District Director's Report
July 2007 ( Rich DeMartino)

Nashville NABC

The Summer NABC was held at the Marriott Renaissance in Nashville. Attendance was 12,879 tables, slightly higher than the pre-tournament estimate. All events were held in the adjoining Convention Center. The playing conditions were generally excellent, being spacious, well lighted and easily accessible. There were numerous restaurants within walking distance and the hospitality provided by the locals was excellent. On the negative side, there was some remodeling being done at the main hotel and there were some problems with the elevators, especially near game time.

Players from New England won three NABC events and finished second in six NABC events. The list of top 10 finishers below is the longest such list in the almost seven years I have been District Director. Congratulations to all for this outstanding performance.

Top Ten Finishers in NABC Events from District 25

GNT - FLIGHT B

Robert McCaw, Sudbury MA
2
Florin Constantin, Cambridge MA
Gregory Ingolia, Cambridge MA
Lewis Gamerman, Brookline MA

GNT - FLIGHT C

Michael Ring, Cambridge MA
3/4
Alya Asarina, Cambridge MA
Vincent Koon Kam King, Arlington MA
Michael Lieberman, Cambridge MA

LIFE MASTER PAIRS

Doug Doub, W. Hartford CT
9

0-1500 LIFE MASTER PAIRS

Matthew Dyer, Dorchester MA
2
Doug Anderson, Quincy MA

William Heess, Marlborough MA
5

Paul Wolf II, Shrewsbury MA
6

WOMENS KO TEAMS

Phyllis Fireman, Chestnut Hill MA
1

Karen McCallum, Exeter NH
3/4

SENIOR SWISS TEAMS

Geof Brod, Avon CT
1
Rich DeMartino, Riverside CT
Pat McDevitt, Brookline MA
John Stiefel, Wethersfield CT

Larry Bausher, West Haven CT
2
Steve Becker, Old Greenwich CT

Dan Colatosti, Waltham MA
7
John Malley, Pascoag RI
Rick Binder, Waltham MA
Melvin Marcus, Waltham MA

MIXED BAM TEAMS

Sheila Gabay, Newton MA
2
John Stiefel, Wethersfield CT

0-1500 MINI SPINGOLD

Matthew Raider, Portland CT
3/4

Sonja Smith, North Granby CT
5/8
David Rock, Westfield MA

0-5000 MINI SPINGOLD

James Gordon, S. Burlington VT
1

Bud Biswas, Lexington MA
2
Nathan Glasser, Somerville MA

Saul Agranoff, Newton MA
5/8
Stuart Whittle, Waltham MA
Stephanie Hamilton-Diesel, Saugus MA
Ann Borgschulte, Lexington MA

OPEN SWISS TEAMS

Jason Rosenfeld, Stoneham MA
2

John Malley, Pascoag RI
8
Dan Colatosti, Waltham MA
Mark Aquino, Jamaica Plain MA
Rick Binder, Waltham MA
Sheila Gabay, Newton MA

Doug Doub, W. Hartford CT
9

Highlights of ACBL Board Meeting

Financial Status

Management reported that for the first four months of 2007, revenues exceeded expenses by about $315,000. Management's current forecast for 2007 is that we will have a profit of about $285,000, which compares favorably with the 2007 budgeted profit of $206,000.

CEO Report

CEO Jay Baum reported that membership has increased by 368 players for the first six months of 2007. Through June 30, tournament table counts are up by about 0.5% for Regionals, 1.6% for Sectionals, and 3.9% for STACs.

Conditions of Contest

Conditions of Contest are customarily acted upon at the Summer NABC. Three of the changes adopted will be of interest to most of our players.

  1. For the GNT NABC Finals, all teams will now play a one day Swiss (8 seven board matches) to qualify into a seeded KO bracket. Seeding will be based on the results of the Swiss with the Swiss winner(s) picking their opponents from the teams that finished 9-16. There will be no carryover from the Swiss round into the KO rounds. Since our GNT conditions presently mirror the former NABC Finals format, it is appropriate for us to redo the District 25 Conditions of Contest prior to 2008.

  2. Beginning immediately, organizations wishing to run (Swiss) Round Robin Team Events are not limited to the current guidelines in the ACBL Handbook. Tournament Organizers will be permitted to try different ways of bracketing the field, subject to approval by the Director in Charge. After a suitable evaluation period, detailed Conditions of Contest for these events will be finalized and submitted for approval.

  3. Presently the upper limit for Flight B is 2500 masterpoints. The Board approved 2,750 and 3,000 as allowable limits for Flight B in Flighted, Stratified, and Stratiflighted events, effective January 1, 2008.

Masterpoint Committee

Following are the more important changes recommended by the 2007 Masterpoint Committee, which I chair:

NABC Events

Overall awards will now be made to all pairs that qualify for the finals of the 6 session NABC Pair Events (LM Pairs and Blue Ribbon Pairs).

Match awards for the Spingold/Vanderbilt are increased to 6 masterpoints (presently 5).

Pairs/Swiss/BAM Events

The formula for overall positions below fourth place for 2 session pair/team games is being changed to the formula presently in use for events of 3 or more sessions. The result is that more places will receive overall awards and the overall awards for smaller pair games will increase by about 25%.

Clubs

Several types of games have been combined and eliminated (see actual Board Minutes for more details). For the types of games eliminated, the consensus of the Committee is that other similar games serve the same purpose. If any club owner/manager believes that a type of game we are planning to eliminate should be retained, please let me know immediately.

The maximum allowable overall award for an open club rating point game is being increased from 1.50 to 2.50 masterpoints (still 0.10 per table). Overall awards will be allowed for all games of 16 or more tables.

The first place award for all special fund/foundation games will be capped at 6.00 masterpoints.

Knockouts

Presently, overall awards are based primarily on the size of the KO. This leads to inconsistent results across our various Regionals. For example, a bracket with the same average masterpoint holding per team can produce significantly different overal awards depending on where the event is being held. The Committee's proposal is to base overall awards solely on the strength of the bracket, independent of how many other brackets there are.

As most of you are aware, the award for winning the second match of a KO was way out of proportion. Accordingly, placement awards are changed as follows (only for 4 session KOs):

  • Second place = 70% x First Place Award (was 75%)

  • Third/Fourth place = 40% x First Place Award (was 50%).

Match awards are 7.50% of the overall award, with a minimum of 0.75 and a maximum of 3.00.

Awards for Consolation Compact KOs are being reduced since they are presently far too high.

Overall, total masterpoint awards for KOs will be almost identical to today's awards but those tournaments with stronger fields will receive more masterpoints and those with weaker fields will receive fewer masterpints, which is as it should be.

Masterpoint changes have to be reread and approved at a second meeting so the proposed changes will most likely be finalized in November, with a January 1, 2008 effective date.


For more detail on Board actions, please read the minutes of the Board meeting on the ACBL website(ACBL.org).

TOP 25 MASTERPOINT WINNERS – Nashville NABC

   
Name
Total Points
Points Won in
NABC+ Events
1.
   John Stiefel, Wethersfield CT
186.53
184.38
2.
   Sheila Gabay, Newton MA
155.10
123.11
3.
   Rich DeMartino, Riverside CT
144.66
101.06
4.
   Douglas Doub, W. Hartford CT
139.18
139.18
5.
   John Malley, Pascoag RI
135.59
79.79
   Daniel Colatosti, Waltham MA
135.59
79.79
7.
   Larry Bausher, West Haven CT
124.28
75.00
   Steve Becker, Old Greenwich CT
124.28
75.00
9.
   Phyllis Fireman, Chestnut Hill MA
118.81
100.00
10.
   James Gordon, S. Burlington VT
118.27
11.
   Geoffrey Brod, Avon CT
116.87
101.88
12.
   Pat McDevitt, Brookline MA
114.31
100.00
13.
   Rick Binder, Waltham MA
104.22
75.58
14.
   Bud Biswas, Lexington MA
101.09
15.
   Doug Anderson, Quincy MA
87.33
1.63
16.
   Karen McCallum, Exeter NH
86.17
64.57
17.
   Nathan Glasser, Somerville MA
85.66
18.
   Donald Sondergeld, Hubbardton VT
85.33
19.
   Lorraine Cable, Dorchester MA
72.97
20.
   Mark Aquino, Jamaica Plain MA
68.66
43.50
21.
   Carolyn Sessler, Waltham MA
66.71
10.87
22.
   Matthew Dyer, Dorchester MA
63.79
23.
   Shome Mukherjee, Randolph MA
60.13
16.36
   William Hunter, Reading MA
60.13
16.36
25.
   Lewis Gamerman, Brookline MA
51.22

The Fall NABC will be held from November 22 through December 2 in San Francisco at the San Francisco Marriott. Please note that the tournament starts on Thanksgiving, which should benefit many of our players. I suggest if you are planning to attend that you make your reservations as early as possible as the host hotels tend to sell out quickly. Hope to see you there.

Rich DeMartino
District Director