IMP Scoring with Butler Scoring

[AllenPas]

I'd like to see BBO change from IMP Scoring to IMP Scoring, with Butler Scoring.

 

http://www.bridgewebs.com/westmids/What%20is%20Butler%20Scoring.pdf

 

I'm tired of bidding and making 4H for 420 points, and getting -1 or -2 IMPs, because an opp bid 5C when vulnerable going down 4 for 1100 points.

 

What do you think?

[barmar]

This has been discussed a number of times in the past. Use the "Search" page to search for butler or datum in the "Bridge Base Online Discussion" section of the forums and you'll find previous threads.

 

Cross-IMP is generally considered better than Butler. Butler was a crutch from the days when games were scored by hand, so calculating cross-IMPs would be too time-consuming for directors. Once computers took over the scoring process, the more accurate cross-IMP method has become standard. It makes scoring of IMP Pairs much more like scoring of IMP Teams games.

 

Remember, your absolute score doesn't really matter, all that matters is how it compares to other players in the tourney. Everyone else (except the pair playing against the one that bid 5♣) also got -2 IMPs. If Butler were being used, you would get a positive score, but so would all those other pairs, so it wouldn't change your ranking much. And the pair who got the 1100 gift would still get a huge score against the datum.

[johnu]

Remember, your absolute score doesn't really matter, all that matters is how it compares to other players in the tourney. Everyone else (except the pair playing against the one that bid 5♣) also got -2 IMPs. If Butler were being used, you would get a positive score, but so would all those other pairs, so it wouldn't change your ranking much. And the pair who got the 1100 gift would still get a huge score against the datum.

 

Absolute score doesn't matter that much assuming everybody plays the same boards in the same direction. Tossing out the highest and lowest score (or couple of scores) would give other pairs a 0 imp score, and the 5♣ pairs would still get the same score (if they are the only oddity)