[CSGibson]

If you are interested, the ACBL district 20 open GNT trials (for the right to represent our district in Philadelphia at the nationals this summer) will have a live semi-final matchup Saturday, May 12th on BBO at noon and 6 PST (3 & 9 EST), between the Zwerling squad from Portland, OR, and the Martindale squad from Boise, ID.

Of possible interest: I am on the Zwerling squad, which features a precision canapé pair and a pair that uses a non-standard 2/1 system. If you are having trouble finding it online, you can search for CSGibson, and join the team match that way.

The other semi-final is between two Portland squads, and will be held offline at the same time as the online competition. Straube and Foobar/Akhare will be playing as partners in that matchup against the first seeded Lusky squad.

The final on Sunday will be on BBO only if the Boise squad wins our semi-final knockout.

Either way, I'm sure that I'll be posting interesting hands from the experience later on.

[kfay]

I'd love to hear about the logistics (I assume pairs are playing in separate, supervised rooms?) if you get the chance.

[JLOGIC]

What is straubes real name if its not private? I assume he is a youngish guy?

[CSGibson]

 kfay, on 2012-May-11, 22:52, said:

I'd love to hear about the logistics (I assume pairs are playing in separate, supervised rooms?) if you get the chance.

We're all playing in one big room (could hold 20 tables easily), separate corners. In that same room at the Portland site will be the two other teams playing a face-to-face KO behind screens for the other semi-final, which I hope we are using to provide additional visual buffer between partners. There will be an onsite monitor approved by the district GNT/NAP coordinator (who is not playing in the event), as well as the online director (Rick Beye). WiFi is enabled, everyone brings their own laptop. I'm not sure what the set-up is in Boise, but it should be similar.

I basically wrote the proposal to get us to try online competition so that the poor bastards in Hawaii, Northern California, Nevada, and Idaho didn't have to travel to Portland, OR for the GNT finals, but it turns out the only team not from Portland who pre-registered is from Boise - those other parts of the district didn't bother to scrape up a team. I'll be interested to see how it plays out.

Justin - Since Straube is a frequent poster, I'll leave it to him to describe himself however he feels like he wants to.

[Phil]

Good luck Chris. Nice to have a few world champs on your GNT team

[akhare]

Good luck to everyone.

Guess it's safe to say that all Portland teams have a vested interest in NOT having an online D20 match on Sunday .

[pigpenz]

 CSGibson, on 2012-May-11, 23:31, said:

but it turns out the only team not from Portland who pre-registered is from Boise - those other parts of the district didn't bother to scrape up a team. I'll be interested to see how it plays out.

having played in this event 5 or 6 times D20 has always been Portland centered, when it is held somewhere else people in Portland complain about travel.
No one else from rest of district 20 wants to travel to Portland.....part of reason Reno is no longer in this District and probably why someday northern california wont be either.

hope online play works out

[jillybean]

Goo luck Chris & team. I would be very interested to hear how the BBO play works out.

[CSGibson]

 pigpenz, on 2012-May-12, 11:24, said:

having played in this event 5 or 6 times D20 has always been Portland centered, when it is held somewhere else people in Portland complain about travel.
No one else from rest of district 20 wants to travel to Portland.....part of reason Reno is no longer in this District and probably why someday northern california wont be either.

hope online play works out

I agree, which is why I was so disappointed that when we don't make teams travel, that there were only four entries.

If you're curious, its at the half and Straube & Foobar/Akhare are up 18 on the top seed. Go Atul & David!

[CSGibson]

 CSGibson, on 2012-May-12, 18:29, said:

I agree, which is why I was so disappointed that when we don't make teams travel, that there were only four entries.

If you're curious, its at the half and Straube & Foobar/Akhare are up 18 on the top seed. Go Atul & David!

Its a CSGibson vs Straube & Foobar/Akhare final tomorrow - Atul & David pulled the upset, we barely held serve after our teammates bailed us out.

[Mbodell]

 CSGibson, on 2012-May-13, 01:02, said:

Its a CSGibson vs Straube & Foobar/Akhare final tomorrow - Atul & David pulled the upset, we barely held serve after our teammates bailed us out.

How many boards were the matches? I saw one 15 board set where it seemed like you guys pummeled them like 65 to 7 or something. There was a kind of interesting 3nt where opening leader had AKTxxx of spades.

[CSGibson]

 Mbodell, on 2012-May-13, 01:26, said:

How many boards were the matches? I saw one 15 board set where it seemed like you guys pummeled them like 65 to 7 or something. There was a kind of interesting 3nt where opening leader had AKTxxx of spades.

60 boards. I remember that one - it seemed right to lead a spade to me, the other guy thought different. Also an interesting play problem - it seems right to test hearts first before falling back on the diamond finesse - if they guess to just finesse the heart, they have 9 tricks

[straube]

 JLOGIC, on 2012-May-11, 23:05, said:

What is straubes real name if its not private? I assume he is a youngish guy?

Hi. David Straube, 46

[Siegmund]

In District 18, attendance was terrible last year when they tried online GNTs for the first time, and almost twice as good this year, though still a smallish event. It may be that you'll have to do it a few years in a row before attendance perks back up.

It may also be that the reduction of the prizes (from "free trip" to an amount that doesn't even approach the cost of a plane ticket to Philadelphia let alone hotel or entry fees) has cut way back on the number of people interested in trying to win the district event.

I confess I was rooting for the Martindales, whom I see often at sectionals and have played with as teammates, but happy to see the forum well represented too.

[Mbodell]

 CSGibson, on 2012-May-13, 01:35, said:

60 boards. I remember that one - it seemed right to lead a spade to me, the other guy thought different. Also an interesting play problem - it seems right to test hearts first before falling back on the diamond finesse - if they guess to just finesse the heart, they have 9 tricks

Yeah, also clubs comes in for 4 tricks if you play the opening leader to have 2 when the T falls in the first two rounds and finesse east for the club J on the 3rd round. So if you take the heart finesse and then test for 3-3 hearts you can make 9 tricks even without a spade trick (4 in hearts, 4 in clubs, 1 diamond). I'm not sure if that is better than trying to set up the long diamonds, but when you win the opening spade lead and know you now need to win 8 tricks without losing any, there are a few lines to consider.

[straube]

Chris Gibson's team won. Congratulations and good luck at the Nationals.

[akhare]

Congratulations to Csgibson's team for prevaling over team foobar (akhare) straube with (a 20-something IMP margin as I recall) after a marathon 60 board session that lasted over 12 hours!!!

Best of luck and may you fetch D20 the superflight title!!!

[CSGibson]

 akhare, on 2012-May-14, 01:20, said:

Congratulations to Csgibson's team for prevaling over team foobar (akhare) straube with (a 20-something IMP margin as I recall) after a marathon 60 board session that lasted over 12 hours!!!

Best of luck and may you fetch D20 the superflight title!!!

To be fair, only about 11 of those hours were actually spent playing bridge. And yes, I'm punchy-exhausted right now.

[Mbodell]

 CSGibson, on 2012-May-14, 01:44, said:

To be fair, only about 11 of those hours were actually spent playing bridge. And yes, I'm punchy-exhausted right now.

Congrats. But I'm curious about what time controls were in place. Even 11 hours of bridge for 60 boards gives 11 minutes a board as the pace. Surely each 15 board set ought to be played in no more than 2 hours, maybe 2:10 at the worse, even with screens.

[Zelandakh]

 Mbodell, on 2012-May-14, 03:15, said:

Congrats. But I'm curious about what time controls were in place. Even 11 hours of bridge for 60 boards gives 11 minutes a board as the pace. Surely each 15 board set ought to be played in no more than 2 hours, maybe 2:10 at the worse, even with screens.

You've read about straube's system on here right?

I daresay they are including breaks in the 11 hours - then the pace seems about right. Anyway, congrats to Chris and co on winning and to David and co for at least reaching the final.