of afraid to go this year.
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How, in this age of blazingly fast computers, are major bridge tournaments seeing so many scoring mistakes? If it is due to human error, why not have a volunteer scorer at each table to confirm the result of every deal before starting the next one? It's not algebra, just simple arithmetic.
Row
Jim, do not be afraid to go to this year Palm Spring Regio nal! I suggest you and your team mates take Math 101, or if you can't afford it, just ask your grand-daughter to teach you some basics of arithmetic, lol.
Lol, yes!
My wife and I once played as a pair of novices in a tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We felt we were doing very well, but the results showed we were dead last. It was late in the evening, but I inquired of an ACBL official about our scores. He wrote me off,curtly replying:"Maybe you were just overly confident." I asked another official who said he would check it out. The next morning the results had been corrected and we were first!
I’m not surprised. As a virtual club director I’ve had to adjust many scores. Years ago the contract was 6D. The declarer had lost 2 tricks when time ran out. The computer adjusted the score to 6D making. After a TD call and phone calls from both sides I adjusted the score to
6D -1
With 4 players on each team, how did the scoring errors get by all 8 players with experience? And what was the errors?
I was asked to play with a new member at the club. I opened 1S, my partner bid 2H and holding a nice hand I pulled out the stop and jumped to 3S. She passed. We could have made a small slam. She had about 15 pts. When I asked why she didnt go on she said “you told me to stop”!!
Funny one.
Ha ha
Terrible story. So egotistical, You get to brag that you won and both times you deserved to lose for miscounting.
lol
I have just read Jim’s story, or can l call it the start of a story, can we please have a bit more meat on the bone, what was the error, what was the misscore.
I play a lot of bridge in clubs online and at congresses, and l am wondering exactly how 8 good/very good players can all make the same mistake