Club Rules

1. Club Pairs, Victoria Pairs and Thursday Afternoon Club Pairs are all played with the same partner over ten sessions from which the best nine scores will be counted. The regular partnership must play in at least six sessions, so up to three sessions played with a substitute may be counted to make up the nine scores. If all ten sessions have been played the lowest of these scores (ie. after the automatic penalty of 1%, 2% or 3% has been subtracted from substitute scores) may be dropped.
   
   
2. For three and four session pairs events all scores are to be counted, except for any Random Draw Individual (currently Wednesdays only) where only the best three scores are counted.
   
   
3. Where members play out of their normal graded night, the following rules will apply:
   1. The member will qualify for an event in his or her own grade when playing with a partner from the lower grade, and the lower graded player will qualify for C Points if earned.
   2. Where a Tuesday night player plays on a Monday or Wednesday, the pair will still qualify for C Points, but after the specified penalty (see Substitutions) has been imposed.
   3. Where a member invites a guest from outside the Club, the member will still qualify for C Points, and the guest also if they provide a valid NZCBA number.
   4. Should a member be requested by the Secretary to play with a visitor to the Club, the member will qualify for the event and for C Points.
   5. No player from Monday or Wednesday may play on a Tuesday night more than three times a year (other than the four nights of Wellesley Pairs and the three nights of the Wilkinson Individual).
   6. No Tuesday night player is permitted to play on a Wednesday more than twice per year. Playing for a third or subsequent session will result in disqualification for the pair or team involved.
   7. No Tuesday player ranked by NZCBA as Intermediate or Open may play on a Monday more than twice a year (with disqualification as in “f”). But those ranked Junior may play as often as they wish although they do not qualify for any Monday event.
   8. Each Monday or Wednesday player playing in the Wilkinson Individual will receive a 4% handicap each session, spread over the pair.
   
   
4. To qualify for the Wellesley Pairs the pair must be made up of a Tuesday/Monday or Tuesday/Wednesday combination.
   
   
5. Visitors may play three times at the most during a year but will not qualify for prizes.
   
   
6. If there is a default in the Gladys Palmer Teams, the defaulting team will be awarded zero VP and the team they defaulted to a minimum of 15 VP and a maximum of 25 VP, calculated as follows: 15, plus handicap of opponents, minus own handicap.
   
   
7. Ties in teams events will be broken in accordance with the Tie Breaking Procedures in the latest NZCBA Bridge Manual.
   
   
8. Corrections to published scores must be notified to the Secretary (or the director of the session if the Secretary cannot be contacted in time) before the start of play of the corresponding day/night of the following week.
   
   

Substitutions and Penalties

Substitution means the temporary replacement of a pairs-partner or team-member who is unable to attend a particular session of an event in which they are competing. There is a penalty every time a substitute score is counted. Additional penalties usually apply if a non-club member plays or if a Tuesday player plays in a Monday or Wednesday event.

Individual Events

Pairs Events

To qualify for an event, substitutions for up to 40% of sessions in the event are allowed. In effect, this means:
- Three and Four Sessions – one substitution
- Ten Sessions – four substitutions
Final placings are determined after subtracting penalties of: 1% for the 1st substitute, 2% for the 2nd, and 3% for the 3rd, from that session’s score. These penalties are calculated only at the completion of an event.

In the Club Pairs and Victoria Pairs competitions, a player playing with a non-club member, or a Tuesday player in the Victoria Pairs, will be penalised one full board for the session (eg. 4% if 25 boards played); such penalty to be imposed before placings for C-points.

When one member of each of two pairs requires a substitute, the remaining members of the pairs may play together with each forming a substitute in respect of the other's pair.

Teams Events

To qualify for an event, substitutions for up to 40% of player-sessions (ie. number of sessions times 4) in the event are allowed. That is:
- Four Sessions – six substitutions (= 40% of 16, rounded down)
- Nine Sessions – 14 substitutions (= 40% of 36, rounded down)

If a substitute for a Teams session is a non-club member, or a Tuesday player in the Ed Hillary or Khandallah Teams, the director will impose a penalty of 2 VPs per substitute per match (on a 15-15 VP scale and with a minimum of zero VP overall); such penalty to be calculated after the determination of C-points. Furthermore the team(s) they play will receive a bonus of 1 VP per substitute (but not more than 25 VPs in total). For these events, two Tuesday players may be substitutes on the same night (being subject to the penalty described above) but may not play as a partnership (ie. there would have to be two Monday (or Wednesday)-Tuesday pairs).

With regard to the handicap competition of the Gladys Palmer Teams, if a substitute of a significantly higher standard than the average team member plays a session, the director has discretion to impose a penalty by way of adjusting the handicaps of the two teams playing.

Overall

No player may be substitute for a player who is also present at the same session.

A player in process of joining the Club (i.e. one who has their nomination form posted on the notice board) may substitute for a member as though they were a full member.