05/08/2026
Qualifying Games for the NAP at the HBC in June, July, and August
Six games are currently scheduled at the HBC as qualifying games for the ACBL's North American Pairs championships, a "grass-roots" event that is designed to select national champions at four levels from players who won the right to participate at both the club and district level in North America. Qualifying at the club level occurs in June, July, and August.
All "national" (actually "continental" would be more appropriate) finals will take place over two days at the North American Bridge Championships in Dallas, TX, in March of 2027. The qualifiers for District 25 (New England) will be determined at the regional tournament in Woburn, MA, November 10-15. The top pairs in each flight will qualify to play in Dallas. They also will receive a stipend paid from the district's grass-roots fund. Both the national events and the district's events pay gold points. B, A, and the Championship Flight's rewards are 100% gold. C's are 50% red and 50% gold. The number of pairs qualifying and the amount of the stipends (paying you to play in an NABC event!) in each flight have apparently not yet been publicized. I will let you know when they are.
The C flight includes all players who were NOT Life Masters and had less than 750 masterpoints as of the roster that was published this week. Flight B is for players with less than 3,000 masterpoints. Flight A is open to players with less than 6,000 masterpoints. Anyone can compete in the Championship Flight.
To qualify to play in the district's final in Woburn you must do well in a club qualifying game. Players qualify for participation in the district tournament by placing in the top half of their field (those in the same flight as the pair member with more masterpoints) or by scoring 50% or higher in a club qualifying game. You can play in as many qualifying games as you wish.
The HBC currently has scheduled six NAP qualifying games, two in each of the months. They are the 10:00 open game on Tuesday, June 2, the limited afternoon game on Wednesday, June 10, the 10:00 open game on Wednesday, July 10, the limited 12:30 game on Monday, July 20, the 10:00 open game on Thursday, August 13, and the limited game on Friday afternoon August 14. An extra $1 will be charged per person for each of these games. The games pay extra points that are 50% red and 50% black.
Here's a tip: If you and your partner are C players, do not be afraid of trying to qualify in an open game. Remember: you only need to be in the top half of the C players as defined above. In most open games at the HBC the number of pairs that meet that criterion is vanishingly small. However, if you partner up with someone with more points, both of you will be treated as being in the higher flight.
