[TylerE]

Sorry Arend, but you're going to have to grind out the Black/Silver/Red. All of the XXX Life Master ranks require being a plain LM, with all that entails.

[helene_t]

Can't you sell a few gold points for a bunch of silver points on eBay or somewhere?

In Denmark there are official exchange rates. And I saw on someones profile that she was interested in trading some of her master points for air miles.

[Gerben42]

Quote

In Denmark there are official exchange rates. And I saw on someones profile that she was interested in trading some of her master points for air miles.

Now that would be a good use for MP! There is only one possible conclusion from this thread: Tournaments that base entries on MP don't make any sense. I mean, I could move to the USA and play in a non-LM event for the first few months. But that would not be very fair for my opponents, who would then have less chances to win.

I don't have a solution, but around here people can play wherever they like, except that the TD can use judgement if he thinks a player is in the wrong group.

[jtfanclub]

TylerE, on Aug 6 2008, 10:16 AM, said:

Sorry Arend, but you're going to have to grind out the Black/Silver/Red. All of the XXX Life Master ranks require being a plain LM, with all that entails.

But the moment he makes LM he will also make Bronze LM.

Thanks to the 1/3 colorless rule, I didn't manage to do that myself...

[kenrexford]

mycroft, on Aug 5 2008, 03:02 PM, said:

When this happened in the case I knew, it wasn't teams, but the internationalist was playing pro in Flight B. When someone pointed out his entry in the ACBL Encyclopaedia, that stopped :-).

The CoC for ACBL events at the Nationals (both Swiss and KO) are clear:
"In flighted events at any level, foreign players who have represented their
country in International competition shall be permitted to play only in Flight
A. They may however apply for relief for cause from this requirement." (General Conditions, All Events)

"Dear ACBL:"

"I am interested in playing in the Flight B Regional in Columbus, Ohio. However, I once represented my country in international competition, which means that I need your permission to play in this event. You indicate that I must show "good cause" to play in this event."

"As you can see from my attached convention card, the outside of the card clearly indicates that I like to play Gerber as always on, Mini-Roman, and D.O.N.T. "

"On the inside of my card, you will see a lot of results that look really screwy. I have attached the hand record from that event, where I sat West, and you can clearly see that my bidding, play, and defense was dubious."

"I also have attached a sworn statement from my regular partner who can attest that I often give him incorrect lessons at the table, that I call the director and ask for an adjustment for every psychic call against me, and that I am rude to people who play Precision."

"For these reasons, I believe that I qulaify for this event. I look forward to you ruling."

[jonottawa]

If no effort was made to communicate the situation to a director/organizer of the event, then if the player is determined to be ineligible, disqualify the team.

If the situation was communicated to a director/organizer of the event but not adjudicated until later, then threaten to sue, etc.

Full disclosure, etc. I think it's somewhat pathetic that this player even considered playing in this event and utterly pathetic that he did so without getting a ruling on his eligibility aforehand.

[pigpenz]

TimG, on Aug 5 2008, 08:21 PM, said:

Well, black, like silver, are a ploy to get players in a specific venue. I was once in NYC at a regional when they announced the unit's mini-mckenney winners. Rosenberg, Fallenius, Lev and Zia all won their category and we hadn't even gotten to the top category which was won by a Becker. I wouldn't be surprised if Rosenberg won a national event or two before he became a life master.

I cut my teeth at the Corhusker Bridge Club in Omaha, NE. There have been several players who have won national events from there. Probably the best player is still sitting around 6,000 MP and only about 56 yrs old but doesnt play much any more at regionals. Then you can take someone like Alan Stout who has about 30,000 MPpoints but never really went after a national event till he was about 55.

[TimG]

jonottawa, on Aug 6 2008, 06:40 PM, said:

Full disclosure, etc. I think it's somewhat pathetic that this player even considered playing in this event and utterly pathetic that he did so without getting a ruling on his eligibility aforehand.

From the opening post:

Quote

apparently doesn't play a ton during last few decades but playing more last few years.

It would be surprising if this player never entered an event where masterpoints were not used for flighting, bracketing or seeding. I would not find it surprising if he did for this event what ACBL has been doing for him right along: treated him as having some number of masterpoints less than 5000. Before he is deemed "pathetic" we ought to get the full story about how ACBL has treated him for flighting, bracketing, seeding purposes in the past. He may well have had good reason to expect that he was eligible for the 0-5000 event.

[xcurt]

On a related note, did I read correctly in the NABC bulletins that all NABC+ events require LM rank to enter now? As someon who qual'ed for the finals of two NABCs before making LM I take issue with that.

[jtfanclub]

kenrexford, on Aug 6 2008, 06:09 PM, said:

"Dear ACBL:"

Dude, that was awesome. Damn, if we ever have a HOF for posts, that one goes in.

[matmat]

xcurt, on Aug 6 2008, 09:56 PM, said:

On a related note, did I read correctly in the NABC bulletins that all NABC+ events require LM rank to enter now? As someon who qual'ed for the finals of two NABCs before making LM I take issue with that.

as someone who will never reach the lofty rank of LM, I take issue with that too...

[Mbodell]

xcurt, on Aug 6 2008, 06:56 PM, said:

On a related note, did I read correctly in the NABC bulletins that all NABC+ events require LM rank to enter now?  As someon who qual'ed for the finals of two NABCs before making LM I take issue with that.

They didn't in Vegas. I played (at least if you could call it playing. The second session was my worst bridge the whole week in Vegas) in the mixed BAM NABC event in spite of the fact that I didn't make life master until this Tuesday night's club STAC game. And one of our teammates only had 100 points. We were, shall we say, not a threat and had to laugh when asked if we needed to consider getting seeded but we certainly had no problems entering other than team mates needing to stow the mobile phones somewhere.

[mycroft]

What you probably read was the (long-standing) requirement to be a member of the ACBL to play in NABC+ events. Which is why B-Z have ACBL numbers (which start with a number, I bet; 50 silver? 50 black? What are these colour things? :-)

There used to be a requirement for 100 points to enter the Spingold and Vanderbilt, along with the "LM or equivalent" for the LM pairs and the B/R/S Ribbon Q to enter those events. But it looks like that's gone.

[rigour6]

helene_t, on Aug 6 2008, 10:20 AM, said:

Can't you sell a few gold points for a bunch of silver points on eBay or somewhere?

In Denmark there are official exchange rates. And I saw on someones profile that she was interested in trading some of her master points for air miles.

lol, this would help with a conversation I have occasionally held with Muggles.

Them: Oh, how did your bridge tournament go?
Me: Great, actually! We won one of the events.
Them: Oh, really? (showing more than polite interest) What did you win?
Me: Umm, well, at tournament points you win points of a certain colour, depending on the level of the tournament. This was an x tournament, so we won y colour points.
Them: (trying to stay with the tour) Oh, yes, I see. And what can you get with the points?
Me: Umm....

[jtfanclub]

rigour6, on Aug 12 2008, 10:53 AM, said:

Me: Great, actually! We won one of the events.
Them: Oh, really? (showing more than polite interest) What did you win?

Probably my biggest peeve with the ACBL (I kid you not): no trophies, no prize money.

Used to be that trophies were commonplace. I don't know what happened.

[jdonn]

jtfanclub, on Aug 12 2008, 11:22 AM, said:

rigour6, on Aug 12 2008, 10:53 AM, said:

Me:  Great, actually!  We won one of the events.
Them:  Oh, really? (showing more than polite interest) What did you win?

Probably my biggest peeve with the ACBL (I kid you not): no trophies, no prize money.

Used to be that trophies were commonplace. I don't know what happened.

I think what happened is people realized they weren't 9 year olds playing little league baseball...

[SoTired]

Bad taste, removed.

This post has been edited by SoTired: 2008-August-12, 19:09

[jtfanclub]

jdonn, on Aug 12 2008, 11:24 AM, said:

I think what happened is people realized they weren't 9 year olds playing little league baseball...

You're right, there's no trophy for the World Series, for the NFL Championship, for bowling leagues, for golf tournaments, for NASCAR...even chess has a plaque.

[rigour6]

Well, I see we're on to another topic now. So let me go off on the tangent with you:

All the rage here has been to give out T-shirts. Same problem. After a while, how many bridge T-shirts do you need?

Our last Regional, we supplemented the T-shirts with wine, gave people a choice. I don't know if the wine was any good, but the label certified that the owner of the wine was the winner at the Regional, etc, so it was a type of trophy, even if unopened.

Great success.

[matmat]

jtfanclub, on Aug 12 2008, 12:58 PM, said:

jdonn, on Aug 12 2008, 11:24 AM, said:

I think what happened is people realized they weren't 9 year olds playing little league baseball...

You're right, there's no trophy for the World Series, for the NFL Championship, for bowling leagues, for golf tournaments, for NASCAR...even chess has a plaque.

sports people ARE 9 years old... have you ever heard them speak?