District 4
District Director's Report
Spring NABC – Memphis
The Board elected Rand Pinsky (D23) Treasurer. Rand is a talented guy and a very good choice, of course he ran unopposed, hence he was the only choice.
The Board again deferred the Strength of Field motion. This motion would change the masterpoint awards for all pair and team games (other than KOs) at sectionals and regionals. Knock-out events are already awarded masterpoints based on strength of field.
The Strength of Field formula would change awards up and down with the totals showing no inflation or deflation. It would eliminate games that shouldn’t be counted as tables in another event (a Senior Pair running opposite an Open Pair, the Open Pair gets credit for the tables in the Senior Pair game). I believe the formula will handle future changes better than our current formulae.
We will run a two month parallel test and examine the results to make sure it is better for bridge. The ‘X’ awards in many cases are too high, because they are based on being a flight rather than a subset of a flight. The ‘Gold Rush’ awards are likely to decline though not dramatically, the A/X Flight on top of the ‘Gold Rush’ will decline in some cases too.
We know the current system has problems, we even know how to fix those problems without switching to Strength of Field, but making changes to ‘fix’ problems might resemble setting a broken arm with band aids. We will examine the data, and decide which way to go in Philadelphia.
Make your plans to attend as many events as possible at the Philadelphia National Tournament, July 12-22. This will be the first time an NABC has been held in District 4 since 2003 so do your part, volunteer and play. Have a great time, help make it a great time for all our visitors!
The following D4 members had top 10 finishes in Memphis:
Eric Greco 2nd Vanderbilt
Joann Glasson 2nd Women’s Pairs
Arnie Fisher 5th Silver Ribbon
Ken Cohen and Neil Satten 10th Silver Ribbon
Karen Xia and Samuel Yake 10th Flight B NAP
Honorable mention Carl Berenbaum and Barbara Kepple 24th Platinum1 204.35 Eric Greco, Wynnewood PA
2 87.71 Joann Glasson, Pennington NJ
3 75.14 Carl Berenbaum, Elkins Park PA
4 75.14 Barbara Kepple, West Chester PA
5 72.51 Ken Cohen, Philadelphia PA
6 59.16 Peter Kyper, West Chester PA
7 48.25 Arnold Fisher, Clementon NJ
8 35.89 Albert Shrive, Dalton PA
9 35.37 Neal Satten, Wynnewood PA
10 33.27 JoAnn Sprung, Philadelphia PA
11 33.27 Danny Sprung, Philadelphia PA
12 28.45 John Dockray, Villanova PA
13 28.41 Corey Krantz, Drexel Hill PA
14 27.76 Jim McKeown, State College PA
15 27.17 Meyer Kotkin, Cherry Hill NJ
16 24.61 David Hoffner, Galloway NJ
17 22.65 Martin de Bruin, Egg Harbor Twp NJ
18 20.77 Ala Hamilton-Day, Rose Valley PA
19 18.18 Raghavendra Rajkumar, Ithaca NY
20 17.99 Susan Kestenbaum, Huntingdon Vy PA