[pat 260z]

When results are posted in an ACBL tournament there are 3 columns of scoring and different rankings in each column?

What do the A, B, & C columns mean?

Thanks

[Mbodell]

A, B, and C are the stratifications. Everyone is eligible to win A prizes. Only B and C players are eligible for B prizes, and only C players are eligible for C prizes. Generally 40% of the field (in each strat) get MP. I'm not sure online what the strat cut offs are (based on ACBL masterpoints). Generally in real life C cuts off either at 300 or 500/NLM or 750 and B cuts of somewhere between 1000 and 2000. So maybe 500/1500/open?

[mtvesuvius]

I don't think so Mike, because I have played in C, and using your givens Strat, I should be in A. I think it might have to do with your # of online masterpoints won. Fred or Ben or Uday can you help with this?

[ArtK78]

I am sure that the stratifications are not based on points won online. Otherwise Meckstroth and Rodwell would be in Flight C.

That said, I cannot locate anything on the BBO site that spells out the strats.

[uday]

Stratification is based on a combination of acbl points reported to us monthly by memphis, acbl/nonacbl points won on BBO, stardom. Strats are relative - a person on the cusp might be in A one day and B the other. Both players affect the stratification of the pair. IIRC, people we don't know anything about go into C.

[blackshoe]

Flights and strata are two different (although similar) things. In a flighted event with multiple sections, one flight would be designated "A", another "B", and so on. "A" players cannot play in a lower flighted section. Lower rated players can play up. Flighted games can also be stratified; this is how you get "A/X" in some games. The X is just a stratum for pairs who played up — they're not in flight A, even though they're playing in the flight A section.

In a stratified event, pairs of all levels play together. They are divided, by masterpoints or, as Uday points out, other criteria, into groups. The idea behind this, as I understand it, is to give weaker pairs more chances to get masterpoints.

In both cases, the division between the categories (flights or strata) is arbitrary - there is no official guideline. In a "beginner" game, for example, where no one has more than say 200 masterpoints, it would be ridiculous to set the divisions at 500/1500/open. In a stronger game, that might be a good division.

I run a small f2f game. We typically have 4 to 7 tables. If we have 5, I use two strats. If we have 6 or 7 I might use 2, I might use 3. If we have 4 tables, I don't stratify. Given the masterpoint levels of my usual players, the 2 strats usually work out to something like 1500/open, and 3 to NLM/1800/open, but the exact numbers depend on who's there on the day. I want to get the strats (in both fields, if we're doing a Mitchell) to be about equal in size (i.e., number of pairs).

There's nothing magical about the letters either. You could just as well use X, Y and Z as A, B, and C. It would, of course, drive the players nuts.