The experience in Dallas

[sartaj]

This bulletin board serves many purposes. Wellwishers gets to see what is happening with Ozone, the Ozone players get to settle and raise issues amongst themselves, and the general public gets a peep into our little world.
A world where we are trying to attain big things, an aim I am confident we will attain.

I wanted to share my thoughts on our recent trip to Dallas with all our prospetive audiences.

Dallas was my first experience of a US national. I have played world championships and international tournaments before, but the US nats are in a class of their own.
The calibre of the opposition is the highest I have ever seen. There are many world champions floating around , and one night, I even had the unique experience of being asked a question by current world champion Alfredo Versace.
You hold
Qx
Xxx
QJxxx
Jxx

Your partner opens 1NT (15-17) pass pass and 2S balance by LHO. Pass pass back to us

Versace polled 5 people or so who happened to be around . I chose pass. Then he proceeded to blast those who chose a negative double (or 3D) and in his typical Italian accent he mentioned the reasons?Queen doubleton in their suit = bad, queens and jacks in hand = bad , no 4 hearts = bad, the whole hand = bad

Anyways, back to the US nats. The competition is tough. Our pairs struggled to qualify in fields that qualified 50 pc to the finals. America is a country where the field is deep enough and the international presence makes it even more intimidating.

The format of the events is excellent. Playing a 64 board match in the Vanderbilt is a unique experience.
One thing I feel we lack as Australians is mental toughness. On good days, we play top class but on bad ones, all of us often buckle.
The schooling that one gets on the grounds of Vanderbilt-esque matches is invaluable in developing competitive abilities required for being mentally tough.

On the whole, the US nats trip was a revelation in the areas of combat we have to work on in our Ozone quest. I?m grateful to the project for making this massive opportunity happen and am looking forward to similar exposure in the future?..Sometime soon, we can start posting a few results if things go well.

[Peter]

Good luck in the Cavendish, Sartaj. Based on my experience, the standard is a bit weaker in the Cavendish, due to Meckstroth et al being partnered by sponsors. No Meckwell to contend with.

Worth publicity is that Ishmael Del'monte, playing with non-Ozzies, came 3rd in the Vanderbilt, probably Australia's biggest result at bridge since Marston- Burgess came 3rd in the World Pairs 20 years ago. A great result by a player who has being receiving Oz-One training, even though his transnational
(Aus - Japan - Canada - Norway - USA) team obviously was not Oz-One.

Veering off-topic now .....

Herman de Wael used to have objective bridge rankings of countries on his website. Australia were IIRC (if I recall correctly) 29th until Marston - Burgess, Newman - Thomson, Richman - Mullamphy made the Finals of the World Champioships in 2000, boosting us to about 25th. My subjective guess is that the performances overseas against the world's best by Oz-One players this year may have lifted Oz into the top 20. Already. In a few short months. I am trying to put into perspective the challenge involved. It will take time to get to the top ten , then the top five countries in the world.
It just needs three or four pairs to devote themselves to continued improvement. Which is what seems to be happening with Oz-One.

And to the poster who asked why the pair who won our Open Trials aren't in the Oz-One squad. Warren says that they knew that, with their big overseas trip planned for this year and other commitments, they simply lacked the time and devotion necessary. What sort of devotion is he referring to?

Take Zoli Nagy of Oz-One as an example. He played the Commonwealth Games (2nd), then flew straight to Taiwan for the Yeh Bros, back to Sydney for the Open Playoff (up to 72 boards a day), directly to Dallas for the US Nationals, and probably has a few days off over Easter before the Seniors' Playoff this week. One month of non-stop bridge. Imagine putting that, with Kokish quizzes and training online, on top of a normal job. Winning world bridge championshiips is not a cushy life - it takes hard work, time and devotion. With his job at Sydney Uni, Warren could not have fitted in a schedule like that.

I wrote all that because one or two of the posters to this forum do not seem to understand. They expect instant results, which is ridiculous. It has taken Ishmael several visits to the US Nationals to get good enough to be 3rd against the world's best. If about six Aussies take two years to get to that level, then the results will come.

Peter Gill.