E*V*I*L -- Electronic Vancouver IMP League, Season Eleven

E*V*I*L -- Electronic Vancouver IMP League, Season Eleven Standings (VP Tables)

E*V*I*L -- Electronic Vancouver IMP League, Season Eleven :: The Big Show
Team	Matches Played	Record (W-L-T)	Total VPs	VP Average	Last/Current Opponent	Result	Next Opponent
Yen Liu	2	2 - 0 - 0	38.19	19.09	Hong	+77 IMPs, 20 boards, 20.00 VPs	McClafferty
Waterman	2	2 - 0 - 0	32.55	16.27	McClafferty	+21 IMPs, 24 boards, 14.43 VPs	Burns
BC Buds	2	2 - 0 - 0	31.94	15.97	Burns	+33 IMPs, 24 boards, 16.25 VPs	Koblenz
Koblenz	2	1 - 1 - 0	23.99	12.00	Krywaniuk	-18 IMPs, 24 boards, 6.10 VPs	BC Buds
Krywaniuk	2	1 - 1 - 0	15.71	7.85	Koblenz	+18 IMPs, 24 boards, 13.90 VPs	Hong
McClafferty	2	0 - 2 - 0	9.88	4.94	Waterman	-21 IMPs, 24 boards, 5.57 VPs	Yen Liu
Burns	2	0 - 2 - 0	5.86	2.93	BC Buds	-33 IMPs, 24 boards, 3.75 VPs	Waterman
Hong	2	0 - 2 - 0	1.88	0.94	Yen Liu	-77 IMPs, 20 boards, 0.00 VPs	Krywaniuk

E*V*I*L -- Electronic Vancouver IMP League, Season Eleven Match Grids (VP Tables)

E*V*I*L -- Electronic Vancouver IMP League, Season Eleven :: The Big Show
Team	vs BC Buds	vs Burns	vs Hong	vs Koblenz	vs Krywaniuk	vs Yen Liu	vs McClaf­ferty	vs Waterman
BC Buds	—	WON by 33 24 boards 16.25 VP	May 2	March 28	April 4	April 25	WON by 29 24 boards 15.69 VP	April 11
Burns	lost by 33 24 boards 3.75 VP	—	April 11	lost by 47 24 boards 2.11 VP	May 2	April 4	April 25	March 28
Hong	May 2	April 11	—	April 25	March 28	lost by 77 20 boards 0.00 VP	April 4	lost by 45 20 boards 1.88 VP
Koblenz	March 28	WON by 47 24 boards 17.89 VP	April 25	—	lost by 18 24 boards 6.10 VP	April 11	May 2	April 4
Krywaniuk	April 4	May 2	March 28	WON by 18 24 boards 13.90 VP	—	lost by 50 24 boards 1.81 VP	April 11	April 25
Yen Liu	April 25	April 4	WON by 77 20 boards 20.00 VP	April 11	WON by 50 24 boards 18.19 VP	—	March 28	May 2
McClaf­ferty	lost by 29 24 boards 4.31 VP	April 25	April 4	May 2	April 11	March 28	—	lost by 21 24 boards 5.57 VP
Waterman	April 11	March 28	WON by 45 20 boards 18.12 VP	April 4	April 25	May 2	WON by 21 24 boards 14.43 VP	—

E*V*I*L (Electronic Vancouver IMP League) Season Eleven Team Rosters

We have eight teams in one division. The Big Show is a complete 7-match round robin; the Big Ticket will be activated in future seasons when we have more than thirteen teams. All communication between E*V*I*L captains should be done using the BBO messaging service. If you hear nothing from your next opponent, a good next step is to contact ALL the other players on the team! (Someone will wake up the captain rather than risk a forfeit....)

• The Big Show:
• Team BC Buds: David House, John Bryden, Duncan Smith, Michael Newcombe, Sandy McIlwain, Karen Turner.
            BBO names:   DITKA18, tw0wayhook, lowno, nuke2nuke, sandymac, ktvic
• Team Burns: Lorne Burns, Doug Bell, Dan Allard, Margaret Pattison, Paul Pattison, Shelley Burns, Kelvin Raywood, Mojgan Shad, Khosrow Shad, Kathyy Molnar.
            BBO names:   Burnsey59, DougWB6, DrSpades, MPatt, PaulP7, ShellBurns, kjray, toufani, cotam1945, Fritzi2020
• Team Hong: Jennifer Hong, Long Xie, Tao Feng, Amy Gao, Brian Liu, Henry Yao, Juan Xu, Rick Wu, David Huang, Diana Jing.
            BBO names:   jenhong1, xiexie, ebridger, amyz, superhand, laowei2016, xujuan2003, rick919, bbmt, dianna2008
• Team Koblenz: Brian Koblenz, Richard D'Litzenberger, Chuck Reppas, Ira Garrison.
            BBO names:   bkoblenz, dlitz, creppas, iragarr
• Team Krywaniuk: Andrew Krywaniuk, Ken LoChang, Andrew Nalos, Ken Ramsay, Vincent Yung, Chris Chalcraft, Cecil Chan, Felix Merk.
            BBO names:   Dstnycln, Lochang, Ahab2020, ACIM44, vince456, chalcraft, cecilchn, felixmerk
• Team Yen Liu: Yen Liu, Alex Hong, Wen Min Chen, Jack Lee, James Wu, Joel Martineau.
            BBO names:   formin, fhong, wenminchen, jackbc, seanwu10, joel 88
• Team McClafferty: Pauline McClafferty, Julien Levesque, Nigel Fullbrook, Diane Ayukawa, Greg Morse.
            BBO names:   vicmollo, Finnigan1, NigelF1, dianehiro, pgmer6809
• Team Waterman: David Waterman, Cindy Oishi, Michael Dimich, Stephen Vincent, Julie Smith, Nick Stock.
            BBO names:   DavidWat, bigmama4, mdeed, Stephen_V, julies, czarn

E*V*I*L -- Electronic Vancouver IMP League, Season Eleven Team Schedules

Matches in progress will be updated live at halftime and again at the end, except for the final week, when matches will be updated at halftime only and not again until all matches are complete.

The Full Schedule:

Week 1 (March 7):

  The Big Show:  Krywaniuk vs Yen Liu     Koblenz vs Burns     Hong vs Waterman     BC Buds vs McClafferty

Week 2 (March 21):

  The Big Show:  McClafferty vs Waterman     Krywaniuk vs Koblenz     Hong vs Yen Liu     BC Buds vs Burns

Week 3 (March 28):

  The Big Show:  Krywaniuk vs Hong     BC Buds vs Koblenz     McClafferty vs Yen Liu     Waterman vs Burns

Week 4 (April 4):

  The Big Show:  Waterman vs Koblenz     Burns vs Yen Liu     Krywaniuk vs BC Buds     McClafferty vs Hong

Week 5 (April 11):

  The Big Show:  Yen Liu vs Koblenz     Krywaniuk vs McClafferty     Waterman vs BC Buds     Burns vs Hong

Week 6 (April 25):

  The Big Show:  Burns vs McClafferty     Yen Liu vs BC Buds     Koblenz vs Hong     Krywaniuk vs Waterman

Week 7 (May 2):

  The Big Show:  Yen Liu vs Waterman     Hong vs BC Buds     Koblenz vs McClafferty     Krywaniuk vs Burns

Deadline, one hour after end of final match on May 2:

    The Big Show: Round Robin Winner Chooses Opponent for first round from 3rd or 4th place team. Carry-overs of 1 IMP of round-robin VP difference (maximum 0.5 IMPs per board played), now apply to ALL playoff matches. If no choice is made by the #1 team before the deadline, the assumption will be that they wish to start against the #4 team.

Week 8 (May 9):

    The Big Show: Playoff Semi-Finals: 1st vs choice, 2nd vs remaining

Week 9 (May 16):

    Big Show: The Final

Tuesday, May 16:

    First of Two Optional Swiss Qualifying Games for Season Twelve (7:00 - 9:30pm, BBO$5 per player).

    (60% score for teams that sign up if the game doesn't go--4 teams minimum). Open to other VVBC players as well.

Thursday, May 18:

    Second of Two Optional Swiss Qualifying Games for Season Twelve (7:00 - 9:30pm, BBO$5 per player).

    Play both and your best VP% score counts!

Thursday, May 18, 4pm:

    Sign-Up Deadline (link to be posted later) for Season Twelve.

Friday, May 19, 4pm:

    Season Twelve Format Reveal

Tuesday, May 23, 7pm:

    Season Twelve begins!

How To Set Up An IMP League Team Game On BBO

These instructions come from this May 1 BBO blog post.  They assume that you are using "v3" of BBO and not one of the old Flash versions.  (If you are, it is time to upgrade your app or browser.)  Before you set the game up, you will need to communicate with the other team captain, preferably a few days in advance, to decide all of the following:

ALERT: Both teams setting up a game at the same time can be unrecoverable.  BE SURE you agree beforehand who will set up the game.  Be sure that person has read this guide.

• Starting date and time: this should be Tuesday at 7pm but captains can agree to play at a different time.  If you do so, be sure to send a message to McBruce on BBO to let me know this is your intention.  We’re OK with playing matches up to 72 hours late (last possible start time, Friday @ 7pm).  After that, or if a match is played off the normal time without letting me know, VP penalties will apply to both teams: penalties that you don’t want.  If there is no communication between captains by Monday noon, let me know.  You may assume Tuesday at 7pm is agreed, and the other team will be in for large penalties if they do not show up.
• Number of boards: Default is 20 if both sides are OK with playing the whole match without a break and with the same opponents at each table.  If it is agreed to switch, you can play 10 and then 10 more in a different configuration.  You may also agree to play more total boards in a match, or slightly fewer.  We will accept matches of 16 boards as a minimum, of which 12 boards have to actually count.  If fewer than 12 boards are played, another segment to complete the minimum of 12 boards will need to be played as soon as convenient.
• Options: There are four options to be pre-decided by the team captains, each with a default:
  • Allow kibitzers: (default: yes).  This allows people to watch the match and make comments to other kibitzers, but not to the table.
  • Allow kibitzers to chat with players: (default: no).  This allows kibitzers to communicate with players in the match.  The security implications are obvious.  I strongly suggest that you not agree to this.  If you do agree, do not come to me with allegations of impropriety...
  • Allow Undos (default: no).  This allows a player to click a button which says he has made a mistake, and lets you back up the auction to the mistake.  Trouble is, if there are bids or plays after the undo point, it creates a mess of unauthorized information with the potential of no reasonable solution.  If you do agree to this, I suggest that you also agree to not count any board where the resolution is not agreed to by everyone, whether undos are allowed or not.  You would play that board but remove any swing from it in the reported results.  Another possible solution is to allow only one undo per player, to stop players from overusing them.  But the safest solution is to not allow them at all.
  • Barometer Scoring: (default: no).  This one tells both tables what the overall IMP score in the current segment is up to that point, and can be agreed to by both teams without much potential of trouble.  But some players have a tendency to distort matches by overconsidering what the score is and making wild bids to catch up if behind.  Some will realize that playing faster than the other table means they will not have all of the scoring information they feel they need, and slow play will result, especially if you have a state-of-the-match player at both tables!  Another consideration: there is a considerable skill difference between the top teams in each league and the bottom ones, and having to play eight more boards when the screen tells you you are losing 93-5 is not a lot of fun.
• Players and seats: The person arranging the match needs to know the BBO names of the eight players in the match, and which pairs are the N-S pairs, and which are the E-W pairs.  Some captains will demand "seating rights" and these captains have the right to seat their players last, after the first team chooses their seats, for half of the match.  If this is an issue, the first team listed in the schedule gets seating rights for the first segment and the other team gets second segment seating rights.  But in most cases, the whole match will be able to be played without a switch.
• Making up lost boards: A board scrubbed because of a problem with lost players or undos or a ruling without an easy resolution can be scrapped if all players agree.  The system will require that you play it out to a result, but you can report the result without that board.  If your match is going to be in two segments, and boards are scrubbed in the first segment, the second segment can be lengthened to make up the boards if both captains agree.  In matches of one segment, scrubbed boards are not made up unless fewer than 12 boards are actually played to a result.
• Who sets up the match? Team captains need to agree on this as well.  The default is that the first team listed in the schedule sets up the first segment, and the other team captain sets up the second segment if there is to be one.  However, BBO has a policy that brand new members (less than 100 logins or less than two weeks since signup) cannot create team matches: if this applies to you, you alone will be able to see the word newbie in your BBO profile.  Some matches will need to be created by players other than the captain.  Contact McBruce if all of your players on both teams are unable.

Here are the steps to set up a team game:

1. Log on to BBO, and click on Competitive, then Team Matches to get to the Team Matches area where all pending and running team matches are listed.
2. Click on the blue Create Team Game button.  This will bring up the Create Team Match dialog box, which has three tabs: Identification, Options, and Reserve Seats.
3. Start on the Identification tab.  In the Title box, type E*V*I*L (this should get people to take notice when these matches appear in the list!).  In the Description area, type something descriptive like MatchDay x (x being the week number) but add this string:  +private+  +nokill+  +slow+  , making sure that each directive is surrounded by a space outside the plus signs (inside the plus signs, no spaces and all lower case).  These three directives keep other players from joining, keep the match in the list until all seats are filled, and prevent BBO from deleting the match if there is a delay.  Next, in the Team 1 and Team 2 boxes, type the captains of the teams involved: Team 1 should be the team of the player setting up this segment.  Don’t create the match yet, there are two more tabs to fill.
4. Switch next to the Options tab, and enter the number of boards (default is 8, which you will almost certainly want to change).  Do not change the defaults of IMPs in Form of Scoring nor Use random deals under Deal Source.  In the Options tab at the bottom, the default is to check the first box, Allow Kibitzers, and uncheck the other three, but captains can agree on a different arrangement (see the details above).  Again, don’t stop here, there is one more tab to complete.
5. Switch next to the Reserve seats tab.  On this screen, players are placed as they would be before the match begins, all teammates at the same table before the crossover.  You need to know which players on both teams are partners and the other team captain may even provide a preferred seat for each player.  Be sure the spelling is correct for all players.  BBO names are not case-sensitive but spaces are allowed: McBruce is the same as mcbruce but different from Mc Bruce.
   
   Alert: one difficulty I have been having as I grab scores off of the listed results is in getting things backwards because the person setting up the match enters the other team at table one.  Please avoid this if you can; put your team at table one and the other guys at table two.
6. With all this done, click the button at the bottom to Create Team Match.  You’re ready to go!   You and the other players should be able to join by clicking on their reserved seats.  Others looking to join will not bother you.
7. BBO will give this team match a number from 1-9999 (it resets every few weeks).  Write down this number for later, you will need it when you report the results.
8. If I am online and see your match, I will update this page to indicate that the match is in progress.  Play well!
9. Remember that once all of your players are seated, you can’t be contacted via chat.  If you wait for a while it might be a good idea to have one person leave and see if they can figure out what is happening...
10. If it all goes horribly wrong and you need to restart, you must delete the team game via the Director tab, found near History and Account.  Click on Running Tournaments and click on the team game and select Cancel Tournament.  BBO will not let you join another team game if you have one already in progress, so this has to be done!  ALERT: If I find out that someone has killed a VVBC team game in progress with these instructions, that person’s team will be hit with a penalty they are not expecting.  This is for emergencies only; do not misuse.

E*V*I*L (Electronic Vancouver IMP League) Rules

1. The League consists of at most three divisions: The Big Show (exactly eight teams unless there is only one division), The Big Ticket (8, 10, 12, or 14 teams depending on registration), and The Big Deal (all the rest).  Each division will play seven matches over seven weeks during a season, following which there will be playoffs for the top four in each division over three weeks, and a signup period for the next season, with the third week consisting of the finals on the Tuesday and the play-in tournaments for the next season on the Thursday.  
   
   (Exceptions: In a four-team division, teams will play a triple round-robin over nine weeks with one playoff match.  In a six-team division, teams will play a full round robin over five weeks and repeat two opponents in the final two weeks.
   
   Matches will be played online on BBO and the two captains will organize the setting up of the match and the reporting of the results.  The event will be entirely free and will not be an ACBL event, played for fun and good competition.
2. Promotion to a new division in the next season: A team which has not added more than one player to a four-player team or added more than two to a team with more than four, is eligible to promote to a higher division, or compete in a play-in tournament, as follows:
   • The top three in The Big Show regular season and the fourth place team, if they win The Big Show playoff, are eligible for automatic qualification to The Big Show.
   • The Big Ticket regular season winner and playoff winner are also eligible for automatic promotion into The Big Show.
   • Other Big Show teams, top-half Big Ticket teams, The Big Deal regular season and playoff winner, and any new team with more than 2000 ACBL masterpoints as a team average, may register to play in the Big Show Play-In, a one evening tournament (format depends on how many teams register and how many spots are available), but MUST play in The Big Ticket if unsuccessful.  Any team qualified may choose instead to play in The Big Ticket instead of attempting to qualify for The Big Show.
   • Bottom half Big Ticket Teams, top half Big Deal teams, and new teams with more than 750 average masterpoints may register to play in the Big Ticket Play-In, which will be held only if needed to keep the Big Ticket to a maximum of 14 teams or to ensure the number of Big Ticket teams is even.  These teams may instead choose to play in The Big Deal without qualifying.
   • Other teams will play in The Big Deal division, which may extend registration until a suitable number of teams have registered.  The Big Deal will be a more casual division welcome to players not as familiar with team play.
3. It is the clear consensus of the dozens of registered players that matches be played on Tuesday Evening wherever possible, and that when not possible, they be played without significant delay.  Team captains are expected to communicate with the other captain and with the commissioner when they need to reschedule a match, and using a substitute player should always be the first option.  Penalties in VPs will be applied to teams at fault for matches that are unable to be played.  This is a weekly event, not a schedule-when-you-feel-like-it event.  Teams bending the rules repeatedly will lose significant VPs.
4. Communication between the Comissioner and between the team captains for match arranging will be done using the messaging service on BBO itself.  No lists of e-mails will appear online, only BBO names and the real names of the players.
5. Match arranging:
   Without prior agreement, matches are pre-set as follows:
   • the captain of the first team mentioned in the pairing sets up the table and invites players
   • start time: Tuesday at 7pm
   • number of boards: 20, in one segment
   • kibitzers allowed, but not allowed to chat with players
   • Undos not allowed
   • No barometer scoring
   Teams may agree, before Monday at noon, to vary some of these as follows:
   • If the designated captain is unable to, or unfamiliar with setting up a team game, or not playing that night, he can have one of his team members do it instead, or ask the other captain to set the game up.
   • If both captains agree by Monday at noon, the match can be played up to 72 hours late, starting before Friday at 7pm.  The commissioner must be informed of the rescheduled start time.  A captain who agrees to a schedule change may change his mind and insist on Tuesday evening if he contacts the commissioner and the other team captain by Monday at noon.
   • Teams may agree to play more or fewer boards before the match begins, but must plan to play a minimum of 16 boards, of which at least 12 must be completed to constitute a legal match.  (If a match breaks up before 12 boards are complete and cannot be continued at that time, another segment can be played later, preferably as soon as convenient, to complete the match.)  Matches can be held in two segments of equal numbers of boards, in order to switch players at halftime.  By prior agreement, any scrubbed boards in the first segment may be made up by extra boards in the second segment, if there is one.  Matches are scored on the (discrete VP scale) where every IMP counts for something, VP totals are given to two decimals, and there is a separate scale for any number of boards.  However, the number of total boards to play cannot be changed once a match starts, except to recover for scrubbed boards in a second segment.
   • Allowing kibitzers to chat with players, or allowing undos is a sure-fire method for generating complicated rulings.  By allowing either of these, you have to accept any ruling that may result.  Disallowing kibitzers entirely is an option that should be accepted without rancor if either captain wishes: by far the most common method of online cheating involves setting up a second account with which you kibitz yourself in real time.  Disallowing kibitzers forces cheaters into other methods.
   • If you allow barometer scoring, the slower table will have more information about the state of the match than the faster table.  It is easier to play 20 boards without knowing the exact score than to complete the last four or five when you know you are 75 IMPs down.  This is why it is suggested not to click this option.
   All matches need to be set up on BBO with the following parameters:
   • the Title line should include "E*V*I*L" (to make the match easy to find in the list)
   • the Description line must include " +private+ +nokill+ +slow+ " with spaces around the plus signs.  This ensures that outside players may not fill the seats without being invited, the team match stays in the BBO list until all seats are filled, and the team game is not abandoned by the system if there is a delay.
   • Form of scoring must be IMPs.
   • Deal source must be "Use random deals."
   Seating rights: captains should discuss this when arranging the match.  The first issue is whether one or both teams have more than four to play, or whether either team wishes to switch opponents at halftime.  The person who sets up the match should be given a list of players on the other team to invite, including which players are playing as partners, and those players are seated first.  If there is a second segment with different players, the same player sets up the match and seats his own team’s players first, then confirms in chat where to seat the other team’s players.  If the players have not discussed this, the match is played in one segment but players can be substituted in and out when the match is half done.
6. Conventions and regulations: The top division of the event will be run under the ACBL Open+ Convention Chart (Multi 2♦ is allowed), the second and third divisions will be run under the ACBL Open Convention Chart (no Multi).  ACBL Alerting and Announcing rules apply, except that players must be aware that in online bridge we alert and pre-explain our own conventional calls and do not alert or explain partner’s.  In fact, partner’s alerts and explanations are unseen until the end of the auction.
7. Substitutes, team rosters: A substitute cannot obviously stengthen a team, but if one is needed in an emergency, the commissioner will allow it and adjust the score of the match to reflect the fact that one team used a substitute that clearly made them much better.  Do not expect huge handicaps based on this rule: if the lowest-ranked team in the league needs a Grand Life Master for a match, the handicap will probably be about .75 IMPs per board.  We’re going to need subs to keep us going and most of them will not require an adjustment.  Teams may add new players or delete an unused player who wishes to play on another team.  Substitutes should not play in matches where the result will directly affect their regular team.
8. Commissioner, Director calls: McBruce will be the E*V*I*L commissioner, using his own BBO account "McBruce" (NOT the Virtual Club ID "VABC154971": mail sent there may be missed).  If needed, he may play as a substitute in a match.  If a match requires a Director, the team match setup doesn’t really allow for it, you will have to play the board out to a conclusion and record the details of the problem and let me deal with it later.  Players overusing this option may cost their team IMPs.
9. Reporting results: The Google Form set up to allow teams to report the results has been discontinued.  If your team match is correctly labelled as part of E*V*I*L I will have no trouble finding in on the list of team matches web page BBO creates automatically, and usually the standings will be updated by me shortly after a match ends.