The upcoming June 25th to June 28th Summer 2020 Regional is exciting news, building on the successful Support Your Regional event from May. As discussed, there are more granular stratification levels than ever offered in any regional or NABC event.
Daily Schedule In A Nutshell
There are four daily newcomer events (99er),four super newcomer events (499er). Other strats have a daily two-session event: Gold Rush in the evening (750), a daytime Super Gold Rush (1250), evening mid-flight (2500), morning super mid-flight (3500). Then there are two 2-session Open games, one daytime and one evening. We shall see whether all these games are considered concurrent for the purposes of awarding tons of gold points.
Should you need a reference as the date approaches, the complete schedule is linked on the right side of the GNYBA page.
Convention Charts: Basic vs Basic+ vs Open vs Open+
Most people don’t realize how much the ACBL “rules” have changed in the last few years. From the STOP card disappearing to various unauthorized information ruling changes, the convention chart overhaul in November 2018 was a big one and impacts these non-standard strats.
Good Old Days: GCC For Everything
Back in the day, the General Convention Chart governed almost every club game, sectional, regional, and NABC – whether it was gold rush or open, and almost all flights of GNT and NAP other than the very top. Only NABC+ Platinum events had modified charts allowing more conventions for international pros.
In theory there was a weird Limited Chart for 0-20 players, but no one used it (forcing 1NT, drury, and 2/1 GF was not allowed). For nostalgia, the old charts are still online.
The New Confusion – Four Different Charts
The new charts do a much better job defining precisely all of the rules – for example what it means to have an opening a hand with Average Strength, and what it means to be Strong or Weak. There is a huge glossary at the beginning that defines almost all terms, much like a legal document.
However, the new Basic Chart that applies to all events with an upper range of 750 master points. Basic+ applies to events topping out at 3000 (or bracketed teams through 1500). Then there is Open for 0-6000 and Open+ for the Platinum events.
Wow! Four different charts to know, and it is very likely you will play the same day in events with different charts.
Super Gold Rush and Super Mid-Flight Confusion
If you aren’t yet confused, the new strats will make life even more strange. The Super Gold Rush happens to use Basic+, while Gold Rush uses Basic. Then the Mid-Flight uses Basic+, but Super Mid-Flight uses Open. Perhaps it’s better to call the 1250 event Baby Mid-Flight, and the 3500 event Baby-Open?
We will dive in next time on the actual differences between the charts, and the common ways it gets people in trouble. Hint: Woolsey, Multi-Landy, Strong Club, Polish Club, transfer responses, and many conventional 2-level openings are impacted.