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American Trials 2011. Round of 16. The event is held in Green Valley Ranch, in Las Vegas. The matches were of 120 deals in eight segments of fifteen each. The number of the team (1 to 15), indicates its strength: more little the number, higher the strength of the players. The teams were paired stronger against weaker (1-16; 2-15, 3-14, etc), so ensuring that the teams one and two don’t match before the final.
The Number One in these Trials is Diamond: They were runner up in the 2010 Trials, earning the right to enter at Round of 8 (and the Number 16 is a bye).
The Number Two is Nickell; they were third in 2010. The team Fleisher (Michael Kamil, Robert Levin, Steve Weinstein, Charles (Chip) Martel, Martin Fleisher, Lew Stansby), won the 2010 Trials and earned the right to play in Bermuda Bowl as USA 1; the winner from Las Vegas will be USA 2.
Results (Round of 16; winner at left; defeated team’s players at the end of each paragraph):
2.Nickell – 15.Ivatury 262-218. This had to be an hopeless match; on the contrary, after 90 of the 120 deals the team of Uday Ivatury only trailed four IMPs. A great proof, Uday and Christal Henner, Lapt Chan, Roger Lee. From this match, BridgeTopics published an interesting hand: click here >>
14.Aker – 3.Gordon 241-229. This is one of the two matches won by the “weaker” team. Was Gordon unlucky or are we going to hear other news by Aker? We’ll see. Mark Gordon, Pratap Rajadhyaksha, Alan Sontag, Chris Willenken, David Berkowitz, Michael Rosenberg.
4.Jacobs – 13.Levine 220-173. The match was more tied than said by the result; all happened in the fourth segment: +44 in fifteen hands. Michael Levine, Dennis McGarry, Jerry Clerkin, Stephen Landen, Dennis Clerkin, Dan Gerstman.
5.Welland – 12.Robinson 266-236. Here was the “richest” segment of the entire round: 29-60, that is 6 IMPs per hand. Steve Robinson, Peter Boyd, Fred Stewart, Doug Doub, Kit Woolsey, Adam Wildavsky.
6.Wolfson – 11.Silverstein 269-237. Another tough fight: Silverstein led before the last segment. Aaron Silverstein, Jill Levin, Jill Meyers, Andrew Rosenthal
10.Bathurst – 7.Mahaffey 291-256. The second upset, and what names leave Las Vegas! Jim Mahaffey, Gary Cohler, Mike Passell, Michael Seamon, Jacek Pszczola, Sam Lev.
8.Deutsch – 9.Hinze 276-191. Little suspense, here; Deutsch already took the lead since the second segment, however Hinze never gave up: in the sixth segment they won 39-6. Greg Hinze, David Yang, Jiang Gu, Franco Baseggio, Venkatrao Koneru, Jonathan Weinstein.
QUARTER FINAL:
Diamond – Deutsch
Welland – Jacobs
Aker –Wolfson
Bathurst – Nickell
***