[Phil]

Assume a Mitchell movement with no overall awards.

In ACBLscore, stratifying the field is done through F9, 10 where you can masterpoint limits for each strat. This can be manually set for a section, but it will apply to both North and South pairs.

In my game we have a Non-Life Master section. The reality is that most of the players are around 70 to 150 points. Some like to sit EW and some NS, however, I generally don't work hard stratifying the field with a two winner movement. I can manually assign stratifications, but I have been told that this is frowned on.

The NS's are playing the other NS. Wouldn't it make sense to simply stratify the field by simply dividing the field into thirds and basing the awards on that?

[pigpenz]

I know in our club game the games are stratified
there is usually no seeding done as older people all want NS
if you want I can send you a link to our bridge webs site where you can see the results

[Vampyr]

Phil, on 2013-January-18, 16:42, said:

Wouldn't it make sense to simply stratify the field by simply dividing the field into thirds and basing the awards on that?

I think it's a good idea in principle. It might be a problem if the lowest third is very low; a player with 100 masterpoints might expect to be eligible for Flight C and be disappointed if the limit this week turned out to be 80. In general, I guess, people will want to know in advance which stratum they will be in. Also, people might be unhappy if the limits were different for each direction.

What might be more effective (and might also render the above concerns irrelevant) would be to stratify the field after the fact. I am assuming that if someone is eligible for masterpoints in Flight A and Flight B, they get the award for Flight A, and their Flight B award is not given to anyone? Well, suppose it were possible to manipulate the flights so that this person was in Flight A and did not qualify for B. Now someone else would get his B masterpoints. Obviously sometimes you will be able to do nothing, but other times, you will have the opportunity to maximise the number of people who receive masterpoints.

[Phil]

Vampyr, on 2013-January-18, 22:28, said:

I think it's a good idea in principle. It might be a problem if the lowest third is very low; a player with 100 masterpoints might expect to be eligible for Flight C and be disappointed if the limit this week turned out to be 80.

Well, this is basically the point. Today there were 10 tables. The 7th best pair NS averaged about 80 points / player. The EW 7th best averaged about 50. If I make the cutoff for "C" 80 in the NS and 50 EW then I'd have an equal number of C's in each direction, but in order to do that I have to adjust the strats manually.

[Phil]

pigpenz, on 2013-January-18, 18:21, said:

I know in our club game the games are stratified
there is usually no seeding done as older people all want NS
if you want I can send you a link to our bridge webs site where you can see the results

Thanks, nice site. Palm Springs uses the same software.

If a director is simply handing out NS's to older players with a lot of points, then unless you manually adjust, you do not have an equal number of A's, B's and C's each direction.

[pigpenz]

Phil, on 2013-January-18, 23:43, said:

Thanks, nice site. Palm Springs uses the same software.

If a director is simply handing out NS's to older players with a lot of points, then unless you manually adjust, you do not have an equal number of A's, B's and C's each direction.

You got it!
Some directors are lazy
All the NS seem to find their way over to the food table in between rounds
Which is a lot longer walk than going to the next table

Actually the players that get hosed the most are the Flt C players...they are the ones who need to be evened out.
At least that is what I have noticed
Go back and look at some previous events(mondays largest) and you can pick out the problem

[Phil]

pigpenz, on 2013-January-19, 10:49, said:

You got it!
Some directors are lazy
All the NS seem to find their way over to the food table in between rounds
Which is a lot longer walk than going to the next table

Actually the players that get hosed the most are the Flt C players...they are the ones who need to be evened out.
At least that is what I have noticed
Go back and look at some previous events(mondays largest) and you can pick out the problem

Continuing, however....

My main point isnt to talk about the lack of stratification in my junior (and your open game).

Its to say, there's nothing inherently wrong with having an uneven field in a two winner movement.

Would like some light shed on this by other club owners.

[pigpenz]

Even in a junior game can you stratify?
Say

0-5
0-10
0-20

[aguahombre]

In the club games here, virtually no player is under 60. But, they all understand the difference between wanting to be stationary and needing to be stationary. With a little effort, the N/S and E/W fields can be evened out AA BBBB CCC, or some combination.

Yes, you can stratify a restricted MP game. Club managers can also designate certain players as "B", for instance if they are commensurate in skill but are not ACBL members or otherwise don't have the appropriate number of masterpoints.