National Tournaments and Competitions

• North American Bridge Championships
  

  The biggest Bridge Tournaments in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) are the North American Bridge Championships (NABCs). Each year, there are three of these, commonly called the Spring Nationals, Summer Nationals, and Fall Nationals. These tournaments are the ones with the most competitors and the highest Master Point awards for winning or placing in any event. Here's the 2006 schedule:

  2006 NABC Tournament	Location (Link to Tournament)	Dates (Link to Schedule)
  Spring NABC	Dallas, TX	Mar 29-Apr 9
  Summer NABC	Chicago, IL	Jul 12-23
  Fall NABC	Honolulu, HI	Nov 16-26

  None of these tournaments is close to my home, and I do not plan to compete in any of them in 2006; factors of time and cost contribute to this decision. However, it's possible I could win a subsidized trip to the 2006 Summer Nationals, or to the Spring Nationals in 2007. Read on for details!

• Grand National Teams
  

  I could win my way to the Summer Nationals as a District winner in the Grand National Teams (GNT) competition. My district subsidizes its GNT winning teams if they go to the Summer Nationals for the GNT competition there against the winners from the other ACBL Districts. Since World Champions compete in our District, for my best chance to win I should set my sights on a lower tier here, either Flight B (0-2000) or Flight C (0-500, non-Life Master). My best chance to win a trip to the Summer Nationals is to win the Flight C. This will be one obvious exception to the "compete against the best" decision.

• North American Pairs
  

  I could win my way to the 2007 Spring Nationals in St. Louis as a District winner in the North American Pairs (NAP) competition. My district subsidizes its NAP winning pairs if they go to the Spring Nationals for the NAP competition there against the winners from the other ACBL Districts. Again, Flight B or Flight C give me a better chance of winning. A District victory here will add Master Points in my quest for Life Master in 2006, and the trip to the 2007 Spring Nationals, although not relevant to my 2006 goal, is still quite a worthwhile prize! This is the other obvious exception to the "compete against the best" decision.

• Getting Started
  

  For both the GNT and the NAP, I also have the task of finding a partner, and for the teams, teammates. I will be looking for the strongest players at the Flight C level who are still uncommitted. Qualifying is also a necessity.

• Schedule
  

  Here's the schedule for local and District competitions in these two events. I'll track my results in them in this blog as well.

  Event	Dates	distance	note
  GNT Qual	Jan 12	local	(evening)
  GNT Qual	Jan 14	local	(morning or afternoon)
  GNT Qual	Jan 23	local	(evening)
  GNT Qual	Jan 25	local	(evening)
  GNT Qual	Feb 2	local	(evening)
  B/C GNT	Feb 18-19	local	District initial rounds
  B/C GNT	Mar 11-12	local	District Semifinals & Final
  NAP Qual	Jun 8	local	(evening)
  NAP Qual	Jul 13	local	(evening)
  NAP Qual	Jul 27	local	(evening)
  NAP Qual	Aug 24	local	(evening)
  NAP	Oct 7-8	local	District Final

Evaluating My Standing

• Master Points

  First, what exactly is this Life Master title, and what do I need to achieve it? To become an ACBL Life Master requires 300 Master Points, of various colors.

  Okay, on a more basic level, this is how the ACBL site defines Master Points, "Players receive masterpoints for winning and placing in club and tournament games as they strive to become a Life Master. Members advance through ranks as they earn the required number of masterpoints for each of 14 categories — Rookie (0-5 points) to Grand Life Master (10,000 points). Three hundred points are required to become a Life Master."

  I have less than one-third that amount.

  ACBL gives more details about winning Master Points, "There are formulas for computing masterpoint awards for all ACBL-sanctioned events. These formulas take into account various factors, such as the class of the event, the size of the field, the number of sessions and the level of competition, thus ensuring maximum uniformity throughout the ACBL in determining masterpoint awards. Additionally, masterpoints are “pigmented” to reflect the level of competition."

  Clearly, the most points are available at the largest events -- National and Regional tournaments.

  Here are the pertinent Masterpoint details as of today; "NABC" is a North American Bridge Championship, that is, Spring, Summer, or Fall Nationals:

  
  

  Masterpoint Type/Color			How Won	Needed for LM	What I have	What I need
  Platinum			national-rated events with no upper masterpoint limit	0.00	0.00	0.00
  Gold			overall placings and section tops in regional and NABC events of at least two sessions	25.00	11.41	13.59
  Red			Regional tournaments and regional events at NABC	see next	45.01	see next
  Gold	or	Red	NABC, Regionals	25.00	n/a	0.00
  Silver			events at sectional tournaments	50.00	21.98	28.02
  Black			sanctioned club games and unit games	see below	17.39	see below
  Unpigmented			online play	0.00	0.00	0.00
  any			n/a	200.00	0.00	162.60
  TOTAL			n/a	300.00	95.79	204.21



• Where I Stand among all ACBL Bridge Players

  I am NOT a world-class Bridge player. Not yet, anyway. Acording to curent ACBL statistics here, I rank at about the 39.84 percentile. Reaching Life Master will not put me anywhere near World Class either; if I were at Life Master rank today I would rank at about the 59.19 percentile. I would have to have 5,000 Master Points to be among the top one percent in the ACBL.



• Playing Strength

  I know I need improvement in counting on each hand (often-time World Champion Eric Rodwell said it took him over three years to acquire the expertise and discipline to do this). I know I need improvement in signaling on defense, and in squeeze play as declarer. Others more skilled and experienced than I will be able to point out other areas where I need improvement. I have learned play from practice, and some from books, including Watson's classic "Play of the Hand at Bridge," and Sheinwold's "Five Weeks to Winning Bridge." I'm now studying Kantar's "Defensive Tips for bad card holders," a door prize I won at the September sectional.



• Bidding

  I learned to play decades ago, when the standard was much less sophisticated. I remember four-card major suit openings, and the standard notrump opening being 16-18 HCP with no "worthless doubletons." I remember the "Rule of 500" as the basis for opening preemptive bids. The first bridge book I studied was Howard Schenken's "Better bidding in 15 minutes, expert bidding in a week." I learned the basics of the Kaplan-Sheinwold system, and the Precision Club system in its infancy. I've picked up the five-card majors, 15-17 notrump opening, and negative doubles at the bridge table, through lectures for novices, and the ACBL Bulletin. To modernize my bidding and understand what the good players are bidding, I plan to learn more of the two-over-one bidding system, through Max Hardy's books, "Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century" and "Advanced Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century."

Planning the Campaign

• Where the Points Are
  

  First I checked the ACBL site for its Tournament Calendar, looking for Regional Tournaments within driving distance. "A substantial number of Gold and Red points are awarded at regional championships, held by the 25 ACBL districts. View a schedule of upcoming regional tournaments in your area."

  I figured that if I leave here early on a Friday, I can get to most of the "nearby" Regionals in time for the Friday Night session, and stay for the Saturday and Sunday sessions (Monday too for holiday weekends). I've found it easiest to win points in the Swiss Teams competition, usually held the last day of the tournament.

• Where the Players Are
  

  The next challenge is finding regular partners and teammates for these tournaments. My partner for the coastal resort Regional in December 2005 will be swamped with work until at least mid-April, and maybe beyond as well. Given our Regional results, I'm not even sure this partner will want to continue with me even after the workload eases.

  So I'll have to seek out strong players, probably local, who are willing to partner with me on a regular basis. I doubt I'll find one full-time partner, but if I can that's an added bonus. Why local players? They are the ones who know me -- or at least have seen me. They are the ones for whom it should be easiest for me to determine their skill level and ambition. They are the ones who will be able to assist in recruiting local teammates. They are the ones who will be playing at the local Sectional tournaments. Most important, they are the ones with whom I can play at the local games. Experience playing together should make the partnership much more effective at the tournaments.
  

• Planning Strategy
  

  What other strategy elements am I considering?

  My game can certainly use much improvement, as shown by the December 2005 Regional experience. Some of this improvement will come with playing more, and against better competition. Some can come from study. I plan to study and learn all I can from the monthly ACBL Bulletin, and our District and Unit Newsletters. I plan to attend as many teaching sessions and lectures as possible; these are held at most of our local Unit Games and at many Sectional and Regional tournaments. I'll even buy some Bridge books to add to my library, and seek to master the material therein.

  Is the goal just to earn the Life Master rank? If so, then I may be able to prosper by being a "big fish in a small pond," picking up points in Intermediate/Novice and non-Life Master events. However, in small ponds only small point awards are available.

  I'm certainly better off competing against more experienced players, in the larger ponds where the Master Point awards for success are correspondingly larger. In addition, with sharper competition I'll be challenged more and have to continue to grow in skill to compete effectively. At the end of 2006, whether or not I've reached the Life Master goal, by competing against the best I'll be a much better player.

• Where the Tournaments Are
  

  In addition to the Regional tournaments, there are eight local Sectional tournaments in which I can compete in 2006, and several others within a short drive. My next entry explains why I need to play in Sectional Tournaments, as well as the larger Regional ones.

  Finally, there are the three National tournaments. Although they are listed in the schedule in this post, I don't plan to compete at them. See this post for how and why that might change.

  Here's my tentative 2006 tournament schedule:
  

  
  

  Type	Dates	distance	note
  Sectional	Jan 5-8	local	going to Boston Friday
  Regional	Jan 6-8	Boston	the annual trip
  Regional	Jan 16-22	3 hours drive	play Jan 20-22
  Sectional	Jan 27-29	1 hours drive	play Jan 29
  Sectional	Feb 3-5	2 hours drive	play Feb 5
  Regional	Feb 6-12	11 hours drive	coastal resort, could play all week
  Sectional	Feb 23-26	local	play all four days
  Sectional	Mar 2-5	local	play all four days
  Sectional	Mar 24-26	1 hours drive	play Mar 26
  National	Mar 30-Apr 9	Dallas TX	probably won't go
  Regional	Apr 17-23	10-11 hours drive	may or may not go (Apr 21-23)
  Sectional	Apr 27-30	local	play all four days
  Regional	May 23-29	4-5 hours drive	holiday weekend (May 26-29)
  Regional	Jun 19-25	3 hours drive	play Jun 23-25
  Regional	Jun 28-Jul 4	local	holiday weekend
  National	Jul 13-23	Chicago	probably won't go unless in Grand National Teams
  Regional	Jul 24-30	2-3 hours drive	play Jul 28-30
  Sectional	Aug 3-6	local	play all four days
  Regional	Aug 14-20	1-2 hours drive	play Aug 18-20
  Regional	Aug 29-Sep 4	5 hours drive	holiday weekend (Sep 1-4)
  Sectional	Sep 7-10	local	play all four days
  Regional	Oct 16-22	8 hours drive	probably won't go
  Sectional	Oct 19-22	local	play all four days
  Regional	Oct 23-29	3 hours drive	coastal resort, play Oct 27-29
  Regional	Oct 30-Nov 6	3 hours drive	play Nov 4-6
  Sectional	Nov 9-12	local	play all four days
  National	Nov 16-26	Honolulu	won't go unless I win the LOTTO
  Sectional	Nov 17-19	1 hours drive	play Nov 19
  Regional	Dec 26-30	4-5 hours drive	play Dec 29-30

Setting the Goal

• Introduction
  

  This blog may be read by bridge players, and by friends and acquaintances of mine who know little or nothing about bridge.

  For the bridge players, please understand that I expound on some items (e.g. what a Masterpoint is) for the benefit of the non-bridge-playing readers.

  For the non-bridge-playing readers, if you don't understand some of what I write, ask about it in the comments and I'll either edit the post or reply in the comments. Thanks!

• Background
  

  I learned to play Contract Bridge many years ago -- and was quite an active player around my dorm and the campus when I was an undergraduate. Since that time, I played hardly any for decades.

  Each January, I would travel to the Boston area to spend time with friends and relatives, and to play in the Individual Regional Tournament. Usually, that was the extent of my bridge activity for the year.

• Playing More Often
  

  In the spring of 2004, I resumed playing on a more active basis by becoming a "Guaranteed Partner" for my local Unit Game. I would show up at the game, and if someone needed a partner after all the pairings were set, I would fill in. If I wasn't needed, I would just go home. Either way, I received a free play -- to use that game, or later.

  Besides playing at the Unit Game, I served as Guaranteed Partner for the Unit's Sectional (local) tournaments, and for the larger Regional tournament held that year. In about eighteen months, just playing as a Guaranteed Partner (plus my annual trip to Boston), I picked up almost 33 Master Points.

  Playing as a Guaranteed Partner at the October 2005 Sectional, I was on the winning team in the B/C Swiss Teams on the final day. This produced an award of 7.59 Silver Master Points, and whetted my appetite for more.

  Yes, it was only a second-tier win in a local tournament, but I began to have visions of first-tier wins in Regional and National tournaments. After all, why not? If I could do this well with a pick-up partner, how well could I do in a regular partnership, with a much better set of bidding understandings, and much practice and refining of that bidding?

  My more frequent playing over the previous eighteen months had certainly improved my playing skill. Maybe I was now ready for more serious competition.

• Prelude to Pursuit
  

  I met one player at that October 2005 Sectional who wanted to build a partnership and compete at a higher level. The first goal was to compete in a Regional Tournament at a coastal resort town at the beginning of December. Playing in just five sessions in October and November, we tried to build the partnership. We won twice (section tops), placed once (at the October Sectional, our first time partnering with each other), and had two "pointless" (poor) results.

• Regional Competition
  

  So we took the show on the road, to the coastal resort town Regional. We played in three knockout team events, and were knocked out in the first round in all three. We had bidding misunderstandings, and I made several errors in both bidding and play. I'm sure my partner and our teammates were disappointed.

  We also partnered each other in three late-night knockout team events, finishing second in one and third-fourth tie in another. Our other event was a Swiss Teams, where our teammates were two ladies from New Mexico (also our teammates in the two late-night knockouts where we placed). In the Swiss, our team won five of seven matches.

• Getting Serious
  

  After my return home, I thought about bridge. I was now on the threshold of the Regional Master title -- less than five Master Points from it. What would the future hold?

  I researched Regional tournaments within a day's drive, and plotted my 2006 vacation time with care. My challenge -- to earn the Life Master title by December 31, 2006.

• What This Is
  

  This blog will be my record of this adventure.