The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

	The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly A Bridge Blog
	Assigning blame since April 20, 2007

No Canada

This entry was posted on 10/8/2007 7:25 AM and is filed under Tournament Report.

Canada's Ladies and Seniors have now joined the Open team on the sidelines in Shanghai.

The ladies lost to Germany 224 to 193.3. Sylvia and Izzy anchored on day 2 (I guess fatigue/stress/illness caught up with the other two pairs) and played their best bridge of the tournament, but had a bad set in the 5th segment and Germany's lead went from 10 to 30. Butler rankings of the quarterfinal here.

The seniors lost to Brazil 198-171 after leading at the 4/6 mark by 18 IMPs. I've got to wonder at Dan's decision to put the stars of the tournament, Fred Hoffer and Don Piafsky, on the sidelines for the last 2 segments. (I saw one horribly butchered hand (board 19) by Piafsky on BBO Vugraph in the fourth segment, maybe that influenced Dan's thinking.) Boris and Arno had two stinkers and Canada was gone. Butlers here.

Edit: I actually sympathize a lot with Don's line on the hand, risking down 1 in a white partscore for 3 uptricks based on the assumption that the opponents' hands at least somewhat resemble what you'd expect from the bidding. But when you have 6 tricks in and you're on lead with an Ace in each hand and no communication problems and the contract is 2NT and you're playing IMPs, it's a little embarrassing to bring back -50.

In other news, Open round-robin winner Italy also got bounced, by South Africa.

In the closest match of the 12, the French women just managed to hold off USA 2 by 1 IMP, losing the quarterfinal by 15 IMPs, but happy to have earned a 16 IMP carryover in the round robin match.

A great site for taking a look at the Vugraphs you missed is here. (You need BBO's software installed on your computer to see these files properly.)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URL for this entry

No trackbacks exist for this entry.

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

10/8/2007 2:16 PM Pamela Nisbet wrote:
JOnathan,
Your articcle on what happened in the Germany canada venice cup match did not reflect what happened .( but then how could you know I guess)
Linda Lee became ill and played the first set in the Q's but then retired to her bed there was no other option but to play the four who played the majority of the sets. Linda surfaced to play the 6th segment only.
We had a t0urnament plagued with ill health from start to finish and yet we did the best we could under the circumstances and it was a thrill to play against Germany and to also know that had everyone been up to par they were definitely beatable.. a great experience and we are proud of our achievemnts. Francine Cimon - it has to be said is the greatest and a pleasure to be on a team with.
I also thank Linda Lee for consenting to play with me when it was decided that Sylvia and Isabelle return to their orignal pairing of WInnipeg. She is probably one of the best female partners I have had the pleasure to sit at a table with 'sans system and at a world championship to boot' ( and that is no disrespect to my former partner Heather Peckett whom I respect enormously as a player and friend)
Pamela
Reply to this
10/8/2007 3:46 PM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
Pamela,

Reread my brief paragraph on the Germany-Canada Venice Cup match and you'll see it reflects exactly what happened:

1) You lost 224-193.3

2) Izzy/Sylvia anchored on day 2 (possibly due to fatigue/stress/illness of the other players.)

3) Izzy/Sylvia played their best bridge of the tournament but had a poor 5th set.

Which of those 3 factual assertions do you disagree with?
Reply to this
1. 10/8/2007 9:14 PM pamela nisbet wrote:
  Well maybe I provided the padding to your comments.. an elaboration we can call it. Good you were watching so closely.
  Lots of luck now to the canada combinations in the transnational race. Isabelle and Jeff with Kamel and Nick.
  Boris and Arno Waldemar and? Guilia played last evening but is returning to canada today.- maybe a polish player. but I am sure you will fill that gap in yourself if you intend following their progress
  Pamela
  Reply to this
10/9/2007 12:53 AM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
Elaborations are always welcome.

Congratulations on making it to the quarterfinals.
Reply to this
10/12/2007 9:00 AM Susie Korbel wrote:
There are actual errors in the Butler scores, btw. On at least one occasion, JC and Joey's butler was accidentally attributed to Don and Fred. And on that occasion, Joey and JC were actually plus well over +2 while Don and Fred were -0.5.

It's very easy to armchair quarterback from home after the fact, but it's very difficult to make a close decision (that was much closer than you think, since all you've seen are the Butlers and our blog) at the time.

I still stand behind Dan's decision to choose the pairs as he did. Brazil played really well in that match, and maybe they deserved to beat us.
Reply to this
1. 10/12/2007 5:09 PM Michael Roche wrote:
  Until they make the teams play 4 handed, captains will always come under pressure from second-guessing armchair quarterbacks. There's lots of time between now and the next World Championship to sit back and analyze what happened. I think it more appropriate at the moment to spend our time congratulating the Senior and Women's teams on a fine performance.
  Reply to this
  1. 10/12/2007 6:40 PM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
    Michael,
    
    For the women, making the quarterfinals given the late partnership shuffle was indeed a fine performance.
    
    For the seniors, making the quarterfinals was virtually a given. They were certainly one of the best 3 teams in the event, if not the best team, and anything less than a medal is rightly seen as a disappointment.
    
    I am certainly not 'resulting' Dan's decision. He took an anti-percentage line of play, benching his top pair in the last 2 segments and for 3 of the 6 sets in the quarterfinal. It didn't work.
    
    I don't think time, further analysis, or disparaging self-evident statements as 'second-guessing armchair quarterbacks' will change that. But if that floats your boat, be my guest.
    Reply to this
10/12/2007 12:33 PM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
Susie, Dan had no business even being the captain of the Seniors team.

Of course, the reason for that is that Dan and David should have been added to the Bermuda Bowl squad. But that's another story.

I have consistently argued (not after the fact, as you allege) throughout this tournament that captains should be fielding the players who are playing best. I don't think it was a particularly close decision which of the 3 pairs was producing the best results (one messed up Butler ranking notwithstanding.)

All I saw was the Butlers and your blog?

Oh, and Vugraph, and the hand records of each hand. And the scoreboard that showed that when Don and Fred were in, we were +26, -3 and +13 in that quarterfinal. Yeah, only that.

To fail to recognize that the pair that played best throughout the tournament and was +36 in the match in question ought to have a seat at the table in at least the final segment is pretty baffling.

You - "Maybe they deserved to beat us."

Me - "Maybe our best pair deserved a chance to stop them."
Reply to this
10/15/2007 11:36 AM Wayne wrote:
Does anyone know why Canada withdrew from the last 3 rds of the teams in Shanghai
Reply to this
10/15/2007 1:48 PM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
They 'withdrew' from the quarterfinals because they didn't finish in the top 8 in the round robin.

They 'withdrew' from the semi-finals because they didn't win one of the quarterfinal matches.

They 'withdrew' from the finals because they didn't win a semi-final.

Anything else I can help you with Wayne?
Reply to this
10/15/2007 3:09 PM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
Kidding aside, you're probably referring to Team L'Ecuyer and the side event (calling that team Canada would be a tad misleading, since it wasn't the only Canadian team in that event.)

I think they withdrew pretty much because in spite of a very respectable performance (31st out of about 150 at the time they withdrew, I believe) they were longshots to make the quarterfinals and were ready to go home.
Reply to this
1. 10/15/2007 9:27 PM Wayne wrote:
  They only needed 65 or so in the last 3 rds to make the top 8. They're already 12,000 miles from home, presumably with return flights booked that allowed for them to play in the finals and playing in their 1st world's. Would you withdraw (quit ??) if you still had a chance. I know I wouldn't have
  Reply to this
10/15/2007 10:23 PM Jonathan Ferguson wrote:
65 is right (assuming everything else stayed the same.)

I don't favor withdrawing ever. But again, this wasn't team Canada. This was 4 Canadians who decided to play in the side event. Not my call to make and not my place to judge their decision.
Reply to this
10/19/2007 2:47 PM Jeff Smith wrote:
We had the opportunity to change our flights to leave Thursday morning and Isabelle and I badly wanted to come home early. The jet lag was horrific so in retrospect I was thrilled we did. To be honest 3 straight weeks of bridge had us all quite exhausted. Nic and Kamel were quite game to try and play, but Isabelle and I were simply to tired and worn out to continue.
Reply to this