Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

1. How do I find a partner?
2. How do I find a team?
3. Does MITDLBC always play ordinary matchpoint pairs?
4. What's matchpoint pairs?
5. What are special games?
6. Where do I park?
7. How do I get to the room where the game is?
8. How do I get onto the e-mail lists?
9. Contact

1. How do I find a partner?
   

   You have 2 choices:

   • E-mail our club mailing list with a brief description of your bridge background, and when you want to play. (You must join the list to post to it.)
   • Just show up without a partner. If an odd number of people show up, the director will be happy to play.

2. How do I find a team of 4 for a team game?
   

   Again, you have the same 2 choices:

   • E-mail our club mailing list with how many people you need for a complete team.
   • Just show up without a team. We'll do our best to make sure everyone is in a team of 4, and if all else fails we can usually form a team of 5 or 6 where people take breaks.

3. Does MITDLBC always play ordinary matchpoint pairs?
   

   No. We usually play something different about once a month. See our schedule for upcoming games.

   Matchpoint Pairs Default game.	See What is matchpoint pairs? for how a matchpoint pairs game works. In our schedule, matchpoints games often have get special names, like "club championship". See What are special games? for what they mean.
   IMP Pairs 4 times a year.	You play with a partner just like matchpoint pairs, but the scoring is a little different. Unlike matchpoints, where it only matters if your pair did better than another pair, at IMPs it matters how much better.
   Individual Once a year.	Come without a partner. At our club, this means you usually play every board with a different partner. The scoring is the same as a matchpoint pairs game. A standard convention card is used by everyone. The overlay (to be overprinted at the bottom of a sheet - scroll down) tells how to use it.
   Pro-am Once a year.	Come without a partner. The field will be divided into two halves (by how many masterpoints people have). "Professionals" and "amateurs" will be randomly paired up. The rest is a normal matchpoint pairs game. The standard convention card is recommended.
   Team Game 4 times a year.	Come with a team of 4 (if you can). During a round, your team competes against one other team. Each hand gets played once by you and your partner, and again by your teammates at another table. At the end you compare the results at the two tables using IMP scoring.

4. What's matchpoint pairs?
   

   Matchpoint pairs is the standard format for duplicate bridge games. After every few boards (a deal of 52 cards) you and your partner play against new opponents, and the boards you just played get passed to a new table for 4 more people to play them. Each board gets played multiple times, so the goal is for you and your partner to do better than other pairs with the same hands. Matchpoints specifically refers to the form of scoring where your pair gets one point for every pair that did worse than you on a board, and half a point for every pair that got the same result as you.

5. What are special games?
   

   To add varienty to our schedule we give many of our games special names. In practice, these are all just ordinary matchpoint pairs games, but each type of special game comes with its own small benifits.

   NAOP Qualifier	North American Pairs a.k.a North American Open Pairs a.k.a Grand National Pairs. If you finish in the top half in any of these club games (or similar ones throughout the country) you qualify to play in a district level NAOP (there are 25 districts). For local players, that tournament is in Sturbridge in mid-October. If you do well enough at the district level, you can win a free trip to the Spring Nationals for the finals.
   49er NAOP	For novices with 49 or fewer masterpoints, we schedule a number of 49er NAOP games. If enough novices show up, they can play together in this special game.
   Handicap	In addition to your normal score, a second set of scores is computed using a handicap based on your previous performance at the MITDLBC. You win masterpoints for doing will either with or without the handicap.
   Club Championships	MITDLBC has a 4 games a year called "championships." At these you can win extra masterpoints, and if you do well in the last two of the year, you can win a trophy.
   Unit Game	Similar to a Club Championship, but organized by the Unit rather than the club.
   Jr. Fund	Some money collected at these games goes towards the Jr. Fund that supports American players under 25 in international competition. Again, extra points are awarded at these games.
   Charity Club Championship	Some of the money collected at these games goes to charity (either chosen by the ACBL or our local club).
   STAC	Sectional Tournament at Club. These games are scored across all participating clubs as if playing in a Sectional tournament, so Silver points are awarded.
   ACBL-wide	This means the same hands are being played around the country on the same day. You can get extra masterpoints if you do really well compared to everyone in the country. Also, the hands come with commentary.
   Stratified	All MITDLBC games are stratified (meaning you can win masterpoints for doing well compared to other people with similar numbers of masterpoints). These games just don't have any other special name.

6. Where do I park?
   

   See our page on parking. Unfortunately, the map is old: the East Garage Annex lot is gone. Try the N10 lot or Memorial Drive.

7. How do I get to the room where the game is?
   

   See General Information.

8. How do I get onto the e-mail lists?
   

   Note: You must be on these lists to post to them. Click the appropriate link to sign up.

   • mitdlbc a low-traffic list for announcements about the club.
   • mitdlbc-discuss a list for discussing bridge.
9. Contact
   
   • mitdlbc-webmaster at mit dot edu.