International Match Points

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International match points (IMP) within the card game of contract bridge is a measurement for conversion of the absolute contract bridge scores. The total point difference between two scores is compared to a scale ranging from 1 to 24. [1] [2]

Revised IMP table effective September 1, 1962 [3]
Point differenceIMPsPoint differenceIMPsPoint differenceIMPs
fromtofromtofromto
010037042091750199018
20401430490102000224019
50802500590112250249020
901203600740122500299021
1301604750890133000349022
17021059001090143500399023
220260611001290154000 or more24
27031071300149016
32036081500174017

IMP score is used in competition bridge, including duplicate bridge (including at some online bridge websites), [4] but rarely within any kind of companion bridge, and never if playing rubber bridge. [5]

Tactics at IMPs differ from those of matchpoints and are similar to those of rubber bridge. The declarer's primary objective is to make the contract without jeopardizing it in a quest for overtricks; for the defense it is to defeat the contract without worrying about surrendering overtricks. [6]

Related Research Articles

Contract bridge Card game

Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing bridge at the regional level.

The diagram is typical of that used to illustrate a deal of 52 cards in four hands in the game of contract bridge. Each hand is designated by a point on the compass and so North–South are partners against East–West.

Safety play in contract bridge is a generic name for plays in which declarer maximizes the chances for fulfilling the contract by ignoring a chance for a higher score. Declarer uses safety plays to cope with potentially unfavorable layouts of the opponent's cards. In so doing, declarer attempts to ensure the contract even in worst-case scenarios, by giving up the possibility of overtricks.

Spades (card game) Card game

Spades is a trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s. It can be played as either a partnership or solo/"cutthroat" game. The object is to take the number of tricks that were bid before play of the hand began. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge, Hearts, and Oh Hell. Its major difference as compared to other Whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the Spade suit always trumps, hence the name.

Rubber bridge is a form of contract bridge played by two competing pairs using a particular method of scoring. A rubber is completed when one pair becomes first to win two games, each game presenting a score of 100 or more contract points; a new game ensues until one pair has won two games to conclude the rubber. Owing to the availability of various additional bonus and penalty points in the scoring, it is possible, though less common, to win the rubber by amassing more total points despite losing two games out of three. Rubber bridge involves a high degree of skill but there is also a fair amount of luck involved in who gets the best cards.

Duplicate bridge Variant of contract bridge card game

Duplicate bridge is the most widely used variation of contract bridge in club and tournament play. It is called duplicate because the same bridge deal is played at each table and scoring is based on relative performance. In this way, every hand, whether strong or weak, is played in competition with others playing identical cards, and the element of skill is heightened while that of chance is reduced. Duplicate bridge stands in contrast to rubber bridge where each hand is freshly dealt and where scores may be more affected by chance in the short run.

Board (bridge)

In duplicate bridge, a board is an item of equipment that holds one deal, or one deck of 52 cards distributed in four hands of 13 cards each. The design permits the entire deal of four hands to be passed, carried or stacked securely with the cards hidden from view in four pockets. This is required for duplicate bridge tournaments, where the same deal is played several times and so the composition of each hand must be preserved during and after each play of each deal.

Vint is a Russian card-game, similar to both bridge and whist and it is sometimes referred to as Russian whist. Vint means a screw in Russian, and the name is given to the game because the four players, each in turn, propose, bid and overbid each other until one, having bid higher than the others care to follow, makes the trump, and his vis-a-vis plays as his partner.

Chicago, also known as Four-deal Bridge and Short Bridge, is a form of contract bridge and a variation of rubber bridge in which one or more sets of four deals are played and scored.

These terms are used in contract bridge, using duplicate or rubber scoring. Some of them are also used in whist, bid whist, the obsolete game auction bridge, and other trick-taking games. This glossary supplements the Glossary of card game terms.

There are two main categories of scoring in contract bridge: duplicate and rubber scoring. While based upon the same basic elements of scoring, they differ in how the elements are applied to individual deals and in how these are then totaled. Chicago, being a variant of rubber bridge, uses an adaptation of rubber bridge scoring. Duplicate bridge has many variations for scoring, comparing and ranking the relative performance of partnerships and teams playing the same deals as their competitors.

In duplicate bridge, a sacrifice is a deliberate bid of a contract that is unlikely to make in the hope that the penalty points will be less than the points likely to be gained by the opponents in making their contract. In rubber bridge, a sacrifice is an attempt to prevent the opponents scoring a game or rubber on the expectation that positive scores on subsequent deals will offset the negative score.

A traveling scoreslip is a form used for recording the results of each deal in a duplicate bridge tournament. In these tournaments, the four hands of each deal are placed into a board so that the same deal can be played by different competitors. Each time the deal is played, the result is entered into the appropriate row of the traveling scoreslip, which is placed in a pocket in the board. At the end of the tournament, the traveling scoreslips are gathered and the tournament results calculated.

English Bridge Union

The English Bridge Union or EBU is a player-funded organisation that promotes and organises the card game of duplicate bridge in England. It is based at offices in Aylesbury. The EBU is a member of the European Bridge League and thus affiliated with the World Bridge Federation, which promulgates the laws of the game.

In the card game contract bridge, a suit combination is a specific subset of the cards of one suit held respectively in declarer's and dummy's hands at the onset of play. While the ranks of the remaining cards held by the defenders can be deduced precisely, their location is unknown. Optimum suit combination play allows for all possible lies of the cards held by the defenders.

Fred Gitelman

Frederick "Fred" Gitelman is a Canadian American bridge player, developer of bridge software, and a founder of the online bridge platform Bridge Base Online.

The Laws of Duplicate Bridge is the official rule book of duplicate bridge promulgated by the World Bridge Federation (WBF). The first Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge were published in 1928. They were revised in 1933, 1935, 1943, 1949, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1997, 2007 and 2017. The Laws are effective worldwide for all duplicate bridge tournaments sponsored by WBF, zonal, national and subordinate organizations.

The World IMP Pairs Championship is a contract bridge competition established in 1998 by the World Bridge Federation. Since then it has been a major side event in the quadrennial meet that is now called the "World Bridge Series Championships", "World Bridge Series", or "World Series".

In duplicate bridge pairs tournaments, the Neuberg formula is a method of adjusting match point scores achieved on boards which have been played fewer times than other boards. Originally developed by Gérard Neuberg of France, its objective is to achieve a formula for the final score of every pair to which each hand they have played contributes with equal weight.

Shooting is an approach in bridge to the bidding or play of a hand which aims for a favorable result by making a choice that is slightly against the odds. A player might decide to shoot toward the end of a pairs game, when he judges that he needs tops to win, not just average-plus results.

References

  1. "IMP: International Match Point Scoring - Duplicate Bridge". www.bridgehands.com.
  2. "IMPs and Matchpoints". www.math.cornell.edu.
  3. 2017 World Bridge Federation IMP Table, Law 78
  4. at press play and then on the top right corner, "IMP" and scroll the question mark
  5. http://www.omahabridge.org/Library/mh_Whole_pamphlet.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  6. Manley, Brent; Horton, Mark; Greenberg-Yarbro, Tracey; Rigal, Barry, eds. (2011). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (7th ed.). Horn Lake, MS: American Contract Bridge League. p. 421. ISBN   978-0-939460-99-1.