Another Online Individual NABC Robot Tourney

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Lee Lin

I remember March 14th-16th very well, not just because it was the last weekend prior to Covid-19 lockdowns in NYC. It was also the weekend of the most recent Spring 2020 Online Individual NABC. At the time, these special NABC-related robot tournaments were the only way anyone could win pigmented points on BBO, with the bonus that they were gold/red!

Are These Bot Tournaments Still Special?

Ok, so we’ve all been sheltering at home since roughly March 17th. Since then, we’ve had two massive online gold point regionals, and a massive Silver Linings Week. There are many black point virtual private club games daily. Is this bot tourney even special anymore?

It will be interesting to see whether the online individual is still popular. I suspect it will be and have already registered for it ($40 early bird, $34 for returning participants). You get 3 days of fun, playing 24 robot boards each session. It is stratified and broken into sections of about 15 players. In other words, you have a very good chance of winning some gold and red.

And yes, the online individual NABC is still very special. It’s the only 3-session ACBL robot event, held only once each NABC (so 3 times a year). At 72 boards, equally weighted across the 3 days, the ultimate winners tends to be more than just lucky, and more than just skillful at tricking robots. Historically, the winners are extremely strong face-to-face players.

Why The Luck Factor?

Usually, robot tournaments are a crapshoot. Long term good players will average out a better score, but luck plays a big factor in the daily 8 and 12 board daylongs. Remember, you do not get the same boards as everyone else. For security reasons, only 35 or so other people play each board.

To score well, you need the kinds of boards that are tricky to bid and play. A straight-forward board is going to net you and everyone else a 50%. Ideally, you get a board with multiple viable lines of play; if there is any justice, you pick the better line and it works! But as we have all experienced, sometimes the better line fails, the mediocre line wins a top, and we smile and realize this is a part of duplicate bridge.

Standard Rules

By now it should be familiar to everyone. It’s Best Hand, meaning your hand always has the most HCP at the table. Human Declare, meaning you will declare for your partner if the auction would have made you dummy. These two rules together ensure you have an interesting bidding decision to make each hand, and you will end up declaring about 80% of the boards. Hope to see everyone register!

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GNT Flight C Update: Suden vs Goodspeed

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Amy

An update from the District 24 GNT Flight C semifinal knockout matches:

Team Suden, consisting of Damon Suden, Anthony Chiocchi, Mary Ann Oehlerking, and Marla Lawson defeated Team Goodspeed.

For placing 3rd/4th in the District Flight C finals, Joann Goodspeed, Maureen Dinger, Irma Hilton, and Lore Monnig will each receive 10 masterpoints, half gold half red.

The other semi between Team Scherl and Team Liebhaber is scheduled for July 11th, with ACBL Director Rui presiding. The winner of that match will face off against Team Suden in the finals.

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How Many Online Boards Per Session Do You Prefer?

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Lee Lin

The just-completed Endless Summer Regional tried 18 boards per session for their events, which allowed bridge fanatics to play 4 sessions a day. Other than the 20% reduction in points for non face-to-face play, they still awarded a “full session” worth of points.

Everyone seems to agree 24 online boards in one session feels like a lot. Why does it feel more tiring than at the club? Shouldn’t it be more relaxing, with no moving around, no physical bidding boxes, or card play (and generally faster rounds)? Also, you are playing from home, with nolong walk, subway ride, Citibike loan, or traffic-filled drive to blame.

Perhaps it’s exactly the lack of movement that makes online boards feel more grueling? Also, with 7.5 minutes per board in the club, most rounds it’s possible to finish early. Maybe the mini-breaks from walking around between rounds helps?

Replicate the Sugar Recharge At The Club?

Back at Honors, if I finished a round early, I would run to the “coffee cove”. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that mini L-shaped through-way where you are guaranteed to bump elbows with everyone else refilling fountain sodas, scooping from the ice bucket, opening Lipton bags and crafting trail mix consisting of M&Ms, peanuts, and brownie bits. Ah, don’t we all miss the physical club?

Maybe it’s best I replicate the coffee cove at home. I’ll try it next time – my favorite indulgence lately has been the 365 EveryDay Value Organic Mint Chip Ice Cream (from Whole Foods and Amazon Prime Now). However, don’t ever get the non-organic one – it’s nasty.

Normally I’m not a sucker for the word “organic”, but I can confirm there is something off in the non-organic chips

Back To Bridge

Anyway, for the longest time 24 boards has been the standard for a bridge session, and we expect it to take 3 hours plus the commute. In the new BBO world, are we going to make 18 the new normal? If so, will it be possible to squeeze a session into 2 hours?

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Super Gold Rush Is Super Successful, But Online Points Reduced

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Lee Lin

Yesterday was the first day of the Endless Summer Regional, offering ACBL gold pigmented masterpoints for online bridge. With so many different stratification levels, you might wonder which event would be most popular. Based on yesterday, the verdict is clear!

The Super Gold Rush, open to players with up to 1250 points, attracted 552 tables – more than 1100 entries and possibly the largest event in history.

Special congrats to GNYBA pair Damon Suden and Anthony Chiocchi, winning overall 5th place and stratification 2nd place. If the name sounds familiar, Team Suden is the current top seeded team in the District 24 Grand National Teams Flight C standings, along with teammates Mo Oehlerking and Marla Lawson.

Point Reduction Motion Already In Effect?

For those who care about masterpoint formulas, what should 1st place in a regional Super Gold Rush with 552 tables award? It should be 32.30 gold points. Instead, the winners received 25.84 – still a very respectable amount for an online gold rush, but what’s going on?

The national ACBL Board of Directors held a vote in their June special meeting on whether to reduce the online gold, red, and silver masterpoints awarded by 20%, and reduce awards for online 18-board silver point games by 25%. According to the meeting minutes, the Board spent an hour and twenty minutes discussing these two issues, and ultimately the motion was deferred to August or September.

However, according to my calculations the 20% reduction is already in effect. Let’s walk through the formula:

B: 552 tables = log (552/4)
R: Regional Rating = 14
S: Two sessions = 1.5
M: Super Gold Rush Limit of 1250 MPS = 0.575
T: Pairs Event = 1.25
P: No restrictions other than masterpoints, should be 1.00

First Overall = log (552/4) * 14 * 1.5 * 0.575 * 1.25 * 1.00 = 32.30

However, it seems the reduction applies, awarding only 25.84

Normal Gold Rush Also Reduced

The reduction applied to the normal gold rush as well, which had 374 tables. A normal gold rush has the M-factor at 0.525 instead of the 0.575 of the Super Gold Rush. For the astute, the super gold rush pays about 9.5% more than a regular gold rush.

log (374/4) * 14 * 1.5 * 0.525 * 1.25 = 27.16

Instead, it paid exactly 20% less, which is 21.73.

Previous Regional Was Not Reduced

Compare that to the first online regional held at the end of April, when the formula paid the full amount for the online gold rush with 391 tables. First overall received 27.43 as expected.

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District 24 GNT Standings So Far For 2020

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Lee Lin

We are all sad that the NABCs for 2020 are all cancelled – in particular, that also means the infamous Grand National Teams event will not be taking place this year. As a recap, it’s an amazing experience for all levels of play, from world class pros down to newcomers and non life masters.

District Finals Will Continue

This year shattered many district records in GNT interest, with a full 50 teams competing across all 4 flights (with many players playing in 2 or even 3 flights). All flights had entered the quarter or semi final knockout matches just as the Covid-19 pandemic brought an abrupt halt to face-to-face bridge.

With special thanks to our diligent and creative GNT Coordinator Amy Rhodes and District ACBL Representative David Moss, we are allowed to continue the end of the knock out matches online via moderated BBO tournaments. The winners will still receive the promised masterpoints (48 gold for Championship Flight down to 20 gold/red for Flight C). Alas, there will no travel subsidy as there is no national finals.

Standings So Far

Championship Flight – 12 teams over 4 sessions qualified into 4 semi finalists
Flight A – 10 teams qualified into 4 semi finalists
Flight B – Started with 17 teams qualifying into 8 quarter finalists
Flight C – Started with 11 teams qualifying into 8 quarter finalists

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June 2020 GNYBA Board Meeting Minutes

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Bill Sigward

Link to the full Meeting Minutes.

Agenda

The GNYBA Board of Directors held a regular monthly meeting to discuss and vote on relevant events regarding the District, the Unit, the Treasurer’s Report, the Summer and Fall Tournaments, GNTs for this year and next year, and Other Business.

In Attendance
V. Apter, J. Bayone, D. Garber, B. Gellas, U. Ivatury, P. Lentz, F. Levine, S. Levine, L. Lin, R. Marchione, J. Meyers, G. Miniter, D. Moss, A. Parrish, A. Rhodes, J. Rothstein, W. Sigward, K. Todd, N. Trabulus, G. Wallach, J. Wank, M. Warren, L. Weisbrod.

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One Week Until The Gold Points Online Bridge Tournament

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Lee Lin

If you haven’t filled your schedule yet, time to start asking your partners. We are only 4 days away from the beginning of the Endless Summer Regional.

To recap, you can play 4 sessions per day: morning and afternoon, or evening and late evening. At the very least, you should try to do 2 sessions when you play – that’s the only way to get Gold Points. If you are playing the 99er or 499er, then it doesnt matter. Each session is stand-alone.

Side Game Gambit?

There is one gambit that hasn’t been discussed enough. What if you go for the side game series? It’s designed for people who can’t block off 6 hours in one day (or simply don’t enjoy that much bridge in one day). Instead, you can play the same time two days in a row, and they will count towards an overall series score, awarding you gold points.

If you go this route, take a careful look at the side game schedule:

Most importantly, if you only want to play at say, 2pm each day, then it’s better to pick Thursday and Friday, or Saturday and Sunday. If you pick Friday and Saturday, you won’t get any Gold!

Also, they take the best two sessions out of each series. I think that means playing three or all four session in the series puts you at an advantage – they usually take the best two, not your average.

Strength of the Side Game vs Open Game?

Don’t worry if you can’t play every game in the series. Anyone who has time to play all 4 sessions of a side game would probably opt for the main game each day – unless they are specifically going for the side game gambit. Certainly during the previous Big Apple Regional, there were some specialists who seemed to do very well dominating the side games.

Has anyone tried playing in these side games? What do you think of the field versus the open game? About the same, or is it more of a mid-flight?

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ACBL Cancels NABC, Live Regionals and Sectionals Through 2020

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Lee Lin

Bad news for those hoping to return to live face-to-face bridge. ACBL cancelled the Tampa Fall 2020 NABC. Whether or not that was expected, the next move is a big blow to local units and districts who considered pushing forward with their Fall or Winter tournaments.

Local Tournaments Effectively Cancelled

ACBL will not supply tournament directors for any sectionals and regionals for the rest of 2020! That effectively stops almost all changes for a unit or district to hold sanctioned gold, red, or silver point tournaments. You can still earn gold and red online next week in the Endless Summer Regional.

What Is Actually Allowed?

Local clubs will begin to reopen depending on the rules governing business in the local area. As with all reopenings, there is plenty of uncertainty and risk, weighed against pressures to keep the business alive, meet financial obligations, and service loyal and new customers.

Silver Points Possible via STaC?

When the clubs reopen, they could in theory run STaCs, our favorite sectional tournaments at the club, without any ACBL tournament directors or staff. There is another exception where units can hold 499er sectionals without ACBL staff. For our unit, we still have sanctions for the following upcoming STaCs – but stay tuned to see whether these are still on.

GNYBA Sectional – Never Announced But Postponed

The not-so-secret NYC Sectional would have been Fathers’ Day Weekend – basically this weekend. We were looking forward to finally playing 2-session Swiss Teams in the city, both paying lots of silver points and avoiding the painful commute. Don’t worry, we will be back.

To BBO For Now!

For the rest of the year, your best source of gold, red, and silver points will likely come from online bridge. ACBL has moved quickly to create monthly special events accessible to all, with more stratification levels than ever before and more sessions per day for for the true fanatics.

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Special ACBL June 2020 Meeting: Motions To Reduce Online Awarded Masterpoints

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Lee Lin

Anyone who has made the migration to BBO knows there are more opportunities than ever to earn masterpoints of all colors. The online regional in particular can award a massive amount, up to 50 gold in a day to the top overall pair.

Should We Reduce The Points Awarded?

When ACBL created the General Masterpoint Formula for regionals, they were not imagining an online tournament with 400 entries in the open game, and two concurrent limited games each with their own 400 entries.

Perhaps it doesn’t make sense for these online games to award the full amount?

Anyway, the national ACBL Board of Directors is voting very soon on two motions that heavily impact online points.

Item 20S2-02: Reducing Masterpoint Awards to reflect non Face to Face Play

In all events conducted online in which ACBL gold, 
silver or red points are awarded, all masterpoint
awards shall be 80% of the amount that would be 
awarded in a face-to-face game of the same
structure, as calculated by the applicable formulas.

Basically, online regionals and silver events will see a 20% reduction. As it reads, it’s unclear whether it would impact the ACBL Online Individual tournaments – because it has its own formula and is not based on a face-to-face game of the same structure.

Anyway, if you feel strongly either way, let your District Rep know.

Item 20S2-03: Reducing Masterpoint Awards in Shortened Games

The second important vote would reduce 18-board online games to only 3/4 of the full payment, because 18 is only considered 3/4 of a session. For club games, most clubs try to put in a good faith effort to play 24 boards, except for special cases like 20 Boards for $20 Bucks.

But for many online games, the virtual private clubs have discovered many players prefer 18 boards. It also allows people to squeeze in the extra afternoon session between the noon and evening game (for GNYBA members, the most relevant is the 3:45pm Mid-Flight 0-3500 game at All For One).

Full text of the proposal below:

In all events in which ACBL gold, silver, or 
red points are awarded and in which LIFE MASTERS
are eligible to participate (i.e. all events 
that are not limited to NON LIFE MASTERS only, whether
explicitly or by virtue of a masterpoint limitation),
 and in which the scheduled movement is to play
fewer than 24 deals per session (not including sitouts,
byes, and other deals not played for unanticipated 
reasons), all masterpoint awards shall be multiplied,
relative to the otherwise applicable formulas, by a
factor of the number of deals scheduled divided by 24.

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ACBL Summer Regional – Which Convention Chart Applies?

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Lee Lin

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.

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