[Tomi2]

so Schwartz, Mahaffey and Rosenberg have been eliminated, tmie for new bets for most of us

[ulven]

Phil, on Mar 16 2009, 08:31 PM, said:

My dark horses are:

#31 - Kodayam who has gone deep recently.
#34 - Hollman who deserves a higher seed IMO.

Those teams met in R64.
Kodayam withdrew after 3Q (55-171).

[H_KARLUK]

Diamond (2nd best)
Robinson
Nickell
Welland
(52) China Longzhu Open (My favorite)
Ivatury
Katz
Lynch

Semi Finals : Diamond-Nickell;Katz/Cayne-China 60

[Kleenpage]

1.CAYNE

[jdonn]

So close to Fred vs. Uday...

[Edmunte1]

Ok, we know the final 8:

1. Nickell vs.
8. O Rourke

5. Diamond vs.
4. China Open


2. Cayne vs.
7. SUtherlin

6. Katz
3. Pszczola


What about the final 2?

[mike777]

It looks like I got 3 out of 8. edit

[twcho]

Peter Gill got it right. He knows better about the strength of China Open Team.

[rogerclee]

twcho, on Mar 19 2009, 11:27 AM, said:

Peter Gill got it right. He knows better about the strength of China Open Team.

One of the pairs is a pair of Chinese women, and I think there is a third, though I am not sure. Also Fu-Zhong is the top Chinese open pair, and they were playing on Mahaffey's team (as they have been).

And yes, it is no surprise to me at least. I looked over a lot of hands they played, they are very strong players and would surely have won the Women's title if one of their pairs had not played quite poorly (no offense to the English team).

[twcho]

There are two Chinese national teams playing in this event:
Seed no. 52 is the open team, only 4 players playing because Fu-Zhao has been playing for Mahaffey.
Seed no. 53 is the women team, full team that just captured NEC Cup. but they were eliminated by Diamond team in the round of 64. And now the open team face Diamond team again in the quarterfinal

[H_KARLUK]

mike777, on Mar 19 2009, 07:47 PM, said:

It looks like I got 3 out of 8. Everyone missed team52.

Ahem. Are you sure ?

H_KARLUK Posted on Mar 17 2009, 11:43 PM

Diamond (2nd best)
Robinson
Nickell
Welland
(52) China Longzhu Open (My favorite)
Ivatury
Katz
Lynch

Semi Finals : Diamond-Nickell;Katz/Cayne-China 60
As I try IE8 Beta seems either a refresh page trouble or i hit sthng wrong. I hope i wld b able to fix soon.

[ahh]

with regard to Fred's earlier post i played in a team last night where the combined ages of my team mates was less than my age of 51 that must be nearly a record . unless you know differently of course . by the way we came 3/7 over a 60 board competition .

[H_KARLUK]

Spring NABC Houston, 3/11-22/2009
Vanderbilt KO Teams

As I predicted semifinals well [H_KARLUK Posted on Mar 17 2009, 11:43 PM, Semi Finals : Diamond-Nickell;Katz/Cayne-China 60]

To me winners are :

John Diamond, Boca Raton FL; Brian Platnick, Evanston IL; Eric Greco, Philadelphia PA; Geoff Hampson - Fred Gitelman, Las Vegas NV; Brad Moss, Mill Valley CA

♠♥♦♣Thanks so much to all teams for FAIRPLAY sprits♠♥♦♣

Nice work ACBL ♥. It seems this summer I'll upgrade to Patron members class.

[neilkaz]

GO FRED GO !!!

[kenberg]

I predict that the Katz team will win.


It's never clear in these instances whether it is better to offer congratulations on reaching the finals, condolences on the loss, or perhaps to just shut up.

Anyway, I and many others were hoping for the best for you.

[fred]

kenberg, on Mar 22 2009, 04:10 PM, said:

Anyway, I and many others were hoping for the best for you.

Thanks Ken (and the many other BBO members who offered their support). Really it is good to know that there are people out there cheering for you

The Katz team played great - not easy and not usual for any team after a week of grueling bridge. They thoroughly deserved to win. Our team did not play especially well in the final, but overall I am happy with how we played in the event.

Hopefully the 2009 Vanderbilt will be the first of many successes for the Diamond team. In our next tournament, the USA Team Trials, coming in 2nd will be good enough since the top 2 teams will qualify to play in the Bermuda Bowl.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[TimG]

Am I correct that Diamond-Platnick played every board in the semi-final and final? At the time, I thought it a bit odd. I do not mean that as a judgment on their play -- they appeared to play as well as anyone else while I was watching -- but rather just that it was a bit odd that there was such an anchor pair. I would also have thought it a little bit odd if Gitelman-Moss or Greco-Hampson had played every board of the semi-finals and finals.

With your reference to the US Trials, I now wonder if the idea was to get this relatively inexperienced pair (at least in terms of recent history -- I know they anchored a US Junior team to a World Championship) more time in high-level matches.

On another note, I was surprised how late the matches ran. While the tournament schedule says the evening session started at 7:30, it seemed to me that the vugraphs got started about 8:00. And, it was nearly 11 PM when the 3rd quarter of the final ended. Playing the 4th quarter from 11 PM to 2 AM (or later) must be hard. I wonder why it is that there is so much resistance to playing these matches during more "normal" hours. Isn't this the way it is done in most other parts of the world? Not that this should be reason enough to do it in ACBL.

[fred]

TimG, on Mar 22 2009, 05:33 PM, said:

Am I correct that Diamond-Platnick played every board in the semi-final and final?  At the time, I thought it a bit odd.  I do not mean that as a judgment on their play -- they appeared to play as well as anyone else while I was watching -- but rather just that it was a bit odd that there was such an anchor pair.  I would also have thought it a little bit odd if Gitelman-Moss or Greco-Hampson had played every board of the semi-finals and finals.

You are not correct.

John and Brian played exactly half the boards throughout the Vanderbilt. They always played in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and always sat out during the 1st and 4th quarters.

Quote

On another note, I was surprised how late the matches ran.  While the tournament schedule says the evening session started at 7:30, it seemed to me that the vugraphs got started about 8:00.  And, it was nearly 11 PM when the 3rd quarter of the final ended.  Playing the 4th quarter from 11 PM to 2 AM (or later) must be hard.  I wonder why it is that there is so much resistance to playing these matches during more "normal" hours.  Isn't this the way it is done in most other parts of the world?  Not that this should be reason enough to do it in ACBL.

Agree that the starting times (and thus the finishing times) are rather absurd. I was personally a big fan of the schedule that the ACBL tried a few years ago when game times were something like 10AM and 5PM. Apparently those who agreed with me were in the minority since this schedule was only used once (and to the best of my knowledge there has not been any serious discussion of trying it again).

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[qwery_hi]

fred, on Mar 22 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Hopefully the 2009 Vanderbilt will be the first of many successes for the Diamond team. In our next tournament, the USA Team Trials, coming in 2nd will be good enough since the top 2 teams will qualify to play in the Bermuda Bowl.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

Fred, has your team earned a bye to the Quarter Finals of the team trials?

[fred]

qwery_hi, on Mar 23 2009, 11:12 AM, said:

fred, on Mar 22 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Hopefully the 2009 Vanderbilt will be the first of many successes for the Diamond team. In our next tournament, the USA Team Trials, coming in 2nd will be good enough since the top 2 teams will qualify to play in the Bermuda Bowl.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

Fred, has your team earned a bye to the Quarter Finals of the team trials?

I am not sure of the details, but I have been told that we have earned some kind of bye (ie we won't have to play in the round robin - yay!).

Probably the details will be posted on usbf.org before too long.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com