We came top in the Club with 56% and on your overall score we have only got 48%

This is a very common complaint - and we have known differences as high as 20% in the past. This is not an error in the scoring, but something that happens when you combine the scores from all the other clubs onto one result chart. Let me try to show you how it happens.

In a 6 table section the 'top' will be 10, with other scores of 8, 6, 4 and 2 with a bottom of zero. Overall, the top will be, say, 4000 with scores going down in steps of 2 to zero. A 'top' in the club will not generally score a top overall. It depends where that score fits in with the scores achieved in all the other clubs.

Consider the following board from a fictitious club heat. It is Board One from a 6 Table Mitchell (share and relay). On this board, due to the favourable position of several cards, 13 tricks are generally made in Clubs, but there is a reasonable defence to hold it to 12. 3NT should lose 5 tricks (but pair 1 East/West let it through!). 7NT doubled by Pair 4 North/South was a disaster.

Club Scoring

N/S	E/W	Score	Score	Match	Points
Pair No	Pair No	+	-	N/S	E/W
1	7	400	.	8	2
2	9	190	.	6	4
3	11	170	.	4	6
4	8	.	1400	0	10
5	10	.	50	2	8
6	12	420	.	10	0
Overall N/S E/W Score Score Match Points Pair No Pair No + - N/S E/W 1 7 400 . 1351 2649 2 9 190 . 522 3478 3 11 170 . 328 3672 4 8 . 1400 5 3995 5 10 . 50 136 3864 6 12 420 . 1960 2040

As you can see, in the Club, 5 Clubs +1 is top for North/South while overall it is worth less than 50% (scoring 1960) because the most common score overall was 6 Clubs (scoring 2742) with many pairs making 13 tricks (for 3634). The East/West top with 1400 on the other hand was almost a top overall as very few North/South pairs tried 7NT (or they got away with a lesser penalty).

You will see that the two pairs scoring a top in the club (6 N/S and 8 E/W) have vastly different overall scores. This one board will make 2% difference to their overall scores and this effect, were it to be replicated over a number of boards, causes the (sometimes enormous) disparity in the scores.

Also have a look at your personal scorecard on the site - just click on your name in the club results, and you will see that you have a board-by-board analysis, showing the percentage that you achieved locally on each board, and how this has changed, going either up or down, when it is scored across the whole field. That way you can see how and why your scores have changed. And if you have "changed places" with another pair at your club, have a look at theirs as well to compare the boards. You can click here to find an explanation of what all the numbers mean. And this page explains what the frequencies show.

All one can do to check is to make sure that the scores and pair numbers have been entered accurately. This can be done by looking at the printouts from your local club. Your local scores at the club should be identical to your "local" scores on our server. In which case the overall frequencies will give you the details and show you how good your 'tops' really were!

If your local results differ - i.e. the local results pinned up at your club and the local results here on ECatsBridge are different, then that is something else as generally they should be identical. Click here to find out what may have happened.

I hope this helps clarify matters for you ...

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