[tmeyerabc]

I am new to BridgeBase Online and want to know what the IMP and MPs are and what the advantage, disadvantage is to choosing to mark duplicate IMP or duplicate MP when trying to find a game. Thanks in advance. Tom

[babalu1997]

In matchpoint score, the scores are ranked from lowest to highest in terms of percentages and the scores are less dependent on game bonuses. You can win big with over tricks so your declarer play and defense have to be very gressive, the bidding is conservative.

In imps game overtricks mean nothing, the pressure is on for the game bonus so the bidding is very aggressive to get that game no one dares bid or to redouble the sure contract you can make. On defense you win big by doubling opps game bid on skimpy values. The card play is more conservative as all that is necessary is to make your contract.

That is my understanding but others can elaborate on more precise terms.

I much prefer to play matchpoints because, it is possible there to win with bad cards, the ones that are frequently dealt to me.

[Old York]

It may be prudent to avoid matchpoint scoring until such time as you understand the tactics involved.

It is very easy to receive a zero score and have no understanding of why this happened. Stick with Imps for now, it is probably much closer to the game you have learnt to play

At Imp scoring, your only concern is to guarantee the contract, overticks are of secondary importance, so safety plays etc. are important

At Matchpoint scoring, your only concern is to win as many tricks as possible, provided that you are not in an abnormal contract

Tony

[Stephen Tu]

IMP = "international match points"
MP = "match points"

If you are in the main club, you are playing as a pair vs. another pair, using boards that have been played/will be played at a bunch of other tables holding the exact same cards for each direction (why it's called duplicate bridge). Your score is compared to that of pairs sitting in the same seats you are at each of the other tables.

For matchpoints, you get 2 points for each comparison table's score you beat, 1 point for each table you tie, and 0 points if your score is lower than the other tables. It doesn't matter if you beat/lose to the other table's score by 10 points or by 1000 points, it's either win/tie/lose. Then you divide by 2x the total number of comparisons to get a percentage. In America it's common to do this but with (1, 0.5, 0) scoring, everything halved, which works to the same percentage in the end and is thus equivalent. A 100% score would mean you beat everyone on that board, a 50% score would mean on average you tied them, an equal # of scores above & below yours. Averaged over many boards, generally above 50% is good, above 60% is great. You are trying to maximize *how often* you are beating other tables, rather than *how much* you are beating them by.

IMPs is more like traditional rubber bridge. Here, the difference by which you beat the other pair DOES matter. The amount is converted to a score by a standard IMP table. This makes big point swings more important than little ones, but less than if one just kept score by the total points. This was done to keep slams & games more important than partials but not overwhelmingly so. The total IMPs you gain is divided by the number of comparisons to get your average IMP score vs. each table.

On BBO, it's going to be easier to find an IMP game. I suspect this is mainly because the software happened to default to IMPs. You get more tables to compare against also.

There are strategic differences involved, as a beginner though you should just focus on making your contracts & defeating the opponent's contracts, and bidding your games (especially vulnerable, where at IMPs you should bid them even if you think it is only 40%), which are the most important things at IMPs.

After you get better at the game then you can start learning the specific adjustments to make for matchpoints.

[Stephen Tu]

babalu1997, on Mar 21 2009, 07:23 AM, said:

In matchpoint score, the scores are ranked from lowest to highest in terms of percentages and the scores are less dependent on game bonuses.  You can win big with over tricks so your declarer play and defense have to be very gressive, the bidding is conservative.

At matchpoints, bidding is anything but conservative in most areas! There is one particular area where MPs requires conservatism, that's in choosing whether to bid game or stop lower, especially vulnerable. But in almost every other area, matchpoints requires aggression, not conservatism. You are much less conservative in the following areas:
- balancing. -50/100 instead of -110 is worth a ton more at MP than IMPs
- doubling the opponents in partials (need to get +200 instead of +100 to punish the opps for balancing to protect your +110, even at the risk of doubling them into game sometimes)
- sacrificing vs. opp's game. -500 vs. -620 is only worth 3 imps but is a full win at MP.
- overcalling/preempting. Going for a number is only one bad board so you can be more aggressive to get the right lead or create opportunites for the opps to err
- choosing risky NT contracts for the extra points instead of safer minor suit ones.
- bidding grand slams if you think the field will surely bid at least the small.


And at defense, at matchpoints you don't really want "aggressive", you want "accurate". You don't always try to set the contract if that entails making low percentage plays that give declarer an extra trick more often than they set the contract. That often entails making less aggressive leads & shifts than one should do at IMPs.

Quote

In imps game overtricks mean nothing, the pressure is on for the game bonus so the bidding is very aggressive to get that game no one dares bid or to redouble the sure contract you can make. On defense you  win big by doubling opps game bid on skimpy values. The card play is more conservative as all that is necessary is to make your contract.

Overtricks matter, they are an imp each, just you don't risk going down for them unless the odds are like 15-1 that you'll get it. The play is more conservative but the defense is less.

Quote

I much prefer to play matchpoints because, it is possible there to win with bad cards, the ones that are frequently dealt to me.

At IMPs it should also be possible to win with bad cards. Probably the thing you are running into at your level is that the partners you are finding (e.g. the ones who don't know stayman like in your other posts LOL), just can't defend at all, as defense is the hardest part of the game to learn. So it's easier to control your own destiny when you have the cards & are in the bidding, since you don't have partners handing the opps beatable games all the time. If you get better partners & improve your defense as well it shouldn't matter as much.

Old York said:

At Matchpoint scoring, your only concern is to win as many tricks as possible, provided that you are not in an abnormal contract

I would say try to win as many tricks as "probable" rather than "possible".
E.g. if you are playing NT, have xx vs. AKQxx in dummy, with no later entries to dummy, you are usually supposed to duck the first trick rather than play for the 3-3 split.

[bill1157]

MP's takes somewhat more skill, but really there isnt all that much difference (and if you try to make special "match-point" decisions you will probably get a bad board anyway).
Getting to a decent game and making it, going plus 800 etc will be good at either form of scoring

Bill

[neilkaz]

bill1157, on Mar 22 2009, 04:56 PM, said:

MP's takes somewhat more skill, but really there isnt all that much difference (and if you try to make special "match-point" decisions you will probably get a bad board anyway).
Getting to a decent game and making it, going plus 800 etc will be good at either form of scoring

Bill

MP's take somewhat more skill ? really ?!?

[tmeyerabc]

A big thank you to all who responded. I can add some new information to my growing list.

Tom