Apologies in advance if you receive multiple invitations as you may be represented on more than one distribution list.
The Minneapolis Grand Slam Club (MGSC) is in its ninth decade of continuous play. The premier event of the annual cycle is an extended team event. Once a double elimination knockout in recent years the event has become a RRKO like this year’s premier online team events sponsored by the Online Contract Bridge League (OCBL) and the ALT.
The Grand National Teams are the ACBL’s premier live grass roots team events. They are configured in four flights. This year’s pandemic has completely thrown the competition a loop. Club play would have started in September and culminated in District Finals next Spring with a trip to the Summer NABC for the flight winners.
Many players enjoy team events including Swiss Teams and KOs. To promote team play MGSC is offering a series of Tuesday night, 24-bd matches scored on a 20pt VP scale beginning November 10. The more teams that sign up the more brackets we can offer and the more ‘even’ the competition will be. The top four teams after the round robin phase will compete in longer KO matches.
The sessions will be every Tuesday at 6:30pm online at BBO. A $100 fee will cover the entire Round Robin phase. If there are only 5 teams in your bracket, thus a 4 session RR, you will receive a refund.
The conditions of contest: MGSC 2020-2021 RRKO CoC Any U103 or U178 member or anyone who has played in the MGSC Virtual Club Friday night game.
You can sign up at: Team Signup, with as many as six players. Contact Dave Neiman if one of your team members doesn’t show on our rosterlist. Your registration is not complete unless you send $100 to MGSC c/o Barry Purrington 829 Overlook Place, Eagan, MN 55123 before November 10. Your team will be disqualified if the club has not received a check before November 17 (grace period).
Any team can choose to play up in higher bracket if doing so does not collapse the initial bracket assignation. You may choose to make your initial registration conditional if we have only one bracket and you do not wish to play against the strongest teams.
The event coordinator is Steve Gaynor mailto:[email protected]. We can facilitate team formation if you are a pair looking for compatible teammates.
Those of who are not MGSC members are particularly welcome to form teams. It's a big plus to play a series of 24 board imp events against players you know or have some familiarity with rather than 12-bd IMP speedballs on BBO. You will see how other matches scored on the same boards, and have a chance to play "real" imp matches without time pressure. And there will be a nice masterpoint award if you are one of the four teams to reach the KO phase.
We are hoping for a big turnout. If we get enough teams for three brackets you will surely be playing against teams very similar in experience to your own.
Mike Cassel, MGSC Bulletin editor and former D14 GNT Coordinator
Comments