[han]

Some big surprises already!

The individual tournament counts for more than half the tournament. I'd guess that this is an advatage for the Americans, as they are probably all comfortable with some standard set of agreements. Whether this is true for the Europeans I don't know.

Both teams play with exactly one women pair. I understand that this is a delicate subject and since I have no way to judge myself these women are comparable in strength with the other players (or better) I will refrain from commenting on this. I do wonder if it is a coincidence that both teams play with exactly two women or whether this was agreed upon beforehand (either informally or in the rules).

Of course, I'm also curious by whom these pairs were selected.

[Walddk]

For convenience, here are the 2 teams again:

Europe:
Tom Hanlon (O155) & Hugh McGann (O153) IRELAND
Jason Hackett (O69) & Justin Hackett (O69) ENGLAND
Sabine Auken (W2) & Daniela von Arnim (W5) GERMANY
Geir Helgemo (O39) & Tor Helness (O30) NORWAY
Norberto Bocchi (O4) & Giorgio Duboin (O2) ITALY
Cezary Balicki (O19) & Adam Zmudzinski (O18) POLAND
NPC Paul Hackett

America:
Bob Hamman (O5) & Paul Soloway (O12)
Jill Levin (W27) & Jill Meyers (W7)
Zia Mahmood (O16) & Roy Welland (O98)
Fred Gitelman (O48) & Geoff Hampson (O53)
David Berkowitz (O45) & Larry Cohen (O57)
Bobby Levin (O77) & Steve Weinstein (O125)
NPC Donna Compton

O & W suffixes relate to World Rankings – Open & Women’s – as of 05.12.31

Roland

[paulg]

Hannie, on Jun 8 2006, 03:54 PM, said:

The individual tournament counts for more than half the tournament. I'd guess that this is an advantage for the Americans, as they are probably all comfortable with some standard set of agreements. Whether this is true for the Europeans I don't know.

I think this is a extremely valid point.

All of the Europeans, save Hanlon and McGann, play regularly in the US too and I'd expect them to go for a similar set of agreements to the US team. However they probably won't know them to the same depth! (The Irish and Brits also have the least experience of point-a-board but typically do well in matchpoints).

However both teams are full of highly aggressive individuals so I expect that carding agreements and defensive capability is going to be just as important as bidding

Paul

[the saint]

Helgemo took a deliberate sabbatical from Bridge for a period - hence why he wasn't around for a while.

[mike777]

the saint, on Jun 8 2006, 12:18 PM, said:

Helgemo took a deliberate sabbatical from Bridge for a period - hence why he wasn't around for a while.

I wondered about that, though I read more about him playing in the last few months. He seemed to drop off the map there for awhile. One of my very favourite players and one of the nicest.