I’d like to give you an introduction to masterpoints and the work involved to have them appear in your masterpoint record.
As in other countries the Australian Bridge Federation (ABF) coordinates a masterpoint scheme. Its three main goals are to:
- Stimulate interest in Contract Bridge,
- Provide a means of measuring player achievements, and
- Assist with the financing of the ABF’s national and international commitments.
There are three main types of masterpoints you will earn: Green, Red and Gold. Once you get beyond 50MP you will start to need Red and/or Gold points to progress.
Prior to finalising all points, I have to make sure everyone who played that month put in the correct ABF number. With over 55 sections per month, that’s a lot of checking to be done.
Green points:
These are the usual points won during an ordinary club session. They cost the club $1.85 per point. I have until 4pm on the 1st of the month to upload these points to the ABF website. To upload these points I have to go to a certain place in the scoring program, find every green point section and choose each section to make a file This can take less than 10 seconds or 20 minutes if there have been incorrect ABF numbers entered or no numbers, which i need to correct and then rescore the session. After the file is made I go to the ABF site, enter a password and upload the file. This whole process is usually an easy task which takes less than 10 minutes, more if there are corrections to scoring or ABF numbers, but usually about 10 minutes. They show up in your ABF personal account immediately (under the bottom line if it's before 4pm on the first of the month). Up until today, in this year, our club has submitted 2073.5 green Points for our members and visitors.
Red points:
These are points you earn in events such as special days, congresses, interclub events, some state events, and random days listed in the diary as ‘(R)’. They cost the club $1.40 per point.
I have until 4 pm on the last calendar day of the month to upload club red points to the ABF website but there is a process I must go through before I am allowed to upload them. After checking names and ABF numbers for players, I go into each red point section and make a PDF copy of the results before saving it onto the computer.
Then I apply for an Authorisation Number (AN) for each section played by sending an email to the NSWBA Masterpoints Secretary with the details of the section (how many tables; number of boards in play; how many rounds; how many boards per round and movement type). For example this might look like “Monday 5-10-18: Red Section; 9 TABLES; 27 Boards in play; 9 Rounds; 3 boards per round; Straight Mitchell with a sit-out” (with a separate explanation for the Blue section and another for the Green section). On most of these special or random days where there is a red point event, all sections are red points, so I must send this email with that information for each section. Going back through each section to get this information is a time consuming process which I must do at the club when there are no distractions. This process can take hours or it could take only 30 minutes, it depends on how many sections there are to be authorised and how many corrections need to be done.
I must get this to the NSWBA Masterpoint Secretary by the 20th of the month. He then goes through it and checks the allocation of points. If he is satisfied they are correct, he issues an AN and sends it to me. I can then make a masterpoint file for the event(s), apply the AN and upload to the ABF site. These points will show up on your personal ABF site under the bottom line until he checks it again and allows it to be verified. In October alone there were nearly 30 sections to finalise and upload.
Red points are also earned on state-wide or nation-wide events or qualifying events played at the club or elsewhere such as the State Open Pairs/Teams qualifier events, Australia-Wide Pairs and Bridge for Brains. Some of these are masterpointed by the state or nation-wide event coordinator and we send in our results to the coordinator. In many cases it may be that these red points are only awarded when the state or nation-wide event is resolved.
Up until today, in this year, our club has submitted 507.17 red Points for our members and visitors.
Gold points:
Gold Points cost the club $1.20 per point earned at our club. In the club gold masterpoints are currently only earned in the ABF GNOT (Gold Point Teams) qualifier. Gold Points are also earned in big ABF events such as Gold Coast and Coffs Harbour Congresses. These national events generally have sections for various levels of points: Novice (<100MP), Restricted (<300), Intermediate (<750) and Open are popular but there are also sometimes events for those with even lower MP levels, so there is no need to be scared that you’ll have to play against the ‘big guns’.
The pride and friendship among club members at these big events is amazing! It is also a great way to earn gold points. Congresses are a relaxing (yes it is relaxing! - most of the time!) and inspiring way to get to know members you don't normally play with or against; take a break away from home; earn points; increase your learning of bridge and generally have a lot of FUN!
Gold points can only be uploaded by the national or state event conveners after the director has forwarded them the file and, if a club qualifier, the club has paid the invoice for the points. This can take several weeks if not months. If the gold point event is a qualifier, the points are not uploaded until after the final which could be six months later.
Other things about masterpoints:
If there is an event for ‘under 100 MP players’' or any 'under such and such' category, the directors should find the median and apply that factor to the score. I have to check each of these events and if the director has not done this, I must re-open the section and rescore it.
If a section has not played at least 24 boards (ignoring a sit-out) the whole section has to be factored down by the percentage applicable. To do this I re-open the section and apply the factor before recalculating the scores and applying for the AN. For example if a section played 20 boards the factor is 83.3% (20/24).
The more players in the section the more points the winners will earn. For example if there are 7 tables and 28 boards, there would be .42 points for 1st place (.21 for each NS/EW winner); .30 points for 2nd (.15 each player) & .22 points for third (.11 each player); if there are 2 tables and it is a Howell, there will be .20 to divide up between the first two place getters (.12 for each 1st place winner & .08 for each 2nd place player).
This information may seem irrelevant to many players but it explains why there may be a delay in your points. Sometimes the delay between applying for the AN and uploading the red points is months, other times it is fairly quick – maybe just a week or so.
Some multi-session events such as in congresses also earn outright masterpoints which are a bonus earned by placing in the top third (generally) of the multi-session field - in addition to the points earned in each session.
As Masterpoints Secretary I appreciate your patience with this process and I am trying to do a quicker job but sometimes it is out of my control. I have had many months where mistakes have been made but I am learning each month about new movements and processes that help me do it correctly.
It is best if you email me on
I hope this clears up some questions many of you have had about masterpoints and why you don't have yours as soon as the event is finished. If you have any questions, please ask me when you see me or email me.
Cassandra Mitchell
Masterpoints Secretary
Peninsula Bridge Club
