Bridge Scoring – an Introductory Outline ...

SAME TOTAL POINTS BUT DIFFERENT PERCENTAGES !?!

There have been some recent queries about weekly results that show two pairs with the same total point score but different percentages, and so different placings for the overall result. A brief explanation of the points awarded for each hand is required to understand how the percentages are calculated, and hence why these percentage differences occur.

1.     Every board isn’t necessarily played by the same number of pairs – SIT OUTs is one obvious reason why. So, on a 6-table night for example, some boards will be played by 5 pairs and some boards played by only 4 pairs. The ‘Skip’ means that no pairs play 6 boards.

2.     Each pair gets a point allocation for their play of a hand, depending on whether they are a ‘top’, 2nd top, etc. If there are 5 pairs playing a board, then the point scores available are 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 (the ‘top’ pair get the 8). But if there are only 4 pairs playing a particular board, then the scores available are 0, 2, 4, 6.

3.     So, depending on which boards each pair plays, the total maximum points available for each pair might be different. Some pairs will play for a total maximum of 128 (e.g. 16 boards x 8 max), but others will only play for a maximum possible of 120 (e.g. 12 boards x 8 pts max PLUS 4 boards x 6 pts max = 120).

4.     The final percentages are worked out by calculating the total points for each pair as a percentage of the maximum they could have got. If two pairs both received 90 pts total score for the night, one pair might have only had 120 points max available while the other might have had 128.

90 out of 120 is a higher percentage (75.0%) than 90 out of 128 (70.3%).

PREVIOUS TIPS & EXPLANATIONS

COUNTING CARDS ... CLICK HERE

A NOTE REGARDING TRAVELERS ... CLICK HERE

HOWELL EXPLAINED ... CLICK HERE