Today we awarded the 2nd annual Countess Cup trophies! New York City hosts possibly the only trophy-awarding, 2-session 99er pairs event in the country. Even at nationals, all the 299er events are all single session with no carryover. This year we had 12.5 tables entering the event.
Congratulations Karen Jenkins and Eileen Serwer (GNYBA 2020 president Bonnie Gellas presenting the trophies).
Mid-Flight Winners
Also congratulations to Ronald Weiss and Mark Oettinger, the winners of the $100 cash prize Mid-Flight awards.
Some more photos from the Day 1 action below. Also, remember that section top winners should stop by the hospitality desk to pick up your prize:
Section Tops:
Newcomer Game (2 sections) Ava Donellan – Margot Donnellan Nathan Sudakoff – Roger Parker
Gold Rush Pairs AM (6 sections) Laszlo Seress – Pei Lin Mary Ann Oehlerking – Shelley Mendelsohn (tied first) Charles Dvorkin – Francis Gupta (tied first) Amy Schottenstein – Phyllis Richter Sari Kassin – Lynn Gindi Thelma Klein – William Rittenhouse Lewis Lefkowitz – Michael Fried
Mid-Flight Pairs PM (2 sections) Hans Neuteboom – Bruce Altschuler Ronald Weiss – Mark Oettinger
Open Pairs AM (2 sections) Warren Chang – Stephen Jansen (tied first) Tim Archdeacon – Melvin Colchamiro (tied first) Robert Kuhnreich – David Maidman
Gold Rush Pairs PM (6 sections) Fred Malamet – Eileen Rosen Charles Dvorkin – Francis Gupta Tihomir Stanicic – Mladen Mirkovic Lewis Lefkowitz – Michael Fried Constance Breslin – Barbara Seplow Thelma Klein – William Rittenhouse
Mid-Flight Pairs PM (2 sections) Ronald Weiss – Mark Oettinger Bruce Ross – Michael Hellman
Open Pairs PM (2 sections) Tom Bishel – John Bishel Melih Ozdil – Sharon Goldman
Fast Pairs Evening (2 sections) Samuel Amer – Barbara Hendra Alene Friedman – David Rosenberg
Happy Birthday to one of our favorite local pros!First regional for many local players and alumni of the Honors wine and cheese seriesLots of action at the Gold Rush and Newcomer games
The consolidated daily bulletin from the Big Apple Regional Day One. The cash prize goes to Ronald Weiss and Mark Oettinger, winners of the Mid-Flight pairs event. In the Gold Rush, Lewis Lefkowitz and Michael Fried win overall first of 26 tables with an astounding 70.54%!
Good luck everyone playing and happy holidays from GNYBA!
Remember, wear layers! We are playing in a large room which might be too hot or too cold for you. With 300 players in the same room, it will be impossible to please everyone.
The Truscott Open Board-A-Match will be held on Saturday and Sunday of the Big Apple Winter Regional. There is a 2-session qualifier on Saturday Dec. 28 and final on Sunday Dec 29th.
The Truscott BAM is the premiere event of the entire tournament, and one of the strongest fields you will find at any regional. GNYBA President David Moss says, “The Truscott BAM provides top teams with a very competitive field and it gives aspiring players an opportunity to play against national and world champions.”
Truscott BAM 2018 Winners: Alfredo Versace, Sam Lev, Dan Lev, and Mustafa Cem Tokay (not pictured Jim Mahaffey)
Defending Champions
The defending champions are returning this year – but on two separate and formidable teams! The team captained by Jim Mahaffey will return with father and son team Sam and Dan Lev (featured in last Spring’s Bridge Bulletin). David Berkowitz and Gary Cohler will also join the team.
Mustafa Cem Tokay and Alfredo Versace will join Lynne Koeppel, and Valerio Giubilo on another powerhouse team. But the full list of pre-registered teams below is filled with grand life masters, hall of famers, and national title holders. Best of all, it’s open to any eligible ACBL team of four. Step right up and you can guarantee yourself a full day of playing with the best of the best.
Pre-Registered Teams (not seeded, just ordered by pre-registration date)
The Big Apple Winter Regional is only 4 days away! Last week, the board met and discussed a few minor adjustments and improvements over prior years. You can read the full minutes if you are curious.
Name Change
Previously we called it the Edgar Kaplan Winter Regional. This is the first year we are calling it the Big Apple Winter Regional. There must be a story there – but I don’t know it. The Spring regional has always been called the Eastern States Regional.
Coffee Vouchers
The host hotel unfortunately does not allow the hospitality committee to supply our own vats of coffee to players. Instead, we provide some hidden coffee vouchers throughout the sessions. In the past, we had a randomization algorithm that tries to give everyone in attendance an even chance at winning a voucher. For this tournament, only players playing in the active session are eligible to win – the vouchers might even be hidden in certain random boards – another reason to double check you have 13 cards!
Picking a Newcomer Gift
Deciding on an appropriate welcome gift for Intermediate / Newcomer players is always challenge. The budget is very limited and spans a wide range of playing skill: 0-100 masterpoints include those who have never played an ACBL sanctioned duplicate game! At the other end of the spectrum are “up-and-coming” intermediate players with over 200 sessions under their belt.
The board decided on a practical gift of $3 in entry fee credits, given to the first wave of newcomers to play in the regional.
Somewhere in this 0-100 band we will also crown the eventual winners of the Countess Cup on Friday Dec 27th (the budget for the Countess Cup trophy is an order of magnitude more than the I/N gift).
Winners of the inaugural 2018 Countess Cup, Jeffrey Marino (middle) and James Axente (right), each won the fancy trophies along with 2.80 red points. Glenn Eisenstein (left) presented the award.
Stratification Averaging vs Higher Player
We all know that in a Gold Rush event, no player may have over 750 masterpoints. But when you determine A/B/C stratifications within the event, do you use the average of the pair of the higher player of each pair?
For the Winter 2019 regional, we are making no changes (average of the pair).
Starting the Spring 2020 regional, stratification for pairs events will be based on the player with the most Masterpoints in the pair. For example, if a pro player with 3000 Masterpoints partners with a student having 800 Masterpoints, whether they end up in A/B/C is based on the 3000. Not the average of 1900.
How about in A/X and B/C team swiss events? For Bracketed Teams, there are no strats, so nothing to discuss. But for the larger swiss events, will the strats still be team average, or highest player of the 4 (or 6)? We shall clarify next time!
Good news, the Big Apple Winter Regional is only 6 days away! Until then, we do have one more STaC weekend for those who avoided the bridges, tunnels, and tolls required for Allendale and Woodbridge.
Remember, even if you don’t care about silver points, almost all silver point games this weekend will pay the special STaC bonus for overall scores (and they compute the overall across clubs for concurrent games). There are a few of the usual special events – on Friday Dec 20th morning, Honors is hosting another one-session 0-750 Swiss teams with pre-duplicated boards.
But best of all, those planning to play might not even realize it is a special weekend, and that’s fine as well. The extra points will just be a pleasant surprise, because thankfully all of the NYC clubs charge the same card fees as a normal weekend. Clubs pay a small STaC surcharge per table to ACBL (via the sponsoring organization, GNYBA). In many other Districts and Units, the clubs will pass some or all of the fees on to the players.
On Saturday, December 14, 2019, the New Jersey Bridge League sponsored the Holiday Bridge Sectional in Woodbridge, NJ, at the Hungarian-American Citizens Club. The Orange Education Foundation organized transportation from Park and Oakwood Avenue Schools for 32 students. In all, 48 students were in attendance at the tournament. The schools had eight new students that also attended for supervised play .
The new students experienced what tournament play is like so they are prepared for the next tournament in March when they will compete. The competing 10 tables of students played seven rounds for a total of 14 boards.
Hometown Winners
Chris Chen and Joey Shi from Livingston, NJ were the overall winners with a 80.95% game. Partners Kevin Li and Ryan Xu took second, also from Livingston. GNYBA members Avery Silverstein and Jack Boge won 3rd with a 66.87%. Avery and Jack regularly participate in the Cavendish Youth Bridge program.
GNYBA members Avery Silverstein and Jack Boge won 3rd place at the New Jersey Youth Sectional
Tournament Chair Brett Kunin announced the much beloved Hungarian American Citizens Club is closing next year, and March 8th, 2020 would be the final Woodbridge sectional. As they scramble to find a replacement, the requirements seem to be:
If anyone has leads, I am sure they would love to hear suggestions (and for locations in Manhattan, jump in on the NYC sectional discussions).
Woodbridge Memories
I have fond memories of both Woodbridge and Brett. My very first game on ACBL Live is exactly two years ago at the Dec 2017 Woodbridge Winter Sectional. The crowd was smaller than usual as the weather forecasted snow and icy roads. There was also a concurrent STaC weekend in New York City, which shouldn’t be allowed if it is within 150 miles of a sectional.
Brett and his partner were the last pair we played in the morning session, and I distinctly remember his friendly and warm introduction, welcoming me to my first sectional in his district (I didn’t mention it was my first anywhere). Both pairs at that table came in nearly last place, but I was encouraged enough by the hospitality to come back many times!
NOABC Victories
Katherine Todd (0-5000 Teams Champion)
Zia Mahmood
(Open KO semifinals)
Joe Grue
(Open Pairs 4th)
Team Liebhaber
(0-1500 Teams semifinals)
GNYBA League Nov 2020
Season One Results Team New England
Better Than Ok On A Good Day
Team Sam
