[jimtherunr]

Yesterday I played in a five-round, three-table MITCHELL movement. Obviously this should have been a Howell movement. Some time ago we also had (I don't remember exactly) something like an eight-table Howell. Game setup should have some way of preventig these unnatural movements.

[paulg]

It does, although Howell movements are relatively new to BBO - https://blog.bridgeb...small-tourneys/

Reasonably BBO permits the tournament director to set the movement.

[mycroft]

8 table Howells (especially if they're 10-13 2-board rounds) are great. I see nothing wrong with that, even if normally you would run 6 or 7 fours at the club (or 6 or 7 threes online) as a Mitchell. As far as I'm concerned, the closer you can get to an all-play-all the better, especially if you can't guarantee good seeding. Note that BBO "howells" aren't really, but as long as the number of rounds are closer to 100% of opponents than to 50%, that's not a problem.

Playbacks are less great, though. And the director should have seen the 3-table game in time to correct the play, whether it became a 3 round Mitchell of 6s or 7s, or a "Howell" of 5 fours.

But as Paul says, it's up to the director to make the decision on how the game runs, and they have to do it pretty smartly before game time. And that's the same whether it's breaking 15 tables into two sections to run 7 threes as it is to change a 5 table game into 9 twos.

[0 carbon]

It must be easier using clocked tourneys for Howells - then all combinations available at once for BBO.


EDIT: Ah, Howells are always clocked.