Should we change the matches to IMPs?

[yleexotee]

One issue we have is that MP tables are not played as often so this occasionally results in having to wait a long time to score a match. On the other hand MPs are the traditional scoring method for pairs, despite what it might look like on BBO. Thoughts anyone?

[OliverC]

I guess using Cross-IMPs isn't a problem. Easy enough to change the "Ladder Help" to make the scoring method optional. I think the biggest problem is going to be getting enough Pairs signed up to make a Ladder viable again. Thornbury and Jojah have been on their own for well over a week, now.

[bAbsG]

Might be an idea to have BBO_IAC leave a mail message for everyone to remind them to sign up.  I have a feeling that not many come to this forum.

[OliverC]

It's at the top of the News section on the front page of the site

[bAbsG]

Yes sensei - but I also have a feeling that many do not come to the IAC site either.    Just a thought.

[kenberg]

I will try to join in this. As is probably apparent from other things I have said, my preferred environment lies somewhere between on the one hand  a pairs ladder with rules and rankings  and, on the other hand, a random pick-up with nobody knowing what agreements they have or how the agreements are played.  But I will give this some thought.

As to imps or mps, I don't much care but a thought occurs to me. It could be interesting to give an imp score computed as follows: The robots, unseen, play the hand.  The board would then be imp scored by comparison with the robots. So, if we are in 3H off one non-vul, and the robots are in 3H making, then the imp score is 5 for the defending side. It's not that the robots are perfect, certainly they are not, but they usually are not totally nuts. Whether this can be easily done I don't know.

[OliverC]

As Joe said, the problem with MP scoring is that far fewer people use it, so you're often waiting around for hours until there are enough comparisons on all the boards you're played in a match to get a reliable result. Cross-IMPs is MUCH quicker.


At the end of the day, Matchpoints is the normal form of scoring for Pairs, but NOT on BBO. We (IAC) don't really care what the actual SCORE was, just the win/lose result, so really it doesn't matter to us what the form of scoring used was (and we wouldn't know if two pairs decided to use Cross-IMPs rather than MP's anyway, as long as they were both happy with the validity of the result.

[kenberg]

So I guess there should be a default. If one pair wants imps and the other pair wants mps, and if neither pair will give in, then the match is scored in the default manner.  So set mps as the default and let everyone know that if both  pairs prefer imps then they are free to use imps. Or total points, for that matter, as long s they agree.

[OliverC]

Right. I've amended the rules slightly to explain that MP's or Cross-IMPs are both acceptable methods, but both Pairs must agree. If no agreement, then MP Scoring used.