Multi, Moscito and ACBL Club Bridge

broke
From another thread

mikeh, on 2024-March-28, 17:02, said:

I don’t play weak twos in my regular partnerships, but (before changing to intermediate 2M and 5-8/9 multi 2D) in my most detailed partnership we played a modified ogust

I asked where Multi 2D was permitted under ACBL

mycroft, on 2024-March-30, 11:25, said:

Open+, segments of 6+ boards only, with defences provided.

There is now an exception for exactly 2, absolutely top-level "pairs" games: the Platinum Pairs and the Reisinger B-A-M. I'm surprised it hasn't been pushed to the other premium Pairs games like the (open) BRP, but I guess the "pre-qualify" requirement (or the "if you're crazy enough to enter the Reisinger when the 3-day NASwiss is right there, good luck" requirement) doesn't apply to (at least day one of) the BRP.

Note also that even that exception is limited explicitly to Multi 2♦, not any other Artificial Preempt below 3NT (that does not promise a specific suit).

Moscito is played at the club(s) in Vancouver, I assume Mike is playing Multi when he plays Club bridge in Victoria but the ACBL have determined that we can't play Multi2D except in Open+ games?
I don't know about Moscito and the ACBL regs.

I want to play Multi at the Club and it would make sense for me to play the same card at a Sectional, what's going on?

Back in The Day, I ran a university bridge club.

As you may guess, people of university age like experimenting, and they were in a position to learn a whole new system (well enough to play it, anyway) in the week between games. But we also had some of the city people drop in (especially those that were associated with the university and their partners, or regular partners of university students and their other partners). We also had people who were in class 3 of the Club series.

The club was officially Superchart rated (because that was the free-est we could go and be sanctioned), with two exceptions:

If the Director didn't hear about it, it didn't happen.
if the opponents asked/objected, play something "normal".

Did we have people playing forcing pass? Yes. Was I one of them? Well, not when I was the director :-) Did we have a problem? No. Some players didn't want to play against the weirdness, and everyone was happy being normal at that game. Some enjoyed it. None took it to the city club (because we're not stupid). Well, okay, we did do some "not normal", but it was well within the bounds of legality (K/S, Precision, "5 rule club",...)

All of this to say, I am surprised that there are games where people can play limited transfer openings at the 1 level at the club, but the ACBL has always allowed the clubs to make what decisions (within the laws, and with very few regulations) they wish. They even don't have the "can't go free-er than Open+", the way they used to have "can't go past the Superchart" (at least not that I know of). And they do have recommendations:

Quote

Club Games

The Open Chart is recommended for most open club games. Particularly advanced clubs may prefer to use the Open+ Chart, while clubs that mainly cater to newer players may prefer the Basic+ Chart. The Basic and Basic+ Charts are recommended for masterpoint restricted games.

If that game has decided to be Open+, with the 6-board restrictions removed, for that advanced game, fine. Sounds like fun - if I get down to visit family I might drop in.

Having said that, if you want to take it to tournaments, you have to read the rest of that section ("Chart Usage"). Because the other thing the ACBL took away with the new charts (*) was Sponsor authority to determine the regulations that applied to their games. You may think the limits are set too high - I may agree with you(**). You may think the limits for bracketed events are - confusing, and unworkable for a "normal" team to know what to do. I may agree with that too. I Really Couldn't Say™(***) But they're the rules, and you play or you don't.

(*) and a good thing, too. Most Sponsors didn't know they had that power; most of the ones that did know hadn't made a decision (or had made one, in 1985, and people knew they had, but could they actually find the decision? Never mind the "can't play Suction in Poughkeepsie, even though you always Could in California", or "whaddayamean, flight A isn't Mid-Chart? All [our unit/district's] flighted games are Mid-Chart A" issues.
(**) The one I find particularly baffling is the District/National final for flight B of the GNT/NAP, which are <3000 so are Basic+. Now these are the best of the <2500 players, playing only the best/most dedicated; and they can't play/play against the systems they play/against in their local club every week? But being the pedant I am, "if I don't get to play my stuff, I'm calling the opponents playing their stuff". Should I Feel Bad™ about that? Probably. Do I? Yeah, a bit. Am I petty enough to do it anyway?
(***) Time for the periodic "I sometimes work for the ACBL, I never speak for them" comment, I guess.

BBO Discussion Forums: Multi, Moscito and ACBL Club Bridge - BBO Discussion Forums