GNT-C Finals: Battle of the Jacks

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Lee Lin

The GNT-C Semifinal match between Team Romeo and Team Boge took place today. After some haggling over the date, time, and venue, the teams ultimately agreed to play their knockout at the Regency Whist Club! Known for their invite-only money game and classy bartenders, the club regulars might have been surprised to spot two teams of extremely young players locked in an intense competition to determine who goes to the Chicago nationals.

Finals: Latta vs Boge

Congrats to Jack Boge, Avery Silverstein, Jingyang Ng, Jessica U, and Yanlai Yang, who won the match 65-46, recovering from a 26-29 deficit in the first half of the match. They will face off against defending champions Jack Latta, Kenneth Mandel, Andrew Jeanguenat, and Maya Jonas-Silver in the anticipated Battle of the Jacks GNT-C finals (Boge vs Latta).

Each finalist team will receive an invitation to represent New York City and Long Island during the Chicago 2023 summer NABC. They will also each receive a red ribbon qualifier, which allows entry to the Bean Red Ribbon pairs held annually during the summer NABCs.

The two teams will face off to see who wins the top prize of 20 Masterpoints, a $1000 travel subsidy, and some very limited fame in the GNYBA archives.

Congrats to Semi-finalists

For winning 3rd/4th in the District, the team of Tom Romeo, Puja Chadha, Sara Bayone, and Danielle Tawil, as well as the team of Lori Rosen, Deborah Tormey, Richard Vella, and Alan Davidson, will receive 10 Masterpoints, half red half gold.

Prior Year GNT-C Winners

(Won Top Seed after the National Finals Round Robin)
2022: Jack Latta, Kenneth Mandel, Andrew Jeanguenat, and Maya Jonas-Silver

(Team Xing won the National Finals held online)
2021 – 1st : Margot Wagner, Ben Weisgal, Anthony Chiocchi, Damon Suden, Mo Oehlerking
2021 – 2nd: Hengrui Xing, Tingran Wang, Jiaheng Hu, Yang Xu

2020: Aaron Liebhaber, Adam Siegel, Lee Lin, and Frank Dinoff

2019: Lee Lin, Matthew Gordon, Siqing Yu, Nicole Hudak, and Frank Dinoff

2018: James Keiger, Jing Zhang, Lee Lin, and Christopher Moh

2017: Yoko Glubok Sobel, Alan Davidson, Scott McDermott, Daniel Lev

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Petsch Leads GNT Flight B Opening Round

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Lee Lin

The Team of Melanie Petsch, James Beha, Daniel Lev, and Linda Einhorn-Ihde emerged as the winners in the GNT-B opening round robin. Melanie originally faced off against Linda and Daniel during the GNT-A round robin two weeks ago on May 7th. This time, they joined forces to take 99.32 Victory Points after 8 rounds with 5 wins and one push.

The other three advancing teams are Latta, Schwartz, and Verrier.

The Dilemma of Choice

A long-standing GNT ritual is the winners choice of opponents in the KO round. The leading team must choose either the 3rd or 4th place team as their semi-final match, which leaves the 2nd place team to play against the opponents they did not choose. Adding to the fun and stress, the team captain has a very limited time to decide — usually about 5 minutes after the director updates the final scoreboard!

Put yourself in the captain’s shoes as your team huddles in a corner to discuss. How would you make your choice? To minimize second-guessing yourselves, picking the 4th place team seems to be a safe choice. But you could attempt some rapid ACBL Live results stalking (or Power Ratings if anyone still uses that). Perhaps you consult the limited 6 boards of datapoints you have from the day’s round robin match. Maybe pick the more friendly team (less annoying team?), because win or lose you are spending half the day together.

Who Did They Pick?

Team Petsch ultimately opted to play against Team Verrier, consisting of Celia Verrier, Carole Pasquarelli, Lore Monnig, and Joann Goodspeed. One of the main factors was actually finding which opponents have the most compatible schedule for actually choosing a date and time to play. On that front, we can apologize on behalf of GNYBA for holding the GNTs so late in the season. Next year we will move them back to February.

The other side of the bracket is Michael Schwartz, Janie Woo, Barbara Z Schwartz, and Christopher Rivera, playing against the GNT-C finalists Team Latta.

Bracketed Teams June 25th, 2023, Silver Points

For those itching to play more teams, especially for anyone practicing for GNTs, mark Sunday, June 25th on your calendars. GNYBA is holding a silver point sectional from June 22nd to June 25th, with the final Sunday event consisting on a two-session bracketed teams event. Win silver points without venturing outside of NYC.

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Grue and Lipkin Advance to GNT Finals

Posted on May 20, 2023 by Lee Lin

While some of us played in the Edison Sectional today, many of the strongest players in our district competed in the Grand National Teams Championship Flight.

You can see the latest brackets at https://gnyba.org/gnt

The two teams advancing to the finals tomorrow are:

Team Grue
Joe Grue, Gillian Miniter, John Hurd, Joel Wooldridge, and Kent Mignocchi

Team Lipkin
Mike Lipkin, David Gurvich, Erez Hendelman, and Mustafa Cem Tokay

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Bidding like it’s IMPs in a Matchpoints game?

Posted on May 20, 2023 by Lee Lin

Serious question. Have you ever played in a matchpoints game but agreed with your partner you will bid as if you are playing IMPs?

Mini Bridge Adventures: Edison Sectional

Today is my first time participating in the Edison Sectionals, which is the new version of the pre-Covid Woodbridge sectionals. Why are we going? Mostly, because we have a very fun crew of four that hopes to practice prior to tomorrow’s GNT Flight B opening round.

Of course, we could simply go to the convenient Bridge and Games Saturday session or play online, but somehow I found fellow addicts willing to wake up at 7am on a Saturday in order to squeeze in two face-to-face sessions. Truth be told, the commute is quite convenient – only a 45 minute drive from Midtown given there is no Saturday morning traffic; but as the designated driver, I like to to add plenty of buffer time.

Bid Like It’s IMPs!

Here is the problem. The neighboring NJ sectionals previously had IMPs pairs. However, the schedule today is entirely matchpoints. So my partner and I have agree to “bid as if it were IMPs.” That means invites aren’t really invites, they are just sheepish game forcing bids. If the opponents do some crazy part-score interference, we probably won’t be doubling them. Maybe we should even play like it’s IMPs to get the maximum amount of practice — a chance to use all of the crazy safety plays we learn on BridgeMaster, or defend hoping partner has the longshot holding that can set a contract. Overtricks don’t matter in IMPs, right?

Ok ok, maybe we won’t go entirely crazy, but for all of our conventions and agreements, we are using the IMPs version of them. Get ready for more minor part scores or seven-card major fits in lieu of 1NT. At least I know I won’t be declaring 4 of a minor. Btw, of course Edison has swiss teams – it is on Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday.

How about everyone else? Have you ever agreed with your partner to bid like it’s IMPs in a Matchpoints game?

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Partnerships for GNT Flight B on May 21st

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Lee Lin

To all ACBL bridge players in New York City and Long Island with under 2500 masterpoints, we’re thrilled to invite you to participate in the Grand National Teams tournament (GNT-B).

Need a Team or Partner?
If you’re eager to participate but need teammates or a partner, we’re here to help! Send us an email at gnt@gnyba.org with the subject “Partnership Desk GNT Flight B,” and include your ACBL number and current roster. This is a great opportunity to find new local players and forge potential face-to-face partnerships that can last for years to come.

Why Participate in GNT Flight B?
The GNT tournament is the most exciting event on our annual District 24 bridge calendar. It offers a unique format that includes a round robin on the first day, ensuring a fair competition where you’ll square off against all other teams in your group. Qualifying teams continue into a knockout round.

The rewards? A winning team can earn 33.50 gold pigmented masterpoints and, if you emerge as the champion, a $1000 travel subsidy along with the honor of representing New York City and Long Island at the national finals in Chicago.

Even if masterpoints or national tournaments aren’t your prime motivations, the District GNT offers the fun of playing in a competition that mirrors the format of high-level national tournaments, with the added advantage of competing against local opponents of similar experience.

Recapping Flights A and C
The recent opening rounds for Flights A and C drew an impressive 14 teams. Team Lampe and Team Trabulus emerged as the frontrunners in GNT-A, while Team Latta and Team Boge led in GNT-C. See the detailed results on gnyba.org.

We look forward to the same level of engagement and competitive spirit in Flight B; it might even be possible to send two teams to Chicago if we can form enough teams by Sunday!

Join the Action!
So, are you ready to take part in this exciting event? Register your team today for a tournament that promises competition, learning, camaraderie, and fun.

Date: May 21st
Location: 177 87th Street, Suite 302
Time: 11 am

Pre-register your team: https://bridgewinners.com/tournament/view/2023-d24-gnt/

For the most recent updates and additional information, please check our website at gnyba.org/gnt.

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GNT Flights A and C Attracts 14 Tables

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Lee Lin

The opening round of the D24 Grand National Teams, Flights A and C, attracted 14 teams! This is far more than last year when New York bridge players were still easing into a “return to face-to-face” mentality.

Team Lampe and Team Trabulus Lead GNT-A

One thing hasn’t changed from pre-pandemic: we have definitely seen Team Lampe and Trabulus face off in the District GNTs. Previously it was in Fight B, limited to 0-2500, but now both teams have graduated to the 0-6000 Flight A group.

With 6 teams in the opening round, Director Alan Miller and the GNT Committee opted for a round robin with 10 rounds, each round consisting of only 5 boards. Shorter rounds create many more cases where the a single IMP decides the match, and indeed we saw pushes and many “win by 1” / “lose by 1” rounds. One interesting tidbit, the team with the most victory points leads with 146 VPs and 8 wins, but their two losses were both against the second place team. The knockouts should be very interesting!

Qualifying GNT-A Teams

After 10 rounds, the following teams qualified into the semi-final KOs

Team Lampe:  146.99.    (8 wins)
Team Trabulus: 130.24. (8 wins)
Team Dziekanski:  94.48 (5 wins)
Team Port:  84.25 (3.5 wins)

Team Latta and Team Boge Lead GNT-C

It’s great to see a new wave of Flight C players. Last Sunday we full spectrum of seasoned tournament players nearing the end of their non-life master and Flight C days, as well as players participating in their first regionally-rated tournament. At least one qualifying winner had previously only played team games in the Sherry Ann Kavaler Pro-Am-Am-Am at Honors! It would have been amazing to see a team switch partners each round, but we will save that for mid-Summer when the new Midtown club opens.

In the lead is the team that represented District 24 in the national finals for GNT-C last year, ultimately taking first position after the Day 1 qualifying swiss in Phoenix. Another noteworthy team is captained by Jack Boge, with potentially the youngest average age in the history of our District’s GNTs.

Qualifying GNT-C Teams

After 7 rounds, the following teams qualified into the semi-final KOs

Team Mandel:  114.64 (7 wins)
Team Boge:      96.60 (5 wins)
Team Romeo:   80.28 (5 wins)
Team Tormey:   67.63 (3 wins)

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The 2022-2023 D24 Grand National Teams

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Lee Lin

There is still plenty of time to form a team for the District 24 GNTs coming up next month. For the latest information, head to gnyba.org/gnt

Reasons to Play

As a recap, this is one of the best events all year for players who enjoy team games. You play all day against players who have roughly the same masterpoints as you, and the prizes include lots of gold pigmented masterpoints. Best of all, if you have any interest in traveling for tournaments, winning teams are also invited to represent New York City and Long Island in the national finals in Chicago.

Of course, maybe you don’t care much for masterpoints or national tournaments. That’s also ok. The District GNT is the most unique team game format each year. The first day is a round robin tournament, meaning you will play against all of the other teams in your group (similar to a swiss, but more fair). Teams that qualify beyond the first day enter a knockout tournament, where you play an entire session or entire day against the same opponents. This is a once-per-year chance to play using the same format as national high-level players, while restricting the field to local opponents with similar experience.

Give it a shot and register your team.

Schedule

Championship (Open) Flight – Unlimited Masterpoints
Opening Weekend – Saturday, May 20 + Sunday, May 21
Flight A
Opening Round
May 7th  

1st Place:
40 Gold Points		Flight B
Opening Round     
May 21st   

1st Place:  
33.50 Gold
$1000 travel subsidy  		Flight C
Opening Round
May 7th  

1st Place:  
20 Gold/Red Points
$1000 travel subsidy
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Edison Sectional May 19-21st 2023

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Lee Lin

Our neighbors in nearby District 3 are holding another sectional in Edison, NJ, from Fri-Sun May 19th-21st 2023. For those just getting back to the local tournament scene, Edison is the new Woodbridge.

Here is the Edison May 2023 tournament flyer.

For those who haven’t been, the playing location is a reasonably short drive from Manhattan, about 35 miles driving and 45 minutes away from most of Manhattan. In all the years of playing in Woodbridge and Allendale, the drive is quite smooth. There is absolutely no traffic on the way there, especially on Saturday and Sunday morning, and surprisingly a reasonably smooth drive back, even with light tunnel traffic.

An Unintentional Conflict

Unfortunately, there is a conflict on Sunday with our own District 24 Flight B GNT opening round, and potentially for the final qualifying teams of other GNT flights. It’s particularly sad for two reasons. First, we want to do our best to avoid scheduling conflicts with nearby tournaments, and secondly, the Edison team game on Sunday would have been an excellent final practice for many Flight B GNT teams. Next year we will do a better job coordinating, which might include moving GNTs back to early Feb. The past three years of holding them in May has its own pros and cons (the biggest downside being not enough time to plan Summer NABC travel).

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Royal STaC Week Feb 20th to Feb 26th

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Lee Lin

This week gives everyone a rare chance to win gold, silver, red, and black points all from the comfort of your favorite New York City face-to-face club. It is Royal STaC week, which means all games pay more points, and the game at your club will be combined with the same game at many other clubs in other units and districts to form a huge prize pool. All points awarded, whether overall or just in your section, will be paid as 25% gold, 25% silver, 25% red, and 25% black. The payout amount also uses the tournament formula, which is more generous than a normal club game.

Where and When to Play?

In Unit 155, you can officially play at any of these clubs and sessions to gain the benefits of the gold, red, silver, and black point special payouts. In practice, the largest game for Manhattan-based players will be at the 177 East 87th Street club (Bridge and Games, formerly Cavendish). There is a daily afternoon game at 1pm (Mon-Sat), a 0-750 game on Monday and Thursday evening at 6:30pm, and a Wed evening open game.

Technically, you may also play at any club in any of the participating 4 districts nearby. But we hope to see you in New York City!

Origins of the Royal STaC

As a recap, in year 2022 ACBL began experimenting with creative ways to celebrate the re-opening of our face-to-face clubs. There wasn’t as much excitement around the normal silver-point STaCs, aka Sectional Tournaments at Clubs. Some blame it on the pandemic. Others say silver points became less rare thanks to the various source of online silver point weeks. Regardless, despite all of the new online bridge tournaments, most people agree gold points are still not easy for newer players to obtain.

Originally, the name was going to be the “Rainbow STaC”, given the four different pigments of colors awarded. However, in the end the name Royal STaC prevailed.

More Royal STaCs Coming

How did it go? We know the first few Royal STaCs went quite well. Almost exactly a year ago, our own Unit 155 pair Mindy Fleder and Florin Neamtu scored a 70% game to win over 16 Masterpoints in a game of 110 tables during the Royal STaC.

Other units reported similar surges in face-to-face club attendance, and ACBL decided to continue and expand the experiment. In fact, in the upcoming New Orleans Spring 2023 NABC board of directors meeting, the board will vote on a motion to expand the Royal STaC allocation to 4 times per year, up from 2 times per year.

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Edison Sectional March 3rd to 5th 2023

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Lee Lin

Our neighbors in New Jersey are having another sectional next month. As usual, it is a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from March 3rd to 5th.

Download the latest Edison Sectional Tournament Flyer.

10:30 AM Sunday Swiss

In the previous Edison sectional, all 3 days started at 10am. However, the Sunday Swiss this time is a different!.

Food service is back, just as in the good old Woodbridge days. While the Friday and Saturday pairs sessions begin at 10am (which allows the afternoon to begin at 2:30, giving everyone time to head over for dinner). However, the Sunday Swiss starts a little bit later at 10:30am. If you forget, that’s not a problem. You and your team can just enjoy the bagel breakfast that begins at 9:30am.

Grassroots Afternoons

As in the past, the Friday and Saturday afternoon sessions have the special Grassroots bonus. These sessions pay about 30% more silver points than the morning session. However, our advice is to block off the entire day and just play both sessions regardless. If you have a lackluster morning session, you can regroup in the afternoon knowing that the Masterpoint stakes are higher!

Same Pricing: $14 per person per session

While inflation seems to be impacting goods and services of all sorts, the Edison sectional is still charging the same very affordable card fee of $28 per pair per session ($14 per person). The team game is the same, quoted as $112 per team for the two-session swiss, and includes breakfast and lunch.

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