The 2023 Open USBC will select the USA2 Open team for the Bermuda Bowl at the 2023 World Championships, scheduled for August 20-Sept. 2, 2023, at the Palais des Congres in Marrakech, Morocco.
Location & Dates
The face-to-face stage of the 2023 Open USBC will be held at the Schaumburg, IL Hyatt Regency, starting on Monday, May 1st and ending on Monday, May 8th. Room rate for the USBC is $136 per night, including internet. You can make a reservation for any or all of the 2023 USBCs at our online reservation page, or by calling Hyatt at 877-803-7534 and mentioning USBF or maybe CHIRG-USB1. If you have any problems with hotel reservations, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will try to straighten things out. The cut-off date to make reservations at our rate is April 16, 2023, but the online site will remain open after that and reservations will be accepted as long as the hotel has available rooms.
If more than 16 teams enter the 2023 Open USBC, there will be an online qualification stage to reduce to 16 teams, in the March 28-April 1 timeframe (how many days will be required will depend on the number of teams entered). The online stage will be on RealBridge, and some teams may have byes to face to face stages.
Entry Information
Entries are now open. To assure entry in the 2023 Open USBC, you must enter your team by March 21, 2023. Additional entries will be accepted after March 21 if fewer than 16 teams (counting any team with a bye to the Quarterfinal as two, and any team with a bye to the Semifinal as 4) are entered.
Entry Fees
There will be an event entry fee of $500 for each team. In addition, each team pays session fees of $200 per session of play ($400 per day) for KO matches. The $500 event fee is due by March 21st, and is normally non-refundable after entries have closed. To pay the initial entry fee online, log in to the this site, then click on "Pay entry fee" under the User menu and then on Pay 2023 USBC Entry Fee. On the Square page that will take you to, select "Open" and then fill in your name and address and credit card information. I haven't (yet) figured out how to have you enter your team name, so if you're paying for a team of which you're not the captain, please also email me to let me know which one. To pay KO session fees, click on "Pay Session Fee" under the User Menu and then select Open USBC.
Format
There will be 5 stages: the first stage, if needed, will be an online Round Robin among the non-bye teams to select the teams that will play in the Round of 16; the other stages will be 120 board Knockout matches, starting with the Round of 16 on Monday, May 1st and Tuesday, May 2nd and ending with the Finals on Sunday, May 7th and Monday, May 8th.
Seeding
The bye teams will be seeded on the basis of their bye position and then their Positioning Points, the remaining teams on the basis of Seeding Points. Positioning Point Information through the 2022 Reisinger is now posted and will be updated after the Soloway & Reisinger and again after the Vanderbilt. Individual Positioning Point Information and Seeding Point Information will be posted shortly after entries close.
Byes
After the Reisinger, the Nickell team (Nickell-Katz, Greco-Hampson, Levin-Weinstein) has 74 Positioning Points, and the Lebowitz team (Lebowitz-A. Grossack, Z Grossack-M Rosenberg) has 48 Positioning Points, with 48 required for the first 3 byes to the Round of 16. Bramley (Woolsey, Hamman, Weichsel) has 23 PPs, Hurd (Bathurst, Kranyak-Demuy) has 21 PPs, but isn't eligible this year, having won last year, and Rosenthal (Silverstein, Dwyer-Huang, Ginossar-Willenken) and Fleisher (Martel, Bramley-Woolsey, Grue-Moss) have 19 PPs each. No team can earn a Semifinal bye. Nickell could earn a Quarterfinal bye by making the Vanderbilt Final. A Kolesnik or Parrish could earn a Quarterfinal bye by winning the Vanderbilt.
system forms
Each pair is required to submit a System Summary Form on or before March 14th if there is an online stage, or on or before April 17th if not. To create or edit a SSF, first log in to this site, then click on "Create or Edit SSF" under the User Menu, which appears in the left hand column when you log in. You can either create a new form or copy an old one. If you have any problems, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and he will try to help.
Each pair is also required to submit an ACBL convention card on or before April 21st. We haven't yet been able to set up a way for you to upload your ACBL convention card or link to a BridgeWinners card online, so please either share your BridgeWinners card with Al or email a PDF or JPG version of your convention card to him, and she will upload and link. If you sent Al a convention card or link last year and it's the same for this year, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let him know to copy that card or link to this year. Thanks.
If you are playing a method that is allowed under paragraph 3 or paragraph 7 of Opening Bids on the new Open+ Convention Chart, and there is not now an ACBL approved defense to the method, you must submit a full description of the method and a recommended defense at least 4 weeks before the start of the USBC. Our software no longer allows you to create an Advance Submisstion Form online, but you can download the form as a Word document and use it as an outline of the information you should submit. Complete it, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and he will convince the website to see it as an ASF and link it to your SSF. He will also send it to the USBF Conventions Committee for review. If the committee has not rejected it within 1 week of submission, it is accepted and you may play the method and must bring the recommended defense to the table with you.
Relevant Dates
Tuesday, February 28th: Final day to submit Recommended Defenses for any paragraph 3 or 7 methods if there is an online stage.
Monday, April 3rd: Final day to submit Recommended Defenses for any paragraph 3 or 7 methods if there is not an online stage or if your team has a bye to the face to face stages.
Friday, April 16th: Last day to make hotel reservations and be assured of receiving our hotel rate. The hotel may honor the rate for later reservations, but is not required to do so.
Tuesday, March 14th: Final day to submit System Summary Form and ACBL Convention card if there is an online stage. Penalty for late submission is loss of seating rights in one segment of a KO match (starting with the first match the team plays) per day that either the SSF or Convention Card is late. SSFs will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the ITTC and rejected if not adequate.
Monday, April 17th: Final day to submit System Summary Form and ACBL Convention card if there is not an online stage or if your team has a bye to the face to face stages. Penalty for late submission is loss of seating rights in one segment of a KO match (starting with the first match the team plays) per day that either the SSF or Convention Card is late. SSFs will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the ITTC and rejected if not adequate.
Sunday, March 26th: Last day for roster changes without Credentials Committee approval if there is an online stage.
Friday, April 28th: Last day for roster changes without Credentials Committee approval if there is not an online stage or if your team has a bye to the face to face stages.
Seeding, Setting the Bracket
After entries close and we have calculated seeding points for the non-bye teams, we will post seeding point information. The teams list will continue to be in Alphabetic order and team numbers for the online Round Robin will be assigned in alphabetic order. After the Round Robin, the teams will be assigned bracket positions and the teams list will be in bracket number order.
Results
When the event has started, you will be able to click here to get to the results page for the Open USBC. Once there, you can click on the stage of the event in which you are interested.
Available Documents
Draft 3 of Special Conditions of Contest for the 2023 Open USBC in PDF format (only change from Draft 2 is highlighted in yellow).
Conditions of Play for the 2023 Open USBC in PDF format will be linked after entries have closed.
Draft 4 of 2023 General Conditions of Contest in PDF format.
ACBL Convention Charts in PDF Format; the Open+ Chart will apply for USBF events.
Positioning Points after the 2022 Reisinger, Individual Positioning Points and and Seeding Points in PDF format will be linked after entries close.