The masterpoint plan is the means by which ACBL ranks each member's accomplishments in sanctioned bridge play relative to other ACBL members. The winners of sanctioned events receive masterpoints in amounts consistent with the importance and size of the events. Members who achieve rankings lower than first place, both overall and within their designated comparison group, receive proportionately fewer masterpoints. Generally, the more masterpoints a member has, the more experienced and skilled he or she is assumed to be.

ACBL awards honor titles to members as they amass a sufficient number of masterpoints to achieve predetermined levels of bridge accomplishment. These titles range from the first plateau, Rookie, through Junior Master, Club Master, Sectional Master, Regional Master, and NABC Master, to the highest honor ACBL awards, the title and rank of Life Master. There are several levels of Life Master: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Grand.

There are formulas for computing masterpoint awards for all ACBL sanctioned events. These formulas take into account various factors, such as the class of the event, the size of the field, the number of sessions, and the level of competition, thus ensuring maximum uniformity throughout ACBL in determining masterpoint awards.

SECTION ONE: RECORDING MASTERPOINTS

I. THE PLAYER NUMBER

ACBL assigns a seven-digit player number to each member. The member retains this number for the duration of his or her membership. ACBL changes the first digit to an alpha character when the member achieves Life Master status.

Masterpoint awards are processed and recorded electronically at ACBL headquarters.

II. ISSUING MASTERPOINTS

The result of every sanctioned event must be reported to the ACBL office (usually electronically), and ACBL directly issues the masterpoints won in club games, unit championships or higher-rated events. (See Chapter 5, Sec. One,VI.) Clubs may issue Club Masterpoint receipts for masterpoints won in club sanctioned games. First time new members may provide, from the preceding 12 months, club rating point receipts and/or references to points won at tournaments. Upon verification, the points won, to a maximum of twenty (20), at clubs and/or tournaments will be credited to the member's record upon joining ACBL.

Most clubs use a computer system such as ACBLscore to keep track of members' masterpoint winnings. All clubs must send a disk, printout, or list of all the masterpoints issued that month to ACBL for official recording to members' records. Clubs may still issue Club Masterpoint receipts to non-members and newcomer members as well as any player who requests them. Club managers must record the masterpoint winnings accurately.

ACBL sends masterpoint confirmation notices every other month to members who have paid their dues or Life Master service fees, reflecting masterpoint winnings that have been recorded and credited to their lifetime totals during the previous two months. The confirmation notices indicate the previous balance, the new credits, the new total, and the tournaments, dates, events, and clubs in which the masterpoints were won. In addition, the non-Life Masters' notices show the red, gold, silver, and black point totals currently held (See Chapter 2, Section Two) and the points needed, by color, to earn Life Master status.

III. REINSTATING MASTERPOINTS

A. NON-LIFE MASTERS

Members whose ACBL memberships lapse are classified as "inactive" and do not receive monthly masterpoint confirmation notices or the monthly Bridge Bulletin and may not serve on unit or district boards.

An inactive member may reinstate his or her membership by paying only the current dues. There is no additional charge for membership reinstatement, nor must the member pay back dues. Such reinstatement includes reinstatement of the masterpoint record as it was when the membership lapsed.

A former member who has not paid dues for over 90 days and has become a non-member is entitled to pay dues that were due and owing for whatever period of time he/she had non-member status (this payment may be for only those years in which the non-member won points and for which the non-member wishes to pay). All masterpoints earned during the non-member period for which payment is received shall be recorded to the extent possible.

B. LIFE MEMBERS

Life Members who do not pay their annual Life Member service fees are classified as "unpaid." Unpaid Life Members are active members; however, like inactive members, they do not receive monthly masterpoint confirmation notices or the monthly Bridge Bulletin. Unpaid Life Members are not eligible for inclusion in any masterpoint race or to receive qualified reimbursements to an NABC or any event for which ACBL provides a monetary reimbursement.

When unpaid Life Members pay the currently due service fee, they once again begin receiving monthly masterpoint confirmation notices and the Bridge Bulletin.

IV. MASTERPOINTS FROM NON-ACBL SOURCES

New members that have had memberships in other bridge organizations or continue to hold membership in other bridge organizations MUST report both that affiliation and the rank achieved. Failure to report these will result in loss of any points or titles won that were not won in open events. Such new members will not be eligible for events or races that are below the comparable rank that they have achieved in other organizations.

ABA masterpoints: An American Bridge League (ABA) member who is also an ACBL member is given 10% of his total ABA points up to a maximum of 200 ACBL black points. This is a one time award, normally done when the ABA member first joins ACBL.

WBF masterpoints: WBF masterpoints won at WBF world championship events not played within the confines of ACBL will be converted to ACBL points using a conversion factor of 0.2 ACBL points for every one WBF point.

SECTION TWO: MASTERPOINT AWARD PIGMENTATION

Masterpoints are awarded in six colors: platinum, gold, red, silver, black and unpigmented. The color of each point indicates the difficulty of the event in which it was won, as well as the member's relative achievement in that event (see Section Four). Color coding makes it possible to ascertain a member's performance record in high-rated games.

• PLATINUM POINTS are awarded for NABC+ events and include the national-rated senior and women's events with no upper masterpoint limit but not the junior, flight B or other restricted events.
• GOLD POINTS are awarded at North American Bridge Championships (NABCs) in national-rated events that have an upper limit of at least 750 masterpoints. Gold points are awarded for overall positions and for section firsts in all two-session regional-rated events with an upper limit of at least 750 masterpoints at NABCs and regional tournaments. No more than two strats or flights of the same event may issue gold points with the exception of bracketed knockout teams. Pairs filling in for one session of a two session event receive any gold points earned. Partial gold point awards are given for certain special events.
• RED POINTS are awarded for all regionally rated events at NABCs and for all events at a regional tournament when the masterpoints are not gold (SEE above). In addition, red points are awarded for certain special events.
• SILVER POINTS are awarded exclusively in all events at sectional tournaments and also at ACBL-sanctioned sectional tournaments held in clubs.
• BLACK POINTS are awarded for overall positions, section positions, and match awards in ACBL sanctioned club games; in all unit events; and in all other levels of tournament competition except those in which gold, red, or silver points or online points are awarded.
• ONLINE POINTS are awarded for internet masterpoint events and are colorless.

SECTION THREE: MASTERPOINT AWARD REGULATIONS

A sanctioned club game awards masterpoints to approximately 40 per cent of the contestants in each session. Section awards for all games (open, invitational, restricted, and newcomer) are based on the number of pairs, teams, or individuals in each group. A complete listing of masterpoint awards available at club games is contained in the charts following Chapter 4.

For a unit championship or higher rated event, the magnitude of the masterpoint award is a function of a number of factors:

• The number of tables entered in the event.
• The classification of the event. The four classification ratings are unit championship, sectional, regional, and national.
• The number of sessions in the event.
• The masterpoint limitations of the event.
• The type of event, such as individual, pairs, Swiss teams, board-a-match teams, etc.
• The masterpoint awards for knockout teams are based on separate formulas.
• Awards for NABC championship events are either computed from the general formula or are predetermined awards set by the ACBL Board of Directors.

In addition special regulations apply to the following:

SPLIT REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS: Awards for first and second overall in gold point pair-type events held at split regionals are based on total attendance at both sites (either 80% of the award based on combined attendance or 100% of the award based on attendance at the individual location, whichever is higher).

GENDER/AGE RESTRICTED EVENTS: Awards for gender or age restricted events are reduced to 80% of an open event. If there are two such restrictions for one event, such as a senior women's pairs, the awards will be reduced to 70% of an open pair event.

UNRESTRICTED EVENTS: Two-session events at regionals and sectionals which are unrestricted by masterpoint holding, gender or age will be credited with all tables in play in totally concurrent events for the purposes of computing overall masterpoint awards, up to a maximum total of three times the number of tables in play in the unrestricted event. Two or more concurrent unrestricted events share equally the available tables as above, but not each other's tables.

Unrestricted events of more than two sessions supersede two-session events held on the first day of the multi-session event, and will be credited with the totally concurrent first-day tables of any type, as above. An unrestricted event with a lower limit and no upper limit is treated as an open even when there is no concurrent open event.

At a sectional tournament, one-session events which are unrestricted as above and are not concurrent with any session of a two-session or longer event shall be credited with all tables in play in concurrent same type events as above for the purpose of computing overall awards, up to a maximum total of three times the number of tables in play in the unrestricted event.

Unrestricted events and not similarly restricted events held at restricted regionals or sectionals award black points only. If these events are part of a sanctioned open sectional, concurrent with a restricted regional, silver points are awarded.

For further information about the awarding of masterpoints, contact the ACBL Tournament Department.

SECTION FOUR: MASTERPOINT HONOR TITLES

To earn honor titles, such as NABC Master and Life Master, members must earn a specified number of masterpoints in various levels of competition. The precise requirements for achieving these and other titles follow.

The honor titles and the masterpoints players must acquire to gain them are:

• ROOKIE - an ACBL member who has fewer than 5 full masterpoints recorded by the ACBL.

• JUNIOR MASTER - a member who has at least 5 but fewer than 20 masterpoints recorded by ACBL. A Junior Master is eligible for most newcomer events.

• CLUB MASTER - a member who has at least 20 masterpoints recorded by ACBL.

• SECTIONAL MASTER - a member who has at least 50 masterpoints recorded by ACBL, of which 5 must be silver.

• REGIONAL MASTER - a member who has at least 100 masterpoints recorded by ACBL, of which 15 must be silver and 5 must be red or gold.

• NABC MASTER - a member who has at least 200 masterpoints recorded by ACBL, of which 50 must be pigmented, with at least 5 gold, 15 red or gold, and 25 silver.

• LIFE MASTER - a member who has 300 or more masterpoints recorded by the ACBL, of which 100 must be pigmented, with 50 silver, 25 gold, and 25 red or gold. A member who held any red masterpoints or fraction thereof prior to January 1, 1969, must possess 50 red and gold masterpoints in any combination. A member who held no red masterpoints or fraction thereof on January 1, 1969, is required to possess at least 50 red and gold masterpoints, of which at least 25 must be gold.

  Any new member or player in an inactive status for six months or more after January 1, 1999 will be required to earn 50 black points along with the other colored point requirements to become a Life Master.

• GOLDEN AGE MASTER - a member who is age 70 or older and has at least 300 masterpoints of any color recorded by ACBL, or a member who is at least 80 years old and has at least 100 masterpoints of any color recorded by ACBL. On application to ACBL, an eligible member will be designated Golden Age Master and sent an appropriate certificate and wallet card.

• BRONZE LIFE MASTER - a Life Master who has at least 500 masterpoints recorded by ACBL.

• SILVER LIFE MASTER - a Life Master who has at least 1,000 masterpoints recorded by ACBL.

• GOLD LIFE MASTER - a Life Master who has at least 2,500 masterpoints recorded by ACBL.

• DIAMOND LIFE MASTER - a Life Master who has at least 5,000 masterpoints recorded by ACBL.

• GRAND LIFE MASTER - a Life Master who has at least 10,000 masterpoints and has won a North American Bridge Championship with no upper masterpoint restriction or an Open Team Trials or its equivalent or a Women's Team Trials or its equivalent or any of the following WBF events: Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, Rosenblum Cup, McConnell Cup, Open Pairs, Women's Pairs, Olympiad, Women's Team Olympiad, WBF Senior Pairs event, WBF World Swiss Teams, WBF World Mixed Teams and WBF Senior Teams. Effective immediately and retroactively.