B&B Teams Of 4 Events
The County Association organises several teams competitions during the season. Entries for these are either made on appropriate entry forms issued with the County Newsletter or are the result of qualifying as a result of doing well in a local heat. Those parts of these competitions directly organised by the BBCBA are usually held on Sundays at a central venue such as Windsor or the South Bucks Bridge Centre.
Boothroyd Plate – Friendly Teams
This competition is open to all club players, you do not have to belong to the BBCBA or the EBU. This is one of the special events run by the county association to encourage the more inexperienced players to participate in county-level Bridge. The entry fee includes a tea and special efforts are made to ensure a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Committee Cup – Club Multiple Teams
This competition is open to all club players, you do not have to belong to the BBCBA or the EBU. Each club affiliated to the BBCBA may hold heats and around one third of the entrants will progress to the Semi Final stages which are played as two multiple teams heats on separate Sundays. Qualifiers can nominate which semi-final they would like to play in. 13 or 14 Teams will then qualify for a multiple teams final usually held in mid-week. For competitions rules see here.
Express Cup – Mixed Swiss Teams
This competition is open
only to members of the County Association (BBCBA) and each Team must contain
at least one player of each sex. The idea of Swiss Teams is that you play
a series of short matches (around 7 boards each) and the pairings for each
round after the first are based on your current score, so that at each stage
you will be playing a team with a similar score to you. This ought to mean
that the "good" teams are handicapped by playing against equally
"good" teams and that the inexperienced teams have a chance to sneak
through. For competitions rules see here.
Jarrett Cup – Pivot Teams
This competition is open only to members of the County Association (BBCBA). The idea of Pivot Teams is that you play roughly one third of the boards with each other member of your team. This usually means that due to the unfamiliar partnerships even the expert teams tend to get it wrong. For competitions rules see here.
Perkins Cup – Swiss Teams
This competition is open only to members of the County Association (BBCBA). The idea of Swiss Teams is that you play a series of short matches (around 7 boards each) and the pairings for each round after the first are based on your current score, so that at each stage you will be playing a team with a similar score to you. This ought to mean that the "good" teams are handicapped by playing against equally "good" teams and that the inexperienced teams have a chance to sneak through. For competitions rules see here.
Autofile Trophy - County Teams Championship
This competition is open
only to members of the County Association (BBCBA) and whose first allegiance
is to Berks and Bucks. That means that someone who is a member of the Berks
and Bucks association but who has a primary allegiance to say Surrey or Hampshire
cannot play. It consists of a Multiple Teams qualifying round when about the
top third will go through to a Knock Out competition. These later stages have
a schedule of dates before which each round should be completed, but the actual
date is agreed between the captains. The venue is decided by the team drawn
at home and will normally be the home of one of the home team, or the Bridge
Club of one of the Home Team. Members of teams reaching the Knock Out stages
will receive National master points (so-called Green Points), and the team
eventually winning the competition will represent Berks and Bucks in the Pachabo
Cup, the inter-county competition for the winners of the Teams of 4 Championship
of each affiliated county. Obviously most of the top County players enter
this competition, and the eventual finalists may well be very strong teams,
but there have been many occasions on which the allegedly weaker teams have
reached the Knock Out stages. For competitions rules see here.