BBO Masterpoint Tournaments

All TEXT in YELLOW is a link to another page

To the heart of duplicate bridge—the TOURNAMENT! Some tournaments sponsored by the BIL award BBO Masterpoints to the winners, adding an exciting dimension to online play. What are BBO Masterpoints? When a player on BBO places well in a BBO matchpoint tournament, they are awarded BBO MP points which are accumulated and at specified levels a numerical award is posted by the player’s name. Details here.

This numerical ranking, which becomes highly visible in a player’s profile, indicates the player is a tournament player—and is consistently in the top placings! Though it does not indicate a specific level of proficiency in bridge; this ranking does suggest the player has been in the victory lane more than a few times.

The advantage of playing in BIL-Sponsored Masterpoint Tournaments is that they are restricted to players with beginner or intermediate shill level - you are competing with your peers. The BIL EXCHANGE tournaments are for fun, BBO Masterpoints, and REWARDS ! These are , however, a serious competition - Reward Points can be converted into private lessons, books, CDs. The BIL offers many free and fun teaching tournaments but only those that are “pay-to-play” tournaments award BBO Masterpoints.

“Pay-to-Play” tournaments” have a $1 entry fee (unless otherwise specified - check the tournament description). Pay-to-play tournaments are discussed in the BIL’s TIPS and TRICKS Tournament section. Please use the Tournament links in the table below for detailed illustrated help.

To pay entry fees, a balance is required in your BB$ account. To buy BB$, you may use a credit card or PayPal. In the BBO Main Lobby V5.2.6 , click “Buy BB$--used for ACBL entry fees, renting robots, etc.” For more detailed instructions the table below. Using the BBO Web Client click on BB$$ on the main page . You can use this link https://www.bridgebase.com/purchase/pay.php The entry fee is deducted from your account by BBO software after the tournament starts.

The BIL currently sponsors:

Daily BBO Masterpoint Tournaments -

the daily BIL EXCHANGE at 10:00 and 19:00 EST/EDT are Sun - Wed Pairs, Thurs - Sat Indy

The BIL EXCHANGE are for fun, BBO Masterpoints, and REWARDS ! These are , however, a serious competition - Reward Points can be converted into private lessons, books, CDs.

A 4 x weekly BBO Masterpoint Tournaments :-

on ( Sat / Sun / Wed/ Thurs ) are the Power of One Masterpoint Matchup - Indy - 14:00 EST/EDT - Cash Prize paid on the day

one must become familiar with the Rules of Contest (see below)
one must play to time - keep checking the time clock on your table ( most T's are set for 7 min bds)
When waiting for a round change please do not use Tournament Chat as it will disturb the tables still playing - the round will change the moment the last table finishes playing even if there is still time on the clock. – do chat and make friends with those at your table while you wait

All BIL Tournaments are played in the tournament area of BBO. See “Types of Tournaments and How to Find Them” in the table below.

From time to time the BIL also holds One Off - BIL - BBO Masterpoint tournaments, full details are given in the tournament description - for these tournaments the prizes are paid to the winners within 24hrs of the tournament completing.

For the REWARDS tournaments the BBO Masterpoints are awarded the day of the tournament. The REWARD points are accumulated until the player chooses to cash them in . The accumulating REWARD points for the players are posted regularly throughout the month so players may follow their totals.

** Each month there will be a BONUS REWARD **

The full Tournament Conditions of Contest are attached to each tournament listing and can be viewed by clicking on the Tournament Rules button at the tournament listing. Please see “Tournament Rules” in the table below.

Honorary BIL Members are not permitted to play in the BIL Rewards, Jackpot Rewards or Power of One series—unless helping out as a Sub. They are welcome to play in any of the Specials

NO Tournament Director? If for some reason, the TD is unable to be online when a tourney starts—click on the lobby button on the right of your screen and ask a “Yellow” host to

Cancel the tournament and request your “release” from the tournament or
Add a TD who is playing in the tournament to the Director list of the tournament to handle any issues that may occur or
Add subs so the tournament may continue

Leave a message for the BILmanager if the tournament is cancelled—and if BBO has not refunded the entry fee, the BIL will do so. The refund from BBO should happen automatically check your BB$$ account.

If usng BBOWIN5.2.6 you can register to play in any tournament as soon as it is listed (up to 6 days prior) If using the BBO Web-Client you can only register an hour or so before the start

All BIL tournaments are subject to:

Zero Tolerance of any form of bad behavior—being rude to one’s partner or opponents, deliberately disconnecting, etc. – See “Tournament Rules” below.
All Artificial Bids are to be Alerted and Explained.
Undos are allowed – the criteria for these can vary among the different tournament types.
The Tournament Director’s decisions are final. However, if you feel that a judgement call unfairly disadvantaged you, you can appeal - see information regarding this below
Call the Director as soon as a problem presents itself—but only call once. Each time the Director gets a call it stops them from completing the teask in hand and they have to start over - the more often you call the more likely your call will not get dealt with !

When and How to Claim while playing in a torunament

The schedules for all BIL Tournaments are accessible 24/7 in the Events Calendar.

The table below provides important links for more detailed information.

TOURNAMENTS
An Invitation to Tournament Play	why you should play in tournaments	Invitation
Types of Tournaments and Where to find them	choosing the right tournament for you	Types
Tournament Registration	How to register to play	Registration
Tournament Partnerships	how to find a partner to play in pairs Tourneys	Partnership Desk
How to Pay BBO Masterpoint Tournament Entry Fees with BB$	How to put BB$ into your account to pay for entries - only applicable for BBO Masterpoint Tourneys all others are free to play	BB$ - Entry Fee
Tournament Rules	Know the rules for the tourney you enter	Tourney Rules
Locating Tournament Results	Look up the results after the tourney	Tourney Results
Tournament Movie Reviews and Travellers	Use these to review the hands you played - excellent way to learn and improve your play	Reviews and Travellers

BBO Tournament Scoring
Duplicate Bridge Scoring	Know how duplicate scoring works , how it differs from Matchpoint	Duplicate Scoring
Tournament Scoring	Use this knowledge to get better scores.	BBO Tourney Scoring

Players, please assist the DIRECTORS: If you notice any anomalies in the set up for a tournament , please leave a message for the TD listed in the tournament's description. e.g.

Check the settings well in advance of the tournament start time:

Check to see if the timing calculations are correct on the tournament start time. The tournament is to start at the time shown in the Title.
incorrect # of boards
Indy when it shopuld be a Pairs

In closing, please note this very valuable learning tool. To review your hands after a tournament, look in MYHands. See “Tournament Movie Reviews and Travelers” in the above table for illustrated instructions on how to use this outstanding BBO feature.

Enjoy competing with your peers, the more you play the better player you will become.

BIL Pay Tournaments - Appeals Against a TD Judgement Call

The BIL Jackpot tournaments are the practice for the real thing for BIL members - a preparation for competing in the open tournaments on BBO

where one has to learn to play to time
to be aware of the Rules and Conditions of Contest

There are BBO Masterpoints to be won
There are the Jackpot points that very player on the day can win to accumulate towards a share of the end of the month Prize Pool

They are a serious undertaking by all involved.

What the BIL Players have to realise is that just as they are learning to play bridge so are those of us who work on the BIL Player’s behalf
The Td’s too are learning this game we all love – and in the case of the TD we have also

to learn to Direct,
to maintain the tournament in good order – handling disconnects and adjustments for timed out boards
to make Judgement calls under extremely tight time frames, which do not always allow us to seek online assistance from a teacher at the time.

As TD’s we will do our best, nevertheless we accept that we may not always get it right – come to that neither do the fully trained Directors hired by the most prestigious Clubs world wide which is why they have an Appeals process.

Because of this the BIL will accept an Appeal against a Judgement call.

There is a proper process for BIL Players to follow :

on the day the TD’s decision is to be accepted without acrimony
no discussion is to take place with anyone other than one’s partner and a polite message to the Opposition to inform them that one intends to Appeal.
the hand and the relative portion of the Appellant’s chat log together with the reason why the Appellant feels that the Judgement was unfair to be emailed to admin@bilbridge.com

The Appeal will be acknowledged –

the recorder of the JP results informed that the results for the tournament in question are under review.
And the TD will be informed and their Chat Log of the in tournament discussion relating to the matter requested

The Appeal with all relevant information will be sent to one of the BIL’s Honorary Members who is an ACBL accredited Director for their deliberation and Ruling
Those involved i.e. the affected partnerships, the TD, the JP result recorder will be informed.
Such a Ruling will be FINAL and an end to the matter - no further discussion on the matter will take place.

That is history we all move on learning something along the way