- Hierarchy of Regulations:
The IMP League will be governed by (in order of precedence) the Laws
of Duplicate Bridge, ACBL Regulations, the Special Regulations
governing each flight, the Conditions of Contest and the
IMP League Commissioner. Appeals on the rules or on a decision of
the Commissioner may be appealed in writing to the Unit 430
Board of Directors. No appeal will be considered if more than
30 days have passed since the incident happened or the Commissioner's
ruling was announced.
- Dates and Schedule:
IMP League play will begin in early October and the regular season will
conclude in April, or earlier if the number of teams warrants fewer matches.
Teams will play at least eight matches and no more than thirteen
in Flight A. In Flight B and C teams will play 5-10 matches.
If any IMP League division has more than 14 teams, teams will
be seeded into two or more divisions. In this case only, the
schedule will not be a complete round robin.
Approximately half of the teams in each division will make
the playoffs. In Flights A and B, all playoff matches will be
32 boards. In Flight C, the final will be 32
boards. All other matches will be 28 boards. Playoff matches
will be single knockout. In each round of
the playoffs, the highest ranked surviving team, based on the
final regular season standings, will play the lowest ranked
surviving team. Exception: if the number of surviving teams
means bye(s) will be necessary, the bye(s) shall go to the
highest ranked teams and the rest will be paired as above.
For the 1999-2000 season, six teams from Flight A, six teams
from Flight B and three teams from Flight C will make the playoffs.
In Flights A and B, the top two teams from roundrobin play
will receive a bye to the semifinal.
In Flights C, the top team from roundrobin play
will receive a bye to the final.
- Team Rosters:
No team may use more than 6 players. Additional substitutes are
not allowed to play. No player may play on more than one team,
even if the two teams are in different flights.
In Flight B, teams are limited to players with 0-1500 masterpoints.
In Flight C, teams are limited to nonLife Masters with 0-500
masterpoints. A player who is eligible to play in a flight at
the beginning of the season is eligible for the entire season.
If a Flight C team uses a Life Master as an emergency player,
they lose their eligibility for Flight C awards.
Teams must start the season with at least four players and no
more than six. One of the players must be designated as
captain and is responsible for contacting other captains to
arrange matches. After the initial rosters have been submitted,
roster moves will be limited to the following.
- Deleting a player:
A player who has not yet played in any match but appears on a
team's roster may be deleted from the roster at any time. A
player who is unable to continue playing due to an unforeseen
emergency may also be deleted.
- Adding a player:
A player who has not yet played in any match for any other
team may be added, so long as the addition does not cause the
team to have more than six players. No player may be added
after the conclusion of the regular season.
- Using an emergency player:
If a captain is unable to field a team because an expected
player has not arrived, and there is an eligible player
present who has not played in any match for any team, that
player may be used as an emergency player, unless the other
team objects. No emergency players are allowed to play in
the playoffs.
No player may play for his team in playoff matches unless he
has played in at least 40% of his team's regular season matches.
The Commissioner may penalize teams that stretch the rules.
- Matches:
Active ethics and good sportsmanship will be the first priority in all matches.
League matches will be 28 boards, scored in Victory Points using the
Victory Point Scale shown below. Matches will be played in two
halves of 14 boards and with comparison of scores at halftime.
Seating rights will be given to each team for one of the two
halves, which half to which team to be decided before the match
by the team captains. If the captains do not consult before the
match and a dispute arises at halftime, the trailing team
receives the seating rights for the second half; if the match
is tied, a coin toss shall determine the seating rights.
Matches may be played at bridge clubs or at any venue agreed by
the team captains. Matches played outside of a bridge club should
have a means by which a director can be called if necessary.
The winning captain is responsible for ensuring that the report
slip is completely filled out and that the report slip gets to
the Commissioner.
- Late Arrivals:
When a match begins later than the agreed time because of one
or more late arrivals on one team, the nonoffending side
receives a penalty bonus of 3 IMPs per 5 minutes of delay up to
a maximum of 18 IMPs. The captain of the nonoffending side can
waive the penalties before the beginning of play. An emergency
player may be used until the late player arrives. If 30 minutes
have elapsed, the match must be:
- rescheduled without penalty to the nonoffending team;
- forfeited to the nonoffending team; or
- completed using the emergency player, only if permission
was given by the nonoffending team before any
boards were played.
- Scheduling Difficulties:
When the Commissioner is made aware of a scheduling problem, the
teams will schedule the match for the next period (but they must
also play the originally scheduled match for that period as well).
If no date can be found, the Commissioner can declare a forfeit
or doubleforfeit if it is determined that one or both sides
are at fault.
- Standings:
The order of teams for playoff purposes shall be decided on Victory
Points. Matches that are forfeited are scored as follows. The
offending team(s) get(s) zero Victory Points. The
nonoffending team gets the maximum of: (a) their average
Victory Point total in all of their nonforfeited matches;
(b) the average Victory Point total of the opponents of the
offending side in all of the offending side's nonforfeited
matches; or (c) 18 Victory Points. Any fraction awarded by this
rule is sufficient to break a tie in the standings.
In the case of a tie in Victory Points between two teams, or a tie
among three or more teams which has been broken by the procedure
in the next paragraph to leave two teams tied, the tiebreaking
procedure is: most wins (a draw is 1/2), most VPs
against common opponents (if not playing a round robin), most
wins against common opponents (if not playing a round robin).
If there is a tie in Victory Points among three or more teams, the
tiebreaking procedure is (in order of precedence): most wins
(a draw is 1/2); highest average VPs against teams in the tied
group; best winloss record against teams in the tied group;
most VPs against common opponents (if not playing round robin).
If teams are still tied after the tiebreaking procedure is
used, and the playoff ranking is at stake, the teams must play a
seven board playoff to decide the final positions.
Forfeiting cannot disadvantage other teams. If a team forfeits a
match against another team, and because of the VPs received by the
forfeit, the second team finishes ahead of a third team, the
Commissioner may reclassify the forfeiting team down enough
positions so the forfeiting team finishes below the third team.
- Spectators:
Any player may disallow an idle member of the opposing team for
kibitzing his team's match. Any player may request that any one
spectator be removed from his table without cause.
- Power of Commissioner:
The Commissioner's word shall be final in all interpretations and
applications of these Conditions.
Conditions of Contest 
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