Bridge TKO

I don't know of a matchpoint pair player who does not cringe at the obscene number of master points awarded in KO's. I don't know how the system works - but when, in the recent Las Vegas regional, a list of master point leaders was published, I said (not jokingly) "Oh, those are the Knockout players."
Perhaps it is time to segregate players who have to beat a field of several sections in two sessions to get as many masterpoints as a pair who luck in to winning the first two matches of a knockout.
This will give the ACBL yet another way to honor players in additional areas of expertise. As you know, 25 years ago there were maybe 4 or 5 levels before you became a "Life Master" with all the benefits that accrued therein. (free membership and lifetime bulletins- ha ha ha ha)
It is easy to see why the ACBL working directors prefer Knockouts - the number of idiots to deal with is halved after one session, then halved again and yet again. There are no hand records to contend with, no screwed up pick-up slips (with the computer input), rarely a fouled board, no burners to publish or scoring corrections. When I become a director, please let me do the knockouts.
Meanwhile, for God's sake, do something to make the masterpoint awards more equitable - right now it's a joke. Only I'm not laughing.

The ACBL long ago abandoned any pretense of maintaining the respect and honor that came with the title of “Life Master” when they succumbed to a system whereby one could become a Life Master without ever having played against a Life Master.
Now we have “Stratified Pairs” where “B” and “C” players earn more masterpoints for lesser scores than the “A” players and “Knockouts” that pit players who can barely follow suit versus their peers and award handsome sums of masterpoints for outwitting the opponents. If the goal of the management of the ACBL is to market membership by showing how easy it is to obtain the once lofty goal of “Life Master”, congratulations, success is yours.