Bridge Adventures: Face To Face Bridge In Taipei

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Lee Lin

As with some of our other Bridge Adventures posts, we search across the country and international world for interesting games. Today, we report from Taipei, over 7000 miles from New York City, to confirm that face-to-face bridge still exists. I was very fortunate to partner with Honors alumni and Taiwan resident Maggie Huang!

Taipei Bridge Club

If you happen to be in Taiwan itching to play bridge, head to the Chinese Taipei Contract Bridge Association’s International Bridge Center. They play at 1:30pm on Wed, Fri, and Saturday, as well an evening session Wed. There was no lunch buffet, or any snacks for that matter. Fortunately, card fees are about $5.50 USD, and $2 for “members” or students 26 and under. With such low prices, you can craft your own lunch buffet from the nearby 7-11, or the numerous food establishments across the street.

Face-To-Face Bridge

We played 13 rounds of 2 boards, with one sitout. Unlike ACBL and JCBL in Japan, they don’t use BridgeMates for scoring – it’s a tablet about the size of an iPad mini. They also have seemingly no stratification. All 14 tables were in one big open game, and no one seemed to care about masterpoints.

How Did It Feel?

Amazing. After touching cards and bidding boxes for the first time in 6 months, I’m confident physical clubs will make a triumphant return. The thrill of the game came rushing back, and I definitely drew strange looks from partner and opponents taking a photo of the moment.

Opponent asking about 3C. Good thing it wasn’t Wolff, because my mandarin is far too weak to explain

I prefer we don’t migrate to tablets or weird technology substitutes at the club. Remember our old friend the Stop card? I even had a chance to use it twice: once before making a weak jump bid, and once for fun because my RHO was about to open out of turn. Try doing that on BBO!

One last observation. Taiwan is famous for popularizing strong club systems, but we only ran into one precision pair in the session (the very first round, too bad we hadn’t discussed psycho-suction). Maggie assures me there were others lurking around.

How To Get There

It’s hard to find, so your best bet as an English speaker will be to type the address into Uber. 106臺北市大安區忠孝東路三段217巷7弄7號B1. It ‘s also not immediately obvious you are in the right place unless you can read the characters outside – the first English signs and bridge graphics appear on the banner at the basement level.

Is It Safe?

As of 9/8/2020, the island of 23 million people has only officially confirmed 494 cases of Covid-19 and 7 deaths since the outbreak. Unfortunately, entry is quite restricted and so far, bridge visas are not a thing. Even those who can legally come will need to undergo a strict mandatory 14-day quarantine.

While visiting Asia regularly is not a practical solution to our bridge cravings, we can remain inspired that the game is alive and well. One day, it will be safe again to play face-to-face bridge in New York City. When the time comes, we will cheer the reopening of our physical clubs, while retaining All For One and the great convenience of online play.

Posted in Bridge Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Surprise! You Might Be Eligible Again for Your GNT Flight

Posted on August 31, 2020 by Lee Lin

Clearly the 2020 pandemic disrupted everyone’s plans and lives. In our humble corner of the GNYBA bridge universe, Covid-19 struck just as we reached a euphoria from seeing record-breaking attendance for GNT Flight A/C and GNT Flight B.

Special Rules for 2020-2021

ACBL will create special conditions for the 2020-2021 season of GNT, and the latest draft suggests several key modifications. First, districts who completed their GNT district finals for 2019-2020 may opt to send those winners to the Summer 2021 GNT National Finals.

That’s big news – it means those districts might cancel their 2020-2021 district finals entirely. In some cases, it might be the most practical decision, avoiding a face-to-face tournament or moving the tournament online. However, GNT is one of the most exciting grassroots events that units and districts hold each year (North American Pairs being the other grassroots event). It is quite a big sacrifice.

Fear not, GNYBA and NSBA fully intend to hold a fresh 2021 Grand National Teams district contest. We aren’t yet sure of the format, dates, or medium – for now stay tuned.

Eligibility Changes For 2020-2021 – Uses 2019 Masterpoint Level

Normally, you would be eligible for Flight C if you were had fewer than 500 masterpoints AND were not a life master prior to August 6th, 2020. However, for this season, the plan is to use the 2019 cutoff date! Why? It’s because of the graduation buffer.

Graduation Buffer – September to July

It reminds me of chapter in the Malcolm Gladwell classic, “Outliers”.

Every year, the Flight C national finals always have players who crossed the 500 mark by hundreds of points. The masterpoint cutoff begins in August, but Summer NABC occurs almost a full year later the next July! Some very active NLM tournament players can win over 200 points during those 11 months. Last year District 24’s mini mckenney winners Nikki Hudak, Tim Archdeacon, Matt Gordon, and Ruth Fleischmann earned 235, 336, 446, and 452 points respectively in the under 500 brackets!

Those in charge must have felt the 2019 cutoff is the only fair way to equalize districts. You have the same pool of players, regardless of whether your district opts to use 2020 winners or run a fresh 2021 contest. Every district has the same graduation buffer. It also means next year will have a larger buffer than usual – some players might be halfway out of Flight B by summer 2021 NABC!

Good News – More Chances To Play

Honestly, most of us are not outliers and will neither play pro hockey or professional bridge. We just want to have fun, and the best news of all is that anyone who missed their last chance to be Flight C due to the pandemic might get one more shot.

The same exception applies to the higher Flights B and A. But realistically, by the time you have over 2500 points, you probably already hit your Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours. Imagine that – the equivalent of 5 years of playing bridge as a full-time job. And when I get there, I’m sure I’ll still be making many of the same dumb mistakes.

Posted in Bridge Thoughts, Events, Races | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Record Breaking Virtual Vacations Gold Rush – 737 Tables

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Lee Lin

Today begins the 3rd online gold point regional. The early support your club games drew so many players that pairs needed to register 90 minutes early to secure a spot. In April, the first online gold point regional was so popular that BBO crashed for many. The June regional was also super successful, at 552 tables for the kickoff Super Gold Rush session.

Are The Games Still Big?

Short answer, yes. We still have large demand, and mostly concentrated in the Golden Sunshine Gold Rush Pairs. A whopping 737 tables competed!! Logistically, the tournament ran as two separate 360 table games. But that was simply a software load balancing (and director load balancing?). The ultimate overall results treat it as one combined event.

How About The Non Gold Rushers?

The High-Tide Top Flight Pairs game had 89 tables, which is an improvement from Strawberry Ice Cream Open Pairs at 79 tables. By the way, I know there exist some naysayers, but I applaud whoever comes up with these event names. You gotta appreciate the creativity and attempt at keeping to a fun theme.

The Sandcastle Mid Flight pairs had 138 tables, compared to Blue Butterfly Mid-Flight in June with only 90 tables. Excellent news so far – the games are larger for all stratifications, and concentrated mostly in the gold rush. As we write this, with 5 minutes to go before 5:15pm, the evening schedule Gold Rush already has over 500 entries (250+ tables). It seems morning is more popular among the gold rushers (so you should do evening if you can!).

How Much Do You Get For Winning a 737 Table Gold Rush?

What is the prize? We expect it will be 24.98 gold for first overall of 737 tables. Why is it less than the 552 table game from June? Because June was a SUPER Gold Rush, with a masterpoint limit of 0-1250. It pays about 10% more than a normal gold rush. Which just goes to show, even though the game today had 33% more players, the prize increase was minimal.

Unfortunately, the way the masterpoints formula works for large games, we all get more points by splitting into separate, smaller games. Especially once the table count crosses 60 when the marginal entry adds increasingly less to the prize pool.

Posted in ACBL News, Events, Results | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

GNYBA August 2020 Board of Directors Meeting

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Bill Sigward

GNYBA Board Meeting Minutes – August 13, 2020

In Attendance (by ‘Zoom’)
V. Apter, D. Garber, B. Gellas, J. Hu, P. Lentz, F. Levine, S. Levine, L. Lin, Mark Mariaschin, J. Meyers, G. Miniter, R. Moller, D. Moss, A. Parrish, A. Rhodes, J. Rothstein, A. Rudary, W. Sigward, A. Silverstein, N. Trabulus, J. Wank, L. Weisbrod.

President’s Report
B. Gellas stated that the purpose of the meeting was to receive an updated report from S. Levine regarding the status of future tournaments.

Tournament Report

Steve announced that, due to circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the regional tournament scheduled for May, 2021, at the Hilton has been canceled. Steve further reported:

* At this time, the Hilton cannot offer us our preferred November, 2021, dates for a prospective tournament; but can offer our traditional last-week-in-December, 2021, dates. Pricing for December 2021 would remain unchanged.
* After August 14, 2020, we lose our option on the 12/21 dates, although the Hilton has informally stated we could have additional time if needed in order to make a decision regarding 12/21.
* The Hilton continues to hold our $13.5 thousand deposit from the cancelled May 2020 tournament.
* The Hilton has added language to its “Impossibility Clause” in their contract which affords us additional, but not complete, protection from the risks associated with a potential need to cancel a contractual arrangement given prevailing circumstances.
Steve concluded by requesting the Board decide what to do regarding a prospective Nov/Dec 2021 tournament.

In the discussion that ensued, the sense of the Board was that we have no idea what the Covid-situation will be in December 2021, that the risk was too great to sign any contract at the present time, and therefore the most prudent course of action for today would be to defer a decision until a future date. Subsequently a motion was carried to defer until November 15, 2020, any further consideration of staging a tournament anytime in 2021.

Steve will revert to the Hilton with what we have decided; and, pursuant to related discussion at the meeting regarding our deposit held by the Hilton, he will request the Hilton return the deposit.

GNTs

A. Rhodes reported that GNT competition soldiers on. The ‘A’ Flight finished in July; while the ‘B’ Flight will end around the beginning of September and the ‘C’ Flight will be completed on September 19th. Accordingly, we will be finished by the end of September.
D. Moss stated that we should assume there will be a national GNT at the NABC in Providence in July 2021.

Other Business

Bonnie brought to Members’ attention two forthcoming matters of importance:

  1. Election for the District’s 2nd-Alternate. Later this month, Board members will receive by email from the ACBL a ballot with which to cast a vote for the position of the District’s 2nd-Alternate. Board Member Lee Lin is running against a candidate from Long Island, Alan Kudisch. This is a significant position for several reasons including that 2nd-Alternate is a voting member of the ACBL’s Board of Governors.
  2. Nominating Committee for GNYBA Board. Due to the pandemic, we will be deciding how to handle nominations/elections to the Board for 2021. Bonnie stated that we will follow ACBL recommendations for how to conduct Unit elections, which will likely involve voting by email and will be conducted by year-end. An important consideration will be to clarify how many people wish to remain on the Board.

    Next Board Meeting

    The next Board Meeting will be held via ‘Zoom’ at 9:00 am on Tuesday, September 22.
    Respectfully Submitted by

    Bill Sigward,
    Secretary of the Board
    August 16, 2020

Posted in ACBL News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Concurrent Games Masterpoint Fix In Action

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Lee Lin

Last month we wrote about the party in the limited game phenomenon. At a physical club, it was not possible for the 0-750 game to pay more masterpoints than the concurrent open game, regardless of the table imbalance*. The open game award includes the table count of the open game AND all concurrent limited games (mid-flight, 750, 49er, etc). That is, the prize pool trickles up to the open game, encouraging everyone to play up for bigger awards. Only open games get the bonus – the 750 does not get any bonus from the 49er.

*ok, there is one theoretical exception which I leave to the reader to figure out. Hint: it has to do with white and yellow…

Virtual Club Concurrent Game Logic

So now we finally have equivalent logic in the virtual club games, and it started this week! Here are some examples. The 12:45pm All-For-One open game had 17 tables. Prior to this week, that would pay 2.55 masterpoints to first overall (such as last week’s 14-table game). Instead, it paid a nice 3.90 because the concurrent 1pm 499er game with 9 tables contributed to the prize.

The 12:45pm open and 1pm 499er are concurrent games, as are the 10:15 open and 10:30 199er games. I don’t know the official cutoff on maximum time gap allowed

Also note the 499er game doesn’t lose anything – they still got their usual 0.1 * (9 tables) * (0.80 limited game deflator) * (1.5 virtual club bonus) = 1.08

Many More Overall Points Paid

The change will net pay many more points to the overall virtual club. The open game is receiving awards as if they had combined all the limited games into one big game. Conceptually, anyone who opts to play in the limited forfeits their ability to win the big prize, competing instead in a standalone, hopefully more friendly field, that will pay out its own award structure.

A Masterpoints Hack

Interestingly, the most socially optimal structure is to have everyone eligible to play in the limited game play there. If you have 40 tables to split between an open and 499er game, you actually pay more total points if 30 tables join the 499er and 10 go open, than if you have an even split, or a lopsided split in favor of the open game. That’s because the open game payout will stay constant regardless of how many tables join the 499er. But the 499er game pays more as more players opt not to play up. An interesting dynamic, but probably good for encouraging newcomer and intermediate players.

Posted in Bridge Thoughts, Software | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

ACBL Changes We Hope To See Very Soon

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Lee Lin

There is a lot of discussion going on right now at the highest levels of ACBL. Covid-19 has accelerated the urgency for many issues, while also opening up new ideas we couldn’t have imagined before the pandemic.

Getting From March to Today

As a community, tens of thousands of ACBL members migrated to online bridge in the span of weeks. Club owners quickly formed alliances and many ultimately found a way to host games while maintaining their local player base. We have regular special events for earning silver and gold points that draw noticeably larger crowds. These massive paradigm shifts will never be perfect, but I’m impressed with what ACBL and BBO have accomplished so far.

What Now? What Do I Want To See?

Now that we’ve all been playing online for 5 months, there are a few things I think many others hope to see soon. Some should be easy fixes; some will be controversial. But I have in mind a wish list of important fixes that would keep the game fresh and engaging for many:

1.) Swiss Teams or Bracketed Round Robin

Easily my biggest request, why is almost every ACBL event still a pairs game? IMP scoring and team matches already exist on BBO. I understand there are some considerations with security, and some new software logic to host a swiss format, Victory Points, and potential 3-ways. But I would have hoped we would have it by the 3rd online gold point regional.

In theory, the online experience could have one big advantage over face-to-face teams: we would have hand-records of the team match, even if we aren’t using pre-duplicated boards. Each match could still use random deals, but at least every player could review the results at both tables. What a great potential learning experience!

The ACBL Management Report suggests there might be another gold point event in early October. Let’s try to have swiss by then!

2.) Nationally Rated Online Events For Limited Players

Since Covid ACBL-hosted some big online tournaments for top flight players. The feedback seems to have been very positive from each event. But why limit things to the world champions? For the rest of us, we already lost a year of NAP and GNT.

Some big 0-6000, 0-2500, and 0-500 nationwide KO events would probably draw a large crowd. It would be the replacement for Mini and Micro Spingold, and perhaps creation of a Nano Spingold. We could also have Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon replacement events – I’m sure everyone agrees we need more ways to spend our stockpile of ribbon qualifiers.

3.) Robots That Do Proper Carding + Just Defend Tournaments

I know not everyone is a big fan of the robot tournaments. However, I have learned enormous amounts by practicing with robots. The one big drawback for BBO, and most bridge engines, is a lack of proper carding. Bridge Baron and Fun Bridge both claim to honor certain carding rules, but in my experience both still leave much to be desired.

Once we have robot partners that are capable of human-like attitude, count, and suit preference signals, there will be so much more that one could potentially practice. The next logical step would be a new Daylong Tournament: The Just Defend tournament. It will be like Just Declare, where you see the full auction, but you are always on defense.

More On The Wish List?

There is much more I could add to the wish list, but I’ll stop for now. What does everyone else think? Is there more I’m missing?

Posted in ACBL News, Bridge Thoughts, Software | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Win Gold Points! Virtual Vacations Aug 27-30

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Lee Lin

Once again, we have a chance to win gold points. At the end of this month, ACBL is having another online regional-like event, the Virtual Vacation Tournament.

Daily Schedule – Simplification to One Page

As many noticed, the Endless Summer regional was super-stratified, with the usual Gold Rush and Mid-Flight, but also all new Super Gold Rush and Super Mid Flight pairs. This time around, the schedule all fits on one page, and there is only one type of Mid-Flight (0-3000)

Two-Session Events (all times ET)

These are the bread and butter events that award gold points to overall two-session winners, and to session top winners. Unlike many regionals that allow you to jump in for one session, you must register and pay for both sessions here. Otherwise, stick to the side games.

10:15am and 1:45pm – Gold Rush (0-750)
10:30am and 2:00pm – Mid-Flight (0-3000)
10:45am and 2:15pm – Open

For those who want to play in the evenings, or four sessions per day:

5:15pm and 8:45pm: Super Gold Rush (0-1250)
5:30pm and 9:00pm: Mid-Flight (0-3000)
5:45pm and 9:15pm: Open

Single Sessions and Side Games

There are also single session events for intermediate and newcomer players. Each one is stand-alone and only awards red points.

10:15am, 1:45pm, 5:15pm, 8:45pm: 99er (0-100)
10:30am, 2pm, 5:30pm, 9pm: 499er (0-500)

For those who enjoy trying the side-game gambit, it looks like the side games are going fully horizontal. Unlike the June tournament, each time slot is its own series. We still need clarification on whether the top 2 session within each series will be combined for overall gold awards. I imagine this is welcome news for players who can only play one time slot per day – for example, our friend game1980 who plays from Singapore!

10:45am – Campfire Side Game Series
2:15pm – S’moresSide Game Series
5:45pm – Firefly Side Game Series
9:15pm – Moonlight Side Game Series

Bottom Line – Single Mid-Flight Strat, Fully-Horizontal Side Games

The biggest change to the June regional will be a collapsing of stratifications. There is still a super gold rush in the evening, but all mid-flight events are 0-3000. Previously, there was a 0-2500 mid-flight and a 0-3500 mid-flight. The side games were grouped into packs of two sessions per day, across two days. This time they seem to be one time slot daily, horizontal across the four days.

Sadly, the 20% point reduction will apply to this event, as is common for all online gold / red / silver events for 2020. Also, there are still no team events or IMP scored events announced.

Posted in Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Get It While You Can – The 9:30pm Speedball

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Lee Lin

For those in the All-For-One alliance, there is a golden opportunity right now to earn your silver points. It’s one of those funny open games that are not really open. But it pays full 2x silver points: the 9:30pm speed ball with Sephardic – each night of Silver Linings Week 2.0.

According to the email from Honors, in a 0-3500 event, “professional players are put on notice that they are strongly discouraged from playing”. Not that we can promise all the ringers need any encouragement, but so far it has been a true mid-flight crowd.

Is It Closer To 750 or Open?

Honestly, there isn’t so much difference between the mid-flight and 0-750 fields. You gain a few strong pairs, but it’s largely similar people, if not exactly the same people. The sad truth is, we’ll all still be making many of the same mistakes, plus all new mistakes, with 2500 masterpoints under our belts! If you are earning points regularly in the 0-750 (every other session, say), you probably belong in mid-flight.

I highly recommend it for anyone looking to squeeze in a late evening game, and you can fit it in right after finishing the 7:15pm evening session. The Monday game had 11 tables, coded has a limited game (pays 80% of 2x points). But under certain conditions, given the player pool, they convert it to an open game – full 2x payment and you are still done in 90 minutes.

Posted in Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Virtual Club “Open Game” Getting An Update

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Lee Lin

A funny thing happened on today’s Silver Lining Week 2.0 Kickoff. The All-For-One evening 7:15pm open game, featuring world champions and Barry Crane winners, only had 6 tables. The real party was in the 0-800, which I’m calling the Silver Rush game.

With only 15 minutes to go, there was over triple the demand in the 0-800 with James game. In the final minutes, at least one pair defected down after scoping out the scene.

A Silly Masterpoint Formula Fix

Under the normal ACBL formula, the masterpoint prize pool from the open game includes the table count of all concurrent limited games (the masterpoints trickle up). The theory is, whoever wins the open game with 6 tables would have also won it if we forced everyone into one huge 27 table game.

Unfortunately, the logic doesn’t yet apply to Virtual Private Club games, but I’m assured from sources within ACBL that a software update is coming very soon. In the meantime, don’t feel too bad for the pros – they still took advantage of the Howell movement trick (6 tables magically becomes 12).

Also, the entire formula will soon change to be based on strength of field – so you get an extra bonus when all of your opponents seem to have over 20,000 masterpoints.

Why 0-800, Who Plays It, And Who Is James?

Actually, I’m not sure why the limit is 0-800, when almost all gold rush games and limited games have forever been 0-750. My guess is the usual supply-and-demand reason – someone between 750-799 must really want it. Maybe we just go super gold rush, 0-1250?

Anyway, the Evening Honors and Aces limited program brought me many fond memories and will always hold a special place in my heart: whiteboard exercises with Tom, lessons with Georgia, weekends with Stephanie, duplicate and discussion with Yefim, and 20 Boards for $20 Bucks with James. You can even count mornings with Marin and Kerry, as pseudo-limited, friendly games. I’ve done them all, and often on the Evening EZ Pass (not available yet for online games, but maybe it’s an idea worth trying).

We like it because it’s a crowd of players, all still in the developing stages of our game. We’ve graduated from the newplicate. We can hold our own if we have to play open. But we still make a ton of mistakes, all the time and every time we play. Come join when you can!

Posted in ACBL News, Bridge Thoughts, Events | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

All-For-One Silver Point Schedule

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Lee Lin

The second Silver Linings week begins tomorrow. From July 27th through August 2nd, all virtual private club games will pay 2x silver points (first place gets 0.2 silver per table). As usual, with higher anticipated attendance, the clubs are preparing many extra games and speedballs. There is something for everyone. Just like last time, you can load up with 4 or 5 sessions a day!

Extra All-For-One Sessions This Week

ADDITIONAL SILVER LINING’S GAMES – in addition to regular schedule
(July 27 – August 2nd)

Weekday afternoons:
 2:00 pm…0 – 3,500 game (note new starting time)…($10)
 3:45 pm…Open Speedball…All seven afternoons…($8) 
 4:55 pm…0 – 3,500 Speedball…All seven afternoons….($8)

Weekday evenings…($10) – in addition to regular schedule
Monday evening…Open game at 7:15 pm.
Tuesday evening…0 – 1,000 at 6:45 pm.
Wednesday evening…0 – 1,000 IMP Pairs at 6:45 pm.
Thursday evening…Open game at 6:45 pm.
Friday evening….Open game at 6:45 pm.
Every evening…..18 board 0 – 3,500 Speedball at 9:30 pm.

Weekends:
10:15 am…Open game..($10)
  3:45 pm…Speedball..($8)
  4:55 pm…0 – 3,500 Speedball…($8)
  6:45 pm…Open Game…($10)
  9:45 pm…Saturday…0  3,500 Speedball…($10)
  9:30 pm…Sunday…0 – 3,500 Speedball…($10)

Extra Alliance Sessions This Week:

For the Sagamore players, they also added new speedballs and limited games.

Is This The Last Chance?

As a betting man, I’d say there will be other opportunities to get your gold and silver online. In fact, online gold is coming yet again in just one month – stay tuned.

However, this might also be one of your last chances to get the bonus 2x silver – the ACBL national board will vote on Item 20S2-02 and 20S2-03, reducing online silver payouts, and reducing 18-board session silver payouts. Even if both of those do not pass, the newly proposed Strength of Field changes will alter the formula enough that we really don’t know what to expect in the future! Get your silver while you can, and see you at the virtual tables.

Posted in Events | Tagged , | 2 Comments