Erm … Why the Hesitation Mitchell on Tues/Thurs?
Club practice is to use an alternative movement when we have a half table and fewer than 12 tables.
This allows us to have 2- rather than 3- or 4-board rounds, reducing the time and the number of
boards sat out, and provides a fairer competition. Even so, this deviation from the normal
movement is not universally popular amongst members and even some directors. So rather than
having moans and groans I want to give you a chance to air your views and have a say. This note sets
out to explain why we use alternatives to straight Mitchell movements when we have half tables.
I will use the example of a session with 11½ tables, with missing pair E/W:
Playing straight Mitchell with 9x3 board rounds there are 36 boards in play, half of the room will sit
out 3 boards. There will be at least 9 and for half the room it will be 12 boards that you don’t play.
You may also play the difficult boards which other pairs may miss. So the disadvantages are:
1. Some people have a long sit-out when they came to play bridge.
2. The results are not very fair, as you are not playing all the boards and not playing the same
boards as your competitors.
The advantage, of course, is that we play a familiar movement that is easy to set up for directors and
is well known for players to follow.
So what of the ‘alternative movement’? Actually, it isn’t so different from a normal Mitchell. It’s
based on a Mitchell movement, but involves a ‘hesitation’, where you play N/S and then E/W at one
table, before moving as usual. The last 2 rounds are arrow-switched. In this movement we play 13x 2
board rounds, using just 26 boards. All but one N/S pair remain at the same table as usual.
The main gain is that apart from the shorter sit-out all pairs will play all the boards. This is clearly a
fairer competition.
The disadvantage is the change of movement that players and directors need to cope with.
However, we’ve seen that a Hesitation Mitchell is quite similar to a standard Mitchell movement,
and having used these movements more frequently I believe we’re becoming more familiar and
perhaps less uncomfortable with them.
With fewer tables the movements, while similar, do involve more tables where both N/S pairs move.
So what do you think?
I have tried to set out what these movements are about and why we use them. However this is your
club and it’s up to you to decide. Please let me or Grant our Chief Club Director, know your views.
We will take a poll at the AGM in March.
Trevor Purches Chairman
[email protected]
01225 866591
January 2011
P.S. For those interested in a more quantified explanation:
Playing straight Mitchell 3 board rounds, the E/W half of the room and three N/S pairs would play 9
x 3 board rounds, i.e. 27 of 36 boards (75%). 9 N/S pairs would play 8 x 3 board rounds, i.e. 24 of 36
boards (67%) sitting out for 3 boards or 21 mins. Each pair play a different subset of the 36 boards.
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