After 3 days, Canada's chances in the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup are looking pretty bleak.  In the Bermuda Bowl, Canada is mired in the bottom 5 with Chinese Taipei, Trinidad and Tobago, Ireland and India.  If I were NPC, I would restrict Nic and Kamel to playing every other match and let Jeff/JZ and Wally/Piotr alternate sitouts when Nic/Kamel are in.  Jeff and John have been the most solid Canadian pair in the event and Wally/Piotr have the best track record in head-to-head matchups on BBO, not to mention that 3 of these 4 are the ones who were on the winning CNTC squad.

In the Venice Cup, a different solution is called for.  I'd anchor Francine and Julie.  Izzy and Sylvia are struggling badly and Linda and Pamela aren't doing much better (neither pair brought back a good card in what should have been an easy win against Jordan in match 9.)  The last minute partnership shuffle showed very poor judgment (to put it mildly) and it's not at all surprising that results have been disappointing.

On the bright side, Boris and Company are in solid 2nd in the Seniors Bowl (Joey Silver and John Carruthers have struggled somewhat, but the other 2 pairs have been VERY solid.)

Jeff's best friend, Chris Pedersen, sent me a nifty spreadsheet with an interesting breakdown of the Butler Rankings for Canada in the BB and VC.  I'll play with it a bit and upload it tomorrow.