2013 Masterpoint Races
Tournament Partnership Requests
A partnership page has been added to the Unit 161 site. The purpose of the page is to assist players at Unit 161 sponsored tournaments. Please see the links at the top of the page. Partnerships will access the new page. Tournaments provides information on Unit 161 tournaments.
The Partnership page provides a place for you to post your partnership request for upcoming tournaments. After your request has been filled, please return to the page and delete your request. You will be asked for a password to insure that only yourself can delete the request.
Unit Team Championship
The Unit Team Championship will take place on one of the first two Saturday's in October, rotating between Hot Springs Village and Little Rock. Since the NAP Unit Championship is typically an October event hosted by LR or HSV then the host of the Unit Team Championship will be the club NOT hosting the NAP that year. Therefore, LR will host in 2013, 15, 17, etc. and HSV 2014-16-18 etc. There will be two rounds of play. To encourage lower strata involvement and enthusiasm, we will use the 3-2-1 point spread whereby each team can have no more than 8 points spread as follows: A=2000+ MP = 3 points, B=500-<2000 MP = 2 points, and C=0-<500 MP = 1 point. Each team is limited to only one A player. Individuals' total number of masterpoints is determined as of April 1. Club qualifications must be held before August 30. If 1-4 teams participate in qualification, one team will compete in the Unit team Championship; if 5-8 teams participate in qualification, then two teams will compete; with more than 8 teams participating, three teams will compete.
The Little Rock Bridge House will host the Unit Team Finals in October 2013. Details to follow.
North American Pairs (NAP)
North American Pairs (NAP) - Conditions of Contest
The NAP club level qualifying takes place in June, July & August.
Unit Finals starting 2013:
The NAP BC Unit finals for 2013 will be held between 9-1-2013 and 1-1-2014 at the Village Card Club in Hot Springs Village, details to follow.
As usual, because of the large geographic area that the unit covers, the Jonesboro will also have a unit qualifying site. Due to the lower attendance at the Unit NAP BC final in Jonesboro, Flight C will be separate as long as the separation into two flights does not cause either to be below 5 tables.
Flight A will not have a separate unit final; they may play in the unit final per unit guidelines. NAP B/C Unit Finals will be flighted whereby Flight A pairs and flight B pairs will play together. The EW and NS A pairs will be as evenly divided as possible. (This format actually HELPS flight B players to earn more points and DOES NOT IMPACT the number of flight B teams that qualify for the District level competition.) Flight C will play by themselves, i.e. flighted instead of stratified, instead of with flight B and flight A, even though this means a reduction in masterpoints available by 20% and a reduction in 50% in gold points. The rationale for this is that that unit board believes that flight C participants would prefer not to play against flight A players in this event even if it costs them possible master points. NOTICE - As a special incentive to compete, Unit 161 is awarding a stipend of $100 to each B and C pair that qualifies in the Unit Round and then also competes in the District Level competition.
IMPORTANT CHANGE for 2013: The NAOP Unit finals has been changed to an optional event; players who qualify at club level can play in the District finals without playing in the unit finals.
District Finals (Unit qualifying in 2012):
District BC finals will be in January 2013 in Jackson, MS - January 11 - 13. The flight A District finals were held at the Tunica Regional in September. At the District level, in Districts with four qualifiers, the 1st place qualifiers will receive $700 per person and the 2nd place qualifiers will receive $300 per person. Even if you do not win at the District level you may still win the stipends to attend the Nationals. In the past few years some of the top qualifiers at the District level have not been able to attend the Nationals so the next pair automatically moves up. Flights for this exciting event are determined by masterpoints as of 2012 June cycle. ( The June masterpoint cycle is run by ACBL data processing in May 2012. Any points won but not included in this cycle do not affect masterpoint eligibility.) Why is it exciting?
Because there are 4 levels to this event, club-unit-district-national, the masterpoint awards are quite large compared to other events you might play in, especially for flight BC players.
C Level 0 - 500 AND must be a Non-Life Master
B Level 0-2000
A Level Open to all Levels
National Finals (Unit qualifying in 2012) :
Spring 2013 NABC St. Louis, Missouri
Grand National Teams
WIN GOLD POINTS !!
The Little Rock Bridge House will host the Grand National Teams Unit Qualifying event, between January 1 and April 1, 2013. Details to follow:
There will be 3 strata (all masterpoints as of 9-1-2012)
C Strata: 0-500 NLM
B Strata: 0-2000
A Strata: 0-5000
60% of all teams in EACH strata will qualify for the District 10 Qualifying event, to be held in Jackson, Ms. April 26-28, 2013. All teams that qualify in Unit and compete in Jackson will be paid $200 by the Unit 161. If your team wins your strata in Jackson, the District will pay each player a minimum of $350 to compete at the Summer Nationals in Atlanta in August 2014. Get your team together so you can have fun and win GOLD !!
Click Here to view District 10 Conditions of Contest
Education Liaison
Attention Unit 161 clubs: The Education Liaison
from the Unit 161 Board:
Tony Gunn
107 Maddox Place
Hot Springs, AR 71913
501-767-2871
The primary functions of the Educational Liaison are:
Promote Educational Programs throughout the Unit at the Unit and Club Level.
Administer the Unit’s Educational reimbursement policy, and to help coordinate with the District their Educational reimbursement policy.
Use the available resources of the ACBL to develop a cadre of accredited Bridge Teachers.
Develop and implement programs for the advancement and improvement of teaching techniques.
Assist Clubs in the development and implementation of New Player Development programs.