Can I play with the same person again if we won master points in a game? Often a player will ask can I play with the same wonderful Mentor in the next MM game? We definitely want to encourage these partnerships and if your MM partnership is working and both partners are happy to continue, then this is likely the best combination to help you improve and enjoy your game. What we want to avoid is having experienced MM partnerships dominate the games when they would benefit more from playing in open games. Players often know when they have reached this level and stop playing in the MM games or better still, both partners register as Mentors. To assist in determining if your pair is too experienced to play in an MM game, we have developed a points system. 5 points for winning, 3 points for placing in the overalls, 1 point for winning master points. If a pair has accumulated 7 points or more in the past 3 games we will ask that they find a different partner for the next game.

Are the boards predealt? Yes, the boards are predealt so that all players will play the same boards over the course of the day. This is Duplicate Bridge and allows comparison and scoring across all tables and all sections along with one set of hand records and analysis. Predealt duplication of the boards does not mean that we create hands with particularly tricky layouts or that we set up the boards so that the Mentors or Mentees get to play certain hands. The boards are 100% random. If during the game you find that you are declarer for most of the boards, or you get dealt hands with 10 spades from the AKQJ or even a string of seemingly useless hands, that is simply the beauty of the game; we have no influence on the cards you receive.

From time to time there are games that use prearranged deals. These games are usually designed for instructional purposes of certain play tactics or use of conventions. This does not happen in the Mentor/Mentee games in Unit 430.

ACBL Unit 430 (Vancouver)