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INTRODUCTION
Match Pointing is the assigning a numerical
value to a team's relative SCORE on a particular board.
In figure 7 the N/S team numbers are printed on the left in the N-S PAIR
column. The E/W team numbers are written in the column marked E-W PAIR.
In figure 7, N/S #1 is playing against E/W # 7; N/S # 2 against E/W # 1;
and N/S # 3 against E/W # 3.
The SCORES are entered in the appropriate column under
the FINAL SCORE heading. Looking at the final SCORES
in that column, we see that 110 is the lowest of the three SCORES.
This was gotten by the N/S # 2 (playing against E/W # 1) who bid and made
3 u.
Then N/S # 2 will get a bottom or "0" MATCH POINTS.
The "0" is put along the same row in the "N - S Match Points" column on
the far right of the slip.
The next lowest (or highest) SCORE is 120. N/S team
# 1 (against E/W # 7) bid and made 2 No Trump. They get "1" MATCH
POINT. N/S team # 3 (against E/W # 3) got the highest score of 140
by bidding 2 !
making 3. They get a top or "2" MATCH POINTS.
In figure 8, board 10 was played 4 times. The N/S teams # 4 and # 5 got
plus SCORES, while N/S teams # 2 and # 3 got negative
SCORES.
Any SCORE in the FINAL SCORE, EAST WEST column is
a plus SCORE for E/W, and so a negative one for N/S.
From the N/S view the largest negative SCORE will
be a "bottom" or "0" MATCH POINTS. If there
are no N/S negative SCORES then the lowest N/S positive
SCORE
will be a "0".
In figure 8, N/S team # 2 has the largest negative number of 730, and so
gets a bottom or a"0". To enter this on the Traveling Score Slip, go down
the N/S PAIR column on the left to # 2. Then go all across that row to
the column marked "N-S Match Points". Enter the "0" in that box.
The N/S team to get the next largest negative SCORE
is team # 3 with a minus 100. So N/S team # 3 gets a "1"; a rank of 1 above
a bottom. The next highest SCORE is N/S team # 5 with
a positive SCORE of 620. This team gets a "2". And
the N/S team with the highest positive SCORE, in this
case N/S team # 4 with a SCORE of 630, gets a
"3" or a top. Match Pointing for N/S is complete.
Note: if you know that "3" is a top, Match Pointing could also be done
from the top down. That is find the top SCORE first,
then next to top, and so on.
NORTH / SOUTH
In the bad old days of BC, Before Computers,
Match Pointing was done by hand on the Traveling Score Slips. (The MATCH
POINT numbers were then entered by hand onto a large summary sheet
where the results were totaled and the winners determined). Let us do that
now. Look at these Traveling Score Slips. Remember that Duplicate scoring
is "relevant" scoring: how did one team do compared to the other teams.
Match Pointing is putting that comparison in numerical terms.
On the Slip (see figure 9) there are 5 SCORES which
is the number of times this Board was played. Consider only North/South
SCORES.
If no two SCORES were the same, but all of the SCORES
numerically different, then the lowest SCORE would
get a MATCH POINT of "0". (You can also work from
the top down.) In figure 9, the N/S team # 2 have a minus 130. (East bid
and made 4 u
for score of 130 which is the highest negative for any N/S team.) So the
N/S team # 2 gets a complete bottom or a "0". This "0" is written in the
row of the N/S # 2 and in the "N-S Match Points" column.
Now find
the N/S team that scored next to the lowest SCORE.
That team gets a "next to a Bottom" or "1" MATCH POINT.
And that is N/S team # 4 with a minus 100. South went down 1 vul in 4 !.
Again the "1" is put along the appropriate row and in the column. The next
team that scored higher than this one will get "2" MATCH
POINTS and so on. The team that got the highest SCORE
will get "4" MATCH POINTS which is the Top on this
Board. That is N/S team # 5 which set East at 5 u
doubled for a plus score of 300.
Note that the MATCH POINTS ranged from 0, 1, 2, 3,
4, with 0 being the Bottom and 4 the Top. In any Duplicate game the
top will always be number of times a Board has been played minus 1.
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TOP = # OF TIMES BOARD
IS PLAYED - 1
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It is also worth noting, that the highest
number of MATCH POINTS one can get on any one Board
is limited. In this case no one can get more than a "4" (5 - 1 =
4). The N/S team # 5 will get a top of "4" no matter how many tricks they
set East. Plus 300 is the same top as plus 1400. The same is true for the
bottom. N/S team # 2 will get a bottom of "0" no matter how many over tricks
East makes. Minus 130 is the same bottom as minus 190.
Thus a top is a top is a top; and a bottom is a bottom is a bottom.
TIE SCORES
Another way of computing MATCH
POINTS is to look at the SCORE of each team
and see how many teams they scored higher than. The N/S team will get 1
MATCH
POINT for each N/S team that they beat. If, let's say, they scored
higher than 3 teams, then they will get "3" MATCH POINTS.
If they scored higher than 7 teams, they will get "7" MATCH
POINTS. If there are ties (two or more teams will have the same
SCORE),
then the team will get ½ a MATCH POINT for
each team tied. In MATCH POINTING the ½ is
denoted by an "x".
Board 7 in figure 10 was played 8 times. Thus the MATCH POINTS
will range from 0 to 7; "0" being the bottom, and 7 the top. N/S team #
8 has the lowest SCORE with 170. They get a bottom
of "0" MATCH POINTS. They beat zero team. The next
lowest SCORE was gotten by N/S team # 6. They get
1 MATCH POINT. They beat 1 team. The next two teams
(# 4 and # 7) are tied at 400 each. Let us look at N/S team # 4. They scored
better than two teams (# 6 and
# 8) so they will get 2 MATCH
POINTS. But #4 is tied with # 7 at 400. So for this team # 4 gets
½ a MATCH POINT for a total of 2 ½
(2x). N/S team # 7 will get the same 2x MATCH POINTS.
Going up the ladder SCORE wise, we see that N/S team
numbers 3, 5 and 9 have the same SCORE of 420. Each
team did better than 4 teams (numbers 4, 6, 7, and 8) so they get
4 points. But each team tied with 2 other teams. They get ½ point
for each team tied which is ½ x 2 =1. So teams 3, 5 and 9 each get
4 + 1 or 5 MATCH POINTS.
Team # 5 with the highest SCORE of 450 did better
than 7 other teams so they get a top of 7 MATCH POINTS.
We also know that team # 5 gets 7 MATCH POINTS because
7 is top on this board. Top is the number of times the hand is played minus
1. In this case
8 - 1 = 7.
To check our Match Pointing add up the numbers in the "N-S Match Point"
column. They should add up to 28. Why 28? If there were no ties the
MATCH
POINT numbers would be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. If they are added
up: 1+2+3+4+5+6+7 we get 28. So every board where the hand is played 8
times, the sum of the MATCH POINTS should total 28
(with or without any tie SCORES). On board 7 the sum
is:
7 + 5 + 2 ½ + 5 + 1 + 2 ½ + 0 +5 = 28.
Thus the Match Pointing seems to be correct.
EAST / WEST
What about East/West? We can Match Point
the same way we did for NS. If the board is played 8 times the highest
SCORE
will get 7 MATCH POINTS; the second highest SCORE
will get 6; the third highest 5; etc, down to the lowest which will get
a 0. Or reverse the procedure and start from 0 on up to 7. Or Match Point
the other way: 1 MATCH POINT for each team beaten
and ½ for each team tied.
But
there is an interesting relationship between a N/S and an E/W team that
play against each other. If we Match Point E/W in one of the methods used
in the above paragraph, we can note a relationship between the N/S and
E/W teams. See figure 11.
Board 20
in figure 11 is played 5 times which makes 4 the top. Team # 3 N/S gets
a bottom, "0", against team # 6 E/W. And a "0" is in the "N-S Match Points"
column. To find where to place the MATCH POINTS of
the E/W pair, use the numbers on the right in the EAST WEST section of
the FINAL SCORE column. They are in little boxes and start across from
number 8.
Team
# 3 N/S has the only negative SCORE and gets a bottom
or "0" MATCH POINTS. Their opponent, team #
6 E/W has highest E/W SCORE and gets a top of
4 MATCH POINTS. (The alternative method is 1 MATCH
POINT for every team beaten.) Makes sense: if one team gets a top
(# 6 E/W) then the opposing team (# 3 N/S) will get a bottom. 0 + 4 = 4
And vice
versa. Team # 5 N/S got a top of "4" against team # 3 E/W. And sure enough,
# 3 E/W got a bottom of "0" MATCH POINTS. 4 + 0 =
4
Team
numbers 5 and 6 N/S each got 1½ MATCH POINTS.
They beat one team (# 3 N/S) for a point and tied with one team for ½
point. For their E/W opponents, # 1 E/W and #7 E/W, they each got
2 ½ MATCH POINTS. Beat 2 teams (# 3 E/W and
# 5 E/W) and tied 1 team. 1½ + 2 ½ = 4
And # 7
N/S got 3 MATCH POINTS against # 7 E/W, who got 1
MATCH
POINT. 3 + 1 = 4
Note the
relationships: 0 + 4 = 4; 4 + 0 = 4; 1 ½ + 2 ½ = 4 and 3
+ 1 = 4. Opposing teams' MATCH POINTS always
add up to 4 or the top for the board. Thus, we have found the relationship
when a N/S team plays an E/W team:
N/S MATCH POINTS +
E/W MATCH POINTS = the top for that board. Another
way to write this is:
E/W MATCH POINTS =
TOP - N/S MATCH POINTS
This leads to the following rule:
RULE: to MATCH POINT E/W, subtract the N/S
MATCH POINT score for that hand, from the top
for that board. |
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