Editing Masterpoints (section)

{{Short description|Points awarded by bridge organizations to individuals}}
'''Masterpoints''' or '''master points''' are points awarded by bridge organizations to individuals for success in competitive [[duplicate bridge|bridge]] tournaments run under their auspices. Generally, recipients must be members in good standing of the issuing organization. At the international level, competitions and point awards are administered by the [[World Bridge Federation]] (WBF); its affiliates at the multi-national level, such as the [[American Contract Bridge League]] (ACBL), also issue points as do national federations such as the [[English Bridge Union]] (EBU), and the [[Deutsche Bridge Verband]] (DBV) and independent leagues such as the [[American Bridge Association]] (ABA) and [[Bridge Base Online]] (BBO).

In general, each organization has its own scheme for categorizing competitive bridge events and has a parallel scheme for awarding various categories of points to successful players. Upon reaching certain thresholds in point accumulation or retention, most organizations rank the individual in recognition of their achievements. Points and rankings generally have no monetary value, but have prestige value for some players and are sought after by them over a lifetime of play.

In some cases, the point awarding scheme is an important means of raising revenue for the bridge organization insofar as they charge entry fees for each tournament where points are awarded and their availability acts as an incentive to participation; the more prestigious the points, the higher the entry fees.

In the past, points were issued as paper certificates, which gave the player a tangible record of his or her achievement, but these are now increasingly replaced by electronic recording.

"Masterpoint", as a single word, is a registered trademark of the ACBL in the United States.