General
The Ladder Competition is an aggregate pairs monthly competition to be run from September 2010 to May 2011. Dates are as follows:
Thursday 15 September
Thursday 20 October
Thursday 17 November
Thursday 15 December
Thursday 19 January
Thursday 16 February
Thursday 15 March
Thursday 19 April
Thursday 17 May
The event will be run each month as a single division and pairs will be allotted a starting position on a random basis by the director. Each session will generally be an arrow switched Mitchell but on occasions, where appropriate, a Howell movement will be used.
Scoring
Scoring each month is based on the number of pairs taking part but the winning pair will always receive 28 points. Where 28 pairs compete, 28 points will be awarded to the winners and then reducing by 1 down to 1 to 28th place. Where 14 pairs compete, points awarded will be 28 going down in twos to 2 for 14th place.
In sessions consisting of between 27 and 14 pairs, points will go down from 28 in twos and then in ones based on the actual number of pairs taking part, eg.
27 pairs – 28 26 25 24 23 22 etc
26 pairs – 28 26 24 23 22 21 etc
25 pairs – 28 26 24 22 21 20 etc
If more than 28 pairs play, the scoring will be 28 and down by ones with pairs 29th and below each receiving one point.
If less than 14 pairs, the winners will receive 28 points and points thereafter down by two.
Organisation
Visitors may play on a ladder night but ladder points will not be awarded in respect of their results.
A pair may use a substitute up to twice during the competition but four points will be deducted from the score actually achieved. Substitutes must be a club member for the scores to count. Playing with a non member will not count. On the third or subsequent occasions, no points will be awarded. If two halves of separate partnerships play together, they will be deemed to represent both and their score will count in full.
Final Placings
Final placings will be based on the six highest scores from the nine rounds and ties will be split by the performance in the seventh best round. Any pair playing less than six rounds will only have the scores actually achieved taken into account.