Club Rules

Download a PDF of the Rules using the link below: 

 >>>>>FBC Rules 12-11-2023 <<<<<

Session Rules

  1. Every member is welcome to arrange a partner and play as a non-qualifying pair in any session of all scheduled Pairs Events at the club (but not Swiss Pairs or Teams Events — these cannot be played with a bye).  For assistance with finding a partner see the front cover of this programme booklet for Partnership Secretaries and/or join the WhatsApp Group.
  2. Seating positions – confirm your seating position using a coin toss – the winner of the toss MUST sit North/South.  The only exception is if a player is incapacitated.
  3. In the interest of player development, the Committee will allow Junior grade members to make occasional reference to teaching notes whilst bidding in Wednesday and Friday club sessions.

General Competition Rules
Scoring corrections and notification of substitutes

  • At the end of the round/match, the South player should enter all data into the Bridge Mate and East player should verify and ACCEPT the entry.  Any errors that are discovered must be corrected immediately before pressing ACCEPT. 
  • Any subsequent scoring correction must be notified on the designated form (can be found on the club notice board) and handed to the Director or Scorer without delay. 
  • All substitutions (see below) must be notified to the scorer on the designated form.  Failing to notify the Director or Scorer of a substitution within the correction period will automatically be treated as a non-contesting pair (i.e. missed night).
  • Except with prior approval of the Club Captain, substitutes for all Club events must be financial members of the Club and be of comparable playing strength to as the substituted player(s) or a financial member of a Club affiliated to NZ Bridge who is not ranked significantly higher by NZ Bridge than the substituted player.
  • The Club Captain (or in his/her absence, the President) may approve a substitution having due regard to the relative playing strength of the player and the proposed substitute and fairness to other contestants in the event.
  • For all Club sessions the time for notifying scoring corrections or a substitution expires no later than the start of the next scheduled session of the event, or for the final session no later than 7 days after the conclusion of the event.
  • No changes may be made to scores or to the pairs entered after the expiry of the correction period except in exceptional circumstances accepted by the committee (see notice board for a copy of the committee’s policy for correcting scores).

Two Session Pairs Events

  • No substitutions allowed.
  • Both sessions must be played.

Three or Four Sessions Pairs Events

  • One duly notified substitution is allowed.
  • All sessions must be played.

More than Four Session Events

  • For all pairs events of more than four sessions, except the Howes Championship Pairs
  • One duly notified substitution of a player is allowed (see 4 above)
  • One session may be missed, except the final session (but see 1 above).
  • The winner will be the highest average of valid scores obtained in the event.

The Howes Championship Pairs

  • This is played over 8 sessions per the dates shown in Programme Booklet.  To qualify, the partnership must line-up together at least 5 times and is allowed to:
  1. Miss up to 3 sessions in which case they will be assigned a score of 50% for every session missed;
  2. They may have no more than 2 substitutes in accordance with the Substitution Rules above.
  • The winner is the highest average of all 8 scores (calculated to 7 decimal places), and if still tied, the title is shared. 

Teams

  • Four member teams only. 
  • Except for events with a qualifying and final stage, each member of the team may be substituted once (but see the Substitution Rules above).
  • For Teams events with a qualifying and final stage, each player may be substituted once in the qualifying stage (but see the Substitution Rules above).  For the final stage(s) at least two of the four members of the team must line up for every match(s) or stanza of the match.
  • The Club Captain or Director on duty must promulgate the Conditions of Contest agreed by the committee to the contestants prior the start of the 1st match.
  • Unless otherwise modified by the Conditions of Contest promulgated by the Committee the following will apply to all Teams events:
  1. The IMP score of all matches at every stage of the event will be converted to victory points (VP) using the relevant WBF 20 VP continuous scale for the specified number of Boards per match.
  2. For teams events with a qualifying and a final stage(s), the carry-over to all the matches of the final stages (but not plate) shall be 60% of the difference in VPs accumulated in the qualifying stage between the teams (rounded to 2 decimal places and capped to a maximum of 5.00VPs.
  3. The winner in a single stage event will be the highest aggregate of the Victory Points earned; or for an event with a qualifying stage and final, the sum of the carry-over and the VPs earned in the final match or matches as the case may be. Ties will not be broken.

Club Points Cup

  • Points will be awarded for all Pairs Events except Holiday Bridge & Christmas Pairs

Specific Competition Rules

Pairs Events (excluding Championship Pairs)

  • Although the same partnership may contest more than one of the 2, 3 or 4 session pair events throughout the year, they cannot win more than one trophy.

Handicap Events

  • Monday:  all events except Butler Pairs, Swiss Pairs and Restricted Teams will be contested, both off scratch and on handicap.  The winner on scratch cannot win on handicap as well.
  • Wednesday:  all events, except Teams. 
  • Friday: all events except Friday Individual.

Mixed Pairs

  • Male pairs are not eligible.  If substitutes are required, male pairs may be allowed at the discretion of the Club Captain.

Monday Ladder

  • The final session of each of the Pairs events will count, except the Championship, Butler, Swiss and Christmas Pairs.  At least five different partners are required.  If the same partner played more than once then the first score counts and the 5 best qualifying sessions count.

Wednesday Ladder

  • Same as for Monday, but excludes the Championship, Welcome, and December Pairs.  At least 8 different partners are required.  If the same partner played more than once then the first score counts and the 8 best qualifying sessions count.

Friday Ladder

  • As for Monday, but excludes Championship, Individual, New Year and Christmas Pairs.  At least seven different partners are required.  If the same partner played more than once then the first score counts and the 7 best qualifying sessions count.

Danes Cup

  • A different partner required for each session.  One session may be missed, except the final session.  The 3 best qualifying sessions count.

Wednesday Individual

  • A different partner required for each session.  One session may be missed, 3 best qualifying sessions count.

Restricted Teams

  • No two Open players may play together.  Other grading restrictions may be set by the committee.

Monday Restricted Pairs

  • No two Open players may play together.  Other grading restrictions may be set by the committee.

Monday Teams Championship Formats

Unless the conditions of contest promulgated by the committee specify otherwise, the following default formats will be used over five nights:

  •  6 teams: Double Round Robin (RR) of 12 board matches
  •  7 teams: Double RR 8 board matches, qualifying top 4 to RR final and plate
  •  8 teams: Double RR of 12 board matches, qualifying 4 to RR final and plate
  •  9 teams: Double RR of 12 board matches, qualifying 4 to Knockout semi & Knockout final and plate
  •  10 teams: Double RR of 8 board matches, qualifying 4 to Knockout Final and Plate
  •  11 teams: RR of 12 board matches.
  •  12+ teams: 7×12 boards Swiss, qualifying top 4 into RR Final & Swiss plate

Allowable Systems for Club Play

  • Reference: NZ Bridge Manual – as for 5B Point (Intermediate) and 8B Point (Open/Restricted) 

Tournaments

  • GREEN systems – All
  • BLUE systems – All
  • RED systems – Limited to those that exclude:
  1. An opening suit bid at the 1 level that does not show, in the bid suit, at least 2 cards if clubs, at least 3 cards if diamonds and at the least 4 cards if hearts and spades;
  2. 1NT opening bid that does not show a balanced hand, or that has a minimum HCP of less than 11;
  3. Transfer opening bids below the level of 2NT;
  4. BROWN Sticker conventions;
  5. Any opening bid of 2S to 3C that may be weak and does not promise at least 4 cards in a known suit.  The sole exception is an opening bid of 2C or 2D that may show a weak hand with 6 cards in either major only, or as an option among any number of strong hand types;
  6. Relay-based system.

Disputes

  • Any dispute as to the interpretation of these rules will be resolved by the majority decision of the appeals committee.

Appeals

  • The Appeals Committee comprises:  Jim Buckland, Arie Geursen and Trevor Robb.

ALL COMPLAINTS MUST BE IN WRITING TO THE SECRETARY