Statistic I always wondered about

[kenrexford]

I just noticed that about 5000 players accounted for about 10000 tables of play at the Boston NABC. If I am doing my numbers correctly, this suggests that the average person plays 8 sessions at a NABC. I'm sure there is some sort of mean-median difference here.

 

Personally, I find this statistic somewhat interesting. I have always had a sort of default where I might play one day of a sectional and consider that enough, whereas eight sessions has been my default understanding for "doing" a regional. I actually drove to Virginia Beach many years ago to play the morning, afternoon, evening, and midnight games, because I "needed" four sessions to call it a regional. Strangely, my wife, who is not as psycho about tournament play, usually agrees to play four days of a NABC, reserving the rest for exploring the interesting venue city. Our friend Bob joined us to play four sessions (morning afternoon, and evening on Sunday and morning on monday), because tat was a "tournament" for him. We talked him into the midnight game, though.

 

My wife and I actually ended up playing 11.25 sessions (.25 for a midnight KO), because of Thanksgiving play. Kind of a NABC plus a Regional, if you will.

 

Of course, I have also done the "play the whole thing" at tournaments, but I wonder if most people have a similar approach to tournament play.

[Sadie3]

I go to tournaments to play. That means that 3 sessions a day is not too much for me to play. Most of my partners limit out after a 2 session event, so I look around for someone I know wandering around early in the morning or evening and let it be known I can fill in in a pinch. I don't use partnership desks because I have a hard time saying thank you but no thank you. If I'm paying to play, I want to know who I'm having as a partner. I filled in in a newcomber event with a new player at the last Regional I attended and had a blast. It was the best game I had all day and the most fun. Unfortunately, we were not eligible to win any points. It seems I always end up chairing Sectional events and have a difficult time enjoying playing during them because of all the interruptions. I think StaC games are a better way to handle silver point requirements. When I return home after a tournament, I can not play bridge for a day or two... online or face to face. Anyone else feel that way?

[IdiotVig]

I'm sidetracking this - and it could continue to get sidetracked too quickly - but I played every session the last time the summer nationals were in Washington, DC. It was incorrectly reported in the last bulletin that I played 41 sessions - I played 42 straight.

 

Twice, thanks to a fast pairs event, I played five sets in one day. On one of these days, I played a 24-board side game at 9, two 26-board fast pairs events, a 10-table side game at 7:30 (27 boards), and in the midnights...well, that was the one day they ran a midnight Swiss instead of a KO, so I was forced to play all 24. That's 127 boards in a day, which probably won't be outdone (thank you very much, side game).

 

I hadn't even stayed in the host hotel - friends had rented out a house in DuPont Circle, so it was an early Metro in, and a cab back every night. Sadly, while I kept hand histories and a brief journal including notes from every session, these were lost earlier in the year to a basement flood.

 

My friends keep telling me that's reason to do it again.

 

-Brad

[han]

I played 3 sessions during the 5 days I spent in Boston, dragging the average down with me.

[ArtK78]

I believe that I share a record for the most boards played in one event in a 30 hour period.

 

Some years ago, there was a regional in Atlantic City. On an experimental basis, it was decided to run the main events starting at 10:30 am and 4:30 pm, with side games at 8:30 pm (including a "midnight swiss").

 

I work in Atlantic City, so I planned to work a few hours prior to the morning session and another hour or two between the morning and afternoon sessions.

 

The tournament kicked off on Monday evening at 8:30 with a one-session charity pairs event and an unbracketed KO (this was a long time ago). There were 32 teams in the KO. We played 24 boards Monday night and advanced to the second round at 10:30 Tuesday morning.

 

Prior to the 10:30 session, I spent a couple of hours in my office. Then we played 24 boards starting at 10:30 Tuesday morning and advanced to Tuesday afternoon at 4:30.

 

I got some lunch and went to the office for an hour or so. Then we played 24 boards Tuesday afternoon and advanced to the semi-finals on Tuesday evening at 8:30.

 

We won our semi final match. Our team and Paul Soloway's team were left in the event. Paul's team wanted to play the finals immediately, as several of them had professional dates on Wednesday. As you can imagine, I was pretty wasted at this point, having worked and played from about 8:30 a.m. through midnight. But I was the only one who objected to playing the finals right away, so we did. Needless to say, I was not at my best, and we lost the match by about 16 IMPs, largely due to a couple of things that I did that I might not have done after getting some sleep.

 

So - 120 boards in a single event over about 30 hours. Can anyone beat that?

[MickyB]

So - 120 boards in a single event over about 30 hours. Can anyone beat that?

Well, there's a 24-hour event held every 18 months or so at the Young Chelsea in London - does that count? :P I played 180 boards of relay precision with mr1303, we were both fairly tired by the end of it.

[jdonn]

So - 120 boards in a single event over about 30 hours. Can anyone beat that?

I estimate I've hit 300 to 400 boards in a single session of playing best-hand GIB tourneys :P

[kenrexford]

The "in a single event" is a kind of unnecessary modifier, as rafrely would you even have a five-round KO.

 

If you remove that modifier, then this record is not even impressive. You have 30 hours with which to work? Just go the the Gatlinburg Regional. You could start a regional-level KO at about 9:00 AM, then play the afternoon set, the dinnerbell KO, the evening set, and another regional level KO at midnight. At 9:00, we have reached 24 hours and can easily fit in one more session, for 5 1/2 sessions, or 126 boards.

 

Start, however, at 1:00. Once you loop around 24 fours, you can fit in another full session plus another round of dinnerbells, for 6 sessions. That's about 144 deals in one 30-hour stretch.

[Gerben42]

Well, there's a 24-hour event held every 18 months or so at the Young Chelsea in London - does that count? I played 180 boards of relay precision with mr1303, we were both fairly tired by the end of it.

 

Unfortunately the next one coincides with the German national league :( But I'll make it some time, I promise.