North American Pairs

NAP History

North American Pairs or NAP has been a major ACBL pair championship since 1979. The event was originally known as the Grand National Pairs. The Grand National Pairs became the North American Pairs in 1987 and a special form of the event for non-Life Masters was also added. Winners of the North American Pairs are awarded the Baldwin Trophy. The trophy honors Russell Baldwin, former director and treasurer of the ACBL and co-inventor, with Bill McKenney, of the McKenney-Baldwin movements used in tournament bridge.

This highly prestigious “grass roots” event is staged in qualifying rounds at the club, unit and district levels. It culminates in a final held in conjunction with the 2011 LOUISVILLE, KY Spring NABC. This event is also run as a flighted event A (Open), B (2000), C (0-500 Non-Life Masters).

The NAP games are held during the months of June-July-August with players qualifying at the Club level, continues with the District 8 finals in early November, and ends with players qualifying to go to the National Finals (a 2-day event) the following year at the Spring NABC.

Each club can hold two games per sanctioned session during each month. No special sanction is required. These games award 50/50 red/black 100% sectional rated masterpoints. Please read the Conditions of Contest carefully. This year's NAP cycle finals will be held in Louisville, KY in March, 2011. First and second place district finishers in all flights receive monetary awards that will be distributed at the tournament.

Flight A: open to all players

Flight B: open to all players with < 2000 MPs

Flight C: open to all players with < 500 MPs who are Non Life Masters.

link to 2010 Unit 143 NAP club game

qualifying schedule

Club Manager & Directors NAP Information

ACBL score and your NAP Game

2010-2011 NAP Conditions of Contest

Grassroots qualifying begins at the club level, in specially designated games during June, July, and August. Players qualify by finishing in the top half of their field (rounded up and including ties) or by having a 50% or better game. Players may compete as often as desired and with any partner. Players who qualify in these club games are entitled to go directly to the four-session District 8 Finals held the second weekend in November in SPRINGFIELD, IL.

A fixed amount prize is awarded in each flight as follows:
In District 8, the 1st place qualifiers will receive $700 per person and the 2nd place qualifiers will receive $300 per person. The 3rd place qualifiers will be invited to participate in the national level finals, but does not receive a prize.

The top THREE winning PAIRS in each flight are entitled to compete in the NAP Finals at the Spring Nationals (Louisville, KY in March, 2011).

Masterpoint qualifications are based upon the member's standing as of June 1, 2010. (Usually, this means the mid-May MP update in Memphis.) Masterpoints won after June 1 do not "count" towards the Flight restrictions.

Unit 143 Coordinator:

Ed Hale

(573) 364-7307

ehale@mst.edu

District 8 Coordinator:

Mike Tomlianovich
309-825-5823 H
309-825-5823 W
mjtomlia@gmail.com

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2009 Details

On to Reno for 9 District 8 Pairs

District 8 North American Pairs Final

Congratulations to the winners and runners-up in District 8's annual North American Pairs. The event, conducted in three separate flights, was open to all District 8 members who qualified in club-level NAP games earlier this summer.

The top two pairs in each flight won travel awards to Reno NV in March to represent District 8 in the national finals of their respective flights.

The third-place pair in each flight also qualified for the national finals,

but receives no ACBL travel award.

A total of 192 District 8 members entered the event. The number of players by Unit:
Central Illinois: 77
St. Louis: 72
Northwestern Illinois: 19
Southern Illinois: 14
Northern Indiana: 10

Overall winners and masterpoint awards are listed below. Included are links to the hand records (afternoon and evening) and the recap sheets from both sessions in each flight. The recaps' board-by-board results are displayed in traveler-style format.

Hand records: Afternoon Evening

FLIGHT A (Open) -- 11.5 tables Recaps: Afternoon Evening

1 - Jack Bryant, St Louis; Rod Van Wyk, Alton IL

2 - En Xie - Jacque Sincoff, St Louis

3 - Richard Riezman - Roger Lord, St Louis

4 - Alan Popkin & Nancy Popkin, St Louis

5 - Howard Schmid, Merrillville IN; Steven Watson, Munster IN

6 - Mark Ehret, St Louis; Lee Hastings, St Louis

7 - Jack Snyder, Rockford IL; Meyer Abarbanel, Belvidere IL

8 - Tom Kniest, University City MO; Karen Walker, Champaign IL

FLIGHT B (0-2000) -- 22.5 tables

Recaps: Sec B: Aft Eve Sec F: Aft Eve

1 - Dan Faulkner, Monticello IL; Gary Dell, Champaign ILL

2 - Dan Bunde - Michael Ring, Urbana IL

3 - Ron Diehl, Effingham IL; Mark Daily, Charleston IL

4 - Randall Motchan, Bloomington IL; Steve Wulfers, Normal IL

5 - Mark Gilje - Sasanka Ramanadham, St Louis

6 - Dolores Hill, Chesterfield MO; Brenda Hoffman, St Louis

7 - Dennis Spencer, St Louis; Carol Hamilton, Saint Charles MO

FLIGHT C (0-500 non-LM) -- 14 tables Recaps: Afternoon Evening

1 - Martha Hanley, Chesterfield MO; Elizabeth Meteer, Wildwood MO

2 - Karen Anderson, Batavia IL; Neil Whittle, Carol Stream IL

3 - Ralph Britton, Wentzville MO; William Maack, O'Fallon MO

4 - Paul Hartke - Lois Hartke, Effingham IL

5 - Jeff Ehrlich - Bob Derber, Springfield IL

6 - Linda McHoney - Barbara Stewart, Chesterfield MO

7 - Mary Fort - Martha Rowe, St Louis

*****

These players qualified to play on November 14.

Flights: A: open; B < 2000; C < 500 Non-Lifer Master

as of 06/01/09

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Springfield District 8 Contact: Liz Zalar 217-793-8066 zalars@comcast.net

District 8 Conditions of Contest

1. The District 8 adopts the National conditions of contest.

2. District 8 elects not to have a unit final.

3. Each player must qualify at the club level to be eligible to play at the District Final.

4. District 8's final is held annually during the 2nd weekend of November. A 2-session qualifier starts at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

5. District 8 requires that the names of qualifiers for the NAP final be submitted to the NAP District Coordinator by the Unit coordinators prior to the event in order to confirm that everyone that plays is eligible to do so. If a player arrives at the finals, has qualified, and presents a qualifying slip, the player will be allowed to play.

Forms for Club Managers

The updated forms can be found at the following link along with all other NAP material:

http://www.acbl.org/assets/documents/play/NAP/NAP20092010.pdf

History

For 2008 District 8 Final results, click here. En Xie and Jacque Sincoff, Tom Kniest (playing with Karen Walker), & Maureen Swihart and Linda Mize competed in Houston March 12 - 22.

Nov 10-11, 2007 winners, eligible to play in Detroit 6 - 16, 2008