At the halfway point

With 12 matches played and 10 to go, most of the so-called favorites are doing well and are in the TOP 8 in this long round robin. But things can change quickly. The first day leaders Simon had a difficult second day and are now lying 9th - anything is still up for grabs for many teams.
Opening a bit of daylight with with scores above 210 are Team Whiteman and Gartaganis respectively first and second.
Some teams are also looking to make a move to get into top 8 and it better be soon...

Today has a few TOP 8 matchups early in store for us:
Hanna - Gartaganis
Todd - Gamble
Jotcham - Gamble
Hanna - Rayner

And amongst the matches to end the day
Hanna - Team Whiteman

So we should have an interesting day to follow.

Keep posted...


Avec 12 matchs joués, la plupart des favoris sont dans une bonne position pour se qualifier. Mais tout peut changer rapidement comme l'a montré l'équipe de Simon qui était 1ère après la journée 1 et qui se retrouve 9e. 2 équipes avec des totaux de plus de 210 soient Team Whiteman et Gartaganis semblent de distancer quelque peu du peloton. Les équipes poursuivantes mettront de la pression aujourd'hui et on peut s'attendre à une grosse journée.
Quelques matchs pour maintenir le suspense:
Hanna - Rayner
Hanna - Gartaganis
Todd - Gamble
Jotcham - Gamble

et pour finir la journée
Team Whiteman - Hanna.

À suivre...

First day over

After the first day and 6 matches, things are very close at the top with only 7 VPs between top team Simon and 7th team Wang. A lot of close matches in that first day.
The 8th place and final qualifying spot is held by Thurston for now but between 8th and 16th again little VPs - only 8. So lots of action to come.
What is important in these long round robins (they are trust me, 4 days, 21-22 matches) is get in a good bridge rythm with your partner/team. Your bridge has to improve as the days go by. Often, good or "favorite" teams will start slowly (remember that Canadian bridge holds very few pro players and/or partnerships therefore they need time to get in shape) and will finish strong. If your team is amongst the "non favorites" it is often a good thing to be playing the "favorite" teams early.
As a general idea, between 16 and 17 average will make it to top 8.

Some of the early matches the second day has in store:
An interesting match between Hanna and Korbel, certainly teams with good hope to win it all.
Match between Simon (leader) and 8th place Thurston. Let's see what Simon can do against these veterans...

Go luck to all today...

BRIDGEWEEK 2010 - The road to Philadelphia

Hello everyone. For the first time in 15 years, I will not be playing this year's CNTC. Strange feeling I will tell you. However, since I love bridge so much and since I feel everyone is excited to follow BridgeWeek as much as I do, I will be commenting daily results and issuing some predictions. You are welcome to comment on them and I hope we will have fun doing so. Please keep in mind these will be personal predictions and comments and by no means they are to be taken too seriously.

I will also be commenting some of the BBO matches later in the week.

May the best team win in 2010 and let's hope everyone plays to his/her best abilities...

Good luck to everyone!

Nick L'Ecuyer (nlecuyer@givernycapital.com)