Player Numbers

[Califdude]

Sometimes a tournament will ask for my player number. As far as i know I don't have one. Are they in use? Do I need one for any reason? If so, how do I get one? Thank you.

[awm]

Some tournaments are run by a national bridge organization. These frequently award masterpoints in that national bridge organization's scheme.

 

Masterpoints are basically points that accumulate every time you place well in an event, which you can use to measure how well you've done over time. They are not exactly a rating system but nonetheless some people care about collecting them. In some national organizations the points decay at some rate (i.e. by half each year) and in others they simply keep adding. Occasionally having a bunch of masterpoints will have some perk associated like being seeded in an event or getting some title or certificate (like "life master").

 

It is worth noting that BBO automatically scores up "BBO masterpoints" for most tourneys that you play in, and this is the meaning of the little numbers or letters beside people's names (bigger "card" means more points).

 

In any case, if you are a member of the appropriate organization (ACBL in the united states) and want to have your masterpoints recorded when you play in one of their tournaments, then you need to enter your player number when you play. If/when you join such an organization they will give you a player number. If "Califdude" implies you are from California, then you can join your national organization (ACBL) by going to their web page.

 

You can continue to ignore the request for player number of course, and "BBO masterpoints" will still accumulate, and you can still play in their tourneys (as long as you are well-behaved :))