Reading Bridge Club runs a number of ongoing competitions, which are competed for over six monthly or annual periods. With the exception of the Francis Cup, in order to qualify to win any of the competitions members need to play with a number of different partners during the period of the competition, thus fostering a more inclusive atmosphere at the club and ensuring that the top players cannot win all the time while playing only with each other.

There are two types of competition, scratch competitions, where the players results over the period are not adjusted, which means that the player with the best results over the period wins the competition; and handicap competitions where the player’s results over the period are compared to their running average performance, so that the winners are those whose performance has most improved over the period. In some competitions, if players have appeared more than the qualifying number of times, then they may discard their worst results, thus encouraging the regular attendee. Finally those with superior handicaps in the Tuesday competitions are not eligible to win the competitions based on Thursday performances.

Tuesday Competitions

The following competitions are based on performances in the Tuesday Duplicate sessions held on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month (so-called Cup Tuesdays).

Francis Cup	*** Change for December 2003 - November 2004 competition. Pairs Competition. Awarded to the pair with the highest average score for ALL their performances over the year running from December to November. Minimum 4 results are still required.
President's Cup	Individual Competition. Awarded to the individual with the highest average score over all their performances during the year running from December to November. In order to qualify for the competition an individual must play at least 12 times with at least 5 different partners during the year.
Brown Cup	Individual Competition. Awarded to the individual with the highest average score during the six monthly periods running from March to August and September to February. In order to qualify for the competition an individual must play at least 8 times during the period, playing with no fewer than 3 different partners. Anyone playing more than 8 times will have their average calculated only on their best 8 results.
Laycock Cup	Individual Competition. Awarded to the individual with the highest average score, adjusted by their current handicap, during the six monthly periods running from March to August and September to February. In order to qualify for the competition an individual must play at least 8 times during the period, playing with no fewer than 3 different partners. After each 6 monthly period an individual’s handicap is recalculated to be the average of their most recent 25 scores achieved on Cup Tuesdays. Those with 10 to 24 such scores are handicapped on the basis of all their scores. Those with less than 10 such scores are not eligible for the competition.

Thursday Competitions

The following competitions are based on performances in the Thursday Duplicate sessions held on all Thursdays, other than those on which a special event is being held. An individual with a scoring average which is greater than 48% in the Tuesday Laycock Cup handicap list is not eligible for these competitions based on Thursday performances.

Boucher Cup

Individual Competition. Awarded to the individual with the highest average score during the six monthly periods running from March to August and September to February. In order to qualify for the competition an individual must play at least 8 times during the period, playing with no fewer than 3 different partners. Anyone playing more than 8 times will have their average calculated only on their best 8 results.

Bilbey Cup

Individual Competition. Awarded to the individual with the highest average score, adjusted by their current handicap, during the six monthly periods running from March to August and September to February. In order to qualify for the competition an individual must play at least 8 times during the period, playing with no fewer than 3 different partners. After each 6 monthly period an individual’s handicap is recalculated to be the average of all their Thursday qualifying scores in the period just completed, subject to a minimum of 6 qualifying scores. Anyone with less than 6 qualifying scores will be given a zero handicap for the following period.

Last updated: 12/12/2003