ckirko

I believe that speedball caters to rushed,poor quality bridge and the loss of many boards to time.4.5 minutes is not enough time to plan bidding and play strategy. No top pro players would play under such conditions. However,it has taken over the acbl matches - the most and the strongest play it,even though many are not happy with it. Can BBO experiment with some new formats,in order to get players back to the superior bridge of "normalball"? I have suggested an 18 bd. match with 6"/bd. This could nicely finish in under 2 hours. Perhaps $2 could be charged and somewhat higher MP's awarded. Save the pairs. ckirko

For UDAY who has been helpful in the past. I doubt that starting Prs. games 5 min early will do much. I would not call matches with 5.5-6 min. per bd. sloball - rather it is "normalball". A prs. match of 18 bds. would nicely fill out two hours. ckirko ;)

I like Helen 1 's suggestion - sets of matches of 12 bds. each,especially if 18 bd. matches are not feasible. ckirko

I would like to suggest some change in the acbl MP pairs format in an effort to get players back to this (superior) format from the (inferior,but dominating) speedball format.Perhaps a 18 bd. match with 6 min./bd (thus lasting 2 hours) might be attractive to players. ;) ;) ckirko