Hi,
I ran an event today, 200604017751, that came back with an error because I had a player who was a non-member as a house player. He fit all the criteria as a house player, but for some reason the exception request wasn’t approved automatically. Will I need to buy him a tournament membership? Is there something I’m not understanding about the house player rule?
Alex Relyea
It may be that a house player exemption is not automatic and needs intervention by the office. Though it seems like the one time I had an expired member as a house player I got the exemption back almost immediately. I may have submitted during normal business hours so I’m not positive about this. I’ll let Mr. Nolan take over. 
How did he do in the tournament? If he finished at 50% or higher, that might keep the request from being automatically approved. (This was put in to catch some abuses of the house player rules, since house players are supposed to fit into the bottom score group it is unlikely they would score 50% or higher, especially if they have some rounds where they aren’t paired because there are an even number of players in that round without the house player.)
The validation program will also allow only one house player per round, though you can have a different house player in each round.
He scored 0-4. Does the score matter if he is a permanent house player? I had three players arrive late, so I had two of them play each other and this spectator play the third. The natural pairings had him play the lowest rated player in each subsequent round.
Alex Relyea
Mike a question. First I was unaware you could even have a non USCF person play as House man. I’ve always paired the house player according to his score and rating. In round one if the houseman is rated 1400 he doesn’t end up playing the lower boards. And if he should win round 1 and say someone has taken a bye in round 2 the houseman sets out. Then say in round 3 If he has to play I would give him a score of 1.5 for pairing purposes. I would only give one half point bye to the houseman. But basically I treat him like a regular player. Am I doing wrong?
There are two types of house players.
A ‘permanent’ house player should be paired where his rating and results would place him. However, such a house player should still not be among the top players in the event. If a permanent house player is not paired in a round, because there are an even number of players for that round, then the TD will have to decide what kind of score to give that player to keep him in an appropriate score group for subsequent rounds.
House players who are used on a round-by-round basis should probably go into one of the lowest score groups and should be rated appropriately to be competitive with the other players in that score group. (You wouldn’t put a 2200 player in as a house player in a score group of 1400 players, for example. Whether you should use a 2200 player as a house player at all is a different issue, I would not use a player as a house player if his rating would have put him above the break for the 1st round, other TDs may be less strict.)
See secure.uschess.org/TD_Affil/houseplayer.php for a more complete discussion of house players.
The house player request in this case was not approved automatically because the house player played in every round.
However, it was approved by the USCF office this morning.
I see. Thank you.
Alex Relyea
I think that’s better. It’s certainly more fair to his opponents, and it goes a long way toward eliminating the distinction between the two “types” of house players mentioned by Mike.
If the house player sits out a round, then is used again in a later round, he can be given a pairing score different from his actual score. Missed rounds can count as 0 for wallchart purposes, yet 0.5 (or even 1.0) for pairings. If there are multiple missed rounds, his pairing score need not even be the same for each missed round. For example, he could be given 1.5 out of 2 for two missed rounds, if his rating makes that appropriate.
I like to put house players in a score group where they are somewhere in the bottom half by rating, though not necessarily at the very bottom.
Bill Smythe