2009 Winter Swiss – Format, Rules and Timetable

Format:

1. There are 12 teams entered including a “house team” which will be made up each week to avoid a bye.
2. There will be five rounds of qualifying with a random draw for the first round and a swiss draw thereafter. Each round will be of 12 boards commencing 8pm each Monday night.
3. After qualifying there will be a final for the top four teams, a plate competition for teams 5 to 8 and a consolation event for the remaining teams. These will each be separate three round, round robin events of 12 board matches commencing 8pm each Monday night. The formula for the Round Robins will be:
   
   Round 1: 1v4 2v3
   Round 2: 3v1 2v4
   Round 3: 1v2 4v3

Rules:

1. IMP scoring will be used with the results being converted to Victory Points. Results will be collated from BBO records and there is no need for Captains to submit results. Captains should, however, check results once published and point out any mistakes.
2. Each week the draw (including team line-ups) will be published by 7.00 pm by email to all captains and by publication on this blog site.
3. The team named first on the draw is the home team. The captain of the home team is responsible for creating the match on BBO. Instructions on creating matches are on the blog site here.
4. The captain of the home team chooses who “sits” where and thus which of his/her pairs play which opposition pairs. Any team without a captain able to create the match in any particular round will lose home team advantage.
5. If any player is not online and available to commence the match at 8pm the captain setting up the match shall immediately arrange a replacement, by calling for all comers from the Lobby if necessary.
6. Positions after qualifying and final positions will be determined by Victory Points. For the final and the plate there will be a carryover from qualifying of 40%. For the consolation there will be no carryover.
7. Teams must play each round. Outside substitutes are allowed. Any team defaulting will score no victory points for the round. The opponents of any team defaulting shall receive 18 VPs or the average number of VPs won by the team in all its other matches in the stage (including later matches), or the average number of VPs won by the opponents of the forfeiting team in matches played against that team in the stage (including later matches), whichever is the greater.
8. Ties will be broken by Swiss Points, then by net imps. Any remaining tie will be broken, if possible, by a 4 board head to head match arranged before the next round or within one week after the final round. If this is not possible the remaining tie will be broken by the toss of a coin.
9. Kiwi Teams rules apply to all matches:
   - Undo’s are allowed but should be used for genuine mis-clicks only.
   -The Barometer is on.
   - Kibbitzers are allowed.
   - Kiwi (NZ Bridge) alerting and pre-alerting rules apply.
   (The NZ Bridge manual which contains these rules (at pages D38 to D41) is available online here).
10. Please note that alerting on BBO is different to over the table alerting. Each player must alert their OWN bids. This is sometimes referred to as “self alerting”. Do not confuse this with NZ Bridge rules as to “self alerting” calls which are referred to in 12 below.
11. To alert your bid either click the alert button before making your bid or click on your bid after you have made it. Next, type a brief description of your bid in the box provided, then hit the “enter” key. Your alerts can only be seen by your opponents and cannot be seen by your partner. Accordingly there is no harm in over alerting because your partner is never aware of your alerts. Equally you can privately ask either opponent about a particular bid by clicking on the opponents bid. This will prompt a box to come up on the opponents screen for an explanation to be typed in. In addition you can privately provide further information about your bid to both opponents simultaneously by using the <==> button at the bottom of the screen. All of this asking and telling should be done privately (rather than to the whole table) so that your partner never knows what is being asked or told.
12. For non New Zealanders please note that all doubles, redoubles, cue bids, strong 2c openers, 2c stayman bids and 4 level or higher bids are “self alerting” calls. You should not alert them (although for BBO play where partner does not see the alert there is no harm in alerting them). Opponents are expected to ask about these calls if they wish to know. However, unusual agreements regarding these calls which may surprise opponents should be pre-alerted at the start of the match.
13. There are no prizes for winning or otherwise :-( Just Glory!!! :-)

Time-table:

20th April Round 1 Qualifying
27th April Round 2 Qualifying
4th May Round 3 Qualifying
11th May Round 4 Qualifying
18th May Round 5 Qualifying
25th May Round 1 Final/Plate/Consolation
1st June Queens Birthday Weekend NO PLAY
8th June Round 2 Final/Plate/Consolation
15th June Round 3 Final/Plate/Consolation
END