[wfinger]

I see the terms MP and IMP used frequently.
What do they stand for and mean?
I am a novice who just started taking classes and playing in January.
Thanks,
Update:
I spent some time looking at General Bridge Forum FAQ today and they covered this question in detail.
Sorry for asking before doing a decent search on my own.

[Kaitlyn S]

wfinger, on 2016-October-06, 07:29, said:

I see the terms MP and IMP used frequently.
What do they stand for and mean?
I am a novice who just started taking classes and playing in January.
Thanks,

MP and IMP refer to the form of scoring.

MP = matchpoints. You get one mtchpoint for every pair your score beats and one-half matchpoint for each pair you tie. Note that very small differences in the score can translate to huge matchpoint differences. For example, say these are the 7 scores in a 7-table game:

Pair 1: N-S 4S making 5 +450
Pair 2: N-S 4S making 5 +450
Pair 3: N-S 4S making 5 +450
Pair 4: N-S 4S making 5 +450
Pair 5: N-S 3NT making 5 +460
Pair 6: N-S 4S making 5 +450
Pair 7: N-S 4S making 5 +450

Pair 5 got a higher score than any of the other N-S pairs and receives six matchpoints, while each of the other six pairs tied five other pairs and got 2 1/2 matchpoints. If the score was based on total points or IMPs (as we'll see) the difference would be negligible.

IMPs is usually used when comparing two scores (frequently two teams of four where N-S at table 1 are teammates with E-W at table 2.)

You take the difference in the scores and convert it using an International Match Point (IMP) scale.

The following link contains an IMP scale as well as a brief description of how team games work.

Essentially IMPs is like total points except that large score differences are muted.

For example, if you are N-S at table 1 and do 100 points better than the N-S at table 2 you get 3 IMPs.
If you do 300 points better you get 7 IMPs.
If you do 700 points better you get 13 IMPs.
If you do 2000 points better you get 19 IMPs.
So, the bigger the score difference, the more IMPs your team wins but it's not quite proportional. To put it in a different way, it IMPs were a tax system, it would be called "regressive."

[ggwhiz]

There are differences in strategy/approach to both games and when I started duplicate I was advised to play mp's as if it were imps, hope for the best and work out the differences later. The same would apply in reverse if you play mostly pairs with the occasional team game.

good luck

[Phil]

Kaitlyn's answer is good (as usual) but the following may be more appropriate for the poster.

1. Bridge 'scoring' is based on the contract and the number of tricks taken. If you were to play in your home with three other players, this is how you tally. Google 'rubber bridge' or 'chicago' scoring for more info. In both chicago and rubber bridge, the cards are shuffled after a deal and redealt.

2. The competitive form of bridge is known as duplicate. The primary difference is that after a deal cards are not redealt, but rather put into a plastic or aluminum holder called a 'board'.

3. Duplicate takes on two forms:

A) Pairs events. This will be your typical afternoon live club game. You and your partner will sit either East-West or North-South and play around 26 boards over the course of 3 1/2 hours. You will play about 2 or 3 boards against one pair of opponents and then move to another table, or your opponents will move and new opponents will arrive. See Kaitlyn's response about "MP's" (matchpoints) above - this is how pairs games are scored. An average score is exactly 50% - usually at least 60% is required to win, and a 70% game is unusual and remarkable.

B) Team events. Occasionally in a club, a team event will be held, but these are primarily played at tournaments. Instead of arriving with just a partner, you will enter with three other players. In a team match, you will sit either NS or EW at table one and your teammates will be seated in the opposite direction at table two. Your opponents will sit in the opposite seats at each table. Boards will be played at one table, and then exchanged with the other. A series of short (5 to 9 boards usually) matches over the course of a session or a day are called 'swiss teams', and longer matches are referred to as knockouts. See Kaitlyn's post about IMPs - which is the primary way team events are scored. A tie board at both tables results in 0 IMPs. A large 'swing' board will be 10-13 IMPs on a single board. The largest possible margin on a single board is 24 IMPs; I have been playing for close to 40 years and the biggest swing I have experienced is 20 IMPs (yes it was against me!).


On BBO, you will see both pair events and team events. The primary pair events are ACBL Speedballs scored as MPs. There are many team events that take place - look for a player named "JEC" during the day (USA hours), and there will be several hundred kibitzers. Besides that, many team games get put together every day on BBO.

Not to confuse the matter, but most tables in the main bridge club and many in ACBL speedballs are scored as "IMP pairs", which have the scoring characteristics or teams, without requiring that you have teammates.

[MrAce]

wfinger, on 2016-October-06, 07:29, said:

I spent some time looking at General Bridge Forum FAQ today and they covered this question in detail.
Sorry for asking before doing a decent search on my own.

Hi, my name is Timo.
Don't be sorry. We all did that.
All the frequent regular posters of BBF that I know will love to help with your questions.
Kaitlyn and Phil got your question covered on this one.
Welcome to forums.