Leicestershire Contract Bridge Association

 

Leicestershire Cup and Plate 2010 - 2011

Competition Controller Neil Beasley 7 Sharnbrook Gardens, Sharnford, Hinckley LE10 3QD

Tel: 01455 274 663 email: neilbeasley@care4free.net

1. All competitors must be paid-up Player Members of the EBU who meet the general LCBA conditions for participation in the Association’s Members-only competitions for the year 2010-11. (see Footnote 1)

2. a) The competition is for teams of four.

 b) A team may consist of up to six players, at least four of whom must be nominated before Round 1. Additional players, up to the limit of six, may be nominated to the Competition Controller (CC) at any time prior to playing in the event.

 c) Each team shall be represented by only two pairs in each round.

 d) Emergency substitutions, by the fifth and/or sixth member of the team, may however be made to cover cases of late arrival, illness during play etc. of any of the normal four playing members. Such changes at other than the end of a stanza/round are subject to the consent of the opponent captain.

 e) No player who has played for one team may later play for any other team in either the Cup or Plate.

3. a) Each player must provide a completed EBU 20/20A/20B style system card and hand this to the opponents for their use throughout each stanza. Pairs not having completed such cards should be furnished with EBU 20B style (or original) LCBA Simple System (Standard English) Cards and required to play in accordance with these until personal EBU style cards are completed. WBF style cards may not be used.

b) Pairs with properly completed (2 paged) EBU 20 style system cards, may employ EBU Level 2 (and 3) Permitted Agreements, as detailed in Section 11 of the 2006 Orange Book, incorporating amendments as per subsequent LCBA Yearbooks.

c) However pairs having properly completed full (4 paged) EBU 20A or 20B style system cards may also employ any Agreements permitted at Level 4, as detailed in Section 11 of the 2006 Orange Book, incorporating amendments as per subsequent LCBA Yearbooks. [These amendments are consolidated on the LCBA website.]

4. a) Any team either wishing to appeal, or reserve the right to later appeal, against a decision of the Director or Scorer should inform the Director and the other team of this and ensure that all relevant details of the hand and decision etc are recorded on a witnessed statement before leaving the venue.
Whether the actual appeal is immediate, or made later after reflection or consultation, it must be made in writing, in duplicate, to the Competition Controller (CC) and the LCBA General Secretary, within two days of the event.
(It is strongly recommended that in home-play matches each captain bring a standard LCBA Appeal Form, downloadable from the Website, to the match.)

 b) If a psychic bid is reported to the Director, he shall, on request, record the details of the board on which it occurred, and report them to the CC for the attention of the Laws and Ethics SC of the LCBA. The Director may also record and similarly report any departure from the system that he considers should be brought to its attention.

5.  All results shall be treated as provisional until confirmed by the CC after receipt of the records specified in the rules and the determination of any appeal.

6. a) The winners of the main competition will hold the Leicestershire Cup for one year.

 b) The winners and runners-up will normally be invited to represent the LCBA in the Anniversary Cup and the West Midlands Invitation Teams respectively.

 c) Monetary prizes of £50 and £25 will be awarded to the first two teams in the Cup. If neither of these is won by a non-expert team then a further prize of £10 will be awarded to the highest placed such team.

The definitions of non-expert players/teams are kept on files held by the Tournament Secretary, LCBA Qualified Directors and the General Secretary; are published in the LCBA Yearbook and on the LCBA Website. 

d) Monetary prizes of £24 and £12 will be awarded to the first two teams in the Plate.

7.  The LCBA will award local Master Points on the County scale in the Cup and on the Club scale in the Plate, subject to the receipt of results, including the details specified in Rule 16 d), by the CC.

8.  Teams MUST notify the CC if they wish to withdraw from the competition at any stage.

ENTRIES AND ROUND 1

9. a) Round 1 will be played at the Rothley Centre on Wednesday 24 November 2010. The playing charge is £3.00 per head.

b) The competition is thereafter organised as a home-play event in which round 2 (if needed), the quarter finals, semi-finals and final will take place by agreement between the teams concerned, subject to these date limitations: [6 January 2011], 3 February, 10 March and 14 April 2011 respectively.

10.  Aggregate scoring shall be used in all matches, honours not counting.

11. a) A public draw, to allocate the pairings in Round 1 and for the rest of the competition in accordance with the recommended structure (details of which are kept on files held by the Tournament and General Secretaries), shall be made immediately prior to the commencement of play. The first drawn team shall be deemed the home team in Round 1 head to head matches, and thereafter the team qualifying for the first listed position in the draw shall be so deemed.

 b) Matches in Round 1 shall normally be Head to Head matches of 24 boards, but if necessary a single Triangular match shall be played.

12.  Head-to-head matches shall be played in four stanzas of six boards. Each pair shall play alternate stanzas against each opposing pair. In the event of a tie a further 4 boards shall be played, two against each pair. This procedure shall be repeated until a result is obtained.

13. a) Triangular matches shall be played in two sessions, in each of which 12 boards are played, six against each other team.

 b) The team(s) which achieve a net positive total aggregate score will qualify for the home-play stage.

 c) Prior to the start of play each captain shall independently inform the Director of which two of his four players will sit North-South and which two will sit East-West in the first session. After that session has been scored he will provide the same information for the second session. There are no seating rights; captains are required to make their dispositions without knowledge of those of the other teams.

 d) Ties between just two teams jointly first shall be split by the drawing of lots.

 e)  If there is a three-way tie then a single session of two board matches shall be played, organised as in 13 c), and this shall be repeated until at least one team is no longer in a tie with the other(s).

 f) If the tie is thus reduced to one between two teams jointly first and second, this shall be split as in 13 d).

14. All teams failing to quaalify for Round 2 of the Cup are automatically entered for the Plate competition which is organized on the same basis as the home-play stage of the Cup.

HOME-PLAY STAGE OF BOTH COMPETITIONS

15. After round 1 the competition comprises head-to-head home-play matches in which round 2 (if needed), the quarter finals, semi-finals and final should take place by agreement between the teams concerned, subject to these date limitations: [6 January 2011], 3 February, 10 March and 14 April 2011 respectively.

16. a) The pairings are as determined by the public draw made prior to round 1. The team qualifying for the first listed position in each pairing shall be deemed the home team.

 b) Within seven days of the pairing being confirmed, the away team captain should offer to the home team captain, a minimum of three weekday evening dates, not clashing with any LCBA event, spread over a period of at least eight days, with a minimum of seven clear days notice of the first date. Not all dates offered should be for the same day of the week. Any failure to make a timely offer, or to accept a date within a further seven days, should be reported to the CC who will seek to expedite the playing of the match but who has the discretion to default one or both teams.

 c) In all cases the home team will be responsible for venue arrangements, including the payment of any table money.

 d) The results of these privately played matches must be notified by both teams to the Competition Controller within seven days, and never later than the closing date of the round. The return must include the surname and a forename of the players in each team and, if more than four are used, how many boards each member played.

 e)  Unless a prior arrangement to the contrary is made, the Away Team Captain or his nominee shall be designated as Director in these privately played matches.

17. a) Aggregate scoring shall be used in all matches, honours not counting.

 b) Matches shall be played in four stanzas of six boards; except that the final of the Cup shall be played over 32 boards in four stanzas of eight boards. Each pair shall play alternate stanzas against each opposing pair.

 c) In the event of a tie a further 4 boards shall be played, two against each pair. This procedure shall be repeated until a result is obtained.

* * * * * * * * * *

Footnote 1 (abridged)

Players may not be members of the LCBA unless they are ‘Player Members of the EBU’.

To be eligible to play in LCBA Members-only Competitions like the Leicestershire Cup & Plate such EBU Player Members must also, unless exempted by sufficient participation in P2P sessions in LCBA affiliated clubs, have paid an LCBA subscription of £4.

Full details of the regulation are published in the LCBA Yearbook, LCBA League Rules and on the LCBA website.