ACBL Table Data

A C B L TOURNAMENT AND CLUB TABLE DATA

The following table data is unofficial (not directly issued by the ACBL, but compiled from data publicly available on ACBLLive and LIVE4Clubs, as well as the BridgeFinesse site). Hopefully you will find this useful, or at least interesting, as the webmaster's not infrequent insomnia should be someone's gain. PLEASE NOTE: Year-over-year table count comparisons are from 2026 to 2025, and are for face-to-face tables only (there are no online tables counted anywhere here). ACBL's Brass "[may not] be interested in numbers", but we are here for that party.

OPEN REGIONAL TABLES
ALL 2026 OPEN REGIONAL TABLES N=11 [2/7] 2026 vs same period in 2025

2026 Y-O-Y SAME EVENT REGL TABLES N=10 [2/7] 2026 vs same tournaments in 2025

2025 (ALL) OPEN REGIONAL TABLES N=98 [FINAL]

2025 Y-O-Y SAME EVENT REGL TABLES N=86 [FINAL]

2025 Open Regional charts and year-over-year comparison to 2024 table counts (click to enlarge). NOTE that these charts reflect only open regional tournaments that were held at the same time the previous year (or two years ago in a few cases, for those that alternate years). The comparative numbers here are for same-event regionals held in the same location.

Here are 2026's open repeat-event regionals, with total tables compared to the same event 12 months ago*. Again, there are a few 2026 regional tournaments that are not listed here, as they either weren't run the past couple of years or are first-time events. All regionals listed to the left are a direct comparison to 2025 *(or 2024, if not run last year). These comparative percentages are as close as apples-to-apples as one can get.

	Far left is a look at the total number of tables in ALL open regionals (by year). This includes first-time events, those that are run every third year, etc. Immediate left is a chart showing the number of open regionals held in a specific calendar year.
	Far left in the middle row is a chart showing the average number of tables per open regional, by year. The immediate left chart here shows the percentage of teams tables across all of the ACBL's open regionals, annually. NOTE that for the first time (ever?) there were more teams tables than pairs tables in the ACBL's open regionals during 2025.
	The trend to more teams tables in open regionals is not ACBL-wide. Left are two charts, one showing tournaments seeing a decrease in teams tables as a percentage of their total tables each year, with the next chart showing tournaments with their percentage of team tables on the rise.

The "Soloway Slump". Many regionals across the country are expanding their team game contests to include more Soloway KO events - and not just for the pros that show up. Some ACBL regionals are changing their bracketed teams (or bracketed teams for lower-masterpoint groups) to all-Soloways. Not every day; but some days. How is that working out?

There are always exceptions to the rule, but in general, team game tables are down when Soloways are introduced or expanded. Players may not want to commit to a two-day event; less experienced players may not like the Soloway format; players may not be familiar enough with the format yet to play in Soloway KOs (nobody likes change, least of all bridge players); there are several possible reasons why this is happening. Here are some recent examples of tournaments that found this out the hard way:

		The HOUSTON TX REGIONAL. In 2025, the Houston TX Lone Star Regional held bracketed teams only (and no Soloway KOs). The schedule was posted for 2026 to change three days of the week (M-W-F) to Soloway KOs for everybody - and no bracketed teams those days. The graph to your left shows the result. Monday, the total team tables at the Lone Star Regional in 2026 fell by -34.4% from 122 tables one year earlier to just 80 tables in 2026. It got worse as the week went on. Wednesday's team tables fell by more than half in 2026, and for these three days, the overall drop in team participation was -216 team tables or -40.3%. Mind you - this was the 3rd biggest regional in the country in 2025.
		The PALM SPRINGS CA REGIONAL. In 2024, the Rancho Mirage CA tournament had days with team play that were scheduled as Soloway KOs for the top-tier teams - and then bracketed teams for everyone else. The decision was then made to change this to all-Soloways for Tuesday and Thursday of their 2025 holiday tournament in SoCal. "Soloways for everyone!" This experiment lasted all of one year, as the total team tables on Tuesday and Thursday at this tournament fell by more than 1/3rd when lesser masterpoint players were forced with the Soloway as the team option. The schedule for 2026 in Palm Springs will go back to top-tier Soloways only.

Does size matter? In the larger scheme of things, probably not; some of the most fun at these ACBL events happens at small regionals. Still, some tournaments like to brag about how close they are to Gatlinburg TN's big regional, and so here are the Top 20 Regionals (in terms of table counts) each year of the post-pandemic era. Each year has their respective table count along with their movement on the chart from the last year their tournament was held.

OPEN SECTIONAL TABLES
2026 OPEN SECTIONAL TABLES N=46 [1/31]

2025 OPEN SECTIONAL TABLES N=502 [FINAL, OPEN + LOCAL + w/RESTRICTED REG'L COMBINED]

A look at Open Sectionals each month and their average tables per tournament on the left, compared to the same month one year earlier. On your right, the total number of open sectional tables in play by month. Most of these sectionals are repeat performances, but a few held in one year aren't held every year. These charts include all sectional tables during the monthly period (whether held the previous year or not).

Once the "hardest pigmented points to get", the ACBL has made getting silver points super easy without heading to your local sectional tournament. ("Silver Linings Weeks", for starters, which are YUUUGE money makers for the ACBL on BBO. . .even if at the cost of your local sectional tournament).

On the left, the total number of open sectional tables in play by month; on the right is a look at the number and type of open sectional by month.

Changes in the average number of tables per type of tournament for 2025 through September 2.

NOTE The "Gatlinburg Effect" which saw the largest dropoff in comparable regionals so far this year (-28.2%), is also the largest table count of any regional and thus a huge part of Y-O-Y numbers; without the 2025 Gatlinburg result, the average change in open regional tables per tournament is actually off -2.6%, not -4.4%.

INTERMEDIATE/NEWCOMER TOURNAMENT TABLES
2026 I/N TOURNEY TABLES N=10 [1/31]

2025 I/N TOURNEY TABLES N=155 [FINAL, COMBINED I/N REG'L + I/N SECT'L]

Intermediate/Newcomer Sectionals this year. For better or worse, this is where the future of bridge will come from. Left (top) is a look at the year-over-year changes in number of tournaments, number of tournament tables, and number of tables per tournament for both I/N Regionals and I/N Sectionals. So far, there's a lot of red there.

Below that is a chart of the average tables per session for I/N Sectionals in 2025. Most of these tournaments are running 10 tables per session or less (which isn't terrible), but a few are really impressing. The 17.3 tables per session was for a one-day NLM tournament in Sauk Rapids, MN, area population of 161,000 (16.6% population is 65+) - that's almost as many tables per session as Palm Desert CA (population 374,000, where there's a much higher percentage of retirees [33.8% population is 65+]).

F2F TOURNAMENT-ASSOCIATED ONLINE TABLES

This website is all about face-to-face ACBL tables (and the social aspect of the game of bridge).  But here are two online play charts that may be of some interest.

As of April 2023, the ACBL allowed an online event during your Regional (limited to the district host's players).  But just as online tables in the E-clubs have crumbled in the past two years, online tables in these events have fallen sharply just in the past 12 months - and across all tournaments.  A look at BBO online tables that are associated with face-to-face Regional tournaments, some tournaments are now struggling to get to the "break even" point financially with an online option (13 online tables or more).  That could accelerate this online option's decline even faster.  The chart to your left includes the online tables for regional tournaments held in both 2024 and 2025.  UPDATE:  The ACBL moved to eliminate online play associated with F2F Regionals at the 2025 Summer NABC.  They claimed that tournament organizers in general "were not aware of the costs involved" and "more often than not lost money" on the event (which, looking at the chart to your left, you can understand why).

And regarding the "Silver Linings Weeks" that the ACBL runs to shovel out silver points during the year; you'll note that their weekly BBO E-Club table totals are quite literally "off the chart" during those weeks.  Up to 7 standard deviations above their mean weekly tables.  This prompted the ACBL to add a third "Silver Linings Week" to their online schedule in 2024, even if very likely contributing to the decline in face-to-face sectional attendance.  Masterpoint inflation is real, and it is spectacular.

F2F CLUB TABLES
LOCAL CLUB TABLES
SINCE JANUARY 1st N=6 wks [2/9]

ROLLING 52-WEEK CLUB TABLES N=52 wks [2/9]

ROLLING 52-WEEK TABLES AVERAGE PER WEEK N=52 wks [2/9]

		Weekly face-to-face ACBL club tables, since the post-COVID re-opening.
		A look at the tables per game (on an annual basis) for F2F clubs across the ACBL.
		The quarterly year-over-year change in ACBL club table counts. As clubs have opened and things gotten back to normal, the rate of increased tables each quarter has slowed - but it's still been positive through 2025.
		Total F2F tables in ACBL clubs, by quarter, since reopening.

NABC TABLE COUNTS

Major FALL NABC EVENTS, total tables by each post-pandemic Fall NABC
WHITEHEAD Women's Pairs	KEOHANE North Amer Swiss	REISINGER Board-A-Match	NABC+ Mixed Swiss	NABC 0-10K Fast Pairs	NABC+ Mixed Pairs	NABC+ Blue Ribbon Pairs
NABC 0-10K Swiss	NABC 0-3000 Pairs	SOLOWAY Knockouts	NAIL Life Masters	NABC Super Senior Pairs	MITCHELL Open B-A-M	NABC 0-6K Blue Ribbon