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The phrase North American Bridge Championship can sound intimidating. After all, North America has over 500 million people, and “championship” is singular. In point of fact the Summer NABC that will take place July 14-24 in Providence, RI, will indeed be awesome and in some ways almost overwhelming. It will draw great players from around the continent and also from distant lands. Bridge will no doubt be played at the highest imaginable level, but that is not the essence of what will transpire. I can assure you that the tournament has been carefully crafted to bring:
I prefer to call it the North American Bridge Celebration. To appreciate the many aspects of this event I urge you to take a look at ProvNABC.org, the outstanding website designed and maintained by the local bridge community. You can count on its completeness, accuracy, and timeliness. It covers every aspect of the tournament, including the ACBL's schedule for all eleven days.
This email highlights the bridge games and other activities designed for newer players.
Limited events: The bridge schedule is color-coded. In red are the nineteen separate events that are limited to players with less than three hundred masterpoints. In addition there will be numerous free educational events, some featuring presentations by outstanding teachers and people whom you may have seen on the cover of the Bridge Bulletin. The first Saturday offers Bridge Plus+, a free lesson followed by fourteen deals.
Gold points: Gold is very heavy. During the weeks before the tournament specially reinforced cranes will be unloading innumerable shipments of gold points at ProvPort. You may have heard reports of Felicity Ace, the ship that recently caught fire and sank before arriving in Rhode Island. Don't fret; its cargo consisted mostly of German luxury cars. No gold points were lost.
Anyone who craves gold points should plan to play in Providence. Ten days feature two-session events that will award a king's ransom of gold points. Here are two of the events that you should probably consider:
Every day there will be either a Gold Rush Pairs or a Gold Rush Swiss Teams game. These games, which are in blue on the schedule, are restricted to players with less than 750 points. They are also stratified, which means that separate awards (with gold points) are given to players with under 400 points and to those with under 200 points. These are fantastic opportunities to compete against a large sampling of players without facing anyone with a great deal of experience.
My personal favorites are the nine days of Bracketed Round Robin team games, depicted in green on the schedule. The field is divided into small groups called “brackets”. Each bracket contains eight or so four-person teams with similar totals of masterpoints. Each team plays only the teams in its bracket, and the high-finishers in each bracket are awarded gold points.
If you are not familiar with team games, you might want to read my write-up on the subject here. They can be great fun and very exciting.
Don't worry about finding teammates or, for that matter, partners. Lots of people will be looking. The tournament staff will move mountains to match you up with others in the same situation. You can read about how to take advantage of their dedication and expertise here.
Other events: Of course, there are also championship events, which are listed in upper case black. Many are open to all players; feel free to test your mettle in these pressure-packed events. An alternative is to watch the experts in action.
There will also be plenty of great opportunities away from the tournament. Providence is a vibrant place, especially in the summer. The arts community is extremely active, and the restaurants are exceptional. There is a lot to do downtown, and, if you need a day off, Newport, Cape Cod, Boston, and many other attractions are within easy driving distance.
If you can, you should definitely plan to attend Providence's signature event, the WaterFire display. It will occur on the first Saturday evening, July 16. It is really something to see.
This would also be a great time to consider a sponsorship. I can think of no better way to honor someone whom you have admired. Both sponsorships and memorials are available at many different levels. Detailed information has been provided at https://provnabc.org/en/sponsorships/.
I hope to see you in Providence in July.
Mike Wavada
District 25 Webmaster and Communications Chairman