DISTRICT 17 NATIONAL DIRECTORS REPORT
JUNE 2022

Cindy Shoemaker
ACBL National Board Representative 
1-719-337-6258

The ACBL Board of Directors and ACBL Management met via Zoom on Monday, May 16 and Monday, May 23, taking further actions to support the return to face-to-face bridge.
REGIONAL START TIMES LIFTED
The first day of a seven-day regional tournament can now start before 1 pm.

There are two key changes to regional structure and attendance that make the requirement to start no earlier than 1 pm outdated and impractical: Many regionals are now fewer than seven days, back-to-back director assignments are less common and
players do not wish to play at night.
ROYAL STAC CONTINUES
Due to the success of Royal STaCs, an additional Royal STaC week has been approved by ACBL to be held by Districts between September and December 2022. As a result, the D17 Board voted to convert its regular STaC scheduled for September 12-18 to a Royal STaC. 
The Royal STaC deviates from a regular STaC in that players can earn 25% silver, 25% gold, 25% red and 25% black masterpoints instead of all silver points.  

ACBL approved this innovative concept on an experimental basis in spring 2022 to support the return to face-to-face play in clubs and to fulfill player requests for more pigmented point opportunities. Overall, this STaC produced a 19.6% increase in table count when compared to the previous week. D17 had a 17.5% increase.

D17 held a Royal STaC March 28 - April 3, 2022. There were 1,171 tables in play with 3,401.08 masterpoints earned by 1,567 players. Sixty-four clubs participated.
INCREASE IN OVERALL AWARDS AT REGIONAL AND SECTIONALS
A 20% increase in overall awards will apply to all in-person sectionals and regionals held May 30, 2022 through May 28, 2023. All D17 sectionals and regionals will benefit.
CHANGE IN ACBL VIRTUAL CLUB
VISITOR POLICY
ACBL will no longer enforce the Visitor Policy for VACB Clubs running fewer than 50 tables per week.
ACBL ONLINE REGIONAL EVENTS SCHEDULE 2022
There will be two ACBL Online Regional events held September 15-18 and December 20-23, 2022 during times when face-to-face regionals are not held.
VACB CLUB AWARDS REDUCED
VACB club awards will be reduced from 4.0 to 2.5 beginning July 1, 2022.
NAP QUALIFYING GAMES ADDED ONLINE
Face-to-face NAP qualifying game began June 1 and will run through August 31. Clubs may hold two NAP qualifiers for each sanctioned session in June, July and August. These games will award triple regular points, half red and half black.

Online qualifiers also will run June, July and August. These games will award double regular club points, half red and half black.

The Las Vegas Glitter Gulch Regional will be the home of the D17 NAP Finals in November at The Plaza Hotel & Casino.
UPGRADED CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
All face-to-face club games -- June 27-July 10 and November 7-20 -- can be run as
upgraded club championships. These games are in addition to any prior “free”
upgraded championship games that have already been given.