Advice sought regarding the GNTs

[gdawg01]

Hi all!

 

My team and I won the right to represent District 17 in the GNTs Flight C. This is our first time doing this, so any advice on preparation and tips on how to do well would be much appreciated. Also if someone who has already been there could tell us what the usual format is for the 5 days, that would be great too!

 

Thanks!

 

Girish

[Phil]

One day swiss scored on 20 point VP scale. (8 matches x 7 boards? Check C of C) that reduces the field to 16 from 26 or so. Then

 

Day 2: 16 to 8

Day 3: 8 to 4

Day 4: 4 to 2

Day 5: 2 to 1

 

The objective is to qualify! I don't think there's a carryover like there used to be. So, grind and don't give up a lot of numbers. Losing a few matches 12-8 is no big deal. Getting blitzed 0-20 is.

 

Sounds like a few BBFers will be there so we should get drinks after the 1st day (should stay with teammates for dinner). I was augmented to D22 - 90% chance Ill go - work might stop that though.

[dcbutler]

Congratulations on qualifying to represent your district.

 

The format at the nationals (which has been revised in the last year or two) is roughly as follows:

 

Day 1 is a full day Swiss (eight seven board matches) among the (approximately, since often one or more teams who have qualified do not go to the nationals) 25 teams in your flight, with the top 16 qualifying to play the next day;

 

From Day 2 through Day 5, the 16 teams who qualify are drawn into a knockout bracket (seeded based on performance in the qualifying Swiss) and play full day matches (56 boards in flight C, I believe) - win and you advance, lose and you're out of the event.

 

If you are unfortunate enough to get eliminated from the GNT, there are an assortment of events that you can play in at the nationals for the remainder of your stay.

 

As far as preparation is concerned, try to get in as much practice as possible with your partner. You'll be playing IMPs, so best to practice that way. If possible, find a good player who might be willing to work with your partnership or team.

[JoAnneM]

Do not arrive at the first session worn out from traveling.

 

Do not eat big meals between sessions, but drink lots of fluids (non-alcoholic).

 

Get lots of rest.

 

Try to relax and have a good time, this is an experience you will remember!

 

Good luck to you and your team.

[jjbrr]

Relax and have a good time. Lots of fluids and avoid big meals. Alcohol will definitely make you play worse. Exercise if that's your thing, but definitely get some fresh air without too much sunlight.

 

I prefer not postmorteming between sessions; that's an important time to relax. Some people can't not postmorten and that's fine.

 

I suggest playing a lot of bridge in the next couple weeks. 56 boards everyday for 5 days in a serious event is a lot for most C players. Building your stamina will give you a huge edge if you make it to the KO stage.

 

Have fun and good luck!

[gdawg01]

Thanks everyone for the good wishes!

 

Very useful information and tips too!

 

Girish

[pooltuna]

Hi all!

 

My team and I won the right to represent District 17 in the GNTs Flight C. This is our first time doing this, so any advice on preparation and tips on how to do well would be much appreciated. Also if someone who has already been there could tell us what the usual format is for the 5 days, that would be great too!

 

Thanks!

 

Girish

Be sure to fill up at Juan's Flying Burrito (normal meal) before you start playing and you won't get hungry for a while [shameless plug for son's restaurant]

[gdawg01]

hehe pooltuna, okeedoke!

[jjbrr]

Be sure to fill up at Juan's Flying Burrito (normal meal) before you start playing and you won't get hungry for a while [shameless plug for son's restaurant]

more info plz

[peachy]

Congratulations!

 

Do whatever it is that best enhances your ability to be focused and in a positive mood and helps partner (and teammates) be in a good mood.

 

Avoid postmortems at the table or between sessions or between rounds unless it is a clear hole in your system that needs to be patched, but it is unlikely that this "hole" will come up again so even the patchup work can wait til you finish the event! Save all your mental energy to hands that you play or defend.

 

Suggestions given here are good: arrive early enough to get settled in your room and rest after travel particularly if you have a long trip, gentle fresh air or walks frequently, lots of fluids, no alcohol, no big meals between sessions, and a good night's sleep.

[pooltuna]

Be sure to fill up at Juan's Flying Burrito (normal meal) before you start playing and you won't get hungry for a while [shameless plug for son's restaurant]

more info plz

Juan's website

[JoAnneM]

Nice website, looks like a great place! We should start a thread promoting our kids' businesses.

[dkharty]

It's been six years since I played in the GNT-C finals, and apparently the format has changed (at that point there was no day 1 Swiss, there were a bunch of three-way matches to narrow the field to 16 for day 2). But my own piece of advice should still hold true--my erstwhile teammate hanp can hopefully back me up on this--just don't do anything stupid. As trivial and obvious as it sounds. Bridge is a game of mistakes, particularly in this flight, so if you just sit in your chair and play sound bridge, you should do quite well.

 

All of the other advice given in this thread is good, too. Especially about being well-rested.

 

Good luck!

[CSGibson]

I have several pieces of advice:

 

Prepare yourself to play good bridge. If that means you have to be well rested (which is a must for me), then do not arrive in New Orleans the same day of the event, sleep well on the days leading up to the event, and don't stay out late if you are playing the next day.

 

Try and be the type of teammate that helps other people play their best bridge. Be supportive and encouraging. Commisserate over bad hands after a session, and celebrate good hands with your teammates.

 

Discuss systems with your partner in the weeks leading up to the event. Know before you sit down your general approaches to things like precision, weak NT, flannery, mini-roman, and various NT interferences you might encounter. When you do sit down at the table, look at your opponent's card and discuss your defences so that you are on the same page.

[bd71]

Know before you sit down your general approaches to things like precision, weak NT, flannery, mini-roman, and various NT interferences you might encounter.

Over the last two years, I have played the grassroots Flight C events (NAP, GNT) in two different ACBL districts, and have played lots of hands against C players in sectionals, regionals, and one NABC (although not the GNT or NAP finals). My partners and I have encountered precision exactly twice (same opposing pair each time), and we have never seen weak NT or mini-roman. Flannery & NT interference have obviously come up more often.

 

So while I guess that my experience may not be representative, I would recommend spending preparation time on things that you are much more likely to face.

[gdawg01]

dkharty -- Thanks for the advice. The number of times I have said to myself -- just don't do anything stupid - and then done exactly that! Re being well rested, I am going to make sure I arrive the Tuesday evening before the GNTs so I can turn in early and not be tired.

 

CSGibson -- will keep your points in mind too. I was wondering what flavors of systems we might encounter, but from bd71's post, it appears as if it will predominantly be SA(YC) and 2/1. That said, we will make sure we know at least some basic interference structures over precision 1C, etc.

 

bd71 -- Thanks for the comments! Will keep them in mind.

[hrothgar]

Congratulations!

 

Do whatever it is that best enhances your ability to be focused and in a positive mood and helps partner (and teammates) be in a good mood.

 

Avoid postmortems at the table or between sessions or between rounds unless it is a clear hole in your system that needs to be patched, but it is unlikely that this "hole" will come up again so even the patchup work can wait til you finish the event! Save all your mental energy to hands that you play or defend.

 

Suggestions given here are good: arrive early enough to get settled in your room and rest after travel particularly if you have a long trip, gentle fresh air or walks frequently, lots of fluids, no alcohol, no big meals between sessions, and a good night's sleep.

A number of people have already given some very good advice. Here's my attempt to add a bit of value:

 

1. Stamina is going to be key

 

Do everything you can to practice playing large numbers of boards day after day.

 

2. Do everything you can to make life as easy as possible while you're playing.

 

Lot's of sleep

No large meals (graze throughout the day)

No booze

Avoid stress

 

3. (Here's the controversial part) You're almost certainly going to run into pairs playing Polish Club, strong club, what have you. Back in the day, the Polish Club pairs often made their way into the finals.

 

Based on my experience in these events, the partnerships in a Flight C event probably have a decent idea what to do in uncontested auctions. If you play an aggressive / unconventional overcall structure over their artificial one level opening bids they're likely to fall to pieces.

 

I strongly recommend that you come up with something nasty to use against

 

Polish Club openings

Precision Club openings

Short Club openings

Precision Diamond openings

what have you

 

Recall that all of these openings are artificial, which means that any defense is complete legal. For example, you could happily play something like the followinga fter their Precision Club opening (or even their short club opening)

 

3♣ = Weak 3 level overcall in either Clubs or Diamonds

2N = 5/5 shape with both minors or both majors

2♠ = 4 Spades and a longer minor

2♥ = Weak two level overcall in either major

2D = Weak with both majors

2C = Diamonds and Hearts or Clubs and Spades)

[hanp]

Maybe time is a bit short for this piece of advice, but I recommend being much better at bridge than the other teams. Apart from reading puzzle books and playing and bidding as many hands with your partner as you can, you might also ask members from higher teams from your district to coach you. They might be willing to look at your system and make some comments, and be available for questions between sessions.

 

When it gets to the tournament most important is to be well rested. I remember both my partner and I had a very tough time sleeping six years ago, but fortunately most opponents had the same problem. We were staying at the edge of Brooklyn, a long metro ride away from Manhattan, since then I much prefer to stay at a nearby hotel.

 

All team members should realize that you will all make mistakes, and some of you will make more mistakes than others. It's important that you accept this from eachother, you will need to work together for 5 days, hopefully. You can discuss some of mistakes, especially if agreements need to be made, but many of the mistakes you should just let go.

 

Well, that's all I can think of. Enjoy!

[hanp]

I don't agree with Richard's "controversial" advice. Just play stuff you are comfortable with yourself, and spend your time becoming better at bridge instead of inventing and studying esoteric conventions. For me playing normal bridge falls under the header "don't do stupid things".

 

As far as I remember, none of us played anything strange and after some start-up problems on day one we won our matches with quite large differences. It's simply not true that people have a decent idea of what to do in uncontested auctions, flight C players will make a lot of mistakes in any form of the game and if you can make fewer, your chances are good.

 

Richard does of course have a point, people do make more mistakes in contested auctions. If you can adapt a style where you can often enter the auction then that will work in your favor, but stay close to your comfort zone.

[jjbrr]

Agree with han. While nasty convential responses are fine, the most effective thing about them is that they make the auctions competitive, which will make life harder for the opponents (regardless of their system, tbh, but especially against systems where perhaps the opponents cannot draw all the subtle inferences they can when their space is limited). Just bid against their artificial openers and they will have a tougher time. I personally like a style with natural overcalls... against NT I like dbl is majors and NT is minors. EZ game.

[Finch]

Maybe time is a bit short for this piece of advice, but I recommend being much better at bridge than the other teams.

this

 

56 boards everyday for 5 days in a serious event is a lot for most

 

and this are true for all events and players, whatever flight you play in.

 

Having said that, I'm now going to give two contrasting pieces of advice.

 

1. In my experience one of the distinguishing features of a less experienced/weaker ('flight C' as I understand the term) team is that they don't bid game enough. Meckwell take things to extremes, but the way to win imps matches is repeatedly to bid game and make it. Being better at defence, card play, competitive bidding etc will all help, but that's the fundamental thing.

 

2. However don't make any radical changes to your bidding system or your partnership style. You want to be comfortable with what you play, not trying to remember last night's change to the responses to 1NT.

[gdawg01]

Thanks Richard, Han, and Frances for the useful advice! I need to particularly remember the "try not to post-mortem between sessions" bit. The "be way better at bridge than your fellow competitors" is powerful advice but it might be a tad too late to achieve that by July 21 :angry:

[jjbrr]

Nothing tilts me more than being obligated to go to dinner with my team, which of course I don't mind, but then having to wait for them for half an hour after the session while they go over the "Why'd we lose 7 on board 3?"s and then more of "So I held... "s while trying to eat dinner.

[Stephen Tu]

flight C players will make a lot of mistakes in any form of the game and if you can make fewer, your chances are good.

 

This.

 

Just do fewer stupid things and you'll be fine. Just the normal IMP things:

- bid game

- don't double their partials into game unless you think they are going down 2

- don't sacrifice if it's unclear (C players take way too many phantoms)

- corollary: just whack them if they sac, don't bid 5 over 5 if any doubt.

- don't bid grand unless you can count 13 tricks, there's a pretty good chance the other table stopped in game, even though you think that shouldn't be possible for a decent team (i.e. assume other team might not bid small unless like 32+ hcp). This isn't the Vanderbilt.

[hanp]

The "be way better at bridge than your fellow competitors" is powerful advice but it might be a tad too late to achieve that by July 21 <_<

There is a lot that you can do in 5 weeks, depending on how much time and enery you and your partner are willing to spend. In terms of partnership agreements it is often easier to improve quickly than in terms of personal skills, but I find that reading a lot of play and defense problems still helps.