Alt Trophy 2025

 

 

CONDITIONS OF CONTEST

 

 

 

1. The Alt Trophy 2025 will be hosted in Bridge Base Online from 25th to 27th of March, 2025.

 

 

2. All participants are bound by the regulations contained within this document.

 

The Alt Organization emphasizes that all their events are on invitation.

 

Teams who are interested in getting such an invitation and have the idea they meet the standard of Alt’s various events, can apply for that.

 

There is no limit to the number of players on each team.

 

Alt reserves the right not to invite any team/player without giving a reason.

 

At the moment teams and/or players (also who have played in the Alt before) are applying, they agree on the reserved rights as mentioned.

 

Should a team be disqualified and/or withdrawn by themselves (before or during the event), no refund of the entry fees will be made.

 

 

3. Schedule of play: MIND THE TIME CHANGE IN THE U.S.

 

 Three days, four matches of 8 boards per day from 11:00 NY Time (16:00 Paris Time) till 15:30 NY Time (20:30 Paris Time).

 

 

Tuesday, 25 March 2025

11:00 Eastern Time / 16:00 Paris Time – Round 01 (8 boards)

12:10 Eastern Time / 17:10 Paris Time – Round 02 (8 boards)

13:20 Eastern Time / 18:20 Paris Time – Round 03 (8 boards)

14:30 Eastern Time / 19:30 Paris Time – Round 04 (8 boards)

 

Wednesday, 26 March 2025

11:00 Eastern Time / 16:00 Paris Time – Round 05 (8 boards)

12:10 Eastern Time / 17:10 Paris Time – Round 06 (8 boards)

13:20 Eastern Time / 18:20 Paris Time – Round 07 (8 boards)

14:30 Eastern Time / 19:30 Paris Time – Round 08 (8 boards)

 

Thursday, 27 March 2025

11:00 Eastern Time / 16:00 Paris Time – Semifinal 1/2 & Round 09 (8 boards)

12:10 Eastern Time / 17:10 Paris Time – Semifinal 2/2 & Round 10 (8 boards)

13:20 Eastern Time / 18:20 Paris Time – Final 1/2 & Round 11 (8 boards)

14:30 Eastern Time / 19:30 Paris Time – Final 2/2 & Round 12 (8 boards)

 

 

4. Format

 

All teams play 3 days x 4 rounds x 8 boards (32 boards per day, 96 boards in total)

 

The first two days: qualifier (Swiss/Danish or Round Robin), 8 rounds x 8 boards. The top 4 teams go to the semifinal, the rest continue playing Swiss/Danish for the 3rd place.

 

The last day: first two matches – semifinal (2 segments x 8 boards), the other teams play during semifinal 2 matches of Swiss/Danish. The winners of the semifinals go to the final (2 segments x 8 boards), the losers go “back” to the main field and together with other teams play 2 matches of Swiss/Danish for the 3rd place.

 

 

Qualifying Stage

 

The qualifying stage will be played either in the form of a “Swiss” or “Round Robin” and will consist of 64 boards played in 8 matches of 8 boards each. The results of each match shall be converted into Victory Points in accordance with the appropriate WBF IMP/VP scales (see p. 9 below).

 

In the event of two or more teams having the same number of Victory Points, their rankings will be determined as follows:

  • IMPs earned by the tied teams in the match(es) they played against each other. If the tie remains, then:
  • IMP quotient (total IMPs won divided by total IMPs lost) in all matches played by the tied teams.

 

The top 4 teams from the qualifying stage will advance to the knockout stage. The other teams continue playing four rounds (last two rounds – together with the losers of the semifinal) for the 3rd place.

 

Knockout Stage

 

After the end of Round 8 of the qualifying stage the top ranked team should choose its opponent for the semifinal from the teams placed 3rd and 4th.  The captain will inform about this choice via TD and/or will mail to info@netbridge.online within half an hour after the qualifying stage is finished. If not or late then matches will be: 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3.

 

The losers of the semifinal will return to the main field with their score after Round 8 of the qualifying stage + 26 VP and will play two rounds of Swiss/Danish for the 3rd place.

 

Semifinal and final will be played over 2 separate segments of 8 boards each with possible change of the line-up after 8 boards (see p. 5 below).

 

There will be the following carry over:

  • in the semifinal no. 1 – 2 get a carry over of 6.1 – 3.1 IMP respectively;
  • in the final the higher ranked team in the qualifying stage gets a carry over of 0.1 IMP as a tiebreaker.

 

 

5. Line-Up

 

All 8-board matches/segments will be played without change of the line-up; unless there is a serious reason for that, to be decided by the TD.

 

The teams are expected to submit their line-up as soon as practical but in any case not later than 30 minutes before the start of the round.

 

Teams who infringe this regulation will be subject to VP penalties according to this scale:

  • 1st occasion – warning;
  • 2nd and any subsequent occasion – 0.5 VP penalty.

 

The line-up must be submitted through the line-up web utility. All captains will be provided with the respective link and the password.

 

It is possible to change the submitted line-up but not later than 15 minutes before the start of the round.

 

The line-up is completely blind and will not be published before the start of the round.

 

 

6. Running the matches

 

All players must be online and logged in to Bridge Base Online five minutes before the start of the round at the latest.

 

Players must have their official name on their BBO profile; ‘Private’ is not allowed. Violations of this regulation will be subject to VP penalties according to this scale:

  • first occasion – warning
  • second and any subsequent occasion – 0.5 VP penalty for each match for each player without official name on BBO profile.

 

The Tournament Director will create the tables and send invitations to the players in accordance with the line-ups submitted. Players are requested to accept the invitation immediately upon receipt.

 

All tables of the same group will play the same boards.

 

The table settings will NOT allow kibitzers. Some selected matches will be shown in the BBO VUGRAPH AREA with 30 minute DELAY.

 

Undo and claiming: Alt Team encourages players to accept an opponent’s undo in obvious misclick situations during bidding as well as play. In case such undo is refused a player gets one ’challenge‘ whereby the TD can be called to the table. Play must halt until the TD arrives. The TD will assess the situation, and if he or she believes the undo is justified by an obvious misclick that no reasonable player should refuse, the undo has to be accepted by the opponents.

 

Players alert and explain their own calls. Calls must be alerted before entering them. If you don’t alert before making your call, your opponent may think that it is natural, make his or her call, then see the alert, and legitimately ask for an undo in case the information changes their perspective.

 

If players explain calls via chat they should set the recipients to Opponents, not Table, so that partner will not see the explanation. The best way is to explain calls via the BBO alert mechanism (see above).

 

Players may not consult their own convention card nor use any aids to their memory or calculation or technique between the commencement of the auction and the end of play. They only are permitted to consult a described defense against the Multi convention.

 

The gravest possible offence is for a partnership to exchange information through prearranged methods of communication other than those sanctioned by the Laws of Bridge, or to gain information through self-kibitzing.

 

If players notice highly suspicious calls or plays, we encourage you to send a report to the organizers at info@netbridge.online. We will not reveal your name as source.

 

Players are expected to finish 8 boards within 1 hour. The Tournament Director may cancel unplayed boards if in his or her opinion a delay in finishing the match in the allotted time would interfere with smooth running of the competition.

 

 

7. Request of the TD ruling

 

This tournament will of course be played in the most respectful way possible. Fun and good bridge are paramount. Alt Team relies on reluctance and restraint to call the Director. Should a team find a serious cause for demanding a ruling, then this will only be dealt with if the captain of the team announces this via email within 45 minutes after the last board played (with an explanation and a request for a specific adjustment of the score). Netbridge will inform the other team and give that team the opportunity (through its captain) to respond via an email within 45 minutes after being informed. The protest will be decided by a qualified director; or world class player; no further appeal will be possible after his/her decision.

 

To submit protests, you should send email to: info@netbridge.online

 

 

8. These Regulations may be amended and augmented at the discretion of the organizing committee if circumstances so warrant so as to ensure the smooth, efficient and enjoyable running of the tournament.

 

Although this tournament isn't aligenced with any bridge federation we will cooperate and provide them with all the information necessary to detect and prevent cheating.

 

 

9. The WBF Victory Points scale for 8 boards:

 

IMP

VP

 

IMP

VP

0

10.00

10.00

 

22

16.90

3.10

1

10.44

9.56

 

23

17.11

2.89

2

10.86

9.14

 

24

17.31

2.69

3

11.27

8.73

 

25

17.50

2.50

4

11.67

8.33

 

26

17.69

2.31

5

12.05

7.95

 

27

17.87

2.13

6

12.42

7.58

 

28

18.04

1.96

7

12.77

7.23

 

29

18.21

1.79

8

13.12

6.88

 

30

18.37

1.63

9

13.45

6.55

 

31

18.53

1.47

10

13.78

6.22

 

32

18.68

1.32

11

14.09

5.91

 

33

18.83

1.17

12

14.39

5.61

 

34

18.97

1.03

13

14.68

5.32

 

35

19.11

0.89

14

14.96

5.04

 

36

19.24

0.76

15

15.23

4.77

 

37

19.37

0.63

16

15.50

4.50

 

38

19.50

0.50

17

15.75

4.25

 

39

19.62

0.38

18

16.00

4.00

 

40

19.74

0.26

19

16.23

3.77

 

41

19.85

0.15

20

16.46

3.54

 

42

19.95

0.05

21

16.68

3.32

 

43

20.00

0.00

 

 

Last update: February 17, 2025