[McBruce]

I run a sayc-only Individual game at 8pm Pacific time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and keep a sort of rating system that has worked well in the Vancouver area to spark interest in our local tournaments. The first tournament was a matchpoints Indy (sayc-only), 15 boards (2 hours) at 8pm pst (11pm est) on Thursday, February 12.

There is a web page with what I plan to do at this link: Alphabet Point Tournaments. I've updated this, adding pages with the schedule of future Alphabet Points games, rules, the current Alphabet Points leaders, and I hope in future to have hand records you can download within minutes of the end of the tourney. (We'll always use randomly dealt--but perhaps pre-analyzed--deals.)

If you would like to see the way the rating system has worked for local bridge, you're welcome to check out the Unit 430 publication I edit at this link: Winter 2004 Matchpointer (in pdf) (ALERT: this is a large pdf file, almost 3MB.) The similar rating system I use to rate local players is described on pages 38-39.

I imagine I'll be pelted with critics who
1) don't like sayc or
2) don't like individuals or
3) don't like the idea of a rating system or
4) expect that because I offer one my tournaments will be invaded by cheaters.

The first three crticisms I plan to ignore (there are other tournaments, play those instead and have a good time). To the fourth I say bring 'em on, I'll do my best to deal with them.

[uday]

If you are not aware of what Gweny is up to, you might want to check out her schedule at www.bridgebase.com/tourneyschedule

[McBruce]

Done so. There seems to be an opening for more evening Pacific time tourneys. Thanks for the heads up, Uday!