Long Beach Report Summer Nationals - July 2003
Long Beach was the perfect location for a Summer NABC. Temperatures daily were in the mid to upper 70's with a light breeze. The playing area was "outstanding," with great lighting and acoustics. The air conditioning was mainly never too cold or too hot, and rooms were large enough to have aisles down the middle and no tables and chairs back to back. Even the caddies had room to walk between tables to pick up scoring slips.
The disappointing factor was that there were only 12,247 tables in play - less than expected. For players unable to attend, you missed visiting a lovely city. See you in New Orleans? I hope so.
It was great seeing so many District 16 players all over the tournament games and playing well. Congratulations to Mixed Team winners Petra Hamman, Donna Compton and Hemant Lall, to Flight A Grand National winners Sally Wheeler, Buddy Hanby, Pat and Jim Griffin. To Lynn Baker Wager Woman's KO, and to Chris Compton for the money tournament. And congratulations to the many players who were busy collecting lots of master points.
Long Beach was also a "celebrity show." Prominent among the players were:
- Texan, Louis Sachar, author of many children books. Louis is best known for the book "Holes," which recently has been made into a hit movie.
- Financial Guru and Fidelity Investments retired legendary stock picker Peter Lynch and his wife, Carolyn, played most of the week.
- Wes Parker, Los Angeles Dodger first baseman in the 60's & 70's, and winner of six golden glove awards, played for many days.
- The big thrill of the tournament was the attendance of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates partnered with Sharon Osberg and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Warren Buffett playing with Sheri Winestock in the Mixed Teams. Mr. Buffet and Mr. Gates were kind enough to give a bridge interview with Chris Compton during a break in the View Graph show. Many thanks to these gentlemen for donating their time to promote bridge.
TOURNAMENTS:
International Fund Games at Sectionals
Benefiting Open, Seniors and Women's Teams
PLAYERS BENEFITS - Master points will be SILVER points and will
Be calibrated as REGIONAL RATED POINTS.All units are now permitted to hold a maximum of two International fund sessions at each Sectional with the exception of STAC's. There will be an additional $1 charge on the Entry fee which will help fund Open, senior, and women's teams to attend international competitions. I encourage units in our District to hold some of these bonus master joint sessions at our sectionals. We have many of our district players, I am proud to say, participating and winning in the world events.
The afternoon of the first day of each NABC shall be a one-session event for the benefit of the International Fund.
Management is authorized to experiment with 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. starting times during an upcoming NABC. (The local sponsoring organization must approve this before a change can be made). We have a great national coming up in Dallas in the spring of 2006, and the local committee might want to discuss this option.
Management may authorize barometer scoring with publication of previous round results on the final day of the Reisinger.
If our District is interested in holding another annual regional; we must increase our membership. A district with 9,000 to 12,000 members is allocated one additional regional each year, with 12,001 to 15,000 members allocated two additional regionals and a district with more than 15,000 members will be allocated three addition regionals each year.
An annual regional is being given to one of the four Canadian districts for the purpose of supporting the Canadian Bridge Federation International Fund. The district will be chosen at the discretion of the Canadian Bridge Federation.
Swiss Team pairings and knockout procedures were reviewed and slight changes made. If you are interested in the changes, you can find them in the minutes of the Long Beach board of directors meetings at ACBL.org
The General Convention Chart is amended to permit the use of transfer responses/advances to overcalls where the call shows length or values in the suit of the transfer.
The Mid-Chart was amended. Any weak opening at the two level or higher that shows hands with two suits must be no less than 5-4 distribution in the two suits.
To be eligible to receive overall awards in a Swiss Team, a player must play in at least 50 percent of the matches or in the last three matches of a seven-round Swiss.
In order to participate in a nationally rated event at a NABC, a player must be an ACBL member whose service fee or dues are current.
SECTIONAL TOURNAMENTS:
The conditions of contest for sectional tournaments at clubs that require a minimum of 10 pairs to be included in the championship session was modified to allow this restriction to be modified or waived prior to the start of the tournament at the option of the sponsoring organization.
MEMBERSHIP:
Members of the ACBL are normally expected to belong to the unit in which they reside. If a member chooses to belong to a unit in which he/she does not reside, the member or an appropriate club manager, unit or district official must specifically make this request in writing to the ACBL stating the unit of preference and the reasons for the request. If it is determined that a member requested a change of unit membership for the sole purpose of GNT or NAOP play, the request will be denied.
National tournaments are great bridge experiences and lots of fun. These are the times you can meet and play against the best players in the ACBL. Nationals are a good time to kibitz the great players. It is amazing what you can learn from watching them play or defend a hand. It will improve your game more than you realize.
We have available the New Orleans fall national in November, and in 2004 there is Reno, New York, and Orlando. And Dallas in the spring of 2006.
Good luck at the tables
Dan