SCORING at TEAM DUPLICATE EVENTS (IMPS)

Scoring in Team Games. Hands in Team events are dealt at the table in “matches” of 5 to 7 hands each; they’re not pre-dealt, and they are played only at 2 tables, not by the whole bracket. Because of this “shuffle-deal-play” philosophy, one match could deal 4 Slams and 2 games, while another match in the same bracket could deal 6 partial contracts. Obviously, this would present an unfair advantage if we compared absolute scores among these 4 Teams.

Instead, in most Team Events, we use IMPs and Victory Points to eliminate such possible distortions. This section defines and illustrates what IMPs and Victory Points are, and why and how they are calculated. Both are used to nullify the shuffle-deal-play issue as far as possible.

Following the descriptions below, there is an example match score, illustrating with numbers how a match winner is determined with IMPs, plus the role of Victory Points.

IMPs (“International Matchpoints”) are used to evaluate individual hands, after having been played in both directions by each Team. Hands with net differences in points, scored using normal Duplicate scores, are assigned a plus IMP score for a plus duplicate score, and a corresponding minus IMP score for the team that lost that hand. If the scores are net zero (both declarers bid and made 3NT), then neither team gets any IMP score for that hand. The IMP table lessens the huge point advantage a Slam could make, compared to a small partial contract in shuffle-deal-play. At IMPs, a win of 30 points – one major suit trick – earns 1 IMP. But a difference of 3000 points doesn’t earn 100 IMP’s – it earns 22 IMPs.

So each team will calculate 6 or 7 IMP scores – one for each hand in the match - from the IMP Table – see below. An IMP score on a hand might be a plus or a minus or a “push” – a tie, which is zero IMPs for both teams. Then each team totals their IMP scores and refers the total to the Victory Point Table – see below.

Victory Points are calculated using a team’s IMP total for all the boards in the match compared to the opponents’ IMP total. Victory Point Tables allocate exactly 20 VP’s for a match, apportioned to both teams by the margin of the win. (E.g., 10 – 10 VP’s for an even IMP tie.)

Victory Points determine overall event winners. Thus Victory Points takes the whole set of boards in all matches into consideration, whereas IMP’s are used only for individual hands in individual matches.

Both Teams calculate their IMP scores using the IMP table and the Team Captains arrive at mutually agreed Winner’s and Loser’s IMP scores. Winning Team Captains turn in the winning ticket, and on we go to the next round, after the computer matches Teams and the Directors post assignments on the wall

Following is a example of a Team Scoresheet, used to record results of each hand during a Team match. Every Team player is required to completehis/her scoresheet during a match. It also includes an IMP table and a Victory Point table to be used after the match is over and E/W pairs have returned to their home table.

SCORING at TEAM DUPLICATE EVENTS (IMPS)

North/South’s Scoresheet. (Team #7 competing vs. Team #6 in Match #4 - a 6 board Match)

TEAM SCORESHEET
Match # ______Vs. Team ______/ Team #
______/ EXAMPLE
Match # _4__ Vs. Team __6_ / Team #
__7 N___
Bd / Contract / By / Plus / Minus / IMPS
+ - / Bd / Contract / By / Plus / Minus
/ IMPS
+ -
13 / 3 NT / W / 600
14 / 2 S / N / 140
15 / 5D* / W / 300
16 / 4S / S / 100
17 / 2NT / E / 180
18 / 3H / N / 170
INTERNATIONAL MATCHPOINTS
Diff. in Pts. / IMPS / Diff. in Pts. / IMPS / Diff. in Pts. / IMPS / Diff. in Pts. / IMPS
20 - 40 / 1 / 270 - 310 / 7 / 750 - 890 / 13 / 2000 – 2240 / 19
50 - 80 / 2 / 320 - 360 / 8 / 900 - 1090 / 14 / 2250 – 2490 / 20
90 - 120 / 3 / 370 - 420 / 9 / 1100 - 1290 / 15 / 2500 – 2990 / 21
130 - 160 / 4 / 430 - 490 / 10 / 1300 - 1490 / 16 / 3000 – 3490 / 22
170 - 210 / 5 / 500 - 590 / 11 / 1500 - 1740 / 17 / 3500 – 3990 / 23
220 - 260 / 6 / 600 - 740 / 12 / 1750 - 1990 / 18 / 4000 + up / 24

SCORING at TEAM DUPLICATE EVENTS (IMPS)

Results for any hand are scored exactly the same as in Duplicate Pairs. The “By” column shows who was declarer. In the Contract column, 5D* means 5♦ doubled. The following scoresheet is recorded from Team #7 North/South’s point of view, so when Team #6’s East goes down 2 in 5D* it’s a plus 300 for Team #7. Team #7’s East / West scoresheet follows, as does the calculation of IMPs.

Look at the IMP award for a plus score of 30: it’s in bold above in the IMP Table.

#7 North/South Scoresheet.

SCORE IMPs
Board / Contract / By / Plus / Minus / Plus / Minus
13 / 3 NT+3 / W / 600
14 / 2 S+3 / N / 140
15 / 5D*- 2 / E / 300
16 / 4S-1 / S / 50
17 / 2NT+4 / E / 180
18 / 3H+4 / N / 170

#7East/West Scoresheet.

SCORE IMPs
Board / Contract / By / Plus / Minus / Plus / Minus
13 / 3 NT+4 / W / 630 / (600) / 1
14 / 2 S+3 / N / (140) / 110 / 1
15 / 4 D+4 / E / 430[130 + (300)] / 10
16 / 4S+4 / S / 470[(50) + 420] / 10
17 / 2NT+ 4 / E / 180 / (180) / - / -
18 / 4 H +4 / N / (170) / 450 [620-(170)] / - / 10

Board by board, let’s see what happened by looking at the scores on Team #7’s East and Northscoresheets and writing the scores on East’s scoresheet. North’s scores are in parentheses above.

Board #13: West made plus 630 – a difference of 30 points, for an IMP score of 1.

Board #14: Team #6’s North played 2 Spades, making 2 for 110. But Team #7’s North’s made 140 for a net of +30, and another IMP score of plus 1 for Team #7.

Board #15: Team #7’s East stopped at 4 Diamonds and made it for a plus 130; but at the other table, East bid 5♦, got doubled and went down 2 for -300; so Team #7 got 430 and 10 IMPs.
Board #16: At the N/S table, South went down 1 at 4♠ for -50; but Team #6’s South made 4♠ for 420: a total duplicate score of 470 and so 10 IMPs for Team #6.

Board #17 was identical, so no IMP’s were won by either team.

Board #18: Both North’s made 4♠, but Team #6 bid game, leading to a 10 IMP advantage.

So Team #6 won Match #4 by 8 IMPs. A big difference came from making the vulnerable Game on board 18.

20 POINT VICTORY POINT SCALE
IMP’s / VP’s / IMP’s / VP’s / IMP’s / VP’s
0 / 10 - 10 / 8 - 10 / 14 - 6 / 20 - 23 / 18 - 2
1 – 2 / 11 - 9 / 11 - 13 / 15 - 5 / 24 – 27 / 19 - 1
3 – 4 / 12 - 8 / 14 – 16 / 16 - 4 / 28+ / 20 - 0
5 – 7 / 13 - 7 / 17 – 19 / 17 - 3

The winner, Team # 6, gets 14 of the 20 Victory Points and Team #7 gets 6 Victory Points.

Victory Points are added up throughout the Event, which could be days long, and Masterpoints are awarded according to the final ranking, within brackets if it was a bracketed event.

Brackets could be: (0 – 999); (1000 – 3999), (4000 - 6999) and(7000 up).

The numbers represent the total Masterpoints held by the 4 Team Members.

Bracketed events only play other teams within their bracket: not everyone (E.g., not open, unbracketed Swiss Teams.)