Surrey County Bridge Association

Rules and Regulations for the Novices Duplicate League

General
A local teams of four league for players who are new to duplicate bridge, no higher than district master as of the 1st October of the current season and should be entered or endorsed by a teacher. The team may have unlimited reserves, who are also new to duplicate bridge. Teachers are encouraged to manage a team but cannot play or kibitz. Players need not be Surrey County Bridge Association or English Bridge Union members.


2. Matches
   Matches are to be held at intervals from October to the end of April. Each team will play 16-board matches (changing opponents after 8 boards) against other teams, some matches played 'at home' and others 'away'.
   
   A programme of fixtures, allowing at least three weeks for each match, is issued at the beginning of the season. Matches should be played within the scheduled periods, following the Surrey guidelines for fixing matches. The home team should offer a minimum of three dates not all on the same day of the week. If there is a difficulty in fixing a match, the area Organiser must be consulted.
   
   If a teams fails to arrange a date for a match or cancels a match without a valid reason – and thus concedes the match- the team to whom the match is conceded will get 13 V.P.’s or, if greater, its average in all other matches or, if greater, the average of all teams against the defaulting team. The defaulting team receives no Victory Points for that match.
   
   The organisers may impose the penalty of non-entry on all members of the defaulting team in the next season.
   
   
3. Systems
   Conventions within Standard English-Foundation are permitted with 2 additions, namely:
   a) Transfers over 1 and 2 No Trumps
   b) 2NT overcall may show a 2 suited hand with at least one suit defined
   
   
4. Scoring
   Scoring is by IMPs converted to Victory Points using the scale below.
   VICTORY POINT SCALE, 16-BOARD MATCHES
   

   IMPs	0-1	2-4	5-7	8-10	11-14	15-18	19-22	23-27	28-33	34-42	43+
   VPs	10-10	11-9	12-8	13-7	14-6	15-5	16-4	17-3	18-2	19-1	20-0

   
   
5. League Results
   The winning captain reports the VP score to the organiser giving all the names of the players in both teams. Master Points, 24 for each match won and 12 for a draw, will be sent to the captains at the end of the season.
   
   
6. Rulings
   If a ruling is required during a match the organiser should be contacted. If the organiser is not available then Mr R. Bolton should be contacted on 01483 560056
   
   
7. Smoking Regulations
   In all Surrey competitions held in clubs or private homes, in addition to the published rules at the venue, any player may request that there shall be no smoking at the table at which he/she is playing.
   In matches played in private homes, it is the duty of both captains to indicate the likely wishes of their team in this matter when arranging the match.
   
   
8. Final
   Some areas may have more than one league and provided the leagues are of roughly equal strength, the winner of each area league may represent the league in the final. The winning team is invited to play in a multiple teams final held in May. See Competitions Brochure for exact date. If the winning team is unable to play, the second team may represent the area league in the final.
   Prizes will be awarded to the leading team in the final.