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BGonline.org Forums
San Antonio
Posted By: phil simborg In Response To: San Antonio (David Rockwell)
Date: Tuesday, 4 February 2014, at 6:19 p.m.
To me, the BEST thing about a swiss or modified movement is knowing exactly when your match will begin and end. Of course I also love being guaranteed a certain number of matches and knowing that if I get really unlucky and lose a match or two I can still win the tournament. Having to wait many hours for a match is not only a horrible waste of time, but you can't even plan to do something else during that time because you never know when your match will be called.
In order to have a good swiss, it has to be the only event running. In San Antonio, simultaneous with the main events were USBGF Singles, USBGF tournament of the stars, Seniors, dual-duel, and doubles and jackpots. While it's great to have all those events, there is just no way to do them simultaneously without major delays somewhere. Many of us were alive in multiple events and had to keep finding out which one we should play first and who we would have to make wait.
So the answer: if you are going to have so many different events, you have to either get the side event out of the way before Saturday morning or have them start on Sunday only for people out of the main action. Maybe you could do Masters and Amateur Jackpots on Friday and get it down to the semis or finals to happen on Sunday, but even there you have a good chance that some participants will be alive in two or more events.
While, I, along with virtually everyone in attendance, greatly enjoyed the weekend and appreciated being able to play and watch the amazing competition and appreciated the wonderful staff, and I am told many loved both Mochy's and my lectures (which pleases me greatly, and I helped Mochy and he helped me by the way)....still it could be a more enjoyable experience if the draw sheets and scheduling could be improved to prevent delays. Live and learn. Have we ever had a USBGF event in conjunction with a regular tournament that didn't cause major delays? I was involved in running one or two of those, and it's unavoidable unless the format is changed to run the USBGF in one day before or after the tournament, and that might mean shorter matches or that people who participate in that don't play in the jackpots or dual-duel or seniors or doubles at the same time.
As for the hotel, it's old. Very old. It is historic and lovely and the location is fantastic. The breakfast buffet and food is excellent, and the staff is amazing. But it's old, and there is a price to pay for that. Last year the noise from the street kept me and Randee up at night. This year, I made sure to get an inside room (and left Randee in Chicago).
If I had a room that smelled like a sewer, I would have insisted on being moved, or getting my money back or greatly reduced, and/or I would have moved to another hotel nearby.
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