Nashville 2007 Report

Nashville was a good place for the 2007 National Tournament. Numerous restaurants and much live country western music were in walking distance. The playing area was great right nest to the host hotel and a short walk from several other hotels. The host committee provided snacks and entertainment every evening. Attendance was 12,879 tables about what was expected. The only problem being that the elevators at the Renaissance were very slow before game time making a few players late.

I was pleased to be elected President elect of the 2008 A.C.B.L. Organization

Seymon S. Deutsch of District 16 was honored with the Sidney H. Lazard Jr. Sportsmanship Award. A special award started by our own Sidney Lazard to honor players for outstanding sportsmanship and ethics.

Special congratulations to District 16’s Flight C Team George Keiller, Don Morgan, John Heath, and Alan Dennis. District 16 has done well in the Grand National Teams but this is the first time I remember winning the Flight C.

Our CEO reported that 2007 is looking like a good year, membership is up 368 the first 6 months and the number of tables at Regionals, Sectionals, & Stac’s are all up. He also said we will probably end 2007 with a net profit of over $200,000.

The updating of the ACBL Bridge Series is going well; the first 2 books (Bidding in the 21st Century and Play of the Hand in the 21 Century) have been updated and sent to Baron Barclay.

3400 members have currently opted to have membership renewal notices sent via email instead of regular mail. This is convenient for our members and the ACBL let us know if you would like to do this.

One an experimental basis management will plan and implement a championship for youth under the age of 19. The first championship will be held in Atlanta during the summer of 2008 or 2009 with a second championship to follow the next year.

Electronic Devices

Management will as soon as possible develop a plan for banning all non-medical electronic devices from the rooms, hallways, and bathrooms on the floors in which any events are being played at NABC’s.

Every 5 years the ACBL reviews Masterpoint awards, it takes two reading to change them. There have been several changes made and the first reading was done in Nashville. Any one interested can get the details on the ACBL home page. There are changes to the masterpoint awards in club games and special fund games will be caped at 6.0 masterpoints. In Knockout events the awards will be based on the strength of the field instead of the number of teams in the event.

Management is authorized to establish procedures and guidelines to suspend or rescind a club game sanction (or a club director’s accreditation) for cause such as but not limited to egregious conduct detrimental to ACBL.

Grand National Teams Final Conditions have been changed:

• All teams will play a one day Swiss event to qualify into a seeded KO bracket.
• Only paid members, including life masters with life master status, whose dues or fees are current prior to the unit stage, may participate beyond the club level. This is for the NAP and GNT.
• A fill-in pair must play at least 87.5% of the boards to qualify for overall award.

Six session pair games will now have a qualifying field of between 40% & 50% to the semi-finials and from the semi-finals to the finals.

We have a lot of good National sites coming up: San Francisco in November 07 and Detroit, Las Vegas, & Boston for 08. These events are lot of fun and there will be Bridge experts from all over the World so the opportunity to learn or just kibitz is limitless. I recommend every one who can to attend our National Tournaments.

See you at the tables

Dan