NYC Regional Oct 6-10 2022

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Lee Lin

The upcoming Midtown Manhattan regional on October 6-10, 2022 is less than a week away! For the complete schedule, check the tournament flyer.

Need a Partner? No Problem

We are committed to find partners for all levels of players, in particular our newer and intermediate players. If you need a partner, let us know at tournament@gnyba.org and find out about our guaranteed partnership program!

Again, we will have a partnership desk on-site, but to pre-arrange a partnership, let us know your ACBL number, contact info, days requested, and masterpoint total at tournament@gnyba.org

NOTE: You will be expected to play either Standard American or 2/1 with most pickup partners. You may be able to convince your new partner to try more complex conventions, but our advice is to keep things simple and fun on your “first date” together.

You will need to provide us ample time for a guaranteed partner (at least 48 hours before game time). However, in almost all cases we will be able to find you someone for a two-session 0-750 game, pairs or teams. For the single-session newcomer games, try to provide at least 72 hours notice before game time.

For truly last minute partnerships, stop by our physical partnership desk at the playing site.

Pro Speakers Sessions

We have an exciting lineup of professional and world class players ready to share some of their knowledge free of charge! Each day from Thu-Sun, in between the morning and afternoon sessions, stop by the guest speaker session and brush up the highlighted topic of the day. Whether you enjoy bidding, defense, hand analysis, or declarer play, there should be something for everyone.

The latest schedule is subject to change, but so far speakers include the all-star lineup of:

Jeff Hand
Dan Lev
Adam Parrish
Adam Wildavsky

Broadway Show Tickets

What better than a Broadway musical to cap a full-day bridge session? We are gathering players interested in catching a Broadway show during their trip to New York. Hang out with friends old and new while enjoying world-class performances in and around Times Square. 

So far, we have heard from a wide variety of interested individuals. There are those who love musicals, and those who will watch anything but a musical. Our hospitality staff will guide you through the choices of discounted Broadway tickets and help gather interested groups.

For more information, please email tournament@gnyba.org

Dress in Layers! Bring Proof of Vaccination

It is impossible to find one temperature that keeps everyone happy. In practice, the hotels usually keep the conference areas COLD (there are also new ventilation requirements). 

We highly recommend dressing in layered attire such as pullovers, hoodies, or multiple shirts, so you can be prepared to adapt and maintain your own comfortable playing temperature.

Also, remember to bring proof of Covid-19 vaccination.

Hotel Discount Block Sold Out

The reserved hotel block is completely SOLD OUT, faster than expected with no way to get more. Check our unit website gnyba.org for the latest accommodations options.

NAP Finals October 23rd Online (Gold and Red Points)

The District 24 NAP Finals will be held on Sunday, October 23rd online on BBO. As usual, it will be a 2-session pairs game, broken into Flight A (Open), Flight B (0-2500), and Flight C (non-life masters with 0-500). 

Game Time: 10:30am for all flights on BBO

The top 3 pairs in each flight and the top 4 pairs in Flights B and C will be invited to represent New York City and Long Island in the upcoming Spring 2023 North American Bridge Championships.  As usual, the ACBL grass roots events pay generous gold and red point awards, and the top 2 pairs in each flight receive travel subsidies.

Note: you and your partner must have qualified in either an online or face-to-face NAP ACBL club qualifier event for your appropriate flight during June, July, or August this past summer. ACBL maintains a list online of qualified individuals, and if you are unsure of your qualification status, feel free to ask your Unit officers.

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Updates to NYC Regional Oct 6-10 2022

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Lee Lin

We have some important updates about upcoming Midtown Manhattan regional on October 6-10, 2022.

Swiss Teams Event Added on October 10th

Our original schedule did not have a team game on one of the days. However, given significant interest, we are adding a 2-session stratified swiss on Monday, Oct 10th. That means for those who love team games and IMPs, you will have a daily 2-session event available at 10:30am.

For Oct 6th, 7th, and 8th, it is the popular bracketed team format, hoping for many brackets of roughly 8 teams each. Ideally, every team in your bracket has a similar masterpoint total, and you will play against all of them exactly once throughout the day. Top 3 spots in each bracket pay lots of gold points (top 4 spots if your bracket has 9 or more teams).

On October 9th and 10th, we switch to a swiss format (Sunday the 9th is split into two groups: an open AXY game and a BCD limited to 0-2500 players). It’s true that a lot of players enjoy the comfort in bracketed round robin. However, a larger swiss event can add a huge amount of excitement and fun. Your team competes against the whole field, each round matching you with a similar cumulative scoring team, with the day ending in higher and deeper payouts.

Hotel Discount Block Sold Out

First – the reserved hotel block is completely SOLD OUT, faster than expected with no way to get more. However, there are still rooms available at the host hotel at the regular rates, and plenty of alternative housing and hotel options in the area. For those with Chase, Marriott, Hyatt, or Amex points, there are quite few “points and miles” solutions to save on paying $300 and up per night.

For 240,000 Marriott points, you can stay for 5 nights at a variety of hotels just a few minutes walking distance from the playing area, Central park, Times Square, 5th Avenue, and various other NYC landmarks.

Newcomer Game – More Friendly Limits

For newcomers, we have a special newcomer pairs at 10:30am Saturday and Sunday mornings, October 8th and 9th. We also lowered the masterpoint limit to allow only players with at most 99 masterpoints. An earlier version of the tournament allowed for 0-500 players, ensuring a more friendly and balanced game. For those in the 100-499 window, sorry and congrats: you have graduated to the gold rush!

For the latest details and schedule, check out the latest GNYBA tournament information.

Download the Tournament Flyer

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Team Overdeck Victory in Edison

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Lee Lin

The team of four consisting of John Overdeck, Ralph Buchalter, Jacqueline Chang, and Jordan Lampe took first place in the Edison sectional swiss this past weekend. Each player wins 7.59 silver points in the first face-to-face Unit NJ sectional in over 2 years.  

Strong Showing from Yoon, Amer, McDermott

Team Overdeck initially lost their first round by 2 IMPs, but in no way can we label it a swiss gambit. Their 2nd match was against the eventual 2nd place expert team captained by Jiang Gu and NYC’s own David Yoon! A victory in round 3 put Overdeck in 5th place by cumulative Victory Points, trailing the halftime-leading team by 12 (which happened to be another NYC team: Susie Davison, Cynnie Ogden, Sam Amer, and Dan Lev).

Things turned around in a big way during the final 2nd half with three strong rounds of +18, +23, and +8 IMPs totaling 49 VPs — enough to secure 1st place. Recall that the Edison swiss plays 6 rounds of 6 boards, which all else being equal makes extreme rounds slightly harder to achieve (the blitz threshold is still 28 IMPs). 

Also noteworthy, another all-NYC team consisting of Scott McDermott, Alan Davidson, Maya Jonas-Silver, and Jack Latta took first place among the C Stratification teams, winning 2.54 silver points. Because the tournament is an open, stratified swiss, along the way the team faced off against the eventual 1st place and two of the tied 3rd place teams.

NYC Midtown Regional October 6-10 2022

The NYC regionals are back! Mark your calendar to play and win gold points in Midtown Manhattan, conveniently located at the 53rd street and 6th Avenue Hilton Midtown. All events feature a 20% bonus paid to winners of any overall award.

Two-session open pairs, gold rush pairs, and bracketed teams begin at 10:30am each day on the 6th, 7th, and 8th.

For faster players, there is a horizontal evening fast pairs at 7:15pm on the 6th and 7th (it is a two-session event held at 7:15pm two nights in a row).

October 9th is a special all day flighted swiss team event starting at 10:30am (two separate swiss events, open AXY and 0-2500 BCD). While we all love bracketed round robin, the swiss events add an extra layer of fun when your team competes in a large field with higher and deeper payouts.

For newcomers, we have a special newcomer pairs at 10:30am Saturday morning, October 8th (working on another session depending on interest).

For the latest details and schedule, check out the latest GNYBA tournament information.

Download the Tournament Flyer

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NAP Qualifiers: Last Chance for 2022

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Lee Lin

Don’t worry, there is still plenty of time to qualify for NAPs this year. The NYC face-to-face club has over half a dozen dates for NAP qualifier games. Here they are:

August Bridge and Games NAP Club Qualifier Dates:

1:00 pm times:
Friday, August 5th
Thursday, August 11th
Wednesday, August 17th
Saturday, August 20th
Tuesday, August 23rd
Saturday, August 27th
Monday, August 29th

All NAP Club Qualifiers pay bonus masterpoints using the more generous tournament formula, with half red half black pigmentation.

Online Alliance Bridge Club Qualifier Dates:

If you played at either Honors or Sagamore pre-pandemic, you are almost certainly a member of the Alliance Bridge Club. They are holding NAP qualifiers online from August 18th to August 31st. In fact, almost all of their games during those dates are club qualifiers — you only need to qualify once to be eligible to compete in the district NAP finals.

Qualification Complexities

Qualifying requires placing in the top 50% of the field for your eligible flight. For example, a pair of Flight C eligible players who are overall in the top half would qualifier for NAP Flight A, B, and C. A pair that is only 45% overall but still in the top half of Flight B and C pairs would qualify for Flights B and C.

When a pair qualifies for an NAP Flight, both individuals are qualified but may play in the district finals with a different qualified partner. In other words, you do not have to play in the district finals with the same partner as your club qualifier.

When a partnership includes players from different flights (say a Flight B and Flight C player), then that pair may only qualify for the higher flights during that game (Flight A or B). There are also special club qualifier games for 0-500 players (check the online schedule), which can be helpful for Flight C pairs attempting to qualify. You may also qualify in a different district’s NAP club qualifier game, both face-to-face or online, if the Bridge and Games and Alliance schedules do not align with yours.

NAP Club Qualification is always a complicated and confusing process, but fortunately, there are a still lots of chances to qualify.

District 24 NAP Finals October 2022

The D24 NAP finals for all flights will be held in late October, most likely online. Check back soon for the final and official announcement.

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Another NJ Sectional Update

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Lee Lin

With so much attention focused on district NAPs and club qualifiers, let’s not forget about the NJLB sectional coming up in less than 3 weeks.

Our neighbors in Unit 140 have another update to their sectional. Directly from the source, here is the latest:

Now that both NYC and almost all of NJ counties are deemed “High” Covid transmissibility by the CDC, we have changed the Flyer to reflect that Masking will probably be required under ACBL Protocols. – Brett

Download the latest flyer for more information.

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Edison Sectional, August 19-21 (Woodbridge 2.0)

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Lee Lin

Almost an eternity ago in late 2019, we announced the Woodbridge sectionals were at risk, with the very last Woodbridge sectional held in March 2020. Our neighbors in the New Jersey Bridge League had long used the Hungarian American Citizens Club for sectional tournaments, and along with Allendale, these sectionals were a crucial source of silver points for New York players.

Tournament Flyer with All Relevant Info:
New Jersey Bridge League Edison Sectional August 19 to 21, 2022

Good news, Unit 140 is back with their summer sectional, this time hosted at the Edison Elks Club in Edison, NJ.

New Venue Notes

Good news, Unit 140 is back with their summer sectional, this time hosted at the Edison Elks Club in Edison, NJ. It is still driving distance from NYC and Long Island, with some parking provided. They will have free coffee and tea, with sodas and bottled water on sale for $1. Due to Covid restrictions, there will be no food or snacks provided, proof of vaccination required.

One Woodbridge staple seems to be gone, which is the “backroom” $1 pizza slices and $1 salads. The upgraded swiss teams lunch buffet is also no go. It’s ok, safety first!

New Playing Schedule

On the docket is a new 10am and 3pm style pairs schedule, with a slightly longer lunch break than the pre-pandemic 10am / 2:30pm schedule. The Sunday swiss begins at 10am sharp now, instead of the prior 10:30am start. I once nearly delayed our car pool thinking the Saturday pairs game also started at 10:30 — fortunately the Holland and Lincoln tunnels are very empty on Saturday mornings.

GrassRoots Afternoons on Fri and Sat

One tradition they are keeping: the afternoon sessions on Friday and Saturday are designated as Grassroots events. That means they pay 27.27% more masterpoints with no additional cost to the players. The bonus applies to both the open and 499er game.

New Symmetrical Morning and Afternoon Stratifications

Another major change for the Friday and Saturday schedule: the morning and afternoon pairs sessions are exactly identical. In previous years, the morning section had an Open and 299er section, while the afternoon had an open section (A/X), a mid-flight section (B/C/D), and a section for intermediate and newcomer players (299er). Now, both morning and afternoon will be Open and 0-500.

To be honest, I didn’t mind the old schedule, because in practice in forced mid-flight players to play-up in the morning, then decide in the afternoon if they wanted to continue playing up or slide back down to the B/C/D. However, it caused some confusion and partnership disagreements. It also meant that players in the 250-750 range felt extra intimidated in the morning. So we welcome the symmetry!

Six Round Swiss on Sunday

The swiss on Sunday is only 36 boards, consisting of six rounds of 6 boards. That is an interesting departure from 7 times 7, but it seems their director in charge has approved the change. One nice benefit is the NYC crowd will likely be home in time well before dinner, as opposed to the prior 7pm and beyond after accounting for tunnel traffic.

New 20% Bonus

This is one of the first nearby sectionals to receive the new 20% bonus in overall awards for face-to-face tournaments. The bonus applies to the event-wide overall awards of each stratum, but not to the section awards in the event there are multiple sections. It also applies to the overall awards in the swiss, but not to match awards.

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NAP Club Qualifiers 2022-2023

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Lee Lin

I know we just finished District GNTs for 2022, but it’s already time to prepare for the next season of NAPs. Again, the North American Pairs will be played during Spring 2023 NABCs, which had a great NYC showing in Reno a few months back.

Club Qualifiers for NAP

The club qualifier process is a bit complicated. First, you need to find a club holding an NAP qualifier game. They are help somewhat randomly through June, July, and August 2022, both at face-to-face clubs and online virtual clubs. For example, June 6th to 12th was a set of NAP qualifiers (sorry if you missed it). Don’t worry, there will be plenty more.

How Do I Qualify In a Qualifier Game?

The rule is, you need to be in the top 50% of your flight. For example, if your partnership is in Flight C that day in an open game and you end up below average for Flight A but above 50% in Flight B and C, then you will have qualified for NAP Flights B and C.

Do I Need to Qualify with my Regular Partner?

No! Amazingly, there is a lot of flexibility here. You may qualify with any partner during any of the many club qualifier games. However, the partner you choose might impact your eligibility for Flight C and B. This part causes a lot of confusion – if your partner is Flight B and you are Flight C, presumably you should not be eligible to qualify for Flight C during that game, only A or B.

How Do I Know That I Qualified?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a great way for players to check in real time. ACBL tends to release tools to help you check throughout the summer. However, between online games and face-to-face games, it isn’t really updated in real-time and has been known to have a few bugs. If you have doubts, ask your district NAP coordinator.

District Finals

District Finals are usually held during late October or early November. This year should be the same, but stay tuned for final dates. Likely dates are October 16th, 23rd, or October 30th to avoid conflicts with the regional.

Other News:

We will announce GNT winners once the official ACBL results are up.

More news about the Fall 2022 NYC Hilton Regional is also coming soon! The dates are October 6th to October 11th.

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Team Rosenthal Assigned Top Seed in D24 GNT

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Lee Lin

The GNT Seeding committee has assigned the top seed position to Andrew Rosenthal, Migry Zur Campanile, Aaron Silverstein, and Chris Willenken in the Championship Flight. Assuming no further changes to the registered teams, they will play against Team Moller in the semi-finals of the District 24 Championship Flight Grand National Teams.  In the other bracket, Team Parrish will play Team Eisenstein. 

Our District tries to minimize the impact and need for seeding teams.  Most of the time, the opening round consists of a complete round robin with top teams surviving into a KO based on cumulative victory points.  However, in the rare case when exactly 4 or 8 teams register in the Open flight, we defer to a seeding committee of District experts to draw brackets.  In the lower flights, we seed entirely based on team average masterpoints (and defending winners from the prior year).

All that said, we would love to NOT require any seeding. Seeding is subjective and far from perfect, given that the true effectiveness of a team is far more complicated than the sum of the individuals.  If one more team joins, we revert back to the usual round robin format.

There is still time to put together a team and spend this Saturday challenging multiple world class players to an all-day team game.  You may even win a chance to represent New York City and Long Island during the national finals in Providence.

Registration: https://bridgewinners.com/tournament/view/2022-d24-gnt/

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Team Ogden and Team Rivera advance to GNT B Finals

Posted on May 1, 2022 by Lee Lin

Team Ogden Defeats Team Poon
Team Rivera Defeats Team Xu

The semi-final knockouts for District 24 GNT Flight B concluded this weekend with two very close matches.   In the left bracket, Team Rivera won with a margin of only 2 IMPs to win 121-119 (although that includes a 4 IMP penalty in favor of Team Xu from an infraction early in the day).  

Rivera vs. Xu
39-16
44-42
86-53
121-119

In the other match, Team Poon was ahead the entire first half of the day, but Team Ogden staged a comeback by the 3rd segment and pulled head on the last 12 boards.

Ogden vs. Poon
9-12
39-40
68-61
93-70

Odgen and Rivera Advance to Finals

The GNT Flight B finalists will play a two-session KO on Sunday, June 5th, along with the finalist from the various other GNT flights. 

Team Ogden’s roster includes Cynthia Ogden, Catherine Williams, Susan Davison, Michael Schwartz, Joann Goodspeed, and Barbara Schwartz.

Team Rivera’s roster includes Christopher Rivera, Ilan Tadmor, James Southern, Yoko Sobel, Siqing Yu, and Florin Neamtu.

The winners of the final KO will each win 22.45 gold points and a blue ribbon qualifier to play in the fall NABC Blue Ribbon Pairs.  The team will also be invited to represent the district in the summer NABC GNT-B national finals in Providence, along with a $1000 travel subsidy from the district. 

Still Time To Register for Open, Flight A, and Flight C

Registration: https://bridgewinners.com/tournament/view/2022-d24-gnt/

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GNT District 24 Conditions of Contest, Signups Imminent

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Lee Lin

We will be holding all of the opening rounds at 177 East 87th Street, Suite 302A, with a 10am start time.

Registration for District 24 GNT

District 24 GNT Tournament Flyer 2021-2022

District 24 GNT Conditions of Contest 2021-2022

Update April 25th, 2022

An earlier version of the GNT Flyer reported a lower amount of masterpoints assuming a possible online District final. However, because we are holding GNTs face-to-face this year, the winning team will receive 33.5 gold points, 2nd place 25.13 gold points, and 3rd/4th 16.75 gold points.

The opening round of GNT Flight B is this Saturday, April 30th 10am at the Bridge and Games club at 177 East 87th Street (register at Suite 302A, playing may be on a different floor). The top four teams will survive into a two-session KO semi-final on Sunday, May 1st.

If at least 12 teams participate in the opening round, then up to 8 teams may survive into the Sunday KO and play single-session matches in the round of 8 and semi finals.

Read the conditions of contest for rules on when a team of 5 or 6 is allowed to have members of the team miss one of the two days.

Registration: https://bridgewinners.com/tournament/view/2022-d24-gnt/

GNT Championship Flight Opening Round May 7th

Any team of 4-6 players with ACBL membership residency in District 24 is eligible to compete in the GNT Championship Flight. The opening round of May 7th will likely be a round robin, however with exactly 8 teams, a seeding committee will create a bracket and being a Round of 8 KO with two-session matches.

After the opening round, 4 teams will survive into a two-session KO on May 8th, and a final on June 5th. In the event more than 12 teams show up to the opening round, May 7th will be the round of 8, May 15th the semi-finals, and June 5th the finals.

Registration: https://bridgewinners.com/tournament/view/2022-d24-gnt/

GNT Flight A and Flight C Opening Round May 14th

On May 14th, we will hold the opening round for both Flight A and Flight C. Players are eligible to play as long as they meet the requirements for the designated flight, AND are not on any other team which is playing in the GNT finals on June 5th. For example, if your GNT Flight B team is still in the finals after May 1st, you may not forfeit or drop off the team in order to play on a Flight A or Flight C team.

Registration: https://bridgewinners.com/tournament/view/2022-d24-gnt/

Looking for GNT Teammates?

For players with 0-2500 masterpoints interested in GNT Flight B or non life masters with 0-500 points interested in Flight C, we can help you form teams. Please send us your currently confirmed roster with each player’s ACBL number.

To sign up or ask questions, email gnt@gnyba.org with the subject “GNT Partnership Desk Flight (B or C)”

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