[Walddk]

The third edition of the Warren Buffett Cup (Europe v USA) next week in Wales. September 13-16, Monday through Thursday. We will be broadcasting from all six tables throughout.

Check your bookmarked vugraph schedule page for times in your area, and don't miss it. Arguably, we have the best two teams ever seen in this competition. Unless you are a fanatic Europe supporter, you have the chance to root for fred again. He played in 2006 but not in 2008.

Obviously, USA can't do without him. They won in 2006 but lost two years ago

Enjoy!

Roland

[Walddk]

Here is some information you may find useful.

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We are at the Miskin Manor hotel, near Cardiff in Wales, for the 3rd edition of the Warren Buffett Bridge Cup. This contest has the concept of golf’s Ryder Cup and is scheduled to coincide, as closely as possible, with it.

The competing teams, from Europe and the United States, consist of 12 players each and include one Womens’ pair and five Open pairs.

For Europe, NPC Paul Hackett of England has selected Sabine Auken & Daniela von Arnim, Germany, Boye Brogeland & Erik Saelensminde, Geir Helgemo & Tor Helness, Norway, Giorgio Duboin & Antonio Sementa, Fulvio Fantoni & Claudio Nunes, Italy, and Jason & Justin Hackett, England.

For the USA, NPC Donna Compton has chosen David Berkowitz & Alan Sontag, Bob Hamman & Zia Mahmood, Bobby Levin & Steve Weinstein, Jill Levin & Jill Meyers, Jeff Meckstroth & Eric Rodwell, and Geoff Hampson & Fred Gitelman.

The competition includes Pairs, Teams and an Individual. All events are scored at Board-A-Match (Point-A-Board). In this form of scoring, there are only 3 scores available: a win, a tie and a loss. Any difference in the score, no matter how small, decides the board. We will have 6 tables in play at all times.

Essentially, this becomes Super-Matchpoints: every overtrick, every undertrick, the difference between playing in No Trump versus a Major may decide the board.

For simplicity, we are using the European style of 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss.

We are starting with the Pairs competition. Each pair has drawn a pair from the other team, with whom their scores will be compared. Each pair will play an 11-board match against each of the remaining five pairs from the opposing team.

Next up will be the Teams competition. The captains assign each pair to one of three teams. They will play a double round-robin of 14-board rounds, for a total of six matches.

Finally, we will have the Individual. Each player has drawn a player from the other team, with whom their scores will be compared. Each player partners each of the other eleven players on their team for a short set (6 boards) against various partnerships from the other team. Each team has agreed on a standard convention card for this event.

The overall competition is scored at "Buffett Points". Each match/set from each event has been assigned a point value, based on the number of boards involved. The Pairs and Teams will have 4 BPs at stake for each match; the Individual will have 2 BPs at stake for each match.

This leaves 60 Buffett Points to be contested for the Pairs, 72 for the Teams and 66 for the Individual. With 198 total BPs at stake, the first team to 100 points wins the trophy. If the teams tie with 99 BPs each, Europe, as holders, will retain the Cup.

The inaugural event in 2006 in Ireland was won by USA, but Europe equalised two years later in Kentucky, USA.

http://www.buffettcup.com/Home/tabid/53/la...GB/Default.aspx for the official website. Please visit the site for Daily Bulletins, Running Scores, the convention cards for the Individual and other information.