The Online Team League is held on Bridge Base Online and is open to CBF members. We hope that we will be able to issue masterpoints this year – details to be finalized.
B Division – Introduction to Team League play!
- A zoom tutorial, if required, may be held in the first week of October to go over the logistics of playing a team game on-line as well as the strategy involved in team play for those new to this style of bridge. (the zoom link will be sent to the registered teams as well as posted on the CBF website.)
- Round Robin format of 6 to 9 weeks with a playoff (completed by Dec. 31, 2024)
- A great opportunity to practice for the Canadian Championship Round Robin qualifying tournament in January 2025.
- Standard Contest Rules apply.
Entry Fees and Prizes
For each of the two divisions: Open, B (under 2,000)
| Division | Team Entry Fee | Winning Team Prize |
| Open | $240 | $480 |
| B | $80 | $160 |
Registration
- Registration deadline is September 30, 2024.
- Should fewer than 6 teams register for any division, that division will be cancelled. Teams registered will have the option of joining another division.
- If anyone on a team has CBF credits, please email Catherine Kinsella (catherine@cbf.ca) for a refund of that portion of the registration fee.
Contest Rules
- There will be 2 divisions if there are sufficient entries: Open, B (under 2,000 masterpoints). Masterpoints as of September 2024 ACBL report.
- For each division, all players on the team must have masterpoints below the level specified as of their September 2024 ACBL report.
- Round robin matches will be 20 Boards in length.
- WBF 20-point VP scale will be used.
- Each team can have a maximum of 8 players. If a team has fewer than 8 members, they may use a substitute. (B Division – Maximum of 6 players)
- A substitute can play for one team only.
- All participants must be CBF members and in good standing with the CBF.
- ACBL Open+ chart is allowed for the A, Open chart for the B. Please make sure each partnership has a card filled out and available on BBO. Each person is required to self-alert any bids requiring an alert.
- Convention cards and BBO handles should be submitted to team-info@cbf.ca. These will be posted online on the CBF website.
- If a pair that uses a convention which requires a defense is scheduled to play a match, the team captain is required to notify the other team’s captain at least 72 hours ahead of their match.
- CBF Zero Tolerance rules apply with respect to behaviour while playing and for all communications to do with the Online Team League, including emails.
- If a player is disconnected for any reason and is unable to rejoin the match within 15 minutes, the match is terminated unless the players agree to wait longer. If 15 or more boards have been compared, then the result of the match is official. If less than 15 boards have been compared, then the remainder of the match needs to be rescheduled and the score of any boards compared at both tables will stand.
- A team which is deemed to forfeit a match shall score zero Victory Points for that match. The team winning the forfeited match will receive the greater score between: (a) 12 VP, (b) the teams average, and (c) the average score obtained by all the other opponents against the team in default.
- Each member of the team must play at least one third of the Round Robin to qualify to play in the playoffs.
Substitution Rules
- If needed, a team that has fewer than 8(6) members may use one substitute player for a match. The substitute must meet the criteria of the flight they are playing in.
- No substitution is allowed in the middle of a match.
- Substitutes are not allowed in the playoffs.
- If a substitute is needed, the team captain must, before the match, email Catherine Kinsella at catherine@cbf.ca with the identity of the substitute. The other team must be notified of the substitute and the card being used.
- When entering the results, the team captain can select “substitute” for that player.
Schedule
- The Round Robin will start mid October with the first match date the weekend of October 12/13, 2024.
- The draw and match schedules will be published shortly after the registration deadline.
- The default time for matches will be:
Open: Sundays 1pm, B: Saturdays 1pm. All times are Eastern. - Should one or both teams wish to play the match at a different time than originally scheduled, the two team captains will be responsible for agreeing on a new match time which ideally is earlier than the originally scheduled time for the match, but in no case later than 10 days after the originally scheduled time. If the match is scheduled after the original date, Catherine Kinsella must be notified with the new date, otherwise a default will be entered.
- The last match can not be rescheduled for after the match date.
- If one, or both teams, is unable to play a match by its originally scheduled time or are unable to reschedule within the period allowed, the team(s) will be considered in default and forfeit the match.
Match Set Up
- The two team captains are responsible for agreeing on who will set up the match on BBO, and what parameters to use.
- There are no seating rights during the round robin. Ideally, when the match is set up, each captain should provide their line-up indicating who will be sitting EW and NS, and their BBO handles.
- If either captain is not happy with the seating arrangement, they can email Catherine Kinsella (catherine@cbf.ca) at least 12 hours before the match and she will randomly assign seats.
- How to set up a Team Match on BBO – See this Document.
Recommended Match Parameters
The following match set up parameters are the default even though the two captains may mutually agree to a different set up:
- Undos – not allowed.
- Kibitzers – not allowed.
- Barometer scoring – Off/Unchecked. (So that play at each table is unaffected by the current score in the match).
Irregularities During Play
There will be no Directors for this event. If something happens during the match that you need recourse for:
- A situation where a scoring adjustment may be required — For example a bid that was not explained properly (please note that convention cards are required to be posted, so there should not be many of these complaints), hesitations (as this is an online event, please be careful about hesitation complaints. There are many reasons why a hesitation may happen online that have nothing to do with the actual bid) etc. Please email canbridge4009@gmail.com and a players committee (Tournament Ruling Committee) will be formed to consider the issue. A penalty of 3VPs may be charged for frivolous complaints.
- An ethics situation – please send a complete description to recorder@cbf.ca.
- Zero Tolerance – please email catherine@cbf.ca.
You can refer to our Complaint Regulations & Procedures. (Under the ‘Complaints’ tab).
Play-Off Rules 2024/25
Teams will qualify for the playoffs as follows:
(Subject to change depending on the number of teams registered.)
- The top four teams from each division will qualify for the playoffs.
- The team finishing first in each division will choose from the 3rd and 4th place teams in the other division. The second-place team will play the 3rd or 4th place team from the other division that was not chosen.
- The match played by 1st place in Division 1 is designated the 1A match and similarly 2A for match played by the 1st place team in Division 2. The second-place matches are designated 1B for the match between 2nd place in Division 1 vs. their opponent and 2B is between 2nd place in division 2 vs. their opponent.
- In the semi-final, the winner of the 1A match plays the winner of the 2B match. The winner of the 1B match plays the winner of the 2A match.
Round Robin Tie-Breaking Formula
- A two-way tie is broken in the following order:
- All matches played will be scored on the basis of:
WIN – 1 point; TIE – ½ point; LOSS – 0 points. - The result of the match between the tied teams.
- A 5-board playoff between the tied teams.
If still tied after five boards, continuing sets of five boards will be played until the tie is broken.
- All matches played will be scored on the basis of:
- A multi-tie is broken by:
- All matches played will be scored on the basis of:
WIN – 1 point; TIE – ½ point; LOSS – 0 points. - Matches played between all tied teams will be scored on the basis of 2a).
- Victory Points of matches between all tied teams.
- In the event a multi-tie is reduced in number by one of the foregoing steps, only the remaining teams should be considered in tie-breaking procedures for succeeding steps. In the event a multi-tie is reduced to two teams, the procedures for two team ties are applied.
- All matches played will be scored on the basis of:
Open Flight
- Matches will be 40 boards.
- Round of 8 (should be completed by TBD.
- Semi final should be completed by TBD.
- Final should be completed by TBD.
General
- There is no carry over from the round robin stage.
- The playoff rounds are 40 board matches that are played in two halves (20 boards each). Each half may be played on a different day.
- Each member of the team must play at least one half of each level of the playoffs to qualify for the next round and one half of the final match.
- In case of a tie at the end of a playoff match, the teams will play a 4-board playoff. If still tied at the end of the extra boards, continuing sets of extra 4 boards will be played until the tie is broken.
Details of Previous Years
Past Winners
| 2023-2024 | Open Division: Shigang Liang, Jianfeng Luo, Terry Du, Kole Meng, Qian Ren, Michael Wang, Candice Huang, Cindy He B Division: Jennifer Hong, Jinmei Lou, Juan Xu, Helen Chang, Rick Wu, Diana Jing, Jinmei Lou |
| 2022-2023 | Open Division: Kamel Fergani, Marc-André Fourcaudot, Sondra Blank, Nicolas L’écuyer, Zygmunt Marcinski, Michel Lorber, Judith Gartaganis, Nicholas Gartaganis |
| 2021-2022 | Open Division: Yimei Cao, Kole Meng, Rose Hou, Yan Wang B Division: Robert Pratt, Kevin Strangway, Ping Ding, Jane Fyfe C Division: Clarende Duby, John Prance, Christoph Wuerscher, Howard Coren |
| 2020-2021 | Open Division: Uday Maitra, Terrence Rego, Uttam Gupta, Koushik Mukherjee, Soumalya Ghosh, Shubham Acharya B Division: Ray Hornby, Marielle Brentnall, John Hindle, Gongwei He, Len Doerksen C Division: Gloria Woloshyn, Marsha Kimelman, Michael Szestopalow, Gongwei He |
| 2019-2020 | Open Division: Nader Hanna, John Rayner, Joan Eaton, Karen Cumpstone, John Carruthers, Martin Kirr |
| 2018-2019 | Open Division: 1/2 Gordon Campbell, Ian Findlay, Susan Culham, Peter Jones 1/2 Nader Hanna, John Rayner, Joan Eaton, Karen Cumpstone, Katie Thorpe, Martin Kirr |
| 2017-2018 | Open Division: Trish Malazdrewicz, Gerardo Malazdrewicz, Bilgin Batman, Jim Mathers, John Gillespie, Carole Berry Restricted Division: Susan Culham, Lorna McDonald, Rhonda Foster, Peter Jones |
| 2016-2017 | Open Division: Boris Baran, Jim McAvoy, George Mittelman, Robert Lebi,Doug Fraser, Sandra Fraser, Fred Pollack – Kamel Fergani 0-2500 Division: Bryant Town, Andrew Speers, Jason Dufault, Gary Karst, David Johnson, Mike D’Aguiar |
| 2015-2016 | Open Division: Trish Malazdrewicz, Gerardo Malazdrewicz, Jim Mathers, Bilgin Batman – James Kirby, Karl Hicks Women Division: Sylvia Summers, Brenda Bryant, Pamela Nisbet, Linda Wynston, Hazel Wolpert, Barbara Saltsman |