BAND Blog

With the Round Robin just past the half-way mark, Senior USA II is in second place with 228 VPs – 4 VP behind France and 33 VPs ahead of the non-qualifying position.  USA II suffered their first “real” lost of the event to Australia in the first match of the day winning only 11vps.  Remember the loss to Denmark was the result of an irregularity of the opponent’s behavior.  But for his behavior, USA II would have won the match.  None-the-less, USA II has won 10 out our 12 of their matches to date.  In the second match of the day versus the current leaders, France, USA II got off to a 25-0 lead and held on to win by 19imps which translates to 19 out of 25 VPs.  The win was not enough to overtake France on the leader board but if we see them in a knockout match next week, then we will take our 19imps to the KO stage.  The imps are compressed a bit but it is always better to start the match off with a lead!  The final match of the day was against Italy – USA II won 39-15 adding 21 VPs to their score.   Another successful day at the office!

In the Bermuda Bowl, USA 2 is sitting in 3rd position with 218 VPs and USA 1 is in 6 position with 201.5 VPs - Remember the top 8 teams continue to the KO stage and 9th position currently has 186.5 so as long as the Open USA teams “Take Care of Business”, they should both qualify easily.

In the Venice Cup, USA I is in 3rd position with 221 VPS with USA II one VP behind in 4th position.  9th place currently has 200 VPs so both USA teams are 20VPs ahead of the non-qualifying position.  Looks safe at this point for these teams as well.

With 9 matches to play, Senior USA I looks to be the only team in danger of not qualifying at this point (although anything can happen in to the other teams) sitting in 10th position with 189VPs – 12 VPs out of 8th place.  They have a weakish schedule left so look for USA I to pull up into a qualifying position by the end of the Round Robin stage. 

Along with people in Veldhoven being super nice, the tournament organizers have gone out of their way to make the players feel like they are home away from home.  Outside the Open and Closed playing rooms there is a gymnasium size room with 6 big screen tvs (bigger than the ones in the vugraph room) on opposite sides of the room.  There is music playing in the background and they call this the “Party Room”.  During play, there are roaming cameras flash pictures of the players and spectators in the playing rooms or sitting around the party room.  Between the matches, the results, standings and table assignments are rotated through the screens.  Underneith these screens are vendors with all sorts of bridge stuff to purchase.  In the front of the room is the registration/information desk.  The volunteers are so incredibly helpful – no matter what your question, they either know the answer or find it out for you immediately.  In the back of the room is a snack shop with sandwiches, soup, pastries snacks and drinks.  It really is quite an amazing set-up for the players to gather before, during and after the matches for comparison and hospitality.

In today’s matches, USA II starts out against Poland who has medalled in this event in recent history.  They are definitely one of the favorites to win the whole thing.  It will be the toughest match of the day for sure but our boys are up for the fight!  Matches 2 & 3 are against New Zealand and Canada.  Canada will be hungry to beat USA II since they are out of qualifying position at this point in the event – this will be out most dangerous match of the day.

Follow the match results at WBF Results and read about interesting hands and stories in the Daily Bulletin.  If you are up early enough, you can follow live action on Bridge Base Online at 4:30am, 7:45am and 10:45am (NYT).

Enjoy your Day!

USA II went undefeated yet again in Day 3 of the Round Robin – Taking 17 out of 25 from both Argentina and Indonesia and got ‘em all (25) from Guadeloupe.  That’s called Taking Care of Business.  There are two types of teams in the event: Type I which are matches Team USA II is competitive and the match truly depends on the hands and the styles of the players – in other words, it’s an even playing field.  Type II matches are ones which USA II should win and collect all of the victory points.  These are the ones to which we say “Take Care of Business” at the beginning of the match.  They are usually teams from smaller countries that simply don’t have the resources and/or access to top-level materials and training.  It is wonderful that they can participate in the World Events – sort of like an inexperienced player playing in a top flight KO event – great stories of occassional victories against the best of the best is all these teams can hope for.  In general, their spirits are high and they really do have a great time playing.  On occasion, their opponents don’t “Take Care of Business” (the card gods are angry) and the Type II team beats their giant opponent.  Those are the best stories to take back home!

The other 5 USA teams are in qualifying position with 4 days (12 matches) left to play.  Yesterday in the Bermuda Bowl, USA 2 faced off against Italy on vugraph with USA 2 winning the match 27-11 (19 out of 25 points).  At the World Championships, they have an auditorium dedicated to the onsite vugraph show.  The matches are usually the “Matches of the Day” .  The bridge is exciting, the room is generally packed, and the commentators are entertaining.  There are five huge screens across the front of the room – one with a picture of the players, one with the hand being plays/analyzed and three with the running scores of the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and Senior Bowl.  For bridge junkies, its just heaven!   Each morning I make sure my players are in their seats for Match I, and then I am off to the vugraph room to blog and prepare for the next day matches. 

Good news on the food front – well at least on the desert front!  The fru-fru restaurant that takes three hours to eat a meal has an amazing chocolate desert with three different chocolates, vanilla ice cream  and caramel sauce.   So now we find something for dinner and then have a “second dinner” at the fru-fru restaurant for our desert!  We were in and out in 15 minutes with smiles on our faces  

At this point in the Round Robin portion of the event, the remaining schedule becomes critical. There are some teams which have played their tough matches and have relatively easy matches remaining and then there are those teams who played the weaker teams early on and have the strong teams remaining.   For instance, in the Senior Bowl, France, who is leading the Round Robin, has played more teams in the bottom half of the field and have tougher matches remaining.  Whereas, USA II has played most of the teams in the top half of the field and their remaining schedule is mostly teams currently positioned in the bottom half of the field.

Today will be the toughest day for USA II – facing Australia (complicated systems), France (the current leaders) and Italy (always dangerous, even in the Senior Event).   USA II is in great spirits and are prepared for the grueling day ahead.  If you are reading today’s blog before 7:45am (NYT), then jump on BBO and cheer on USA II vs France!  We love to have our fans watching the matches when we are on BBO!  Each day the there are three matches on Bridge Base Online at 4:30am, 7:45am and 10:45am (NYT) – always fun to watch even when USA II is not playing! 

You can also see running scores at WBF Results by clicking on the Event name at the top of the scoring chart.  Then click on the team name and their scorecard comes up with “running scores”.  You can watch as the scores are entered at the table – that is if you are awake while during the actual play.  Otherwise, you can click on the round number in the scoring chart once the round is over.  You can still look at individual scorecards but the scores are obviously all in.

You can also access daily scores, interesting hand discussions and player stories in the Daily Bulletins which may be found at the WBF Bulletin Page.

Day 2 bridge saw Seniors USA II go undefeated winning 25 vs Argentina, 17 vs Japan, and 22 vs. Reunion.  Certainly a great day for USA II since the maximum points available are 25 per match.  As predicted yesterday, Japan was going to be our toughest match of the day and USA II is very happy to take 17 against them.  FYI – Japan won this event in Beijing in 2008!

The USA teams in the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup had a much better Day 2 and are all within qualifying range but there are 5 days remaining so lots of bridge left to play.  Remember in order to continue onto the knockout rounds, the teams must be in the top 8 of their respective events at the end of the 7-day round robin.  Senior USA I struggled through Day 2 but are still in position to finish in the top 8.  You might notice that their schedule in the first two days were the two toughest days for their team so I except to see USA I come up in the rankings as the days pass by.

Some of you may be wondering about the pending appeal against Denmark.  The hearing was held at 7:30 and since USA II was the appealing side, we had the burden to prove why the Director’s ruling was wrong.  I, personally, do not believe in appeals; however, this appeal was not really about the director’s ruling per se.  It was more about the inappropriate behavior of one of the Denmark players and USA II wanted to make sure that a procedural penalty was applied to this player.  The best of all worlds would have been to have the result of the board reversed and instead of losing 12 imps, USA I would have won 12 imps.  This was an unlikely event, however.

In the end, USA II was awarded exactly what we set out to do.  We got our $100 back (the appealing side has to post $100 to appeal and if the Committee finds that it is an frivilous appeal, then they keep your money – Yikes!).  Event thought the result was left as it was recorded (USA II -12imps), the Committee applied a procedural penalty to Denmark for the inappropriate behavior of the player (BTW: The players name is Jens Auken).   Needless to say, Day 2 was a very long day!

Yesterday, I talked about the breakfast choices and invited you all over to join me for breakfast if you liked lots of salmon.  Dinner, however, is much more exciting!  After the appeal, Martha Katz and I looked over the options – The same coffee shop in which we have eaten dinner the last 4 nights, the make-shift fru-fru restaurant that takes 3 hours to get your salad or the buffet.  After ruling out the first two options, we looked over the menu for the buffet on which the two main meats were ostrich and kangaroo!  I’ve been told the meats are delicious but it just didn’t hit the spot after a long day of bridge, appeals and politics!  So Martha and I ordered pizza from Domino’s and we both agree that it was the BEST pizza we have ever tasted.  Nothing like something familiar when the day is so stressful!  I’ve never seen two women eat a pizza so fast…LOL!  After we finished the pizza, we sat in the lobby reading our iphones under the guise of socializing. 

Today’s line-up is Pakistan, Indonesia, and Guadeloupe.  Indonesia medaled in this event in twice in the last three world championships.  This will be USA II’s toughest match of the day.  Be sure to follow the results and read the bulletins on the WBF site and watch live matches on Bridge Base Online at 4:30am(NYT), 7:45am(NYT), and 10:45am(NYT). 

See you tomorrow!

Day 1 in the Round Robin saw Senior USA II get off to a great start collecting 54 imps out of a total of 75 against USA I (19), Germany (24), and Denmark (11).  The WBF has a different IMPing system than the US – The maximum points that may be won by a team is 25 but the opponents can still win imps when they lose by a lot of imps so you could see the score of 25 for USA II and 5 for the opponents (which is what the score is currently in Day 2 Match 1 as I write this post ))).

For those that watched the Denmark match which was on BBO Sunday at 10:45am (NYT), Schermer/Chambers (USA II) bid to 7C off the DA.  Just FYI, there is a directors ruling pending on this board which may swing the match.  There was confusion as to whether the opponents may look at the defense against Multi 2D openers.  In the US, you are allowed to look at your written defense against this particular system.  However, before 2009, the WBF did not allow the written defense at the table.   While the directors were deciding whether they could look at their defense or not, the 7C hand was bid without the notes.   If Schermer/Chambers were allowed to see their written notes (which is allowed now), then they would not have bid to 7C missing the DA.  This board swings the match depending on the ruling.  At the  moment, USA II took away only 11 vps.  For those of you cheering for Team USA II, don’t hold your breath, but I will keep you posted!

Senior USA I had a tough day along with the Venice Cup and Open Teams – It’s a long event however, so I am sure these teams will bring their “A” team to the table when it matters – Remember, the top 8 teams from each event advance to the Knockout stage. 

The hotel at which the World Championships is located is quite secluded from the city so the eating choices are limited.  Breakfast is included with the room so the team meets for breakfast at our designated Team Table – if you like salmon and lunch meat for breakfast, then please join us!  We are already tired of the breakfast choices and we have 11 more days of play! Yikes!

Today’s line up is Argentina, Japan and Reunion.  Japan’s match looks to be the toughest match for the day – but they lost to Reunion yesterday so what do I know!  Please follow the match scores on the World Bridge Federation Site for Veldhoven.  At this link you can find the Daily Bulletin, Match Results, and Live Running Scores during play.  It’s fun to follow one or two interesting boards through all three events!  Give it a try…you will spend all of your time glued to your computer!

Additionally, if you are a night owl (Patsy), then you may watch 12 matches live on BBO at 4:30am(NYT), 7:45am(NYT) and 10:45am(NYT). 

Enjoy your day of bridge!  Go Team USA II!!

Welcome back! 

After the devastating finish in the US Team Trials which sidelined the Nickell Team from the 2011 Bermuda Bowl Championship, there was a team change and beginning in the 2013 World Championships the Nickell Team will be Bobby Levin, Steve Weistein, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Nick Nickell and Ralph Katz. 

In the mean teim, the current Nickell Team came back strong in the 2011 Spingold defeated in the finals by the New International Dream Team from Monte Carlo – Team Zimmerman (Geir Helgimo, Tor Helness, Fulvio Fantoni, Claudio Nunes and Franck Multon).  The seeding points won for second place in the Spingold is a great start for the Nickell Team in the 2012 US Team Trials – They will return!

Now for the 2011 World Championships in Veldhoven, The Netherlands.  Since the Nickell Team was benched for this year’s championships, I was chosen to be NPC of USA II in the D’Orsi Senior Bowl Championships which is held in conjuction with the Bermuda Bowl (Open) and the Venice Cup (Women’s).  We have a strong team of seasoned players for the D’Orsi Senior Bowl and I anticipate an exciting run to the Gold!  My team members this year are Gaylor Kasle, Larry Kozlove, Steve Robinson, Peter Boyd, Neil Chambers and John Schermer.  Bobby Wolff once told me that it takes three great pairs to win a world championship and I believe Team USA II (Kasle) has those pairs. 

Looking over the team rosters, Team England, which won the 2009 D’Orsi Senior Bowl failed to make the cut in the European Trials and will not be competing this year.  Team Poland and Team Indonesia have similar line ups and have done very well in the past D’Orsi Senior Bowls so they will be teams to watch. 

This evening we will have the Opening Ceremony and dinner for all the teams and their spouses.  It’s usually a fun evening full of anticipation and hope before the bridge begins at 10:30am on Sunday. 

The schedule for all three events: Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and D’Orsi Senior Bowl are as follows: There are 22 teams in each event so we will play 7 days of round robin (3 matches of 16 boards a day).  At the end of the Round Robin, the top 8 teams from each event will move into a knockout event of 96 boards per match.  BBO will be broadcasting 12 matches at 4:30am (NYT), 7:45am (NYT) and 10:45am (NYT) daily.  You can also follow the action on BridgeWinners.com or follow interesting stories and videos on BridgeTopics.com.

Other USA Teams

Bermuda Bowl

USA I:  Bobby Levin, Steve Weinstein, Lew Stansby, Chip Martel, Martin Fleisher, Michael Kamel

USA II:  Justin Lall, Jo Grue, Kevin Bathurst, Joel Wooldridge, John Hurd, Dan Zagorin

Venice Cup

USA I:  Lynn Deas, Beth Palmer, Judy Radin, Sylvia Moss, Joanna Stansby, Migri Zur Campanile

USA II: Geeske Joel, Toby Sokolow, Jill Levin, Jill Myers, Janice Seamon-Molson, Debbie Rosenberg

D’Orsi Senior Bowl

USA I: Richie Schwartz, Lew Finkel, Arnie Fisher, Fred Hamilton, Dan Morse, Bobby Wolff

USA II: Gaylor Kasle, Larry Kozlove, Neil Chambers, John Schermer, Steve Robinson, Peter Boyd.

Good Luck to all of the USA Teams ~ Especially the Kasle Team – Go USA II!!