The seventh USBF JLall Online Teams event (JLall7) will be held in September on RealBridge on Sept 17-19 and 22-25.
Jlall7 is open to all Active USBF members. An Active member is one who has paid USBF dues. All players must have paid 2022 dues on or before September 15, 2022.
Event Schedule and Format
•JLall5 will be held on Sept. 17-19 and 22-25.
• Play each day will start at noon Eastern time and end at about 8:30 pm Eastern time.
• There will be no fewer than 8 teams and no more than 32 teams, each with 4-6 players.
• The entry fee for the the event is $300 per team. In addition, there will be a second entry fee of $100 per day for any teams that play more than 3 days.
• DIC for the event is McKenzie Myers. Tournament Organizer is Jan Martel. Software guru is Al Hollander. Vugraph Organizer is Chris Wiegand, who will again organize voice commentary for the KO stages. RealBridge may also have some new kibitzing enhancements in place by September.
• The event format with 16 teams entered will be:
2 day complete Round Robin on Sept. 17-18. Top 8 teams qualify for Bracket 1, which will be a 4-day KO on Sept. 19 and 22-24. The remaining teams will continue in Bracket 2, which will also be all KOs, starting with Stage 1 on Sept. 19th, and continuing on Sept. 22nd with an 8 team Stage 2 KO (4 Round Robin qualifiers and 4 Bracket 1 Quarterfinal losers); on Sept. 23rd with a 6 team Quarterfinal (the 4 winners from Sept. 22nd and the 2 Bracket 1 losing Semifinalists); on Sept. 24th and 25th with the Semifinal (losing Bracket 1 Finalist drops in and chooses their opponent) and Final.
• There will be a short Captains' meeting on the day after completion of the Round Robin to set the KO brackets. The precise method of setting the bracket is set forth in the Special Conditions of Contest. Summary: the top 2 teams from the Round Robin will select their opponents for the first round of Bracket 1 from the bottom 4 qualifiers. The remaining qualifiers will be shuffled in groups to fill the bracket. Bracket 2 teams will be shuffled. When Bracket 1 teams drop into Bracket 2, they will be at the top of bracket and will choose their opponents.
• The matches will be played on RealBridge. During the bidding & play, each player will see & hear their screenmate - (N&E, S&W). Before and after each match, teammates will be seated at one table, and RealBridge is working on a way to allow the players who were sitting out to join you (players who sat out will be able to see & hear their teammates and be heard but not seen).
• There will be no real-time online kibitzing allowed for any match. Kibitzers will be able to watch after a delay. For the Round Robin, the delay will be until each match is over so kibitzing does not provide “state of the match” information. For KO matches, kibitzing will start half an hour after play starts, and each board will be shown no sooner than when all tables have finished playing it. We will try to have voice commentary.
• RealBridge will archive bidding, play & score information for the event. We will also post scores on this website.
• Players may consult their bidding notes, SSF, and convention card during the bidding only. Other aids to memory (for example, lists of percentages, calculators, notes about carding) are not allowed.
• Play Requirements are 50%, but rounded down by 1 match if there are an odd number of Round Robin matches.
How to Enter
Entries are now closed with 14 teams entered.
• Any player who has not paid 2022 USBF dues by September 15th will not be allowed to play.
• Teams can freely change their rosters until September 15th. Roster changes are made by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If an added player or pair is not able to meet the deadlines for system filing, they may not play any unusual method unless it is played by another pair in the event.
Roster changes after the Round Robin are allowed only to replace a player who is unable to continue for health reasons and only if 4 players who met the play requirement in the Round Robin remain on the team.
System Regulations & Conditions of Contest
• Normal USBF System regulations apply to this event - each pair must complete a USBF System Summary Form online and file an ACBL convention card 2 weeks before play starts. To complete the SSF, log in and click on CREATE OR EDIT SSF under the User Menu. Follow instructions and you should be able to create a completely new SSF for this event or copy and edit a prior one. When you have finished filling out the SSF or making changes you must click on submit at the top or bottom of the page to save the changes - otherwise all of your hard work will be lost in cyberspace. To file the ACBL convention card, copy the URL for a BridgeWinners convention card, and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you have filed an SSF &/or convention card recently that is/are completely unchanged for this event, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and he will magically move it forward to this event.
• This event is governed by the 2022 USBF General Conditions of Contest and Special Conditions of Contest for the event.
Draft 2 of the Special Conditions of Contest is now posted; comments welcome, especially since the format for this event is significantly different from previous JLalls.
• ACBL Open+ Convention Chart applies to this event.
Ethics Statement
The provisions of the USBF General Conditions of Contest regarding ethical obligations and possible penalties apply to this event. The USBF has appointed an Ethics Investigation Committee that will review any complaints about ethics violations. If the EIC concludes that a player or pair was acting unethically, they will report to the USBF COO, who may refer it to the USBF Recorder. Either the COO or Recorder may bring a Charge against the player to the Board of Directors, who may place a player on probation, suspend, or expel a player for cause.